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Use of set expressions

A set expression is a very wide notion, which covers such notions as phraseological units, idioms and phrasal verbs. Set expressions can be divided into two groups: logical and figurative. The last ones have figurative basis. Phraseological units are charcterised by the stability of a form. They are regarded as set expressions ready for use as cliches. Phraseological units are expressive means, while they are frequently employed and have no originality. They have emotive meaning as a rule [to drop like a hot potato = to stop]. Features of phraseological units: stability of form the presume of figurative base emotive colouring belonging to the oral variety of the language There're two tendencies in the language studies concerned with the problem of word. 1. analytical - seeks to disserver one component from another 2. synthetic - integrate the parts of a combination to a stable unit They are treated differently in the lexicology and stylistics. In lexicology the parts of a stable lexical unit may be separated to make a sceintific investigation of the character of the combination and to analyse the component. In stylistics we analyse the components to get some communicative effect sought by the writer. And here we come to the cliche. A cliche is generally defined as an expression that has become hackneyed and trite. This division lacks one point: a cliche strives after originality whereas it has lost the esthetic generating power it once had. There's always a contradiction between what is aimed at and what is attained [rosy dreams of use, ripe = old age]. Definition from dictionaries show that cliche is a derogatory term and it's necessary to avoid everything that may be called by that name. The thing is that most of the widely recorded word combinations adopted in the language are unjustly classified as cliches. Cliches are unregistered in dictionaries. Phraseological units are, and they occur in different styles (belles-lettres, newspaper, official documents). Cliche can be part and parcel of other stylistic devices (sustained metaphor, complex figurative images).

Proverbs and sayings


They are collected in special dictionaries. Features: rhyme, rythm, alliteration. Proverbs are brief statements, showing in condenced form the accumulated life experience of the community serving as a conventional phraseological symbols for abstract ideas. Usually image-bearing, complete sentences, logically arranged. A saying stands for the notion and has a nominative function [to add fuel to fire - to scold sb.]. If issued approprietely, proverbs and sayings will never use their freshness and vigour. Proverbs and sayings can be regarded as expressive means of the literature; emotionally coloured and difficult. They are usually built on some image. When the proverb is used in unaltered form, it is an expressive means. When in a modified variant assumes one of the features of a stylistic device. Acquires a stylistic meaning without becoming a stylistic device [You know which side the law is buttered - is formed from - His bread is buttered on both sides]. We have a decomposition of a phrase. It occurs in the belles-lettres, newspapers, emotive prose, headlines. A proverb presuposes a simultaneous application of two meanings: primary and extended/contextual.

Epigrams and quotations


Epigrams are stylistic devices akeen to a proverb. The only difference is that epigrams are

coined by individuals whose names we know, while proverbs are coinages of the people. Epigrams are short, witty statements, showing the ingenious turn of mind of the originator. They always have a literary bookish air about them that distinguishes them from proverbs. They have a generating function and are self-sufficient. The sentence gets accepted as a word combination and often becomes part of the language as a whole. Brevity is the essential feature of the epigram [Mighty is he, who conquers himself]. In fact, epigram is a surpraphrasal unit in sense, though not in structure. Poetry is epigrammatic in essense. It always strives for brevity of expression, leaving to the mind of the reader the pleassure of ampliphying the idea. A quotation is a repetition of a phrase or statement from a book, used by authority as an illustration or proof used as a basis for further speculation on the matter of fact. By repeating a passage in a new environment we attach to the utterance an importance it might not have had in the context it was primarily used. Plus we create a stable language unit. And what is quoted must be worth quoting, since a quotation will inevitably have some degree of generalization. Quotations are usually marked off in the text by inbverted commas or other graphical means. A quotation is an exact reproduction of an actual utterance made by a certain author. They are echos of somebody's words. So utterance, when quoted undergo subtle change. Originally, they are units of the text they belong to, but once quoted they are rank in pile no more. A quotation is always set against the other sentence in the texts by its greater sense and significance. It has two meanings a primary one and the applicated. Unlike epigrams they need not to be short. Quotations are also used in epigraphs. In this case the quotations possess great associative power and cause connotative meanings.

General classification of syntactic expressive means and stylistic devices


Syntax is the branch of language science studying the relations between words, word combinations and larger kinds of utterance. According to Galperin there're four groups of syntactic expressive means and stylistic devices: 1. Compositional patterns of syntactic arrangements (stylistic conversion, detached constructions, parallel constructions, chiasmus, repetition, enumeration, suspense, climax, antithesis) 2. Particular ways of combining parts of the utterrance (asyndenton, polysyndenton, the gap-sentence link) 3. Particular use of colloquial constructions (ellypses, break-in-the-narrative, question-inthe-narrative, uttered/unuttered speech) 4. Stylistic use of structural meaning (rhetorical question litotes). Unlike other synthetic expressive means of the language which are used in discourse, syntactic stylistic devices are proceded as design aimed and having a designed impact on the reader. When parallel constructions are used in a dialogue, - it is an expressive means, when in the author's speech - a stylistic device. Structural syntactic stylistic devices are always in special relations with the intonation involved. The more explicity structural syntactic relations are expressed, the weaker will be the intonation pattern, up to disapperance and vice verse. The capacity to serve as a connection is a inherent quality of a great number of words and perhaps if there're set in a position, which calls for continuation or description of an event. To follow closely how parts of an utterance are connected and to verify interdependence between its parts is often different either

because of the abscence of identical signs (asyndoton) or because of the present of too many identical signs (polysyndoton). Emotional syntactic structures typical for the oral variety of the language are sometimes very effectively used to depict the emotional state of mind of the characters. They may even be used in particular cases in the narrative of the author, and they have the same feature. When such constructions have entered the monologue, they assume qualities of a stylistic device. On analogy with transparence of meaning in which words are used other than in their logical sense, syntactic structures may also be used in the meanings other than their primary. Every syntactic structure has its function, called its structural meaning. When the structural is used in some other function, it may be said to assume a new meaning which is similar to lexical transfered meaning.

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