Topic 5 Phonetic Expressive Means

1. Onomatopoeia

2. Alliteration

3. Rhyme

4. Rhythm

The stylistic approach to the utterance is not confined to its structure and sense. Another feature that should be taken into account is the way a word, a phrase, or a sentence sounds. The sound form of most words taken separately will have little value. It is in combination with other words that a word may acquire a desired phonetic effect. Though some linguists express an opinion that even separate ‘different sounds have different meaning’ (L.Bloomfield) The sound of a word or the way words sound in a combination contribute to the general effect of the message. Among the means that add some colouring to an utterance are onomatopoeia, alliteration, rhyme and rhythm.

Onomatopoeia is a combination of speech-sounds which aims at imitating sounds produced in nature, by things or people and animals. Onomatopoeia can be treated as some kind of metonymy as combinations of sounds are usually very quickly associated with whatever produces them. There exist two types of onomatopoeia: direct and indirect.

Direct onomatopoeia is found in words that imitate natural sounds, as cuckoo, buzz, bang, purr, bow-wow, etc.

Indirect onomatopoeia is created by combinations of sounds aimed at producing some echo effect in the utterance. It can be done through repetition of a sound, or an ending, or a separate word.

e.g., And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain (Poe) –the repetition of [s] helps to create the sound the rustling of the curtains produce.

And nearing and clearing,

………………………….

And falling and crawling and sprawling,

And gleaming and streaming and steaming and beaming,

And in this way the water comes down at Ladore. (Southey)

The repetition if the ending ‘-ing’ and the gradual increase in number of the words with this ending in lines is meant to interpret the monotonous roar of the falling water.

From the bells, bells, bells…The onomatopoeic effect is produced through the repetition of a word.

Alliteration is a phonetic stylistic device aimed at imparting a melodic effect to the utterance by means of the repetition of similar sounds in close succession, usually at the beginning of successive words, or in closely placed stressed syllables, e.g., Doom is dark and deeper than any sea. (Auden), Apt alliteration’s artful aid. (Churchill)

In contrast with indirect onomatopoeia where some mentioning of what makes the sound is made, alliteration does not demand it. It reaches the aim of creating some musical accompaniment or evoking some feeling just through the repetition of a certain sound, usually consonant.

Alliteration is deeply rooted in the traditions of English, as it was one of the basic principles of versification in Old English. In modern poetry alliteration is used to increase expressiveness as the alliterated words usually give prominence to the most important notions.

The Age of Anxiety

We would rather be ruined than changed,

We would rather die in our dread

Than climb the cross of the moment

And let our illusions die. (W. Auden)

Assonance, or vocalic alliteration is the repetition of stressed vowels within a line or a phrase, e.g.,

…Tell this soul, with sorrow laden, if within the distant Aiden,

I shall clasp a sainted maiden, whom the angels name Lenore –

Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels name Lenore? (Poe)

An image of a gone beloved is created by E.A. Poe by different means and one of them is assonance – the repetition of the diphthong [ei].

J. Leech combined all possible variants of in-syllabic sound repetition, i.e., repetition of consonants (c) and vowels (v) in a scheme. On the basis of a general scheme of an English word CVC he differentiated alongside with alliteration and assonance several other types of sound repetition.

1. Alliteration Cvc: great – grow, send – sit

2. Assonance cVc: great – fail, send – bell

3. Consonance cvC: great – meat, send – hand

4. Back-rhyme CVc: great – grazed, send – sell

5. Pararhyme CvC: great – grout, send – sound

6. Rhyme cVC: great – bait, send – end.

Alliteration can still be found in proverbs and sayings, as ‘tit for tat,’ between and betwixt’, or in the titles of the books: ‘Pride and Prejudice”, “Sense and Sensibility”.

Rhyme is the repetition of identical or similar terminal sound combinations of words. Depending on a degree of identity of sound combinations rhymes may fall into full rhymes and incomplete rhymes.

In full rhymes the vowel sound and the consonant sounds in a stressed syllable are identical: light – right, might – bite, flown – grown, etc.

Incomplete rhymes can be divided into vowel rhymes and consonant rhymes. In vowel rhymes the corresponding words have identical vowels but differ in consonants: flesh – fresh – press, etc. Consonant rhymes show concordance in consonants and disparity in vowel: worth – forth, tale – tool – Treble – trouble; flung – long, etc.

According to the way the rhymes are perceived they fall into ear-rhymes and eye-rhymes. The rhymes mentioned above may be called ear-rhyme and may be set against eye – rhyme, where the letters but not the sounds are identical: love – prove, flood – brood, have – grave. They are results of historical changes in the vowels in certain positions.

According to the way the rhymes are arranged within the stanza, certain models of rhyming have been worked out:

Couplet – aa – the last words of two successive lines are rhymed.

Triple rhymes – aaa – the last words of three successive lines are rhymed.

Cross rhymes – abab –the last words of the 1^st and the 3^rd lines, the 2^nd and the 4^th lines are rhymed.

Framing or ring rhymes – abba – the last words of the 1^st and the 4^th, the 2^nd and the 3^rd lines are rhymed.

According to a position of rhyming sounds in words they differentiate among initial, final and internal rhymes. In internal rhymes the rhyming words are placed not at the end of the lines but within the line, e.g.,

I bring fresh showers for the thirsty flowers…(Shelly)

When you’re lying awake with a dismal headache, and repose is tabooed by anxiety,

I conceive you may use any language you choose to indulge in without impropriety. (Gilbert and Sellivan)

According to the degree of similarity of sounding, rhymes may be exact (heart – part) and appropriate which are subdivided into assonances (similar vowels but different consonants: advice – compromise ), consonances ( similar consonants but different vowels: wind –land, grey – grow),and dissonances (similar unstressed vowels and consonants but different stressed vowels: devil – evil).

Rhyme may be said to possess two seemingly contradictory functions: dissevering and consolidating. Due to its consolidating function, rhyme consolidates ideas expressed in the rhyming lines. The dissevering function of rhyme is particularly felt when it occurs unexpectedly in ordinary speech or in prose. The listener’s attention is caught by the rhyme and may lose the thread of the discourse.

Rhythm is a flow, movement, procedure, etc., characterized by basically regular recurrence of elements or features, as beat, or accent, in alteration with opposite or different elements or features.

Rhythm reveals itself most conspicuously in music, dance, and verse, it is primarily a periodicity, it is a deliberate arrangement of speech into regularly recurring units intended to be grasped as a definite periodicity which makes rhythm a stylistic device.

Rhythm in language demands opposition that alternate: long – short, stressed – unstressed, high – low, and other contrasting segments of speech. It should be distinguished from meter. Meter is any form of periodicity in verse, its character is determined by the character and number of syllables of which it consists. Divergences from the ideal metrical scheme is an inherent quality of rhythm in verse. The range of divergence has its limits beyond which the rhythmical pattern is destroyed. Permissible deviations from the given meter are called modifications of the rhythmical pattern.

Rhythm in verse as a stylistic device is defined as a combination of the ideal metrical scheme and the variations of it, variations which are governed by the standard.

In literature the basis for rhythm is created by syntax. Rhythm in prose is created by repetition of images, themes and other elements of the text, by the use of parallel constructions, sentences with homogeneous members, specific position of epithets. A part of poetics dealing with the rhythmic structure of literary works and its effectiveness in conveying thoughts and emotions is called prosody. Prosodic elements which are basic for rhythm are stress, pitch, tempo, pauses, etc., as well as other means like sound imitation, alliteration, repetition, parallel constructions which help to create a certain rhythmic effect.

The parameters of rhythm in verse and prose are different. In verse meter uses the syllable as a unit of measure while the unit of measure is not the syllable but a structure, a word combination, a sequence of words, i.e. phrases, clauses, sentences. So the rhyme in prose will be based not on the regular alteration of opposing units following one another or repeated after short intervals. The peculiar property of prose rhythm is that it occurs only in relatively short spans of text, and that it constantly changes its pattern and may suddenly drop to a normal, almost unapparent rhythmical design or to no rhythm at all.

Phonetic stylistic means may be split into the performer’s and author’s means. The performer’s means are those which allow of variations while decoding or transforming the written form into the oral one. These are the prosodic elements the choice and use of which depend on the performer. The phonemic aspect of the text, other phonetic and syntactical means, the choice of the meter depend on the author. The author’s phonetic means are meant to make the text more expressive and to increase its emotional influence. They depend on the sound inventory of the given language, the choice of words, their position and repetition in the text.