Linguists:

J.M. Murry, R. Jackobson, M. Riffaterre, L. Bloomfield,

R. Barthes, I.V. Arnold, V.V. Vinogradov, I.R. Galperin,
V.A. Kukharenko, L.V. Shcherba, Y.M. Skrebnev, etc.
I.R. Galperin:
Style is “a system of interrelated language means which serves a
definite aim in communication”

J.M.Murry:
Style is “a quality of language which communicates
precisely emotions or thoughts, or a system of emotions or
thoughts, peculiar to the author”.
V.V. Vinogradov :
Style is a “socially recognized and functionally
conditioned internally united totality of the ways of using,
selecting and combining the means of lingual intercourse
in the sphere of one national language or author”.
 Stylistics
Linguo-stylistics Functional stylistics
I.V. Arnold:
Stylistics is a branch of linguistics, investigating the
principles and effect of choice and usage of phonetic,
lexical, grammatical and other language means with the
purpose of transmitting thoughts and emotions in different
circumstances of communication.
Nowadays stylistics may be denoted as a branch of
linguistics, which deals mainly with the expressive means
and stylistic devices of the language, their relations to the
idea expressed, the classification of the existing styles of
speech.
Expressive means and stylistic devices
Expressive means of the language are those phonetic,
graphical, lexical, syntactical forms which exist in the
language for the purpose of logical and emotional
intensification of the utterance (Galperin, 1981).
A stylistic device is a conscious and intentional
intensification of some typical structural and semantic
property of a language unit, promoted to a generalized
level and thus becoming a generative model
(Galperin, 1981). Stylistic devices always carry some
kind additional information and emotional colouring.
 Expressive means
 To phonetic expressive means refer pitch of the voice,
stress, melody, intonation, manner of speech (whispering,
sing-song speech, laughing, crying).
 To morphological expressive means refer derogatory
(-ster, -monger, -er) and diminutive (-y, -ie, -let, etc.) suffixes,
e.g. gangster, scandalmonger, drunkard, mummy, Sissy,
pussy, starlet, darling
 To lexical expressive means belong such layers of words
as poetic words, slang, vulgar words, e.g. head: dome, nut,
upper storey, hat-peg, cabbage.
 To the syntactical expressive means refer inversion,
elliptical and broken sentences, etc.
 VARIATES OF LANGUAGE
The spoken variety exists in the form of a dialogue (polylogue)
and is supported by a group of extralinguistic factors as a human
voice and gestures and the written variety that exists in the form
of a monologue. The features of the spoken variety are:
 The use of contracted forms (I’m, hasn’t).
 The use of intensifies (or intensified words): awfully, terribly.
 The use of empty words or fill-ups: well, just… You see.
 Syntactical peculiarities: direct word order in questions and broken
sentences.
The written variety is maintained in the form of monologue and
is much explanatory and organized. In the written variety the
utterances are more exact. The relations between the parts of the
utterance precise and the sentence units are more complicated.
 GRAPHICAL EXPRESSIVE MEANS:
marks of punctuation, graphical arrangement of phrases,
violation of type and spelling
Such marks of punctuation as hyphen, dash, comma,
full stop (period), colon, semicolon, exclamation,
interrogation, series of dots, etc. are used not only for
the division of speech into its logical parts but also for
emphatic purposes which suggest a more or less
definite semantic interpretation of the utterance.
Punctuation has an important role in transference of
the author’s attitude to the idea expressed, in the
implication of information, in the foregrounding of
the emotional reaction expected from the reader.
Graphical arrangement of phrases deals with
peculiarities of their organization and division into
paragraphs, chapters, etc. (Денисова, 2007)
The intentional violation of the generally accepted
spelling used to reflect peculiarities of pronunciation
or emotional state of the speaker is called graphon
(Kukharenko, 1986). There are several types of
graphon: multiplication, hyphenation, capitalization
and some others. For instance: Dooo, Reee…, r-r-r-uin.
The use of such graphical means as apostrophe,
multiplication of letters, graphon gives the reader an
idea about the speaker’s low level of education, age, his
origin and emotional state in the process of
communication.
 PHONETIC EXPRESSIVE MEANS
AND STYLISTIC DEVICES
Onomatopoeia is a combination of speech sounds which
aims at imitating sounds produced in nature (wind, sea,
thunder, etc), by things (machines or tools, etc), by people
(sighing, laughter, patter of feet, etc) and by animals. For
example: “hiss”, “bowwow”, “murmur”, “grumble”, etc.
There are two varieties of onomatopoeia: direct and indirect
(“echo-writing”).
Direct onomatopoeia is contained in words that imitate
natural sounds, as mew, cuckoo etc.
Indirect onomatopoeia is a combination of sounds the aim of
which is to make the sound of the utterance an echo of its
sense: “And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each
purple curtain” (Poe).
Alliteration is a repetition of similar consonants,
particularly at the beginning of successive words
Assonance is the repetition of similar vowels, usually in
stressed syllables.
Euphony is a sense of ease and comfort in pronouncing
or hearing. Euphony is such a combination of words
and such an arrangement of utterance which produces
a pleasing acoustic effect.
Cacophony is a sense of strain and discomfort in
pronouncing or hearing.
E.g. 1) Twelve twins twirled twelve twigs.
Rhyme is the repetition of identical or similar
terminal sound combinations in words.
Rhythm is a complex unit defined as a regular
recurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables (strong
and weak elements) which determine the metre in
poetry or the measured flow of words in prose
(Znamenskaya, 2002).
The regular alternations of stressed and unstressed
syllables form a unit – the foot. There are 5 basic feet:
iambus (a foot consisting of one unstressed syllable
followed by one stressed syllable), trochee (a foot
consisting of one stressed syllable followed by one
unstressed syllable), etc.
Lexical expressive means and
stylistic devices
Meaning from a stylistic point of you:
 Logical (referential, direct, dictionary) meaning is
the naming of an object or phenomenon by which
we recognize the whole of the concept.
 Primary logical meaning is one the most
frequently used. It begins the dictionary article of a
word.
 Secondary (derivative) logical meaning is the one
derived from the primary meaning.
Contextual meaning is used in a particular context.
 Emotive meaning has reference to the feelings and
emotions of the speaker towards the things and
phenomena defined. The bearers of emotive meaning
are interjections and exclamatory words, swear-words,
a great number of qualifying words, intensifiers, e.g.:
Oh, My God, smart, terrible, jolly, deadly, fabulous, etc.
 Nominal meaning denotes proper names and
geographical names and indicates a particular object
out of class: Shakespeare, Moscow, Himalaya, etc.
Professor I.R. Galperin distinguishes 3 big subdivisions in
the class of lexical SD and they all deal with the semantic
nature of a word or phrase.
 The interaction of different lexical meanings of a word:
dictionary (logical), contextual, derivative, emotive
and nominal.
 The interaction between two lexical meanings
simultaneously materialized in the context revealing
the intensification of a certain feature of a thing or
phenomenon.
 Fixed word combinations in their interaction with the
context.
Interaction of different types of lexical
meaning
When used in a definite context, words may acquire
additional lexical meanings which are not fixed in
dictionaries. Such lexical meanings are called contextual.
The contextual meaning will always depend on the
dictionary (logical) meaning to a greater or lesser extent.
Transferred meaning is the interrelation between two
types of lexical meaning: dictionary and contextual
[Galperin, 1981]. When a word in its transferred meaning is
frequently used in speech and fixed in dictionaries as well
as its primary meaning, it is called derivative meaning.
When derivative meaning is unexpected, a stylistic device
is registered.
Interaction of primary dictionary and
contextual imposed meanings
The interaction between primary dictionary
and a meaning imposed on the word by a
micro-context may be maintained along
different principles: similarity, contiguity
and opposition.
Metaphor is based on similarity.
Metonymy is based on contiguity .
Irony is based on opposition
Metaphor and personification
From the times of ancient Greek and Roman rhetoric,
the term has been known to denote the transference
of meaning from one word to another.
A metaphor becomes a stylistic device when two
different phenomena (things, events, ideas, actions)
are simultaneously brought to mind by the imposition
of some (or all) of the properties of one object on the
other which is deprived of these properties. This
process is called identification, and it should not be
confused with resemblance of two objects.
Metaphor may be embodied in any notional
part of speech
Metaphor is transference of names based on the
similarity, when two meanings are realized
simultaneously. Due to this power metaphor is one
of the most important means of creating images.
An image is a sensory perception of an abstract
notion already existing in the mind. Consequently,
to create an image means to bring a phenomenon
from the highly abstract to the essentially
concrete.
Metaphors can be classified according
to their degree of unexpectedness.
 Trite (dead, fixed or hackneyed) metaphor is
predictable and fixed in dictionaries. Such metaphor is
not considered as a metaphor anymore: the leg of the
table, winter came, family tree, etc.

 Genuine (fresh, living) metaphor is quite unexpected,

unpredictable, and that’s why unique.
E.g. The house was a white elephant, but he could not conceive
of his father in a smaller place (J. Galsworthy).
 Metaphor
If a sentence contains a group of metaphors we deal
with a sustained (or prolonged), which consists
of principal and contributory images. Principal
image is the central image in the utterance.
Contributory image or images bear reference to
the central image and contribute to its
development.
E.g. In November, a cold unseen stranger, whom the doctor
called Pneumonia, stalked about the colony, touching one
here and there with his icy fingers (O’Henry).
There is one more stylistic device akin
to metaphor – personification.
Personification is the attribution of personal
nature or character to inanimate objects or
abstract notions (Знаменская, 2004). In this case a
thing (idea, fancy, etc.) is presented as a human
being. This figure of speech gives an inanimate
object or abstract idea human traits and qualities,
such as emotions, desires, sensations, physical
gestures and speech.
E.g. I am a Daughter of Earth and Water.
The word “metonymy” is derived from the Greek
“μετωνυμία” (“metōnymia”) – “a change of
name”.
Metonymy – transference of meaning which
is based on contiguity of notions.
Metonymy is based on some kind of
association connecting the two concepts
which the dictionary and contextual
meanings represent. To identify metonymy,
the interrelation between these two
meanings should stand clearly and
conspicuously.
Metonymy can be classified into two types: trite
(traditional, fixed, dead) and contextual (genuine,
living, fresh).
 Trite metonymy represents derivative logical
meaning of a word and is fixed in dictionaries:
crown, grave, cradle, cap and gown, etc.
 Contextual metonymy reveals an unexpected
substitution of one word for another, or one
context for another, on the ground of some strong
impression produced by a chance feature of the
thing.
E.g. She married into conversation.
I.R. Galperin distinguishes the following types
of relation which metonymy is based on:
 a concrete thing used instead of an abstract notion. In
this case it becomes a symbol of the notion: crown;
 the container instead of the thing contained: The
kettle is boiling;
 the relation of proximity: Van Gogh boosts for art
market (BBC); The guards now change at Buckingham
Palace to a Lennon and McCartney;
 the material instead of the thing made of it: He loaned
me 5 golds;
 the instrument that the doer uses in performing the
action instead of the action or the doer himself: Let us
turn swords into ploughs
Synecdoche is a type of metonymy based on the
relation between the part and the whole.
E.g. He had five mouths to feed.
Usually metonymy is expressed by nouns (seldom –
by substantivized numerals, adjectives).
E.g. A very pretty eighteen entered the hall.
Metonymy as a means of creating imagery concerns
concrete objects, which are generalized.
In the cases with metonymy we generally deal with one
object included into another being its part. When
deciphering metaphor we, as a rule, deal with two or
more objects or their features somehow associated
with each other.
 Irony
Irony is a stylistic device also based on
the simultaneous realization of two
logical meanings – dictionary and
contextual, but the two meanings stand
in opposition to each other.
For example: “It must be delightful to find oneself in a
foreign country without a penny in one's pocket”.
V.A. Kukharenko distinguishes two types of irony:
verbal and sustained.
In irony not the logical but the evaluative meaning is
foregrounded (Kukharenko, 1986). The direction of
evaluation is reversed: the positive concept is
understood as a negative qualification (much rarer vice
versa).
Irony must not be confused with humour, although they
have very much in common. Humour always causes
laughter because. In irony a sudden clash of the
positive and the negative can be marked.
 Interaction of primary dictionary and
derivative logical meanings
Stylistic devices based on
polysemantic effect:
Primary (dictionary) meanings are relatively stable,
fixed in dictionaries and constitute the semantic
structure of the word. All the derivative meanings
are interconnected with the primary one and
create a network which is called the polysemantic
effect. It is a very subtle and hardly perceptible
stylistic device.
 Zeugma
Zeugma is the use of a word in the same grammatical
but different semantic relation to two adjacent words
in one context, the semantic relations being, on the
one hand, literal and , on the other, transferred
(Galperin, 1981).
E.g. Have a Coke and a smile!
This device has a variation. When there is increase of
number of homogeneous, semantically disconnected
members attached to the same verb, we deal with
semantically false chains (Kukharenko,1986).
 PUN
Pun – a play on words of the same sound or on different
applications of some word which causes some
humorous effect.
Pun is often based on homonymy, polysemy and
ambiguity.
Puns are often used in riddles and jokes, for example:
- Professor: You missed my class yesterday, didn’t you?
- Unsubdued student: Not in the least, sir, not in the
least.
 LEXICAL EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC DEVICES
BASED ON THE INTERACTION OF LOGICAL
AND EMOTIVE MEANINGS
Interjections are words we use when we express our
feelings strongly and which exist in language in the
forms of conventional symbols of human
emotions.
Interjections can be divided into primary and
derivative.
Primary interjections are generally devoid of any logical
meaning. For example: Oh! Ouch! Hurrah! Wow!
Derivative interjections may retain some degree of logical
meaning suppressed by the volume of emotive meaning.
For example: Gosh! Hush! Alas!
 Exclamatory Words
Exclamatory words are the words which
do not lose their logical meaning and
function as interjections. Come on!
Look here! Heavens! Fine!
It is important to notice that some
adjectives, nouns and verbs can also
function as interjections – Damnation!
Great! Splendid!
 Epithet
Epithet is a stylistic device based on the interplay of
emotive or logical meaning in an attributive word,
phrase or even sentence which discloses the individual,
emotionally coloured attitude of the writer or speaker
to the object he describes (Galperin, 1981).
Epithets may be classified from different standpoints:
semantic and structural.
Semantically, epithets may be divided into two groups:
those associated with the noun following and those
unassociated with it.
From the viewpoint of their compositional
structure epithets may be divided into simple,
compound, phrase and sentence epithets.
Simple epithets are ordinary adjectives: rosy
dreams, sweet perfume, etc.
Compound epithets are built like compound
adjectives: a big-headed fool, heart-burning smile,
etc.
Phrase and sentence epithets are attributively used
phrases and sentences.
Her mother, however, was a fretful woman, full of odd
grievances and regrets for the past she had never really had;
very much a molehill-into-mountain type (Priestly)
Another structural variety of epithet is called reversed
(Galperin, 1981) (or inverted, illogical (Kukharenko,
1986)
The reversed (inverted) epithet is composed of
two nouns linked in an of-phrase. The
subjective, evaluating, emotional element is
embodied not in the noun attribute but in
the noun structurally described. Such
epithets are metaphorical.
E.g. She is a very doll of a baby
She is a devil of a woman).
 Oxymoron
Oxymoron is a combination of two
words (mostly an adjective and a noun
or an adverb with an adjective) in
which the meanings of the two clashes,
being opposite in sense, for example:
low skyscraper, sweet sorrow, dry water,
expected unexpectancy, старый
Новый год.
LEXICAL EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC DEVICES
BASED ON THE INTERACTION BETWEEN THE LOGICAL
AND NOMINAL MEANINGS OF A WORD
Antonomasia is the use of a proper name on
place of a common one or vice versa to
emphasize some feature or quality.
They give information to the reader about the
bearer of the name (tоken or telling names).
E.g. Вральман, Собакевич, Плюшкин, Prince
Charming, Mr. Know-It-All, etc.
 INTENSIFICATION OF A CERTAIN
FEATURE OF A THING OR PHENOMENA
Simile is a device in which the intensification of
some feature of the concept in question is realized.
Simile is a figure of speech in which two unlike
things are explicitly compared by the use of like,
as, as … as, resemble, etc. (Знаменская, 2004).
Simile is an imaginative comparison of two unlike
objects which belong to different classes
(Kukharenko, 1986).
 Simile
Ordinary comparison and simile should not be
confused. They represent two diverse processes.
Comparison deals with two objects belonging to one
class of things intending to establish the degree of
their sameness or difference.
Simile may be trite (hackneyed). For example, it could
indicate the analogy between a man and animals
(fruits, vegetables, etc.) which have stereotyped traits
of character, actions or states: as vain as a peacock, as
cool as a cucumber.
 Periphrasis (circumlocution)
Periphrasis as a process which realizes the power of
language to coin new names for objects by disclosing
some quality of the object (Gaplerin, 1981).
Periphrasis is the renaming of an object by a phrase
that emphasizes some particular feature of the object
(Денисова, 2007).
If periphrastic expression is understandable outside the
context it is called traditional or language
periphrasis.
Stylistic (speech, figurative) periphrasis is always a
genuine nomination of an object or person.
There is a variety of periphrasis
– euphemism.
Euphemism is a word or phrase used to
replace an unpleasant word or expression by
a conventionally more acceptable one:
manager, African-American, disabled, etc.
PC – politically correctness
The opposite of euphemism is dysphemism:
kick the bucket, sucker.
Hуperbоle and Understatement
Hуperbоle can be defined as a deliberate overstatement
or exaggeration of a feature essential (unlike
periphrasis) to the object or phenomenon. For
example:
As the housekeeper moved away he put, for the thousandth
time, the question that carried at the end of his tongue
(Henry 1).
Understatement is a deliberate underrating of a feature
or property of an object.
E.g. An Army Officer has just lost his leg. When asked how he
feels, he looks down at his bloody stump and responds:
“Stings a bit”.
Peculiar Use of Set Expressions
Cliché is generally defined as an expression that has
become hackneyed and trite. Cliché is a derogatory
term and it is therefore necessary to avoid anything
that may be called by it. Here we come across two
conflicting ideas: on the one hand, language should
always be fresh and expressive one and. On the other
hand, language used for communication should
employ the units which are easily understood.
E.g. all things considered, be in the same boat with,
behind the scenes, bitter irony, burning question, cut a
long story short, face the music, etc.
 Phraseological units, such as proverbs and sayings, as
well as various kinds of allusions may be used for stylistic
purpose.
Proverb is a brief, witty phrase of generalizing nature
characterized by the completeness of the thought and generally
expressing the wisdom of the people.
E.g. A stitch in time saves nine.
In this proverb the effect of euphony is achieved through assonance
([ı], [aı]) and alliteration ([s], [t]) which create rhyme and
rhythm.
Saying is a common phrase differing from a proverb in that the
thought is not completely expressed.
E.g. Neither fish, no foul.
In this saying we observe the alliteration of the consonants [n], [f ].
Epigram is a stylistic device akin to a proverb. They are brief witty
phrases created by men of letters. They always have a literary-
bookish air about them and possess a great degree of
independence.
Appearances are deceiving” (Aesop. MWDQ);
“Everyone believes very easily whatever he fears or desires”
(Jean de La Fontaine. MWDQ).
Quotation is a repetition of a phrase or statement from a
book, speech and the like used by way of authority,
illustration, proof or as a basis for further speculation on
the matter in hand (Galperin, 1981).
Quotations are usually marked off in the text by inverted
commas (“ ”), dashes (-), italics or other graphical means.
Unlike the set expressions described before, quotations are
not necessarily brief (Денисова, 2007).
Allusion is an indirect reference, by word or phrase, to a historical,
literary, mythological, biblical fact or to a fact of everyday life
made in the course of speaking or writing (Galperin, 1981).
“Тhey were studying Macbeth and Huckleberry Finn with him,
but when he talked about Shakespeare it seemed more natural
and suited to him than when he talked about Mark Twain
(Trevor).
In this example we observe references to “Macbeth” by W.
Shakespeare and Huckleberry Finn by M. Twain.
Paradox is a statement which is contrary to generally accepted
opinion but which expresses some kind of truth. For example:
Men marry because they are tired, women – because they are
curious. Both are disappointed (Wilde);
Wine costs money, blood costs nothing (B. Show. MWDQ).
Decomposition of Set Phrases
Sometimes set phrases acquire a new meaning in a new
context. The stylistic device of decomposition of set phrases
consists in reviving the independent meanings which make
up the component parts of the fusion.
The violation of the generally recognized set phrase may be
achieved through a change of structural patterns, insertion
of new components.
Don’t count your chickens until they are hatched” (proverb).
Don’t count your boobies until they are hatched” (Thurber)
Deciphering of decomposition of set expressions needs good
knowledge of literature, culture, history, folklore, etc.
(Денисова, 2007).