Chapter VI, Part 2
12.
If language is an eminently practical theory about how the world of human
knowledge and experience is organised (I.35), then style is a still more
practice-driven theory about how particular views of the world and of the
discourse participants can be mediated by motivated sets of language choices.
Influential Stylistic Parameters have the function of winnowing down the
plausible choices and proposing ways for cohesion and coherence to crystallise.
They aim at taking account of the motives of the text producer and the response
of the receiver, such as projecting a ‘verbal image’ that comes across as
‘likeability’ or ‘personal attractiveness’
(VI.19).
13.
My review of these Parameters will draw together factors that have in the main
variously appeared earlier in this book in discussions of the triad of
Lexicogrammar, Prosody, and Visuality, so my treatment here might resemble a
modest a wrap-up. Whereas Lexicogrammatical Parameters are more discrete (e.g..
Affirmative or Negative; Present or Past), Stylistic Parameters tend to be more
scalar (more or less Weight; smoother or rougher Flow), and Prosody falls in
between (e.g. Strong Stress or Weak Stress; Front Weight, Mid Weight, or End
Weight).
14.
We have repeatedly noticed the Parameter of Markedness applying to
options chosen for a distinct motive (cf. III.82ff; VI.10.12).30 For Polarity, the plain Affirmative is least marked [1681] and the emphatic
more marked [1682]; the plain Negative [1683] is more marked than the plain
Affirmative, and the multiple Nega-tive is still more marked [1684]. Perhaps the
most marked is the trendy Negative tacking on ‘not’ in its own Tone Group after an Affirmative Clause [1685-86].
[1681] I want
money for the trip to Amsterdam (Van Gogh)
[1682]
‘I do want money’, he says with
conviction (Crow’s Calling)www
[1683] ‘I don’t
want money’, said Tony. ‘I want the piano’. (Piano)
[1684] ‘I don’t
want no money from you’, said Linda, ‘I don’t trust yer’ (Sergeant
Joe)
[1685] We
caught a night bus to Ipoh, arriving at 04:30, très compos mentis (not!) (Jodie)www
[1686] One awaits the geriatric Techno of the next century with
interest. Not. (NME)
For
Degree, the Positive is least marked [1687] and the doubled Superlative is the
most marked [1688].
[1687] He is a handsome man:
tall, fair, with blue eyes, and a Grecian profile. (Eyre)
[1688]
he is the most handsomest man
I ever
saw in my life. (Jones)
For
Tenses, the least marked are the Simple Present for a continuing State [1689] or
a habitual Action [1690], and the Simple Past for a single Action [1691]. The
more marked Tenses are the more complex ones like the Future Successive [1692]
(cf. III.85).
[1689] Our Lord is
alive. He lives and all is
well. (I Believe)
[1690] Tony snores
all the time. (conversation)BNC
[1691] Biff snorted.
(Twist of Fate)
[1692] This hotmail-clone will be going to
have many more security features. (HOTCLONE)www
For
Transitivity, the Active and Passive are least marked for a distinctly
Dispositive Action in a simple Clause [1693-94]. Markedness can be raised either
by elaborating the Circumstances [1695-96] or by formatting something as a
Dispositive that does not qualify, such as Emotions [1697-98].
[1693] Flying cow wrecks
car. (Today)
[1694] I was hit by
a flying cow. (Shaun Robinson in Today)
[1695] On the very first lap, Darell Waltrip
unexpectedly hit the brakes hard
in front of Burton and caused
significant front-end nose damage to the Caterpillar #22 Pontiac. (Peoria
Trader)
[1696] Mr Major was hit by an egg thrown from close range by a young man
shouting about unemployment with such force that it cut Mr Major’s
right cheek, splattered his glasses and dribbled down his dark blue suit. (Daily
Telegraph)
[1697]
Yui blinked away unwanted tears as a new wave of deep
sadness and heartbreak hit her bllindside. (Xenogears)www
[1698] That new life had barely begun however when the family’s
Australian adventure was hit by heartbreak. (Daily Telegraph)
The Medial is unmarked as an everyday Attribute or
bodily Enactment [1699-1700]. More marked options format the same as if it were
Active [1701] or Passive [1702], or have an Agent that would be incapable of the
Enactment [1703-04].
[1699]
Our house is ugly! (Ex-Etiquette)www
[1700]
He laughed and hiccupped. (Alteration)www
[1701]
‘The Shadow knows’, the voice
said, and laughed a laugh that clabbered milk. (Blackout)www
[1702]
The
last
good
laughs were laughed with Monty Python’s Flying Circus (Bast-wood)www
[1703]
The path that I walked seemed to laugh at me as I struggled on (Mylander)www
[1704]
Jo was raised on a sandhill that shook whenever the San Andreas Fault hiccupped.
(Jo Clayton)www
For
Clause Types, the plain Declarative is the least marked [1705], and the
Exclamatory more so [1706], whereas some versions of the Optative sound quite
marked to us today [1707].
[1705] I sleep now in eternal
rest (California
Peace Officers Memorial)www
[1706] What a sleep it was, content,
peaceful and so happy to be alive! (Jodie)www
[1707] Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast! Would I
were sleep and peace, so sweet to rest! (Romeo)
15.
The unmarked order of the Declarative Clause in English has the Subject at the
Front, followed by the Verb and then, if present, an Object or an Adverbial (cf.
IV.15). So [1708, 1710, 1712] are unmarked, whereas the contrasting ones are
Marked by fronting an Item ahead of the Subject + Verb, such as an Object
[1709], or a Subject Complement as Noun Phrase [1711] or as Modifier [1713] (cf.
IV.20). The fronted Item stands out and receives Strong Stress, whereas
elsewhere the same Item could get Weak Stress whilst Strong Stress goes to a
nearby Item, as we see from the contrasting examples displayed here.
[1708] Meg had de·!sert·ed ¡him in his hour of need. (Little
Women)
[1709]
!Him they had
de·¡sert·ed,
whether in sheer panic or out of revenge (Treasure)
[1710] It was
a ¡mea·gre !di·et: an annual dinner for Charles’s polo playing friends (Diana)
[1711] I drew out my purse; a !mea·gre ¡thing it was. (Eyre)
[1712] The State of Illinois, south of Chicago, is
an ¡end·less !dump.
(Lucker)
[1713]
!End·less
that ¡af·ter·noon
was. (Dandies)
Intermediate
markedness applies to a postponed Subject coming after its Verb, as in
[1714-15]. This order ensures a Strong Stress for the Subject at End Weight.
[1714]
Forth came the !bride and !bridegroom.
(Wildfell)
[1715]
Coming in the opposite direction was an endless !flood of !mo·tor
cyclists (Belfast Telegraph)
16.
As for Belief, the less marked options are plausibly the non-committal ones like Possible [1716] and Permissible [1717], whereas the more marked options
are the contrary, such as Obligatory [1718] and Impermissible [1719].
[1716]
Maybe they’re top mountaineers training for a Himalayan expedition (First Fifty)
[1717]
‘You
may go’,
said the King, and the Hatter hurriedly left the court. (Alice)
[1718]
‘‘I must, Ludovico — I absolutely must — speak to my aunt
before we go back to the flat.’ He looked back at her and knew the strength of
her will. (Woman of Style)
[1719]
Maxwell had insisted that he would under no circumstances take back his former
employees. […] ‘Grass will grow on my hands before I consider’. (Independent)
Finally,
Trajectory
is necessarily scalar, e.g. a Durative Process lasting a ‘short while’
[1720] as compared to an ‘eternity’ [1721]; or a Frequentive one happening
‘just two or three
times’ [1722]
as compared to ‘over
and over’ [1723].
[1720]
The rain came down in buckets, but it only lasted a short while. (PlayOutside)www
[1721]
He didn’t know how long they were climbing down for, but the ladder felt like
it was going on for eternity. Man, was there an end to this thing? (In
the Dark)www
[1722]
Professional choirs rehearse just two or three
times for a concert (Choir Conductor)www
[1723]
When
this
process
repeats
itself
over and over throughout the day, week after week, month after month, year after year, the body is predisposed to gaining fat. (GR2
Control)www
17.
The Parameter of Weight is higher for items treated as important and
worthy of attention, and lower for the rest. A simple option is repetition,
either right away [1724] or further on [1725]. The repeated Item may take Strong
Stress each time, whether or not visual emphasis by type face is displayed as
well [1725].
[1724]
I am in !hor·ri·ble,
!hor·ri·ble
trouble, Sheila. (Return)
[1725]
This savant said that Mothers held back Civilization through Selfishness. It’s
!fright·ful
to think about, isn’t it? Simply !fright·ful! (Hermione)
Many
languages exploit repetition far more than English.
18.
Prosody can guide Weight by assigning distinctive ‘stress’ or
‘emphasis’, usually to a Content Word, e.g., a Noun [1726] or a Modifier [1727],
but sometimes to a Function Word, e.g., an Auxiliary [1728]
or an Article [1729].
[1726] ‘You’re saying that !New·ley worked a double-cross?’ There was an incredulous stress on the
name. ‘Not !New·ley.’ Dougal stressed the name too. (Freelance Death)
[1727] ‘Rest assured that we’re !dead·ly !ser·ious.’ There
was a nasty emphasis on the last words. (Destined).
[1728] ‘Just how well !did
you know Nicola?’ The gentle stress on the word ‘did’ made it clear
Blanche expected there to be more to their relationship (Taped)
[1729] ‘Did
you know that
Mr. Bevan was !the Mr. Bevan?’ ‘!The Mr. Bevan?’ (Damsel)
Or,
Weight can increase by making the Tone Groups short and thus raising the
incidence of Strong Stresses [1730].
Here too, repetition can serve [1731].
[1730]
There is no recession, my friends. No
!down·turn.
No hard !times.
The rich are wallowing in the loot they’ve accumulated in
the past two decades… (Stupid White Men)
[1731]
‘!Oh!
!nev·er,
!nev·er,
!nev·er!
he !nev·er
will succeed with me.’ And she spoke with a warmth which quite astonished
Edmund. (Mansfield)
Interjections
attain their Higher Weight by placing Strong Stress on Items of short Length
[1732-33] (cf. IV.98). Some have in fact been shortened over time, perhaps to
sound less blasphemous, e.g. ‘God blind me’ => ‘blimey’ [1734];
‘God’s wounds’ => ‘zounds’ [1735]; ‘God rot’ => ‘drat’
[1736].
[1732] Me? Pinch wallets? !Cri·key, what an insult. (Sergeant Joe)
[1733] ‘Ian Paisley — !ugh!’ she
said with
feeling. She
had a
nice line
in ‘ughs’. (Jaunting)
[1734] !Bli·mey, he
even looks
older than
me and
that’s saying
something. (Liverpool Echo)
[1735]
‘To tell you plainly, we have been afraid of a son of a whore.’ […]
‘Why, !zounds!’ (Jones)
[1736] ‘Oh !drat!’
said Clare. ‘I left my umbrella under the seat.’ (Picturegoers)
19.
Visuality can guide Weight
by orthographic means [1737-38]
(V.32), or by a short Tone Group placed in a separate paragraph [1739-40].
[1737] All these ballots violated Florida law yet they all were counted.
Can I say this any louder? Bush didn’t win!
Gore did! (Stupid White Men)
[1738]
Whether I’m in Texas or Florida, when I hear the words Governor
Bush, I instinctively respond with a ‘STOP
HIM!’ (same)
[1739]
What state was it that offered Jeb and George a helping hand by sending this
bogus list to Florida?
Texas.
(same)
[1740]
One testing-company CEO told a gathering of Wall Street analysts that Bush’s
education law ‘reads like our business plan’.
No
surprise. (Bushwhacked)
20.
Lexical contributions to Weight can be made with contrasting choices:
[1741]
Lady Dedlock […] fell not into the !melt·ing,
but rather into the !freez·ing,
mood. (Bleak House)
[1742]
the Bellman, perplexed and distressed, said
he had hoped, at least, when the wind blew due !East,
that the ship would not travel due !West!
(Snark)
Or,
Weight falls on uncommon lexical choices, e.g., the Modifiers in ‘a
canary-headed woman’ [1743] or ‘a fish-mouthed woman’ [1744], as compared
to the ‘good
woman’
or ‘kind
woman’
(in whom
almost
‘no one’
was
‘interested’) [1745].
[1743] her ladyship was a canary-headed
woman, and
given to
flights and
tantrums (Parish)
[1744] She was a fish-mouthed
woman with a hard eye, and as I told my errand her mouth grew fishier and the
eye harder. (O’Hara)
[1745] She was a good woman, a kind woman,
a diligent woman, but no one, save perhaps Tinka her ten-year-old, was at all
interested in her (Babbitt)
Similarly,
the Weight may go to an unpredictable choice of Object for a common Verb, as
when a spaniel with pricey tastes ‘eats’ the family’s ‘money’ [1746],
or ‘patients drink’ a yucky medication by the ‘bottle’ [1747], as
compared to prosaic-ally ‘eating dinner’ [1748], or ‘drinking a toast’
(after ‘standing and raising your glasses’, no less) [1749]. The placement
of Strong and Weak Stresses reflects the difference in Weight.
[1746] I couldn’t believe it when Bonnie ate the !mon·ey. […] she once ate a £35 !cheque. (Daily Mirror)
[1747] Patients drank a bottle of magnesium !cit·rate each night (Gut)
[1748] They ate their ¡din·ner in silent !gloom (Who, Sir?)
[1749] stand and raise your glasses and drink a ¡toast
to the
¡health of your !hosts
(Wedding)
Unpredictable
too are facetious shifts among Collocations lending incompatible senses to the
same Verb [1750], a usage sometimes called ‘syllepsis’.
[1750]
In the morning Turpin would take bromo-seltzer, his hat,
no breakfast and his departure for the office. At noon Mrs. Turpin
would get out of bed and humour, put on a kimono,
airs, and the water for coffee. (Whirligigs)
Least
predictable of all are pointedly unprecedented choices [1751-53].
[1751] He placed his fist, in the mathematical centre of the table, and with it
gave a bump or two, as if to ensure that their eyes took in the idea of fistiness
(Madding Crowd)
[1752] Its low-pitched gables and thatched roof and
latticed windows give it quite a story-book appearance, while inside it is even
still more once-upon-a-timeyfied. (Three Men)
[1753] Having just shelled out for yet another year’s subscription to
fabbo Guitarist magazine, I was raisy-eyebrowed to see the
‘Postscript’ (Guitarist )
21.
Grammatical and Prosodic contributions can be made by organising Clauses in
respect to the placement of Weight. Since the unmarked choice for the Statement
or Declarative Clause is End Weight, with a Certain Strong Stress on an Item at
or near the End (cf. IV.15; VI.15), this can be heightened by placing
contrasting items like ‘alligator’ and ‘crocodile’ [1754]; or by using
Frames to describe the intense Weight in Communicative Processes [1755-56],
possibly tapping the Visuality of gesture as well
[1757].
[1754] I will no longer be housekeeper if you don’t send away that !al·li·ga·tor.’ ‘It’s
a !croc·o·dile.’ (Dolittle)
[1755]
Father appeared at the top of the stairs. ‘Andrew!’ he shouted
in that horrible voice which means you’re supposed to do what he says
instantly. (English Crime)
[1756]
‘That’s what Jagulars always do’, said
Pooh. ‘They call “Help! Help!” and then when you look up, they drop on
you.’ ‘I’m looking !down’, cried
Piglet loudly (Pooh)
[1757] ‘Those facts and circumstances, gentlemen,
you shall hear […] proved by the unimpeachable female whom I will place in
that !box before you.’ Here Mr Serjeant Buzfuz, with a
tremendous emphasis on the word ‘box’, smote his table with a mighty
sound. (Pickwick)
22.
One marked version of the Declarative to guide the assignment of Weight is
called a Cleft Pattern, because what might be one Clause gets ‘cleft’
(split) into two Clauses (III.57). In the ‘it’-Cleft Pattern, the first part
has the Circumstantial Dummy Pronoun ‘it’
as the Subject of the Verb ‘be’ and a Subject Complement upon which a
Relative Clause introduced by ‘who’, ‘when’, ‘where’, and so on
depends in the second part. Whilst the unstressed Subject and Verb have very Low
Weight, End Weight and Strong Stress enhance the Weight of the Subject
Complement, e.g., a Human [1758], a Time [1759], or a Place [1760].
[1758] He was dressed like an American, it was !she who looked English (So Very English)
[1759] It
was 4:30 a.!m.
when I finally said my farewell to the French family (Invasion)
[1760] It was in !Ed·in·burgh where boardroom manoeuvring was at its
most intriguing. (Hampden Babylon)
In
the ‘what’-Cleft Pattern, ‘what’ can lead off almost like a
Question-Word (suggesting somebody wanted to know), followed by the Subject and
Pro-Verb ‘do’, then ‘be’ plus an Infinitive (with or without ‘to’)
for an Action; in effect, the first Clause gets Framed like the Subject of the
entire Sentence. This Option announces an Action being ‘done’ before specifying it, and the brief
suspense lends it more Weight; yet End Weight tends to put Strong Stress on the
Target of the Action and assigns Weak Stress to the Action Verb [1761-62].
[1761]
What tolerance does is to im·¡part spiritual
!in·sight (Philosophy of Gandhi)
[1762]
In good business, what you do is ¡raise the !mon·ey and then ¡start
the !proj·ect. (Country Living)
Alternately,
‘what’ can be the
Subject of a Verb like ‘happen’ followed
by a Dependent Clause [1763], or (less often) ‘occur’ or ‘take place’ with a Participle
[1764-65].
[1763] What
happened was
I sent
away a
letter to
the Essex
Police Force. (Stranger’s Trust)
[1764] What occurred was the
deepening of its concepts to include racial and hereditary factors. (Dangerous Sexualities)
[1765] What took place was a
widening and deepening of consumption so that goods previously confined to the
wealthier classes came to be purchased next by the middle-income ranks and then,
to some degree, by the lower. (Vital
Century)
23.
The Parameter of Flow centres on the Prosodic
Parameters of Stress (stronger and weaker), Pitch (higher and lower), Volume
(louder and softer), and Pace (slower and faster) (IV.5), and above all
on the placement of Stresses and Pauses. It has mainly been noted for poetry,
though in my schooling we only heard about the alternation between
‘stressed’ and ‘unstressed’. Just two options would create a flat
sing-song patter, say, for reciting a light-hearted limerick like [1766],
with ‘round’ oddly unstressed, then stressed. Higher-quality poetry
manifests a varying Flow and distinguishes between Strong and Weak Stress, as in
Shake-spearean sonnets like the stanza in [1767].
[1766] There !was an Old !La·dy of !Chert·sey, |
Who
!made
a re·!mark·a·ble
!curt·sey;
||
She
!twirled
round and !round,
|
Till
she !sunk
un·der·!ground,
|
Which
dis·!tressed
all the !peo·ple
of !Cher·tsey.
(Edward Lear)
[1767] !Wear·y with ¡toil, I ¡haste me to my !bed,
|
The
¡dear
re·!pose
for !limbs
with !trav·el
¡tired,
||
But
¡then
be·¡gins
a !jour·ney
¡in
my !head
To
!work
my !mind,
|
when
!bod·y’s
¡work’s
ex·!pired.
(Sonnet
XXVII)
Low
Weight for Predictability counsels Weak Stress on ‘toil’, ‘tired’, and
‘work’s’.
24.
The Flow of prose has received far less attention than it merits, It is not
fully regular and prefers an unmarked Prosody with Stressed Syllables occurring
at approximately similar intervals, whether they are separated by one, two, or
three Unstressed Syllables; the greater the number, the faster they tend to be
spoken (IV.11).31 This tendency has led some sources to call English
a ‘stress-timed language’, as opposed to a ‘syllable-timed’ one.32
25.
In a deliberate style, an even Flow moves nicely along, as in [1768], allowing
for an occasional brief Pause |
or a longer Pause ||,
and not bunching up either Stressed or Unstressed Syllables.
[1768]
¡For
to be !i·dle
|| ¡is
to be·¡come
a !stran·ger
¡unto
the !sea·sons,
|| and step ¡out
of !life’s
pro·!ces·sion
| that !march·es
in !maj·es·ty
and ¡proud
sub·!mis·sion
¡toward
the !in·fin·ite.
(Prophet)
An
uneven flow does not provide for Pauses, and bunches up either the Stressed
Syllables, as in [1769], where the Pace gets slowed down and sounds ponderous;
or else the Unstressed Syllables, as in [1770], where the Pace gets speeded up
and sounds mumbled. Still, both options for bunching can be exploited for
special effects, e.g. to project ‘force’ about the repudiation of tyranny
[1771], sarcasm about a parade of foppish actions for the love-sick Lord Berowne
[1772], or a profusion of verbosity from ‘journalists’ [1773].
[1769] There is a ¡big ¡old
!hump-¡necked !herd !bull ¡right in the middle of his wives and children. (Saigon)
[1770] It was recognised that the exclusive pursuit of higher things was
very ¡like·ly to be un·re·!mun·er·a·tive ex·¡cept in ¡cer·tain of the more ¡sale·a·ble !arts. (Age of Capital)
[1771]
The people are mightier than a lord, and […] we — !can — !not — !be — !put — !down.’ Each of the words came out separately with the force of an oak peg
hammered into a hole. (Cameron)
[1772] Well, I will !love, !write, !sigh, !pray, !sue, and !groan (Love’s Labour Lost)
[1773]
The journalists […] can more solemnly be said to be practising a modern art of
indirection, of the ¡un·in·!tel·li·gi·ble and
the
in·!ter·min·a·ble
(Authors)
Such
effects should be used in moderation lest they sound obtrusive or ostentatious.
26.
Flow can interact with Markedness in the Lexicogrammar for an Item in a marked
position, e.g., a Modifier after its Noun with a Strong Stress and a Pause
[1774] versus ahead of it with Weak Stress and no Pause [1775].
[1774]
Then he worked back down one of the nearly parallel ranges that lie out
desertward — a lonely, inhospitable land, | !beau·ti·ful,
terrible. (Little Rain)
[1775] Vicarage Farm
is and
grey and
chilly but
surrounded by
¡beau·ti·ful
land. (Guardian)
Inside a Sentence, the Flow is more likely to
make a Pause before or after a Depend-ent Clause when the latter is long [1776],
than when it’s short [1777] (cf. V.57).
[1776] the element of statehood was severely tested by the event of Bloody
Sunday, | when
thirteen demonstrators were killed by British soldiers (Tragedy of Belief)
[1777]
It was extremely fortunate that she came here when
she did. (Crimson)
Inside
a Clause, Dashes can show where the Flow registers an internal Tone Group set off by Pauses, e.g.,
between Subject and Verb [1778] or Verb and Object [1779].
[1778]
That young man | — you will observe — | had none of these inducements
(Jim)
[1779] A good sort of fellow, but
he demands | — and rightly — | a suitable provision (Howard’s End)
27.
Flow can interact with Weight in the Prosody, e.g., by speaking ‘slowly and
deliberately’ [1780] or by ‘stretching
out the words’ [1781].
[1780]
‘Pooh! Pooh!’ said John Thornton. ‘Buck can start a thousand
pounds.’ […] ‘Well’,
Matthewson said, slowly and deliberately, so that all could hear,
‘I’ve got a thousand dollars that says he can’t.’ (Call of the Wild)
[1781]
‘I don’t like Condoleezza Rice because she’s a murderer’, McGruder said.
[He] repeated the accusation, stretching out his words, ‘S-h-e’-s
a m-u-r-d-e-r-e-r.’ (News-max)www
Here,
the Weight contributes to placing a staggering bet on a sleigh dog [1780] or
interpreting unprovoked war for what it is — murder [1781].
28.
Pausing in the Flow can set off other Patterns if at least one Strong Stress
occurs, such as a Minor Non-Finite Clause sharing its Subject with the Subject
of the Clause it depends on [1782-83] (cf. IV.102); or a weighty Appositive
[1784].
[1782] Leaving the
bed of the !creek, |
we
marched onwards (Amazons)
[1783]
Aeneas, |
wondering at the !sight,
| asked the Sibyl, ‘Why this
discrimination?’ (Golden Age of Myth)
[1784] Grom the
Paunch, | a notorious !Gob·lin king, | sails from the Old World (High Elves)
A
Pause in the Flow without falling silent can use a Filler that is not an
authentic Word. The huge favourite in the BNC is ‘erm’ (47,756 occurrences),
e.g. in [1785]. The filler can also function to signal hesitation [1786] or
scepticism [1787].
[1785] And erm Tampax were involved for another reason erm
the advertisements them-selves caused a great furore because erm Tampax
was a fairly new invention (Museum Society)BNC
[1786]
They called a caucus for lesbian and gay activists and I went along, tentatively
saying, ‘I’m an, erm, bisexual, can I come in?’ (Radical Records)BNC
[1787]
The, erm, legendary Daevid Allen gets ‘em smoochin’ to the softly
soulful sounds of Planet Gong. (NME)
The
Filler ‘um’ or ‘umm’ may betray an impulse to evade the truth [1788-89].
[1788] ‘There’s something I want to see on
television’, I lied. ‘What’s that?’ ‘Er, um —' I began.
‘That’s just an excuse.’ (Dandelion Days)
[1789]
‘Were you on your skateboard in the garden today?’ ‘Umm — umm
— not today.’ ‘Yes you were.’ (conversation)BNC
These
Fillers can retard the Pace for longer times, mainly by stretching the nasal
‘m’ or the resonant ‘r’, which can be visually rendered by orthography
(cf. V.32):
[1790] Oliver: Where did you find it? Bill:
Ummmmm. I think it was there somewhere (conversation)BNC
[1791]
He decides, after years of going ‘errrrmmm’ and ‘uuummmm’,
that they signed the band because ‘They’re, eerrmmm, different’. (NME)
29.
The Parameter of Complexity follows the type, extent, or variety of
relations among sets of choices. Lexical complexity may come from combining
common choices with uncommon or specialised choices, as in [1792]. Grammatical
complexity may come from constructing elaborate Clause Patterns, with multiple
dependencies among Finite or Non-Finite Clauses, as in [1793].
[1792]
These statistical methods in combination with carefully constructed reference
portfolios control well for the new rebalancing, and skewness
biases (Stock Returns)
[1793]
The objects of the passions are […] so easy to be kept from our knowledge,
that the characters of man’s heart, blotted and confounded as they are with
dissembling, lying, counterfeiting, and erroneous doctrines, are legible only to
him that searcheth hearts. (Leviathan)
30.
Widespread belief holds spoken English to be simpler and written English more
complex, but authentic usage is flexible. Simple grammar in a spoken series of
simple Clauses is of course natural in conversation [1794]; yet speech can attain grammatical complexity by
spontaneously building clear patterns of clausal dependencies [1795]. Careful
public speech favours lexical complexity [1796].
[1794]
We’ve been out this morning |
that’s right |
we got back in and I was then going to go over to Saint Mary’s church club (conversation)BNC
[1795]
I must say I don’t think twice now about opening that window whereas before I
only did it reluctantly because of all the dust. (conversation)BNC
[1796]
It seems to me essential to have a constant mutual exchange of experiences
between those who are responsible for implementing projects in recipient
countries, in order to achieve a synergistic effect. (European Parliament)
Reciprocally,
many fine writers prefer a simple style, e.g.:
[1797]
A large part of our goods were still produced on the domestic system.
Manufactures were little concentrated in towns, and only partially separated
from agriculture. The ‘manufacturer’, was, literally, the man who worked
with his own hands in his own cottage. (Arnold Toynbee)
31.
Social attitudes are ambivalent. Typically, ‘simple’ is explicitly valued
[1798] whilst ‘complicated’ is not [1799].
[1798] It is essential that school-leavers should be
able to write a letter in polite, direct, and simple
style. (Common Policy)
[1799]
It is important to avoid using jargon
and complicated language. (Anxiety and Stress)
Yet complex style can bid for authority, notably in bureaucratic discourse
like [1800], where the missing Comma or Semicolon before ‘apart from’
(= except for) even elicits a garden path effect (cf. V.64); compare my [1800a].
[1800]
A large proportion of the elderly receiving supplementary benefit are elderly
women living alone and apart from those belonging to the very top socio-economic
group, such women may be in receipt of supplementary benefit irrespective of the
socio-economic background of themselves or their deceased
husbands. (Social Policy)
[1800a] Elderly people receiving supplementary benefit are mostly widows living alone; and unless they are very wealthy, their socio-economic status, or that of their deceased husbands, may not be relevant.
Unhappily,
complex style can be exploited to garner authority for dubious discourse moves,
e.g., legal discourse for disempowering the ordinary citizen and forcing them
into a costly dependency on lawyers [1801-02] (cf. VII.8).
[1801] No forbearance or failure by the Employer at any time to require performance of any provision of the Agreement or to enforce strictly the obligations of the Employee or to take action to suspend the Employee or to determine the Agreement forthwith upon discovering cause therefore shall effect the right of the Employer to do so at any time. (Gleeds Group)
[1802] For purposes of Clause 1, material terms of a
contract shall not be treated as contingent on the issuance of an FCC tax
certificate solely because such terms provide that the sale price would, if such
certificate were not issued, be increased by an amount not greater than 10
percent of the sale price otherwise provided in the contract. (provision quietly
inserted by Carol Mosely Brown into a Congress
Bill)
In
plain language, your ‘Employer’ reserves the right to ‘suspend’ you for
not doing something never ‘required’ before [1801]. And the sale of some
television stations owned by gabillionaire Robert Murdoch to the Chicago
Tribune was exempted from a ban on tax breaks [1802], handing between $30
and $63 million to Murdoch and $13 million to the Tribune.33
32.
Normally, simple style raises Weight [1803-04]. Complex style lowers it, the
more
so
when
the
speaker ‘rambles on’
[1805] or ‘drones’ [1806], thus discouraging people from listening at all.
[1803] ‘And
what do you want to do with your life?’ ‘Save things’, she said simply.
‘Whales, dolphins, forests’. (My Heart)
[1804] ‘Mr Boldwood has shot my husband.’ Her
statement of the fact in such quiet and simple
words came with more force than a tragic declamation (Madding Crowd)
[1805] She rambled on, ‘We had a broken night,
too, Little Trevor was sick three times — too many sweeties before bedtime, I
expect, so I’m all behind like the cow’s tail this morning.’ (Flood
Water)
[1806]
‘We were all hoping’, Mr Smith said, droning nasally, ‘that you
would be able to consolidate your position here by forming a positive working
relationship with the remainder of the road gang, who, in all fairness, I’m
sure you’d be the first to agree, have done their very best to, well…’ (Walking
on Glass)
33.
To integrate complexity, parallelism reuses a grammatical
pattern with some lexical changes
[1806].
[1807] After a war undertaken
by the most stupid
[Claudius], maintained by the most dissolute [Nero],
and terminated by the most timid [Domitian] of
all the emperors, the far greater part of the island submitted to the Roman yoke
(Decline)
[1808] If you kill inside
the country you get in trouble. If you kill outside
the country, right time, right season, latest enemy, you get a medal. (Joan Baez)
[1809] Cowardice asks the question, is it safe?
Expediency asks
the question, is it politic? Vanity
asks the question,
is it popular? But conscience
asks the question, is it right? (Martin Luther King, Jr)
As
we shall see, variations in complexity can readily distinguish styles.
34.
The stylistic Parameter of Attitude, which is so pervasive that it might
be alternately included among the Lexicogrammatical Parameters, distinguishes
between Ameliorative for what is good or approved, versus Pejorative for what is
bad or disapproved (cf.
II.153f 162; III.32, 36f, 62; V.21, 32). They are most
percep-tible in the Lexicon accruing to individual word-meanings, as in
[1810-11].34
[1810] the Head of Fashion remembers her as ‘an outstanding
character, a marvellous girl, always amusing and sparky’.
(Independent)
[1811]
On his tomb he ordered the inscription, ‘A wretched, poor and helpless
worm.’ (church magazine).
At
high intensity, lexical Attitudes may sound insincere or comically overdone:
[1812]
Viola:
Most radiant, exquisite, and unmatchable beauty […]
Olivia: I forgive you the praise.
Viola: Alas, I took great pains to study it, and ‘tis
poetical.
Olivia: It is the more like to be feigned; I pray you keep
it in. (Twelfth Night)
[1813] Begone! thou man of mischief!
Remorseless and implacable miscreant! (Wieland)
Lexical
Attitudes may turn paradoxical, giving badness to ‘do-gooder’ [1814] or
‘goody goody’ [1815], and goodness to ‘badder’ [1816] or ‘baddest’
[1817].
[1814] Sarah is arrogant, muddling and patronising,
and quite one of the most utterly tiresome busybody quasi do-gooders I know (personal letter)BNC
[1815]
The Lady
of Light
is not
a ‘goody goody’ saintly child, irritatingly
priggish. (Today)
[1816]
The Darwin site is back, bigger, badder, and better than ever!!! (Darwin
Awards)www
[1817] I collected Nazi memorabilia because they were
the baddest guys ever and I always liked bad
guys. (NME)
I
have long wondered whether those who mock people like me as ‘do-gooders’
would exult upon being publicly dubbed ‘do-badders’. (Privately, they
probably would.)
35.
Far less perceptible, and rarely described in conventional studies of language
or linguistics, are Attitudes in the Grammar. They hardly emerge until very
large corpora provide systematic evidence, as was shown in II.153. One
conspicuous Pattern is high in Weight and low in Complexity, namely the short
Exclamation to signal some intense opinion or reaction, such as ‘How’ +
Modifier + ! In the BNC, Amelioratives include ‘nice, splendid, wonderful,
kind, lovely, beautiful, exciting, romantic, delightful, charming’; the
Pejoratives include ‘awful, dreadful, disgrace-ful, disgusting, embarrassing,
pathetic, rude, stupid, idiotic, naff’. Even Items that could well seem
neutral in other contexts can indicate Attitude in this Pattern, such as
‘English’ [1818] or ‘typical’ [1819].
[1818] ‘Therese is a truly
extraordinary woman.’ ‘My dear, how loyal, how English!’ (Compass
Error)
[1819] ‘He beat us to it’, she informed Felipe
crossly. ‘How typical!’ (Dark Sunlight)
My
findings were similar for ‘What a’ + Modifier + Noun + ! Amelioratives
included ‘good idea’, ‘nice boy’, ‘lovely room’, ‘happy
prospect’, ‘welcome surprise’; Pejoratives included ‘ghastly thought’,
‘crazy approach’, ‘sorry sight’, ‘horrible joke’, ‘heinous
offence’. Here too, otherwise neutral expressions can carry Attitudes, such as
‘varied’ [1820] or ‘changed’ [1821].
[1820] What a varied
leadership! Their very names speak volumes for the unity which the Spirit
creates. (I Believe)
[1821] But what a changed Susan! She was as white
as a ghost, and her eyes were shadowed as if she hadn’t slept properly for
weeks. (Distance Enchanted)
36.
Less conspicuous but equally symptomatic of Attitudes is the Demonstrative
Exclamation with Demonstrative + Noun + !, rarely for Ameliorative [1822-23] and
regularly for Pejorative [1824-25]. The Noun by itself may indicate Attitude
[1824-25], but might also be neutral out of context [1826-27].
[1822] She made the courtyard ring
with her eerie yodelling welcome. Nora closed her eyes on tears of joy. ‘That
noise!’ (Rich Always)
[1823] Those flowers! A bigger and
brighter bunch each year it seems. (Thrush Green)
[1824] That meshuggener! He’s already
broken three appointments. (Lucifer Rising)
[1825] It was
so unfair.
Those devils! They hadn’t said anything to him (Walking on Glass)
[1826] He looked incredulous and then
fiercely angry. ‘That woman!’ he
snarled (Garden)
[1827] ‘I have not tempted this man on.’ ‘This man! You speak as if you hated him.’ (Dombey)
Perhaps
the Demonstrative implication of pointing at people influences Attitudes, as
also seems to occur for the Colligation of Demonstrative + Noun + ‘of’ +
Possessive Pronoun presented back in II.153.
37.
An act of pointing may also be implied by the Evaluative
Exclamation with ‘you’ + Noun
Phrase + !, here too much less often Ameliorative [1928-29]
than Pejorative [1930-31].
[1828] How dear the woods are! You beautiful trees! (Avonlea)
[1829] ‘You wonderful, clever woman!’ he exclaimed, clasping her rapturously (Double Fire)
[1830]
‘David go and blow your nose, you horrible
child!’ ‘I’m not horrible!’ ‘Well, alright, you semi-horrible
child!’ (conversation)BNC
[1831] You
ignorant little slug! You witless
weed! You empty-headed hamster!
(Matilda)
38.
In the Pattern of the Evaluative
Appositive, one Noun Phrase is juxtaposed with another for Ameliorative [1832]
or Pejorative [1833], but these are decidedly less consistent than the Patterns
pointed out in VI.35-37.
[1832] I have had the gratification of making the
acquaintance of your daughter, a most estimable lady (Egoist)
[1833] Morland, a notoriously
untrustworthy man, openly boasted of his skill as a forger. (Missing
Persons)
A
Demonstrative in the Appositive, not too common, can also signal Attitude:
[1834]
Lanny Wadkins, that American warhorse, made the early running (Daily
Telegraph)
[1835] Britannia,
that unfortunate female,
is always
before me,
like a
trussed fowl (Dickens)
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VI, Part 3