Syntactical devices based on peculiar arrangement of the members of the sentence (repetition, anadiplosis, enumeration, suspense, gradation)

Lexico-Syntactical Repetitionis a regular recurrence of a lexical unit, sometimes in close succession. It can be viewed as an expressive means of the language used to make an emotional impact and intensify the feelings. Besides, it ascribes rhythm to the utterance; at times it shows the monotony or continuity of action. In lexico-syntactical repetitions, unlike in purely syntactical repetitions (parallelism or chiasmus) the recurrence of the same lexical units is quite obligatory. Compositionally lexico-syntactical repetition falls into:

1.Simple Repetition 2.Anaphora(a…, a…)

Function. Anaphoric recurrence strengthens the element that recurs, helps the reader (hearer) fix it in his memory. It also imparts a certain rhythmical regularity to the syntactical units in question.

3. Epiphora (… a, … a) 4. Framing (a …a)

Function: Framing makes the whole utterance more compact and more complete. It is most effective in singling out paragraphs.

5. Anadiplosis (linking, reduplication, catch repetition) (… a, a…)

6. Chain Repetition (…a, a… b, b …)

It is the sequence of several anadiploses.

The two terms frequently used to group all kinds of synonymic repetitions are pleonasm and tautology.

Enumeration.In enumeration separate things, properties, actions and phenomena are brought together in the manner that they make a series of grammatically and semantically homogeneous parts of utterance.

Suspenseis based on the delay of the most important information. As a result, the less important facts and subordinate details appear first, while the most significant idea is withheld till the end of the syntactical unit.

Suspense is often created by the insertion of a subordinate clause (or a parenthetic remark) between the members of the principal clause.

Sentences with suspense are called periodic sentences, or periods. Their function is to keep the reader in a state of uncertainty, expectation and interest.

Climaxorgradation  denotes such an arrangement of correlative ideas or notions in which what precedes is less than what follows. E.g. not a dollar – not a penny. Types:-logical - every consecutive word is stronger from the logical point of view. E.g. She is a lamb, a dove, a fool to him. -Emotional- the emotive intensity is implied. E.g. She was a crashing, stupendous… -Quantitative - based on the intensification of quantitative parametres. E.g. Mary had counted the months, the weeks, the days, the hours... The stylistic function of climax is to disclose the emotional tension of the character, to impress upon the reader the significance of the things described by suggested comparison.

Syntactical devices based on peculiar linkage

Asyndeton is a deliberate avoidance of connectives in the constructions where they would normally be used.

E.g. The noise was terrible, shattering: hundreds of tin buckets were being kicked down flights of stone steps; walls of houses were falling in; ships were going down; ten thousand people were screaming with toothache; steam hammers were breaking loose; whole warehouses of oilcloth were being stormed … (Priestley)

The absence of the connective may connote various implications: it indicates tense, energetic activities or shows a succession of minute actions. Besides, it imparts dynamic force to the syntactical unit.

Polysyndeton. It is – as opposed to asyndeton – an excessive use (repetition) of connectives.

E.g. … it was also rather exciting, which was more than could be said of the 13 bus and the lounge at the Burpen field and her room there and the aspirin and the hot water. (Priestley)

Intentionally used, the device creates the atmosphere of bustling activity, underlines the simultaneity of actions, discloses the connection of properties enumerated (their equal significance), imparts rhythm, and promotes a high-flown tonality of narrative.

The excessive use of conjunctions may betray the poverty of the speaker's grammar, showing the primitiveness of the character.

E.g. I always been a good girl; and I never offered to say a word to him; and I don't owe him nothing; and I don't care; and I won't be put upon; and I have my feelings the same as anyone else. (Shaw) (Cf. with the Russian a.)

The Gap-Sentence Link

It is a formal separation of the utterance into two parts that leads to the obvious break in the semantic texture of the utterance and forms an ‘unexpected semantic leap.’

It is usu. conveyed by a full stop. Besides, the two parts may often be connected by and or but. 

E.g. He will answer. And go.

 As a result, the separated part sounds stronger and attracts attention.

E.g. ‘…You didn’t reelly know what you were doing at the time, did you?’

  ‘That’s it. I didn’t. Nerves, y’know. Highly strung …’ (Priestley)

The gap-sentence link has various functions. It may be used to indicate a subjective evaluation of the facts; it may introduce an effect resulting from a cause which has already had verbal expression or a sudden transition from one thought to another; it may serve to signal the introduction of inner represented speech.

Syntactical devices based on stylistic use of structural meaning

Here belong devices based on transposition which is placing a language sign in the surrounding that is unusual for its functioning.

Rhetorical question is based on the special interplay of two structural meanings – that of the question and that of the assertion – due to which the question is no longer a question but a statement expressed in the interrogative form. Hence, the SD consists in reshaping the grammatical meaning of the interrogative sentence.

Rhetorical question usu. pronounces a judgment with a definite emotional charge: irritation, anger, doubt, challenge, scorn, irony, suggestion, or, vice versa, joy, admiration, etc.

According to Y.M. Skrebnev the following two semantic varieties of interrogative sentences make up rhetorical questions: 

- with a negative predicate but an affirmative implication:

E.g. Isn't that too bad? = That is too bad

- with an affirmative predicate but a negative implication:

E.g. My God, – what was the good of it all? (Priestley) = There was no good …   

Rhetorical questions are most frequently used in dramatic narration and in the publicist style.

Litotes(laiteutiz)  expresses an idea by means of negating the opposite idea.

Usu. litotes presupposes double negation which can be conveyed in different ways:

through a negative particle not or a negative pronoun no + a word with a negative affix,

       E.g. It was not an unfriendly laugh, but it was not a sympathetic one either. (Priestley)

       ‘Why doesn’t Amy marry again? She is comparatively young, and she is not unattractive …’ (Maugham), and

 through the negation of the antonym of the idea to be expressed,

       E.g. Not a coward (a fool), not too bad, not overdone, not without his agreement.

Function. Litotes conveys doubts of the speaker about the exact characteristics of the object, renders his irony, and serves as a euphemistic technique. 

Litotes is frequent in English and seems to be used more often than in Russian.