CC BY
66УДК 81'42
Филологические науки
Кузёма Т. Б., доцент кафедры «Лингводидактика и зарубежная филология» Севастопольский государственный университет, Россия, г. Севастополь
SUSPENSE STUDY LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS
Аннотация: В статье проводится лингвистический анализ изучения саспенса. Определена сущность понятия «саспенс». Рассмотрен саспенс на фонетическом, стилистическом, синтаксическом уровнях. Обозначен функциональный потенциал саспенса.
Ключевые слова: саспенс, фонетический уровень, стилистический уровень, синтаксический уровень, текст, стилистический приём.
Abstract: The article deals with the linguistic suspense study analysis. The essence of the concept of "suspense" is defined. Suspense is considered at the phonetic, stylistic and syntactic levels. The functional potential of suspense is indicated.
Keywords: suspense, phonetic level, stylistic level, syntactic level, text, stylistic devices.
Currently, there is a strong interest of the linguistic community in studying the potential of expressive techniques and means in order to increase the effectiveness of the aesthetic impact of the text on the addressee. Modern linguists are looking for ways to enhance the recipient's mental and emotional response. It is this factor that increases the impact potential of the text, is its emotional tension. Suspense appears to be among the most effective means of implementing the category of tension.
The question of unambiguous definition of the essence of the "suspense" concept in the modern linguistic space remains debatable. Due to its complex nature scientists do not have a common understanding of the concept ontological essence: some scientists refer it to phenomena of a linguistic order, others note its purely psychological nature. However, a number of both russian (E. V. Tumanova, T. V. Yudina) and foreign (Yu. Iwata, A. Smuts), in addition to the text-forming and connecting role of suspense, consider the stylistic functional potential. The final ambiguity of this issue determined the relevance and article's topic choice.
As part of the research, we note that in addition to creating a suspense semantic content of the text, depending on the author's intention, it can perform a number of stylistic functions. Also, suspense can be considered as a phenomenon that cannot be structured. It has some regularities of its organization and mechanisms which include such stylistic techniques as narrative retardation, syntactic parallelism of action, and prospectus. Let's explain these concepts. According to I. R. Galperin, retardation is a stylistic compositional technique that delays the logical conclusion of a thought at the very end of an utterance and is implemented through complex sentences, numerous introductory structures, and a combination of interrogative and affirmative sentences [2]. Syntactic parallelism, or parallel construction, is understood as a stylistic devices, the essence of which is to connect several sentences by strictly matching their grammatical and semantic structure. Impossible to touch one part of it without setting the rest vibrating. Impossible to understand one part without having a sense of the whole [1]. The concept of a prospectus is conceptualized as a constructive technique used to warn the reader about what information is waiting for him in the process of discussing the subject of speech. As the linguist E. V. Tumanova notes, the category of prospectus finds its expression at the level of the entire text, including various elements of its compositional structure, using grammatical, lexical, graphic and stylistic means [4].
The study of the suspense category is possible at different language organization levels. Most often in prose, suspense is created using various stylistic and syntactic means. Phonetic means: alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia. Here are
some examples. Alliteration-under which stylistically motivated repetition of consonants: "She was the first to recover. In an urgent gesture she raised a dark, soil-covered hand toward me and, in a hoarse voice, rasped a string of senseless sounds" [5]. Assonance, is a stylistically motivated repetition of a stressed vowel: "Tell this soul, with sorrow laden, if within the distant Aiden, I shall clasp a sainted maiden, who the angels name Lenore-Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, who the angels name Lenore?" [5]. Onomatopoeia is a combination of sounds that mimic the sounds of nature: "the baby wriggled and gurgled", "Reaching the topiary garden she raised a hand to her mouth in horror, then, gripping her apron" [3, p. 29].
Graphic tools (for example, Italics to create hidden meanings, surprise guesses). For example "Read old novels. The reason is simple: I prefer proper endings"; "Since / have been here?" [3, p. 31]. Also, the use of ellipsis in conjunction with other language tools is necessary for the iconic representation of tense situations. It helps to recreate the difficult speech of a pain-stricken, dying person: "She's.... got there. She's sent it ... back" [5].
Let's look at a number of stylistic techniques. The concept of comparison scientists refer to the number of stylistic techniques, the essence of which is to compare two concepts by one of the features, which is formally expressed in the form of words such as: as, such as, as if, like, seem. "Wind themselves around your limbs like spider silk"; "They crouched and quivered around the eye, like the long legs of a spider around its body" [5]. A metaphor is a stylistic device that denotes figurative meaning that characterizes an object through its similarity or connection with another object: "but moonlight that shimmered in the garden, edging the leaves with silver and touching the outlines of the statuary figures" [6].
An epithet is a stylistic tool that focuses the reader's attention on the quality of the described object or phenomenon, which is formed in the form of attribute words or phrases that have a subjective and evaluative character: "a dull and gray day", "a flea-ridden blanket", "a filthy pillow", "two downy scalps", "dust-gray hair", "the damp air" [6]. Personification (anthropomorphism, personification) is a special type of transposition, which consists in giving human qualities to natural phenomena,
animals or objects: "Cold crept through the soles of my shoes"; "a high-pitched noise that rose into the blue sky as if it could rend it in two" [6]. Also note the use of metonymy, i.e. transferring the name of one item to another item based on the adjacency of these items: "the tall black figure"; "He picked up the shears, their wooden handles worn to shape by his father's hand". Note that the metonymy serves to create a grotesque image of the character: "her mouth was a black grin in a white face" [5]. The use of an oxymoron supported by repetition evokes a sense of "displacement" of the world: "The sun was cold. The rock was cold" [3, p. 31].
Note that the tropes of the comparative-metaphorical group play an important role in creating suspense in the most exciting episodes of the text.
One of the main language techniques for creating suspense is the technique of pumping through the use of lexical-thematic group semantic repetition of the mystery meanings words, emotion, apprehension, danger, which contributes to creating an oppressive atmosphere in which tension can be felt at the physical level "Fear, terrible, I was frozen, I don't think I was even breathing, tremble"; "It was Phillip Naifeh who walked with the condemned man from his cell to the isolation room, as it was called, to suffer the last hour before death ... It was left to him to tell the guards to lock the chamber door, and it was left to him to nod to the executioner to pull the levers to mix the deadly gas" [5]. Thus, semantic connection is realized on the basis of repetition of one seme in different words. Tautological phrases such as "dreadful fear", "terrible nightmare, terrible sense of fear" are often a way to increase the emotional influence on the reader [5]. In some cases, synonymous repetition gives way to lexical repetition.
Analyzing the semantic textual uses aspects of the thematic vocabulary inside the group "excitement, fear", it becomes obvious that they often undergo a figurative transformation and are included in a variety of tropes (metaphor, epithet, personification) and figures (inversion, parallel constructions, semantic and structural repetitions) of speech.
In an effort to more accurately reflect the complex emotions of experimenters, the authors pile up a chain of clarifying nominations: "it would have shocked and scared to death; the boy shuddered with a mixture of confusion and fear" [5].
Along with semantic repetition, which creates tension, the author can use figurative paradigms and, resorting to analogies with weapons that bring death, with an electric shock: "a pebble ... he fell to the bottom of the cliff with a crash like a pistol shot; a shower of small stones rattled like a charge of small shot; I saw pain shoot through him like a bursting shell; the beetle hit the wall with a crash like a pistol shot" [5].
Syntactic tools play an important role in creating suspense. First of all, it is the use of figures based on saving language resources (nominative and short non-extended sentences, elliptical and short, jerky sentences that take a strong position, which begin or end a paragraph, contribute to creating tension, sharpness of the moment): "I used to write one special word over and over again. My sister's name. Talisman" [5].
Separations, the absence of logical connections create liveliness and immediacy of perception of the situation, the concreteness of its impressions. The lack of formal connection between short sentences, the widespread use of asyndeton and parcelling help to convey the drama of the situation: "Isabel was standing there, her back to the door, her hands behind her back"; "he was already at the top of the stairs. He saw me. He shouted something in that strange, breathless voice"; "she felt his hand groping, squeezing her wrist" [5]. Asyndeton is used by the author to convey the despair, horror that engulfed the hero of the story, the impression is supported by synesthesia, which is understood as the transfer of one feeling, sensation to another: "night, misty trees, a lone lantern in a yellow halo, all were part of the roaring horror that gripped me" [5].
Elliptical sentences, connected by an unconnected link, increase the tension, convey the speed of movement: "along a narrow, fog-covered road with its soaring dark trees; to the right again, then a series of dizzying, sharp turns along steep streets that rose to the city" [5]. "She saw Jillian's face, raised in the moonlight, change from
expectation to perplexity, from perplexity to apprehension, to fear, to horror"; "and the carriage suddenly sped not down the slope, but through the air, flying towards the Sun with its wheels up" [5].
Emotional, lyrical sounding of the text contribute to the parallel construction (in conjunction with asyndeton) and inversion: "he straightened up from his work, looking at her, his head thrust forward like a bull's, his gaze both menacing and wary" [3]. The impression of a dizzying chase is created by repeating three times with an asyndeton: "cut chestnuts swept past us one after another, faster, faster, faster" [5]. In addition to simple repetition, amplified repetition is of interest, anaphoric, epiphoric ring and repetitions that simultaneously perform a structural-forming function: "she couldn't do anything. Nothing but waiting. Nothing. Nothing but darkness"; "as if it was waiting for her, as if someone was watching and waiting, waiting for her to come"; "to start. Where to start? Start from the beginning, wherever it is" [5].
Anaphora increases the emotional intensity of the narrative: "I wanted to do something; I wanted to know what was going on; I wanted Simon's presence" [5]; "if I could get him to talk, if I could keep him alive for a few more minutes" [5]. A circular repetition can create an implication, a premonition of misfortune: "at times we almost forgot the grim and urgent reason for our journey. Almost there was a light moving in the cave, a powerful light" [6].
A frequent use is aposiopesis (transmitting the characters' tense state): "his liver was damaged, but the main problem was... the problem was" [5].
With no less skill, authors often use syntactic tools based on redundancy to convey drama: "her face was gray and dead. Only her fingers moved, tore, tore at the Golden silk beneath them" [5]; "there was a silly little prayer on my lips" [5]; "please, please, please" [5].
It is not uncommon to use parentheses and separate constructions: "this was the amount of my knowledge about Vida winter on the night of the letter"; "the baby, a white patch of rage, was without a mother" [5].
Often the authors use somatic language. Gestures of pain and despair, fear, shock-trembling of the hands, body, clenched lips, hands, numbness, inability to
speak, think, and even breathe signal the high emotional tension of the character: "I was frozen, I don't think I could even breathe; I started to tremble; my lips were dead; my bitten lips tasted salt; my hands were clenched so tightly that my nails clogged with blood" [5]; "my face trembled under her gaze. I could feel the bones under my skin". "...he's sniffing my neck. By half-past five, it will be biting in with its teeth and claws" [5].
Summing up, we can say that suspense can be considered as a phenomenon that can be structured. It is a special organization of linguistic means, due to the author's intention, which creates the reader's maximum concentration and expectation of action resolution. Thus, it is possible to consider the category of suspense at different levels of the language organization. Most often in prose, suspense is created using such stylistic and syntactic means as: graphic (italics, ellipsis); phonetic (alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia); figurative means of lexical level (metaphor, epithet, metonymy, personification, oxymoron, semantic repetition); special imagery (zoomorphic, abiomorphic, kinematic utterances); syntactic means based on compression (elliptical sentences); syntactic means based on redundancy (common sentences with anaphoric, epiphoric, ring repetition).
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