stylistics文体学

201213010114 Joy庞君颖英语一班

ONEAt the Phonological Level

1 Alliteration

“slipped to a stop” use the repetition of “s” in initial sound. It is alliteration that wrote powerful pronunciation and beautiful rhythm in this sentence. The pattern usually close to accurate expression and antithetical phrase. Also “testing and treating” use the same figure, both alliteration and off-rhyme.

2 Onomatopoeia

“popped at the very sight of a traveler” “grinned at me” “screeched to a halt” “heaved a long almost musical sigh”“murmured the company”etc. contain sounds similar noises, which is onomatopoeia. These words imitate phonating sounds, achieving vivid, exciting and interesting effects. That why the special journey has a variety of busy sounds.

TWO At the Graphological Level

3 Punctuation (Dash)

Unexpectedly, a dash lead to oysters, not atomic explosion, though Hiroshima is known widely by it. The answer enable to feel surprised and shocked, attracting us to go on reading and analyzing it. For example:

“a town known throughout the world for its--- oysters”

THREE At the Lexical Level

4 Dynamic Verbs and Vulgar Verbs

“bobbed up and down”, is a momentary act, belongs to dynamic verbs. It is vulgar to reflect that Japanese is used to bowing repeating as a ritual to show gratitude. He writes this news report in entertaining ways. For instance:

“Serious looking men spoke to one another as if they were oblivious of the crowds about them, and bobbed up and down re-heatedly in little bows, as they exchanged the ritual formula of gratitude and respect:”

5 Standard, Latinate, Descriptive, Concrete Words

Another lexical level is the use of standard, latinate, concrete words which, on the one hand, is easy to understand, on the other hand, can give me a concrete picture of what is being described. What a lively sentence! For example:

“The tall buildings of the martyred city flashed by as we lurched from side to side in response to the driver's sharp twists of the wheel.”

“The rather arresting spectacle of little old Japan adrift amid beige concrete skyscrapers is the very symbol of the incessant struggle between the kimono and the miniskirt.”

6 Compounding Words

Compounding words use two different words construct a new adjective. Usually a adjective add a past principal. It can improve the height of literature. For instance: “porcelain-faced woman” “low-ceilinged rooms” “sad-eyed”

FOUR At the Syntactic Level

7 Inversion Sentence

“Hanging over the patient was a big ball made of bits of brightly colored paper, folded into the shape of tiny birds.”

Past principle (hanging folded) as attribute, use inversion, modify “a big ball” and “paper”, underline the process of discovering by author himself

8 Imperative Sentence

“The others died as a result of their injuries, or else committed suicide”

“or else” is equal to “or if not”. Simple words, with forceful and powerful complain, indicate that the majority of people die of committed suicide because of atomic bombardment. This is the effect of short imperative.

9 Rhetorical Question

“Was I not at the scene of the crime?” is rhetorical question. The sentence in not need to answering because the final result is expected and anticipated between readers and reporter. The figure aim at highlighting “Really I was at the scene of the crime”,