LEXICAL-SYNTACTIC AND SYNTACTIC STYLISTIC DEVICES IN PESSIMISTIC UTTERANCES (A STUDY OF THE 20TH-CENTURY ENGLISH PROSE)

Abstract

This paper focuses on the stylistic means and devices that contribute to the generation of pessimistic discourse in the 20th-century English prose. The study aims to identify the stylistic expressive means and devices employed by the authors to create the pessimistic tonality of narration. The study employs a convenience sampling method and content analysis to ensure the reliability and validity of the results. It has been carried out by using the Tropes V8.4 software which identified both direct (the lexical units designating the phenomenon of pessimism) and indirect (the contextual markers of pessimism) indicators of the pessimistic narration. It has been revealed that pessimistic utterances are constructed by the authors of literary works applying to the stylistic context, which highlights the internal emotional state of a pessimist, i. e. their feelings, emotional and behavioral reactions. The research identifies lexical-syntactic (simile) and syntactic (rhetorical questions, inversion, repetition, parallel constructions, interrupted sentences) stylistic devices implemented in the pessimistic utterances to express the pessimistic character’s worldview revealing the range of basic, adjacent, and related qualitative features of pessimism which create general emotional tension and increase the expressiveness of narration. It has been determined that lexical-syntactic and syntactic stylistic devices in pessimistic utterances refer to pessimism in its situational aspect, that is as a product of individual experience reflecting the expectation of a negative result in a specific situation involving certain adaptive actions. The study contributes to the development of linguistic semantics, communicative linguistics, and discourse studies by enriching the knowledge of idiostyles. The proposed methodology of the given research is considered promising within the framework of linguistic semiotics and psycholinguistics.