Филологические науки /Риторика и стилистика
Ахметова
А.Е.
Региональный
социально – инновационный университет, Казахстан
Stylistic function of colour terms
The colour terms possess a very distinct feature
of emotiveness. In a literary text and in speech they are mostly used as
details, the emission of which does not generally break the content-factual
information (OFI) conveyed by the context. The use of colour notions in a text
adds mainly to its content-conceptual information (CCI), i.e. - it conveys the
author's individual understanding and the emotional attitude to the things
described by means of OFI, being an important component of the language
modality. And to a certain degree their use- contributes to revealing –
content-subtextual information (CSI) which is looked upon as implication
suggesting additional sense, emotional meaning and the very idea of the:
literary work.
Colour symbols are often widely used in literary
works, mostly in belles-lettres style and sometime , in publicisties. It is
here that they manifest a certain connotational meaning and get their expressive, emotive, imagery,
evaluative and modal
development.
It should be noticed that all these functions are
very often so closely interconnected that it is sometimes very difficult to
attach a certain contextual use of a colour notion to this or that definite
function. In most cases one attribute of colour used in a text may fulfill
several of the above mentioned functions which can be established only after a very
profound and thoughtful examination of
the text. A bright example of such mixture of functions in the use of
attributes of colour can be found in Ernest Hemingway's “The Old Man and the
Sea” in the description of the landscape, the sea and its inhabitants. Let us
consider several extracts from the story:
"The clouds over the land now rose like mountains and the coast was only a long green
line with the grey-blue hills behind it. The water was a dark blue now, so dark that it was almost
purple. As he “the old man”
looked down into it he saw the red sifting of plankton in the dark water
and the strange light the sun made
now... ...nothing showed on
the surface of the water but some patches of yellow, sunbleached Sargasso weed and the purplet gelatinous bladder of the Portuguese man-of-war floating close
beside the boat”; "He loved green turtles... and he had a
friendly contempt for the huge, stupid logger-heads, yellow in their armour-plating"; "...he could see the blue back
of the fish in the water and the
gold of his sides before he swung him
over the side and into the boat".
At first sight the use of
attributes of colour in these extracts is given for more precise and expressive
description of the phenomena being mentioned (imagery and expressive
functions), but their use also produces a certain emotional mood make the
reader to become filled with nature, to feel one's own participation in it, to
see the described things as if by oneself, it also creates a kind of positive
attitude and perception of the world, it shows the old man's love for nature
(emotive and evaluative functions). Besides, such numerous use of colour
symbols in the descriptions shows the author’s knowledge and interest in this
sphere, reveals his own tender attitude to nature and the hero of his book
(modality function).
Colour terms may also be met in texts belonging to
other functional styles, but in this case they generally have only denotative
meaning and play purely descriptive or authenticity role. So we shall linger at
emotive prose, slightly touching upon poetry containing colour terms in the
description of nature and personal appearance. Thanks to the depicting details
the images become more concrete and vivid. Besides they reflect the author's
point of view conveying his emotional and evaluating attitude. Let us consider
some examples.
This is the extract from “The Man of
Property” by J. Galsworthy describing
Philip Bosinney:
This very singular-looking
man... was of medium height and strong build, with a pale, brown face, dust-coloured moustache, very prominent cheekbones and hollow cheeks. He had sherry-coloured eyes, disconcertingly
inattentive at times.
This description allows us
not only imagine the character as if we've seen him, after such a detailed
description it is possible even to paint a portrait of a person, - but it also
makes us feel something strange in the character having face, moustache and
eyes of so unusual colour. We understand that this person is quite different
from other characters all having grey eyes (which become a
symbol of all the Forsytes that among their other characteristics makes them a
united whole), he is a stranger even for the author, though the latter cannot
help sympathizing with his hero, otherwise he would not have chosen such a
beautiful epithet for Bosinney's eyes.
Implicit
details mark a
surface trait of the phenomenon, which suggests deep-lying meaning. Their main
purpose is to create undercurrent information. The case of use of a colour term
as an implicit detail can be presented by the following example from the 3rd
Book “To Let” of “The Forsyte
Saga” by Galsworthy when Fleur looking
at her father thinks:
"He looks very grey".
Here the author uses a
kind of play on the word “grey”
meaning, at the same time the colour of the hair that became so because of the
age, and Soames’s gloomy, upset mood.
Colour terms are often used to show the
momentary change of mood or the inner
feelings of a character. Here are some
examples:
”...she (June) saw in the glass a swollen face with reddened
eyes, and
violet circles round them ...”
So, as it is seen, in belles-lettres texts colour terms are often
combined with artistic details
(depicting, implicit, characterological) or used as stylistic devices.
Literature:
1. Galsworthy J, The Forsyte Saga (To Let & The Man of
Property). – M.: Progress, 1974.
2.
Мостапенко Е.М. Свет в природе как
источник художественного творчества// Художественное творчество.- М., 1986.