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Spelling reform

October 26, 2009 by Roy Johnson

A Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling

Spelling Reform was a much debated issue in the latter part of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth. Various schemes were put forward for simplifying English spelling, which was thought to be difficult and obscure. These schemes often involved phonetic spelling, and some even went so far as proposing the creation of new alphabets. George Bernard Shaw funded one such scheme. A more recent example is Sayspel, devised by hydraulic engineer Roy Blain. None of these ideas came to anything – for very good reasons. This is also the period which gave rise to Esperanto, a totally artificial, invented language which nobody except enthusiasts actually speaks.

The famous short passage that follows is a satirical response to this idea attributed to the American humorist Mark Twain.

For example, in Year 1 that useless letter c would be dropped to be replased either by k or s, and likewise x would no longer be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which c would be retained would be the ch formation, which will be dealt with later.

Year 2 might reform w spelling, so that which and one would take the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish y replasing it with i and Iear 4 might fiks the g/j anomali wonse and for all.

Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants.

Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi ridandant letez c, y and x — bai now jast a memori in the maindz ov ould doderez — tu riplais ch, sh, and th rispektivli.

Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.

Mark Twain

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Spelling rules – how to understand them

September 13, 2009 by Roy Johnson

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Spelling – definition

Spelling is a convention by which words are represented in writing by letters of the alphabet.

The spelling of most words is now largely fixed.

The relationship between spelling and pronunciation is not consistent.

Examples

The term connection can also be spelled connexion.

Judgement can also be spelled Judgment.

Even spelled can also be spelled spelt!

Use

Competence in spelling is desirable, but we cannot possibly know the definitive spelling of all the English lexicon.

Good spelling usually results from an awareness of those words which we need to check in a dictionary.

Computer spell-checkers are an enhancement to the writing process. They should be used with caution however, as some errors are those of wrong word rather than of spelling.

For instance, ‘They took there places’. The spell-checker would let that pass.

NB! Shakespeare used a variety of spellings for his own name.

Spelling was not generally fixed in English until the eighteenth century. [Samuel Johnson’s dictionary was a landmark in this respect.]

The following example is from a poem written in the seventeenth century, showing the original spelling of what we would now write as dearly, fain, and enemy:

Yet dearley I love you, and would be loved faine,
But am betroth’d unto your enemie

[JOHN DONNE]

Spelling mistakes in formal writing create a very bad impression.

Some words may have more than one acceptable spelling:

connection can be spelled connexion
judgement can be spelled judgment

Certain organisations such as newspapers and publishers issue rules on spelling for their authors. This is known as House Style.

Spelling in English does have rules — but there are many exceptions and irregularities. The plural of baby is babies but the plural of donkey is donkeys. We write about honour but the adjective is spelled honorary.

Even the verb ‘to spell’ itself may be spelled or spelt in the past tense.

The reason for this irregularity is that English vocabulary is made up of many other languages [Old English, Latin, Greek, and French]. Words from these languages have brought their own spelling characteristics.

There are minor differences in the spelling of English and American English. Colour is color in the USA, and centre is spelled [or spelt!] center.

There is no easy way to learn correct spelling. Rules exist, but there are many, many exceptions. You should simply take an interest in the words themselves.

On the question of possible spelling reform, the American writer Mark Twain has some typically humorous comments to make.

A Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling

For example, in Year 1 that useless letter ‘c’ would be dropped to be replased either by ‘k’ or ‘s’, and likewise ‘x’ would no longer be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which ‘c’ would be retained would be the ‘ch’ formation, which will be dealt with later.

Year 2 might reform ‘w’ spelling, so that ‘which’ and ‘one’ would take the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish ‘y’ replasing it with ‘i’ and Iear 4 might fiks the ‘g/j’ anomali wonse and for all.

Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants.

Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi ridandant letez ‘c’, ‘y’ and ‘x’ — bai now jast a memori in the maindz ov ould doderez — tu riplais ‘ch’, ‘sh’, and ‘th’ rispektivli.

Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.

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Standard English – how to understand it

September 13, 2009 by Roy Johnson

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Standard English – definition

The term ‘Standard English’ refers to a dialect which has acquired the status of representing the English language.

It refers to the content of the utterance rather than the pronunciation.

However, Standard English is used in both speech and in writing.

Examples

A business letter

Dear Martin Brown
Thankyou for your letter dated July 3, requesting more information on the Snowmobile. We have put a copy of our brochure in the post to you.

A telephone conversation

“Hello. I’m ringing on behalf of my wife, Mary. Unfortunately, she won’t be in today because she’s feeling unwell.”

Use

Standard English in written form is used in such formal documents as essays, business letters, notices, reports, and memos.

Standard English in spoken form is used in such formal utterances as business negotiations, public announcements, and news broadcasts.

Most educated writers use Standard English in all texts – except when a special effect is required.

It is fairly common for a speaker to use Standard English and deliver it with a regional accent.

NB! Today’s dialect can become tomorrow’s Standard English.

Standard English is believed to have evolved by means of a universal linguistic process. The essential concepts concerning standardisation are as follows:

an element of conscious engineering always obtains
a variety regarded as exclusive is cultivated by an elite
standardisation slows down language development
a written form always exists, though not always as a standard

The standardisation process is thought to comprise the following stages:

1. selection
2. acceptance
3. elaboration
4. codification

If these principles are applied to the English language, we can see how a dialect became Standard English.

Selection. The origins of standard English lay in the merchant class who had by the fourteenth century settled in London. They spoke an east midland dialect, associated first with Norfolk and later with Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, and Bedfordshire. It had already become a class dialect within London. The lower class Londoners spoke a south east dialect which was the antecedent of Cockney.

By the end of the fourteenth century the east midland dialect was the embryonic written standard. About 1430, one regional variant of that dialect became increasingly dominant. This selection of a standard was obviously linked with the economic power and the ideas of the new merchant class. This was confirmed by the advent of printing, which created a concrete representation of the merchants’ spoken variety. [Caxton brought the printing press to England in 1475].

The spoken standard came about later in the Middle Ages for the following reason. Students from all over England mixed in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, both of which were only sixty miles from London. In this triangle formed by the three centres a great deal of east midland speech would have been heard, and possibly used as a kind of lingua franca (common language) among a socially mobile group. Here then, we see the selection of a certain dialect due to need and function.

Acceptance By about the middle of the fifteenth century the east midland dialect had been accepted as a written standard by those who wrote official documents. However, this acceptance was made unconsciously.

[For instance, when Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales [1387] in the east midland dialect, his contemporaries had their own, local written varieties. Langland’s Piers Plowman [1362-87] and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight [1370] are both written in dialects which are different than Chaucer’s.]

Even as late as the sixteenth century, no national literary standard existed. By Shakespeare’s time however, the regional differences had disappeared and a real, national, literary standard prevailed.

Elaboration Regional dialects of English lost status as their writing systems were displaced by the standard. Their functions became more restricted as the standard became more elaborated. Regional dialects became the medium of ordinary everyday conversation among equals.

The new written standard now had to function where previously Latin and French had been the norm in legal, ecclesiastical and scholarly matters. By neccessity it thus became elaborated.

Elaboration when applied to the development of a standard means that the particular variety must cope with all types of communication. Thus any variation within the dialect ceased to be based on region. It was based instead on stylistic function. That meant, for example, that vocabulary could now be differentiated as legal, literary, or technical.

English language was first used in government and law in 1362, although the use of French persisted alongside it for another century. It is interesting to note in this respect that Milton – one of the great English poets – wrote a great deal of his work in Latin. In 1731 an act of parliament was passed to restrict the use of Latin and French to the province of law. [Even today, the English legal system uses Latin expressions – ‘habeas corpus’, for instance.]

Codification The process of codification means that the use of language is documented in order to reinforce a certain variety which has been accepted. Codification is easier to effect in written form than in speech, although attempts have been made since the development of a written standard to apply the same practices of codification in speech.

Codification slows down the natural development of any language because of its aims for minimal variation in form. Criteria for choosing one particular use rather than another are usually related to the vested interests of certain social or economic groups. The impulses behind this codification stem from notions of prestige based on the emulation of social groups considered worthy of esteem.

Other countries in Europe such as France and Italy set up their own academies designed to monitor language and prescribe certain usages. The Academie Francaise (established in 1635) is still in operation. One of its most recent projects was trying to prohibit the use of ‘Franglais’ [‘Le parking’, ‘le week-end’] which was thought to be making the French language impure. The attempt was not successful.

In England, eighteenth-century scholars such as Jonathan Swift and Samuel Johnson pressed for the institution of an English academy, but it never happened.

The phenomenon of the dictionary arrived as a direct result of the desire to codify. Samuel Johnson’s dictionary (1755) was historically significant in that whilst it was a major work of codification, it was the first to acknowledge variation in meaning and usage.

Important note for teachers. The new National Curriculum requires youngsters to be competent in using “Standard English”. This is quite wrongly taken by many people to refer to accent, when it actually requires pupils to understand the use of standard grammatical constructions, together with a comprehensive standard lexicon.

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Structure – how to understand it

September 13, 2009 by Roy Johnson

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Structure in grammar – definition

The term ‘structure’ refers to the basic construction or the arrangement of parts in a communication — spoken or written.

In the study of language, the term is being used metaphoricaly.

Examples

The events of a novel or a play may be arranged in a linear, chronological order to reflect the passing of time. They might on the other hand be arranged so that the end reflects the beginning, presenting a cyclic structure.

The structure of the English language is its grammar system with discernable patterns such as that of word-order and rules for forming tenses.

The structure of a conversation might be fairly random or planned, depending on the level of formality and the purpose of the discourse.

An interview might follow the chronology of a candidate’s curriculum vitae, or it might be structured by a series of questions.

The structure of a business document might be determined by the route taken by information as it passes through an organisation. On the other hand, it might reflect the stages of a manufacturing process.

The structure of a poem can often be seen in its rhyme scheme and the arrangement of its verses.

Use

People structure the content of their speech spontaneously, without any need for deliberate planning.

The same is not true for writing, where conscious effort is required.

An awareness of the concept of structure in language use is essential to the speaker or the writer, the listener or the reader.

Structure can be based on such elements as chronology, alphabetical order, recurring themes, logical sequence of content, and visual layout.

NB! Readers and speakers are affected by structure, even though they may not be conscious of it.

The structure of a text or of a spoken item is its foundation. Structure when applied to the English language as a system is its grammar.

It might be useful to distinguish structure from form in terms of linguistic analysis. The term ‘form’ refers to the finished article as a recognisable artifact such as a novel, report, letter, recipe, sermon, statement, or greeting.

A letter, for example, has a structure based on the patterning of both its content and its layout. The content is structured according to the convention of giving information in the following order:

sender’s address
date of writing
vocative opening (‘Dear Sir’)
content in order of importance
conventional salutation (‘Best wishes’)
signature of writer

The structure of the content is complemented by the layout in a conventional letter. The content is organised on the page in a well known pattern.

Even if a person were twelve feet away from the text it would be recognisable as a letter form — because of the structure of the layout.

In any text, the content must be organised according to some logical premise. Information which is not consciously structured is disjointed, haphazard, and therefore usually incomprehensible. Efficient communication in speech and writing depends to a great extent on the existence of structure.

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Structure in essay plans

August 25, 2009 by Roy Johnson

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1. The structure of a piece of writing is the (sometimes underlying) order of its parts. Good structure usually means that a persuasive or logical sequence of these parts has been created. This is often best established by creating the structure in essay plans.

2. The basic structure of most essays can be very simple:

Introduction
Argument(s)
Conclusion

3. Provided that the individual topics of your argument(s) are arranged in a clear and meaningful order, this basic model should create a firm structure.

4. The order of the parts is often determined by the nature of the subject in question. This order might be created by:

logical progression
increasing significance
equal significance
chronological order
narrative sequence
category groupings

Arranging the parts

5. Imagine you were writing an essay about French wine. You have decided to discuss four red wines and four white wines. The structure for this essay is created by diving the examples into white wines and red wines – as shown here.

Introduction

Part One – Red wines
* wine 1
* wine 2
* wine 3
* wine 4

Part Two – White wines
* wine 1
* wine 2
* wine 3
* wine 4

Conclusion

6. This is clear, simple, and uncomplicated. But you could also create a slightly more interesting structure by arranging the wines by region. This is the arrangement shown here.

Introduction

Loire
* red wine
* white wine

Bordeaux
* red wine
* white wine

Cotes du Rhone
* red wine
* white wine

Bugundy
* red wine
* white wine

Conclusion

7. It’s the same number of examples, but the arrangement is slightly more complex. This might also make the essay more interesting. Notice how each item is kept separate – so they don’t get mixed up. And each one would be discussed in a paragraph of its own.

8. Next – this process can be taken one step further with a slightly more complex question. You might often be asked to write an essay considering the arguments for and against some topic or proposition. For instance – “Consider the arguments for and against congestion charges in city centres.”

9. There are two ways you can arrange the structure for an essay of this type. Here’s the first, which we’ll call Strategy A.

Introduction

Part One – In favour of congestion charges
* [traffic] reduces volume
* [ecology] less air pollution
* [economy] generates local income
* [politics] positive social control

Part Two – Against congestion charges
* [traffic] public transport alternatives
* [ecology] transfers problem elsewhere
* [economy] reduces profitable activity
* [politics] punishes tax-payers

Conclusion

10. The arguments in favour of congestion charges are kept separate from the arguments against. The structure is simple, clear, and uncomplicated. Notice that the same topics (traffic, ecology, economy, and politics) are covered in both the case ‘for’ and ‘against’. Next – look at an alternative strategy, Strategy B.

11. You can see that in this example the structure is arranged in the form of TOPICS – and each one contains an argument for and against the proposal.

Introduction to congestion charges

TOPIC 1
* [traffic] reduces volume
* [traffic] public transport alternatives

TOPIC 2
* [ecology] less air pollution
* [ecology] transfers problem elsewhere

TOPIC 3
* [economy] generates local income
* [economy] reduces profitable activity

TOPIC 4
* [politics] positive social control
* [politics] punishes tax-payers

Conclusion

12. It’s fairly important if you are using this structure to keep a balance. And the topics must be clearly identified and matched. That is, you must not put an argument FOR economy alongside one AGAINST traffic

13. If there is no natural order for your topics, you might deal with them in order of their importance. You could deal with the smaller, less important items first. This leaves the larger, more important issues until the end of the essay. Discussing the detail first in this way leaves the larger items for general consideration in approaching your conclusion.

14. On the other hand you might wish to deal with the major item(s) first, then turn to a consideration of the detailed evidence which supports the argument you are making. Using this approach, you could then return to your main points again and give them further general consideration as your conclusion.

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Style – how to understand it

September 13, 2009 by Roy Johnson

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Style – definition

Style is a particular set of characteristics in the use of language.

These characteristics are the result of choices which may be made consciously or unconsciously.

The results are speech or writing which may be efficient, idiosyncratic, identifiable, or memorable.

Examples

The following are examples of good style in instructional writing and prose fiction:

Instructional writing
When approaching a roundabout, watch out for traffic already on it. Take special care to look out for cyclists or motorcyclists ahead or to the side. Give way to traffic on your right unless road markings indicate otherwise; but keep moving if the way is clear.

Prose fiction
Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.

Use

The term ‘style’ is usually used in a positive sense to praise what are seen as good qualities.

Even bad style may be identifiable – if it is consistent.

Good style is often easy to recognise, but quite difficult to analyse.

It may be used and perceived – unconsciously.

NB! We all use a variety of language styles every day, especially in speech.

One very important feature of good style is that it must be entirely appropriate for the task it is performing.

This means that the author must take into account [even if unconsciously!] audience, form, and function.

Style might be good, yet hardly noticeable – because it is concentrated on effective communication. This is sometimes known as ‘transparent’ good style.

The first of the examples above is from The Highway Code.

When approaching a roundabout, watch out for traffic already on it. Take special care to look out for cyclists or motorcyclists ahead or to the side. Give way to traffic on your right unless road markings indicate otherwise; but keep moving if the way is clear.

This is writing which is makes its points as simply and as clearly as possible. The vocabulary is that of everyday life, and in manner it is speaking to a general reader without trying to make an impression or draw attention to itself in any way.

This writing is entirely free of literary effects or decoration.

In most writing however, ‘good style’ is normally associated with verbal inventiveness and clever manipulation of the elements of literary language.

The second example is from Vladimir Nabokov’s famous novel Lolita:

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.

This is writing which is deliberately setting out to be impressive. It relies very heavily on decoration and ornament.

In this extract Nabokov uses lots of alliteration – the repetition of the ‘l’ and ‘t’ sounds, metaphor – ‘light’ and ‘fire’ – and onomatopoeia – ‘trip’, ‘tap’ – as well as such fancy wordplay as the orthographic and semantic parallels between ‘life’ and ‘fire’.

Good style in speech and writing – like that in clothes or other matters involving taste – can go in and out of fashion.

Style in context. Style, in any kind of speech or writing, is extremely important to the overall function of communication. In most cases, a consistency of features produces what we understand as a pleasing style. That is, the style is appropriate to the context in which it occurs.

A discordant style is produced by the inclusion of some feature which does not fit with the stylistic context of the piece. In other words, the feature is out of place.

An example of this might be found in a personal letter which is signed ‘Yours faithfully’ or an aristocratic character in a novel speaking street slang for no good stylistic reason.

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Style – ten lessons in clarity and grace

July 25, 2009 by Roy Johnson

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This is a twenty year old book already in its sixth edition, and the author admits that it’s still ‘evolving’, which is a good sign that serious thought is going into its composition. Style ten lessons in clarity and grace is based on a course Joseph Williams teaches at the University of Chicago. His approach is based on two principles – that ‘it’s good to write clearly, and anyone can’ – and the second part of the proposition is what he’s teaching here. His approach is to draw attention to the finer issues of clarity in prose, and to show how language can be used with subtelty to effect it.

His ten seperate chapters deal with each of these issues in turn, and his own prose style is engaging and friendly – which both proves his point and shows that he knows what he is talking about. He starts with a brief and amusing guide to bad prose and what creates it, and he ends with the most celebrated advice on creating effective prose – that good writing is about ‘rewriting’. His general advice is that improvement can be made – if you go slowly. So what then are his ten ‘lessons’?

Write with readers in mind
Write clearly
Write concretely
Write in an active mode
Put the subject at start of sentence
Put rhetoric at end of sentence
Edit, edit, edit; and cut, cut, cut
Get the verb in the main clause
Create structure
Write ethically

It’s pitched at a fairly sophisticated level, suitable for intermediate to advanced users. Williams assumes that readers know the basics of what is right and wrong, but want to improve in matters of clarity and elegance. He makes an interesting and useful distinction between three types of correctness – and offers different levels of response to them.

There are are exercises in each chapter with suggested answers, which I think makes this a text which might be more popular with tutors than with the students for whom it was presumably written. You’ve got to put up with a lot of grappling with ‘nominalizations’, ‘resumptive modifiers’, and elimination of the passive voice, as well as the same examples worked over and over until they’re right.

There’s a particularly good chapter on deleting redundant expressions, writing more concisely, and eliminating ‘metadiscourse’ [signposting or ‘writing about writing’]. He gives one example where a fifty word statement is edited down to a sentence of six. His advice includes one point I write on something like fifty percent of all student essays: ‘Put the subject at the start of the sentence, and follow it as soon as possible with the verb’.

Towards the end of the book he tries to ‘teach the unteachable’ – elegance and ‘good style’. This section requires quite a sophisticated level of literary experience, and strangely enough he ends on punctuation – but pitched at quite an advanced level.

This isn’t a book for beginners. It’s for people who want to improve their existing writing skills, who want to rid themselves of officialese and cloudy abstraction and garbled syntax so as to produce writing which is clear and efficient. If you follow his advice, read carefully what he’s got to say, and complete the exercises, I think you’ll find it money well spent.

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Joseph Williams, Style: ten lessons in clarity and grace, New York: Addison Wesley, (6th edn) 1999, pp.309, ISBN: 0321024087

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Stylistic analysis – how to do it

September 13, 2009 by Roy Johnson

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Stylistic analysis – definition

Stylistic analysis in linguistics refers to the identification of patterns of usage in speech and writing.

Stylistic analysis in literary studies is usually made for the purpose of commenting on quality and meaning in a text.

Examples

A stylistic analysis of a roadsign which reads NO LEFT TURN might make the following observations.

The statement is a command.
It is cast in the imperative mode.
The statement lacks a subject and a verb.
These are implied [THERE IS].
The statement is unpunctuated.
Capitals have been used for emphasis.
Simple vocabulary to suit wide audience.
Extreme compression for rapid comprehension.
Form entirely suited to audience and function.

Use

In linguistics the purpose of close analysis is to identify and classify the elements of language being used.

In literary studies the purpose is usually an adjunct to understanding, exegesis, and interpretation.

In both cases, an extremely detailed and scrupulous attention is paid to the text.

This process may now be aided by computer programs which able to analyse texts.

NB! At this point, the study of language moves into either ‘stylistics’ or ‘literary studies’.

Stylistic analysis is a normal part of literary studies. It is practised as a part of understanding the possible meanings in a text.

It is also generally assumed that the process of analysis will reveal the good qualities of the writing.

Take for example the opening lines of Shakespeare’s Richard III:

Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;

A stylistic analysis might reveal the following points:

the play is written in poetic blank verse
that is — unrhymed, iambic pentameters
the stresses fall as follows
Now /i/s the w/i/nter /o/f our d/i/scont/e/nt
[notice that the stress falls on vowel sounds]
the first line is built on a metaphor
the condition of England is described in terms of the season ‘winter’
the term ‘our’ is a form of the royal ‘we’
the seasonal metaphor is extended into the second line …
… where better conditions become ‘summer’
the metaphor is extended even further by the term ‘sun’
it is the sun which appears, ‘causing’ the summer
but ‘sun’ is here also a pun – on the term ‘son’…
… which refers to the son of the King
‘York’ is a metonymic reference to the Duke of York

In a complete analysis, the significance of these sylistic details would be related to the events of the play itself, and to Shakespeare’s presentation of them.

In some forms of sylistic analysis, the numerical recurrence of certain stylistic features is used to make judgements about the nature and the quality of the writing.

However, it is important to recognise that the concept of style is much broader than just the ‘good style’ of literary prose.

For instance, even casual communication such as a manner of speaking or a personal letter might have an individual style.

However, to give a detailed account of this style requires the same degree of linguistic analysis as literary texts.

Stylistic analysis of a non-literary text for instance means studying in detail the features of a passage from such genres as:

Instruction	notes for programming your video-recorder
Information	a history text book
Persuasion	an advertisement or a holiday brochure

The method of analysis can be seen as looking at the text in great detail, observing what the parts are, and saying what function they perform in the context of the passage.

It is rather like taking a car-engine to pieces, looking at each component in detail, then observing its function as the whole engine starts working.

These are features which are likely to occur in a text whose function is to instruct:

imperative or command	‘remove the outer covering’

direct address	‘check voltage system before you install the unit’

numbered points	[because sequencing is important in carrying out a procedure]

technical terms or jargon	‘piston’, ‘carburettor’, ‘spark plug’

diagram with call-out labels	[an extra level of communication to aid understanding]

Features are dealt with in three stages, as follows:

identify — describe — explain

The features chosen from any text will be those which characterise the piece as to its function. They will be used by the analyst to prove the initial statement which is made about the linguistic nature of the text as a whole.

This method puports to be fairly scientific. A hypothesis is stated and then proved. It is a useful discipline which encourages logical thought and can be transferred to many other areas of academic study.

This is one reason why the discipline of stylistic analysis is so useful: it can be applied to a variety of subjects.

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Symbols – how to understand them

September 14, 2009 by Roy Johnson

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Symbols – definition

A symbol is an object which stands for something else.

In language it is a reference in speech or in writing which is made to stand for ideas, feelings, events, or conditions.

A symbol is usually something tangible or concrete which evokes something abstract.

Examples

The following are standard symbols in the context of English culture.

The rose often stands for love.
The colour red stands for passion.
The dove stands for peace.
The ace of spades stands for death.
The cross stands for Christianity.

Use

All cultures use symbols which are actual, tangible objects — such as the cross in a Christian church, the Union Jack flag in the UK, or the Statue of Liberty in the USA.

These standard symbols and others more original are evoked by conscious and deliberate use of language by writers, advertisers and speakers.

NB! Symbols are evoked or depicted by language. The very language which evokes the symbol is itself a code or symbol!

Symbols in the context of language use are sometimes created by the use of words such as ‘cross’ or ‘rose’ or ‘blood’.

The rose has been used so often in connection with love that it has become a symbol of it.

But the human heart is also used as a symbol for love – so there can be more than one symbol for the same thing.

Fire is often used as a symbol, both for danger and for human passion — so a single word or object can sometimes symbolise more than one thing.

The moon is sometimes used as a symbol for the female — because both have a ‘monthly cycle’.

In literature, a writer such as D.H. Lawrence exploits this symbolic connction by using images of the moon to stand for female sexuality.

Even when the word ‘moon’ itself is not used explicitly in his work, any pale nocturnal light can have the same symbolic effect in suggesting the female and her sexual nature.

In a novel, poem, short story or play, symbols are often introduced at the beginning and then developed and sustained throughout the work by means of various literary techniques.

Sometimes a symbol is created only for the duration of the work in which it is used. This is called ‘context-bound’ — because it does not have symbolic value outside the work.

For instance, the handkerchief in Shakespeare’s Othello is used as the symbol of Othello’s mistrust of Desdemona, his wife. [This is because it has come into the possession of his ‘rival’, Iago.] The material, tangible object stands for the emotion jealousy, bringing it into dramatic relief for the audience.
A handkerchief could be used as a completely different symbol in another piece of work.

Symbols are used very commonly in daily life. Many road signs are symbols, as is the traditional red and white pole for a barber’s shop.

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Synecdoche – how to understand it

September 14, 2009 by Roy Johnson

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Synecdoche – definition

Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part of something is substituted for the whole thing.

The part chosen is usually important or essential, and thus the whole (although implied) is easily recognised or understood.

Examples

In the expression ‘United won the match’, the term ‘United’ stands for ‘Manchester United Football Club’ [or Leeds, or some other team].

In the expression ‘Give us this day our daily bread’ the term ‘bread’ stands for the meals eaten each day.

Use

Synecdoche [pronounced sin-eck-doh-key, by the way] is part of everyday speech. It is usually used quite unconsciously.

It is often used in imaginative writing such as fiction and poetry to clarify and enhance an image.

NB! If you can’t remember the difference between synecdoche and metonymy – don’t worry. You’re not alone.

In the expression ‘All hands on deck!’, the term ‘hands’ stands for ‘mariners’.

The term ‘hand’ has been chosen to represent the whole expression ‘able-bodied seaman’ [or in PC (politically correct) terms ‘sea-person’] because that is the most important feature required for work on deck.

In the expression ‘United won the match’, the term ‘United’ (in the case of Manchester United Football Club) might not appear to be the most important or essential item to represent the whole.

However, Manchester has two football teams — the other being Manchester City Football Club. A supporter of MUFC would therefore be selecting the one important lingustic feature which distinguished his team from the other fotball club.

The parts of the name ‘Manchester’ and ‘Football Club’ would be implied by the speaker, and understood by the listener.

Similarly, a supporter of Manchester City Football Club would say ‘City won the match’.

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