Expressive inversion in the English language

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Moscow State Linguistic University

Expressive inversion in the English language

Е.V. Zhiber, Post-Graduate student,

Аннотация

Экспрессивная инверсия в английском языке

Е.В. Жибер, аспирант кафедры грамматики и истории английского языка факультета английского языка. Московский государственный лингвистический университет

В данной статье рассматривается инверсия как одна из синтаксических структур английского языка, её типы и функции. Принято считать, что отступление от традиционного порядка слов английского предложения используется как средство выражения экспрессивности, при этом высказывание приобретает некий эмоциональный оттенок, способный усилить воздействие на собеседника. Рассматриваются два типа инверсии: грамматическая и стилистическая, которая отличается экспрессивностью и отражает эмоциональное состояние говорящего. Особое внимание уделяется экспрессивной инверсии, её типам и особенностям использования в разговорном английском языке.

Ключевые слова: экспрессивный синтаксис; инверсия; экспрессивность; полная инверсия; частичная инверсия; экспрессивная инверсия.

Abstract

Expressive inversion in the English language

Е. V. Zhiber, Post-Graduate student, Department of Grammar and History of English Faculty of the English Language, Moscow State Linguistic University

The article looks into inversion, a feature of English syntax, its types and functions. It is generally believed that any change of the English word order can be viewed as an expressive means which intensifies the emotional appeal contained in the sentence, thus enhancing its persuasive effect. Two types of inversion are discussed: grammatical and stylistic, the latter being a reflection of the speaker's emotional state. The article focuses on the expressive inversion, its types and use in colloquial English.

Key words: expressive syntax; expressiveness; inversion; full inversion; partial inversion; expressive inversion.

Introduction

Means of expressive syntax have been of interest to linguists for the last few decades. Canonically, such transformations of word order are studied by stylistics which considers them to be an expressive means.

The importance of expressiveness for syntax was first mentioned by Ch. Bally in the previous century. He stated that syntactic means were capable of giving the utterance a special affective connotation. Expressiveness in syntax can be perceived as capability of syntactic forms to increase the pragmatic potential of an utterance beyond the degree achieved by the lexical values of the elements that fill these syntactic forms.

In English inversion is a complicated phenomenon presenting an interesting problem for discussion. Traditionally inversion refers to a reversal of the syntactically correct order of the subject, the predicate-verb, and the object in a sentence. This process is also known as anastrophe, from the Greek “to reverse”. Word order is an essential feature of syntax in many languages, and for English it is crucial as there is a fairly fixed pattern according to which sentences are constructed, normally the Subject-VerbObject order, although many other languages permit looser arrangements of sentence members.

O. Jespersen claims that English “has developed a tolerably fixed word order which in the great majority of cases shows without fail what is the Subject of the sentence” [Jespersen 2006, p. 66], that is Subject, Predicate and Object (S-P-O). In his research O. Jespersen also states that “according to statistics delivered from a series of representative 19th century writers the S-P-O order was used in 82 to 97 per cent of all sentences containing all the 3 members” [Jespersen 2006, p. 66], whereas 16 per cent were for Beowulf and 40 per cent for King Alfred's prose [Coseriu 2007]. This shows that the syntactic inversion was used in the English language as early as at the end of the 7th century.

In the English language the term inversion can be applied “to a significant number of sentence structures and within its own structural bounds also can cover a great variety of subcategories as an umbrella term” [Kreyer 2006, p. 5] whose “clear-cut distinctions are not found to be standardised, at least in relevant literature on inversion” [cf. Birner 2012; Dorgeloh 1997; Chen 2003; Kreyer 2006; inter alia]. G. Green states that “there exist on the order of 20 to 40 types of inverted sentences in English” [Green 1985, p. 117]. Some definitions of inversion are quite broad, including “subject-auxiliary inversion and even existential there- constructions” [Green 1982, p. 120]. B. Birner gives a more restrictive definition of inversion. She defines it as “a sentence in which the logical subject appears in the post-verbal position while some other, canonically post-verbal, constituent appears in the clause-initial position” [Birner 822012, р. 12]. Moreover, “being the reversal of the subject and the verb <...> inversion represents a deviation from the norm and, therefore, is a «norm-breaking» word order alternation» [Dorgeloh 1997, p. 1].

Discussion

Types of inversion in English. In the English language any change of traditional word order plays a role of great importance and has significant stylistic value. I. V. Arnold, 1.1. Pribytok and V. A. Kucharenko distinguish two types of inversion: grammatical and stylistic.

I. V. Arnold perceives the stylistic inversion as “a violation of the order of sentence constituents during which one of them is emphasized and receives a special connotation of emotionality or expressiveness” [Arnold 2010, p. 219]. The stylistic inversion gives the utterance emotional colouring because in this case emphasis is laid on one of the sentence constituents. Inversion serves as an expressive means in literary discourse.

According to B. B. Karashaeva “any violation of canonical word order results in additional connotations, emphasizes or weakens the semantics of a sentence constituent” [Karashaeva 2011, p. 58]. I. R. Galperin points out that “the stylistic inversion aims at attaching logical stress or additional emotional colouring to the surface meaning of the utterance” [Galperin 2018, p. 204]. He also adds that inversion is not to be considered a breach of the norm of standard English.

The grammatical inversion refers to a syntactic structure where two sentence members switch their canonical positions, that is they are inverted. Structurally two types of grammatical inversion are generally distinguished: full inversion (FI), for example: “All along one wall climbed a beautiful rambling rose" [Foley, Hall 2012, p. 327] and “subject-auxiliary inversion (SAI), which is also known as subject-operator inversion" [cf. Quirk et al. 1992, p. 1381], for example: “.deep blue sky arched high over the moorland. Never, never had Mary dreamed of a sky so blue. In India skies were hot and blazing <.>” (Burnett F. H. The Secret Garden) V. A. Kochetova also singles out two major types of inversion: “full inversion where the predicate-verb is shifted before the subject and partial inversion where the auxiliary is found in the position preceding the subject” [Kochetova 2013, p. 18]. Compare the two examples below:

Just as important is the question of tolerance.

Never have I seen such a handsome man [Kochetova 2013, p. 18].

H. Dorgeloh argues that “full inversion is found in all those structures where the subject follows the whole of its verbal phrase, i. e. a full (lexical) verb or copular be” [Dorgeloh 1997, p 23].

Nevertheless, speaking of inverted sentences some linguists use the terms inversion and fronting [Kochetova 2013, p. 18]. For instance, S. Chalker and M. Foley mention the syntactic transformation which they call “fronting” [Chalker 1997; Foley 2012]. They perceive fronting as “a way of changing the normal word order of a structure” [Foley 2012, p. 326], in which part of a sentence (a single sentence constituent or an expression) is placed in the position preceding the subject for the purpose of emphasis, for example, “Wine I can t drink it gives me a headache”.

This could be an adverbial or adjectival expression, a noun phrase or a clause, or even a verb. It should be mentioned that when an adjective or an adverbial modifier is shifted to the initial position, the word order becomes inverted. S. Chalker and M. Foley do not refer these shifts of sentence constituents to cases of inversion, they refer them to fronting [Kochetova 2013, p. 18]. Compare the examples:

“The actors were a mixed bunch. Pacino was the least inspiring of the lot. ” (fronting, no inversion) and “The actors were a mixed bunch. Least inspiring of the lot was Pacino.” (fronting + inversion) [Foley, Hall 2012].

Thus, in the structure of the grammatical inversion the predicateverb precedes the subject. In the English language two major types of the grammatical inversion can be distinguished: subject-auxiliary inversion (partial) and subject-verb inversion (full).

The distinction between the two lies in the nature of the verb involved whether it is a full or an auxiliary verb.

The subject-auxiliary (partial) inversion (SAI) is a frequently occurring type of inversion, where a finite auxiliary verb, including the finite forms of the link-verb be, changes positions with the subject. Therefore, the word order is auxiliary-subject, which is opposed to the canonical subject-verb order of declarative sentences in English. This type of inversion in English is commonly found in the process of question formation:

e.g. Mary will stay with us.

Will Mary stay with us? (SAI in a yes / no question)

e.g. Isaac has written it.

What has he done? (SAI in a special question)

However, there are other cases as well, including the formation of conditional clauses, for example:

e.g. If we were to help her ...

Were we to help her ... (SAI in a conditional clause) and in the structure of sentences with negative expressions in the initial position (i. e. negative inversion), for example:

e. g. Michelle has helped at no point.

At no point has Michelle helped. (SAI with a fronted negative expression).

In the English language the normal word order is subject-verb, any change of the order of the constituents leads to change of meaning, as a result, auxiliary-subject order is formed.

e. g. Bessie stayed.

Stayed Bessie? (no inversion is possible here as the verb is NOT an auxiliary verb).

The subject-verb (full) inversion (SVI) in English is the type of inversion where the subject and the verb switch their traditional order, so that the subject comes after the verb(s), e. g. "A lamp stood beside the bed. ” > "Beside the bed stood a lamp. ” The SVI is distinct from the SAI because the verb involved is not an auxiliary verb.

The following sentences illustrate the use of the subject-verb inversion, e.g. "A boy will come into the room. Into the room will come a boy.”

This type of inversion focuses on the subject which is usually expressed by a full noun or a noun phrase rather than a pronoun. Third- person pronouns cannot be the subject of this structural pattern. For instance, e.g. "Down the stairs came the cat”. In this sentence the subject is expressed by a noun. The sentence "Down the stairs came it” where the subject is a third-person personal pronoun is unlikely unless the subject it has importance and is stressed.

In English there occurs other types of inversion that are rather common and are part of its grammatical structure:

• shifting an adjective after the noun it modifies: the soldier strong;

• shifting a verb before its subject: shouts the policeman;

• shifting a noun before its preposition: worlds between.

Inversion always occurs in interrogative sentences where verbs or auxiliaries are put before their subjects. In a similar way, inversion can occur in an exclamatory sentence where the object precedes the predicate and subject and is preceded by a wh- word, for example:

e. g. What a beautiful room is it!

Inversion performs several functions in the language: logical, grammatical, expressive, communicative, pragmatic, and structural- semantic [Davydova 2011, p. 89].

Expressive inversion. The objective of the paper is to study the expressive function of inversion. The aim of the expressive inversion is to focus the listener's attention on the sentence part which is viewed by the speaker as prominent or most informative.

I. R. Galperin observes that “the most noticeable positions in the sentence are initial and final: the initial - because the full force of the stress can be felt at the beginning of the utterance and the last position because there is a pause after it” [Galperin 2018, p. 204]. The canonical word order is associated with a definite intonation pattern. According to I. R. Galperin this “intonational pattern remains despite changes introduced in the sequence of the constituent parts of the sentence” [Galperin 2018, p. 204].

The expressive inversion is basically found in literary discourse - prose and poetry. Due to some psychological factors the extent of text comprehension depends on the sentence structure. So, for the writer it is not enough to convey the meaning, the plot of the book.

The writer has to build their utterance so as to shake up and excite the reader's imagination and feelings. Using emphatic constructions helps to facilitate and enhance comprehension.

Inversion performing the expressive function can often be observed in spoken discourse. V. A. Kochetova argues that “colloquial speech is vitally emotional and using inverted word order can help to express different shades of emotional states” [Kochetova 2013].

e. g. You wore my present <...> can it be so gorgeous [Kochetova 2012].

The exclamatory inversion highlights the degree of the speaker's astonishment and surprise. Even though the exclamatory mark is absent / omitted the inversion shows the emotional reaction of the speaker.

The inversion in the sentences “Oh boy, was she mad!” or “How dare you hurt him!” also illustrates the emotional state of the speaker implying irritation or even rage. inversion syntactic expressiveness english

Exclamatory inverted sentences starting with how and what also perform the expressive function.

e. g. What a piece of work is a man! (W. Shakespeare, Hamlet 2:2) How green was my valley!

However, this usage of inversion can be regarded as old-fashioned and rather literary.

Results

The materials for the analysis of the expressive inversion in the English language were obtained from literary and spoken discourse. Most examples come from books written by N. Sparks Two by Two (2016), J. Krakauer Into Thin Air (2015) and from the latest BBC TV show Miss Scarlet and the Duke (2020).

Thorough analysis of instances of inversion used in colloquial speech showed that it performed primarily the expressive function. Besides, inverted sentences usually contained an element with a negative or restrictive meaning, which was expressed by an adverb (or an adverbial phrase). Those were mostly cases of partial inversion.

There is an opinion that such utterances sound quite official. G. G. Pocheptsov believes that if speaker does not want to produce such impression, they place the negative expression later in the utterance in its normal position [Pocheptsov 2005].

e.g. Never before have I seen blind anger like this on the streets of Paris (Lichfield, J. Never before have I seen blind anger like this on the streets of Paris).

There are some negative adverbs and adverbial phrases that often cause inversion, they are: no longer, hardly (ever), never, seldom / rarely, only then, not only <...> but, no sooner <...> then, barely <...> when, scarcely, only + time expression, nowhere, little, only in this way, in no way, on no account, not until / not since + expression of time, not even if+ clause; not for + noun phrase, not for nothing + clause, etc.

Canonically, inversion is possible if the negative elements are fronted thus, emphasizing the first part of the sentence.

The most frequent negative element used is the adverb never, e.g.:

- “Joseph's life had been colored by tragedy. He was on the Princess Alice.”

- “Never did the Thames see such a crash.”

- “He watched his first wife drown amongst those poor 600 souls.”

The inversion in the given example performs the expressive function. It highlights the extent of the tragedy which happened on the River Thames and claimed hundreds of lives (Miss Scarlet and the Duke, ep. 1).

e. g. Never had we been more motivated than during the first month of work. Never have I seen such a beautiful child.

The negative adverbial never is sometimes coupled with once or again that reinforces the idea emphasized, e.g.:

And through it all, I loved Vivian, and never once did I waver from the conviction that I wanted to spend my life with her (Sparks N. Two by Two).

...the animals of North America that we'd seen earlier didn't strike me as terribly exotic. Never once, however, had I spotted a zebra or giraffe, or a chimpanzee; I'd never come face-to-face with baboons, or elephants either (Sparks N. Two by Two).

The expressive inversion can be observed in sentences where other negative or restrictive adverbial elements such as no longer, only, seldom are fronted, e.g.:

It was after three o'clock when I made it down to the South Summit. By now tendrils of mist were streaming over the 27,923-foot top of Lhotse and lapping at Everest's summit pyramid. No longer did the weather look so benign (Krakauer J. Into Thin Air).

In assembling this book I received invaluable assistance from many people, but Linda Mariam Moore and David S. Roberts deserve special mention. Not only was their expert advice crucial to this volume, but without their support and encouragement I would never have attempted the dubious business of writing for a living, or stuck with it over the years (Krakauer J. Into Thin Air).

Not only did I fail to set up any meetings for the following week, I'd gone O-for-five” (Sparks N. Two by Two).

I'd written more than sixty pieces for Outside over the previous fifteen years, and seldom had the travel budget for any of these assignments exceeded two or three thousand dollars (Krakauer J. Into Thin Air).

...however, Hall was careful to keep us to a more indolent pace that gave our bodies time to adapt to the increasingly thin air. Seldom did we walk more than three or four hours on any given day (Krakauer J. Into Thin Air).

“Okay,” Marge whispered, and only then, did Marge begin to cry (Sparks N. Two by Two).

The expressive function is clearly present in all inverted sentences where negative or restrictive adverbials are fronted. Nevertheless, this type of structure is not the only one. In spoken discourse other structures with inversion which perform the expressive functions can be found, for example inversion after so and such shifted to the beginning of the utterance to emphasise the speaker's emotional state.

e. g. So unhappy was the boy that we decided to help him.

So happy was I that I bought presents for everybody in my family.

So interesting was the game that we did not notice how the time passed. Such was her fear that she started to cry.

Conclusion

The expressive inversion is an emphatic syntactic structure giving logical stress to the sentence constituents found in unusual syntactic positions without changing the meaning of the utterance. It can be regarded as a stylistic device which is used for the purpose of emphasis and should not be confused with the grammatical inversion which is a sentence structure where two sentence constituents switch their canonical order of appearance, i.e. they invert. Two major types of the grammatical inversion are usually distinguished: full inversion (subject-predicate) and partial inversion (subject-auxiliary).

The expressive inversion focuses the listener's attention on the prominent sentence constituent. This is achieved by placing a word in an odd or most noticeable position in the sentence - initial or final. Thus, the expressive inversion makes the utterance sound more emotional and allows the speaker to express a variety of attitudes. The expressive inversion can also be regarded as an efficient tool in persuading.

The expressive inversion can be found in literary discourse - prose and poetry. The present analysis shows that this type of inversion is more typical of colloquial speech. In the majority of the analyzed cases the inversion was partial and contained expressions of negative or restrictive meaning (usually an adverb or adverbial phrase). The most common of them were never (used alone or coupled with once or again), no longer, seldom and not only.

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