Хорижий филология.
№4, 2016 йил
31
CONVERGENCE AS A MEANS OF EMOTIONAL IMPACT IN THE STRUCTURE
OF LINGUISTIC PERSONALITY
Normurodova Nozliya,
PhD, Associate professor
The University of Uzbek language and literature named after Alisher Navoi
Key words:
anthropocentric paradigm, linguopragmatics, convergence of stylistic devices,
linguistic personality.
The anthropocentric paradigm in
linguistics, which contains the human factor
and his activity as a central part in the process
of studying language, opens up new scientific
discipline such as linguopragmatics.
The initial thesis of the principle of
anthropocentrism
was
formulated
by
E.Benvenist in his fundamental work "The
general linguistics" (2002). According to his
principle, language is considered as the
possibility of realization of the personal
beginning
in
the
person.E.Benvenist
formulated the anthropocentric principle and
stated: "It is impossible to display the person
without language and the language without its
inventor. In this world, a person only exists
with the language, the person speaking with
another
person,
and
language,
thus,
necessarily belongs to the characterization of
the person... In language and thanks to
language, a person is constituted as the
subject" (3, p. 293).
According
to
Ashurova,
―linguopragmatics is the communicative trend
of linguistics studying language-in-action, in
its relations to the ―users‖ of language, their
activity
with
an
accent
on
social,
psychological, cultural aspects of language
functioning‖(2, p.196).
This
trend
of
linguopragmatics
embraces a wide range of problems such as
the notion of discourse, the factors of the
addresser and the addressee, linguistic
personality etc. Out of these notions, currently
the notion of ―linguistic personality‖ (LP) is
of greatest importance (2, 4, 5, 6).
One of the significant peculiarities of
literary
discourse
in
linguopragmatic
interpretation of LP is the factor of emotional
impact on the addressee. Emotional impact,
being one of the important types of pragmatic
intentions, is verbalized in the text by means
of convergence. Convergence of stylistic
devices is one of the types of foregrounding
and is defined as ―an accumulation of stylistic
devices and expressive means within one
fragment of the text. Stylistic means brought
together enforce both logical and emotive
emphasis of each other, thus attracting
attention to certain parts of the text‖ (1, pp.93,
140).
Now let us turn to the analysis of an
interesting illustration, which is the story
The
Garden Party
by Katherine Mansfield. The
story having Laura Sheridan – a pretty upper-
middle class lady – as a central character,
narrates
about
a
sophisticated
social
gathering, i.e. the garden party organized by
Laura‘s family, and the accidental death of a
young local working-class man in the
neighborhood to which Laura and the
members of her family react differently. The
following fragment from the story can serve
as a convincing evidence to the topic being
analyzed:
Laura
put back the receiver, flung her
arms over her head, took a deep breath,
stretched and let them fall
. "Huh," she
sighed, and the moment after the sigh she sat
up quickly. She was still, listening. All the
doors in the house seemed to be open. The
house was alive
with
soft, quick steps
and
running voices
. The green baize door that led
to the kitchen regions swung open and shut
with a
muffled thud
. And now there came a
long,
chuckling
absurd sound. It was the
heavy piano being moved on its stiff castors.
But the air!If you stopped to notice, was the
air always like this?Little faint winds were
playing chase
, in at the tops of the windows,
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out at the doors. And there were two
tiny
spots of sun
, one on the inkpot, one on a
silver photograph frame,
playing
too.
Darling
little spots
. Especially the one on the inkpot
lid. It was quite warm.
A warm little silver
star
. She could have kissed it
.
In the above given fragment emotional
impact is produced by means of convergence
and emotionally colored linguistic units. In
addition, we can notice that a great number of
stylistic devices are in action here: lexical
stylistic devices – personification (
house was
alive,running voices, little faint winds were
playing chase, twotiny spots of sun…playing
too
), epithet (
soft, quick steps, silver star
);
syntactical stylistic means – enumeration,
gradation (
put back the receiver, flung her
arms over her head, took a deep breath,
stretched and let them fall
), exclamatory
sentences (
But the air!
), rhetorical question
(
If you stopped to notice, was the air always
like this?
), elliptical sentences (
Darling little
spots. A warm little silver star
); various types
of repetition including anadiplosis (
It was
quite
warm
. A
warm
little silver star
);
onomatopoeia (
muffled thud, chuckling
).
In the same story, we can notice the
convergence of several stylistic devices
within one sentence, as well:
And the
perfect afternoon slowly
ripened, slowly faded, slowly its petals
closed
.
The stylistically marked units used in
the sentence are: a) gradation – a syntactical
stylistic device based on the arrangement of a
number of statements or a group of words in
an ascending order of importance to show
growing emotional tension. (
ripened, faded,
closed
); b) different types of repetition such
as anaphora, which is the repetition of a word
or phrase at the beginning of several
subsequent lines (
slowly…slowly…slowly
),
parallel construction and asyndeton. It should
be noted that repetition, being one of the most
frequently used expressive means of the
language, is a deliberate, intentional use of the
same words and/or phrases in the literary
discourse, and it aims at calling the attention
of the reader to the key words of the
utterance. ; c) metaphor – the representation
of ―
afternoon”
by means of linguistic units
such as ―
ripened, its petals closed
‖ which are
generally used for the resemblance to the
features indicating flora; d) epithet (
perfect
afternoon
).
No less significant illustration in this
respect is the story
The Apple Tree
by J.
Galsworthy. The story depicts a tragic love
story, the whole-hearted love that Megan – a
beautiful country girl devotes to her lover –
Frank Ashurst:
The
moon had just risen, very golden
,
over the hill, and
like a bright, powerful,
watching spirit peered through
the bars of an
ash
tree's
half-naked
boughs…
He
listened.There was no wind, but
the stream's
burbling whispering chuckle
had
gained
twice its daytime
strength
. One
bird
, he could
not tell what,
cried "Pip-pip," "Pip-pip,"
with perfect monotony
; he could hear a
night-Jar spinning very far off; an owl
hooting. Ashurst moved a step or two, and
again halted, aware of a dim living whiteness
all round his head. On the dark unstirring
trees innumerable
flowers and buds
all soft
and blurred
were being bewitched to life
by
the
creeping moonlight
. He had the oddest
feeling of actual companionship,
as if
amillion white moths or spirits had floated in
and settled
between dark sky and darker
ground, and were opening and shutting their
wings on a level with his eyes. In the
bewildering, still,
scentless beauty of that
moment
he almost lost memory of why he had
come to the orchard
.
The fragment grabs the reader‘s
attention and exerts tremendous emotional
impact by its massive use of stylistically
marked units thereby creating a convergence
of stylistic devices. Here important is the role
of personification, which is repeatedly yet
effectively used in the description of nature as
well as the inner world picture of LP: ―
the
moon…peered
through”,
“half-naked
boughs”, “spirits…had settled”, “flowers
and buds…bewitched to life by the creeping
moonlight”,
“the
stream's
burbling
whispering chuckle had gained twice its
Хорижий филология.
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daytime strength”, “bird cried
‖. As it is
widely known, personification is a stylistic
device in which a thing, an idea or an animal
is given human attributes. In other words,
inanimate objects acquire the quality of living
creature.
Besides
conveying
LP‘s
psychological and emotional state in a
impressive
way,
personification,
also
influences the addressee‘s emotional state
thereby stimulating his/her brain activity in
the process of emotional perception. In
addition, this fragment is characterized by a
high degree of stylistic effect due to the
abundance of other stylistically marked units
such as epithet (
moon had just risen, very
golden; scentless beauty of that moment;
powerful spirit
), polysyndeton (
and… and
….
), asyndeton (
One bird, he could not tell
what, cried "Pip-pip," "Pip-pip," with perfect
monotony; he could hear a night-Jar spinning
very far off; an owl hooting
), simile (
like a
bright, powerful, watching spirit; as if a
million white moths or spirits had floated in
),
hyperbole (
innumerable flowers; a million
white moths or spirits
), onomatopoeia (
"Pip-
pip"; burbling…chuckle
).
Very often emotiveness is embodied in
the speech of LP, especially when s/he is
under the influence of the flow of emotions
and this kind of speech tends to bring out the
inner feelings and thoughts of the LP:
―
Caro, caro, tu non l’haivisto!” it was
murmuring away, in a language Cecilia did
not understand. She lay and writhed her limbs
in the sun, listening intently to words she
could not follow.
Softly, whisperingly, with
infinite caressiveness and yet with that
subtle, insidious arrogance
under its velvet,
came
the voice
, murmuring in Italian:
“Bravo, si, molto bravo, poverino, ma uomo
come te non saràmai, mai, mai!” Oh,
especially in Italian Cecilia heard the
poisonous charm of the voice, so caressive,
so soft and flexible, yet so utterly egoistic
.
She hated it with intensity as it sighed and
whispered out of nowhere.
Why, why
should
it be
so delicate, so subtle and flexible and
beautifully controlled, when she herself
was
so clumsy? Oh, poor Cecilia, she writhed in
the afternoon sun, knowing her own
clownish
clumsiness
and
lack
of
suavity,
in
comparison.” (D.H. Lawrence “The Lovely
Lady”, p.13)
The fragment describes the situation
where Cecilia accidentally gets to hear her
aunt Paulina‘s talking to herself in Italian and
finds about her past wrong deeds. Here the
important is the role of represented speech
which the author conveys through the
thoughts of Cecilia. In other words, the author
reveals Paulina‘s personality characteristics
through the unuttered speech of Cecilia. A
peculiar feature of the emotiveness of the
fragment is not separate use of emotionally
colored units, but their convergence that
creates
emotive
density
of
the
text.
Particularly, a significant role in creating
emotiveness is assigned to the use of
numerous genuine
epithets,
which create
subjective evaluation: ―
Softly, whisperingly,
with infinite caressiveness and yet with that
subtle, insidious arrogance under its velvet,
came the voice
‖, ―
poisonous charm of the
voice, so caressive, so soft and flexible, yet so
utterly egoistic”, “so delicate, so subtle and
flexible
and
beautifully
controlled”,
“clownish clumsiness”;
antithesis:
“flexible
– clumsy”, “caressiveness - arrogance”;
oxymoron
: “poisonous charm””
various
types of repetitions
: “so…so…”, “Why,
why..”, “and … and”;
contextual synonymic
repetitions:
“
whisperingly”,
“softly”,
“murmuring”, “caressive”, “beautifully”,
“delicate”, “flexible” (voice) ;
barbarisms
:
“Bravo”.
The another extract from the same
story is embodied with emotiveness by
various stylistically marked units:
There was dead silence
. Poor Cecilia
lay with all the use gone out of her. And
there
was dead silence
. Till at last came the
whisper:
“
I
didn’t kill Henry.
No, no! No, no!
Henry, surely you can’t blame me!
I loved
you, dearest; I only wanted to help you
.”
“You killed me!” came the
deep,
artificial, accusing voice
. “Now
let
Robert
live.
Let
him go
! Let
him marry!”
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There was
a pause.
“How
very, very awful
!” mused the
whispering voice. “Is it possible, Henry, you
are a spirit, and you
condemn me
?”
“Yes, I
condemn you
!”
Cecilia felt all the pent-up rage going
down that rain-pipe. At the same time, she
almost
laughed.
It
was
awful
.
(D.H.Lawrence, “The lovely lady” p.14)
A significant role in producing
emotional impact here is assigned to various
types of repetitions. In this story, particularly,
in this fragment various types of repetitions
become a signal of emotional information.
For instance, ―
No, no! No, no!”, “very,
very”;
anaphora
: “there was… there was”,
“I….I”,
“Let…
Let”;
epiphora
:
“awful…awful”, “condemn …. condemn”;
framing
: “There was dead silence… there
was dead silence”;
gradation
:
―
I loved you,
dearest; I only wanted to help you”, “let
Robert live. Let him go! Let him marry!”.
In
combinationwith various types of repetitions
the other stylistic means such as oxymoron
(
dead silence
) and epithet (
deep, artificial,
accusing voice)
all taken together they
promote the effect of emotional tension and
gradation.
We often meet the intensifying
function of emotions (feelings, moods), i.e.
emotionally expressive function, emotional
evaluation, state of LPs in literary works. A
nice example to illustrate the intensifying
function of emotions can be the extract from
the novel ―The painted veil‖ by S.Maugham:
―
Oh, my dear, my dear, I'm so
dreadfully sorry for you
”. Dorothy took the
hand that was hanging by Kitty's side and
pressed it…”But you must. You can't go away
and live by yourself in your own house.
It
would be dreadful for you!
”…“And when I
heard that you'd gone with your husband into
the jaws of death,
without a moment's
hesitation.
I felt such
a frightful cad.
I felt
so
humiliated.
You've been so wonderful,
you've been so brave
, you make all the rest of
us look so
dreadfully
cheap and second-rate.'
Now the tears were pouring down her kind,
homely face. 'I can't tell you
how much I
admire
you and what a respect I have for you.
I know I can do nothing to make up for your
terrible loss, but I want you to know how
deeply, how sincerely I feel for you. And if
you'll only allow me to do a little something
for you it will be a privilege. Don't bear me a
grudge because 1 misjudged you.
You're
heroic and I'm just a silly fool of a woman
.”
(S.Maugham “The painted veil” p.131)
Dorothy Townsend, who had treated
Kitty coldly before her trip to the cholera
epidemic area, suddenly changes her attitude
towards Kitty, who returns to Hong Kong
after her husband‘s death. The above given
fragment describes Dorothy‘s sympathetic
attitude filled with love towards widowed
Kitty. The emotional state of LP here is
produced
by
convergence
ofvarious
stylistically
marked
means
such
as
repetitions :
my dear, my dear;
parallel
structures :
I felt ... I felt; you've been ...
you've been;
metaphors :
the jaws of death;
repetitions of emotional amplifiers :
how
and so: so wonderful , so brave, so
humiliated; how deeply, how sincerely;
exclamatory sentences :
It would be dreadful
for you!;
gradation
: ... Dorothy took Kitty in
her arms .., kissed her .., her ... face bore an
expression of real concern .., took her hand
and pressed it .., Dorothy elapsed her hands
and her voice, her cool, deliberate and
distinguished voice, was tremulous with tears;
The following example employs the
convergence to disclose the emotional,
psychological, inner state of the LP as well as
his/her evaluative characterization:
'I don't feel human. I feel like an
animal. A pig or a rabbit or a dog
. Oh, I
don't blame you, I was just as bad. But
it
wasn't the real me
I'm not that
hateful,
beastly, lustful woman.
I disown her.
It
wasn't me
that...
It was
only the animal in me,
dark and fearful
like an evil spirit, and I
disown, and hate, and despise it.
And ever
since,
when I've thought of it, my gorge rises
and I feel that I must vomit
.'(S. Maugham,
“Painted Veil”, p.198).
The main character of the novel, Kitty,
deeply regrets her betrayal to her recently
Хорижий филология.
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deceased husband. Her emotional state under
deep remorse is expressed by numerous
stylistically marked units such as
antithesis:
I
don't feel human. I feel like an animal;
metaphor :
a pig or a rabbit or a dog;
metaphorical and simple epithet :
beastly
woman; evil spirit.;
gradation :
and I disown,
and hate, and despise;
parallel constructions
: It wasn't me that ... It was; comparison : like
an animal, like an evil spirit;
hyperbole :
when I've thought of it, my gorge rises and I
feel that I must vomit;
simile:
dark and
fearful like an evil spirit.
Another literary work that is suitable
for the analysis in terms of exerting emotional
impact is ―A cup of tea‖ by K. Mansfield. The
following fragment from the story illustrates
the aforementioned assumptions:
"How
extraordinary!"
Rosemary
peered through the dusk and the girl gazed
back at her. How more than extraordinary!
And suddenly it seemed to Rosemary such an
adventure. It was
like something out of a
novel by Dostoevsky
, this meeting in the dusk.
Supposing she took the girl home?
Supposing
she did do one of those things she was always
reading about or seeing on the stage, what
would happen? It would be thrilling. And she
heard herself saying afterwards to the
amazement of her friends: "I simply took her
home with me".
Represented
speech,
i.e.
the
unification/combination of authors speech and
LP‘s internal speech promotes convergence of
stylistic devices such as
exclamatory
sentences:
How more than extraordinary!
;
Rhetorical question :
Supposing she took the
girl home?;
simile :
was like something out of
a novel by Dostoevsky
; represented speech :
Supposing she did do one of those things she
was always reading about or seeing on the
stage, what would happen?
. Afterwards, she
imagines herself replying to the amazement of
her friends by saying: "I simply took her
home with me". Thus, the inner qualities of
LP such as selfishness, hypocrisy, and the
desire to brag about her so-called ―kind-
heartedness‖ are revealed by means of
convergence.
To draw a conclusion, stylistic means
brought together enforce both logical and
emotive emphasis of each other, thus
attracting attention to certain parts of the text.
Besides exerting certain emotional impact, the
convergence
discloses
emotional,
psychological state of LP, and reveals certain
information about conceptual world picture of
LP.
The list of used literature:
1.
Ashurova D.U., Text linguistics. Tashkent – 2012
2.
Ashurova D.U., Galiyeva M.R. Stylistics of literary text. – 2013.
3.
Бенвенист Э. Общая лингвистика. – М.: Наука, 1985. – 321 c.
4.
Воробьѐв В.В. Языковая личность и национальная идея // Народное образование.
- 1998. – №5.- С. 25-30
5.
Караулов Ю.Н. Русская языковая личность и задачи ее изучения // Язык и
личность. М., 1989. С. 3-1.
6.
Нормуродова Н.З. Выражение языковой личности в художественном диалоге (на
материале английского языка). Автореферат кандидата филологических наук. – Самарканд,
2012.- 26с.
Нормуродова Н.
Конвергенсия лисоний шахс таркибида эмоционал ҳодиса
сифатида.
Мақолада лисоний шахснинг ижтимоий мақоми, унинг эмоционал ҳолати,
характери, коммуникантларнинг муносабатини очиб берадиган стилистик воситалар
конвергенцияси орқали лингвопрагматик хусусиятларнинг аҳамияти очиб берилган.
Нормуродова Н. Конвергенсия как эмоциональная импактность в языковой
личности.
В статье определены лингвопрагматические особенности языковой личности,
направленные на выявление социального и профессионального статуса, ролевых личностных
отношений между коммуникантами, а также роль конвергенции стилистических приемов
для определения эмоционального состояния коммуникантов и черт их характера.
