Pusat Program Luar/FBMK UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA

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Pusat Program Luar/FBMKUNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA

• Program Bersemuka I
• Semester 2 2012/13
• Kursus BBL 3207
• (LANGUAGE IN LITERATURE)
• 23 FEBRUARI 2013

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BBL 3207Language in Literature An Overview
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Course Synopsis

• This course covers the interconnections between
  language and literature. It introduces the use
  of language in literary texts as a methodical
  approach in the study of literature, and explores
  definitions of literature and literariness. The
  course traces the development of the study of
  literature which focuses on language from
  traditional literary criticism to the study of
  style or stylistics in linguistic criticism. It
  also examines the value of a linguistic method in
  reading literature.

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BBL 3207 Course Objectives

• By the end of the course, students will be able
  to
• analyse the interconnections between language and
  literature(C4),
• explain the main concepts in the study of
  language in literary texts (P2),
• discuss the value of using linguistics as a
  methodology in reading literature (A4) and,
• accept new ideas and develop autonomous learning
  (LL)

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Topics for 1st half of semester

1. Introduction connection between language and
   literature
2. Foregrounding Deviation and parallelism
3. Structure Shapes and patterns
4. Choice of lexical figurative expressions
5. Sentence structure

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Assessment

1. Assignment I 20
2. Mid-Semester Exam 20
3. Assignment 2 30
4. Final Exam 30

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• Ordinary language
• makes an ordinary use of the possibilities of
  language design.
• made up of many kinds of normative structures

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• Literary language
• makes an extraordinary use of these possibilities
  ? this makes the text more memorable
• Particular linguistic patterning
• Extends and modifies normative structures of
  language in unusual ways

In reading a text, we create a perception of that
text. The perception of a literary text is
affected by language design, and by the
relationship of the text to the literary
tradition
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NORMAL PARADIGM ABNORMAL PARADIGM
we burn paper we burn daylight
we burn wood
we burn oil
we burn fuel
The object of burn has to denote a concrete,
combustible material or be a more general term
for such materials. What does it mean by burn
daylight? burnt? destroyed/used up Possible
meaning we are using up daylight (metaphor)
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we burn daylight

• Consider the context
• Romeo and Juliet Montagues gatecrashing Capulet
  ball (first meeting of RJ)
• Reference to torches burning is literal,
  daylight is metaphorical ? a joke
• Combination of linguistic, contextual and general
  world knowledge ? basis for inferring an
  appropriate interpretation

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• What seems to distinguish literary from
  non-literary usage may be the extent to which the
  phonological, grammatical and semantic features
  of the language are salient, or foregrounded in
  some way.

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Foregrounding

• Foregrounding is a significant literary stylistic
  device based on the Russian Formalist's notion
  that the very essence of poeticality lies in the
  "deformation" of language.
• "Foregrounding" literally means "to bring to the
  front."
• The writer uses the sounds of words or the words
  themselves in such a way that the readers'
  attention is immediately captivated.

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Foregrounding

• Foregrounding works in two ways
• by distortion against a norm,
• by imposing regularity in grammatical patterns
  over and above those designated by the language -
  repetition or parallelism.
• Distortion can be studied under deviation, and
  can take place at any level of language i.e.
  lexical, grammatical, phonological, historical,
  graphological, semantic and others (Leech 1981).

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What is foregrounding?

• In a purely linguistic sense, the term
  foregrounding is used to refer to new
  information, in contrast to elements in the
  sentence which form the background against which
  the new elements are to be understood by the
  listener / reader.

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• In the wider sense of stylistics, text
  linguistics, and literary studies, it is a
  translation of the Czech aktualisace
  (actualization), a term common with the Prague
  Structuralists.
• In this sense it has become a spatial metaphor
  that of a foreground and a background, which
  allows the term to be related to issues in
  perception psychology, such as figure / ground
  constellations.

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• The English term foregrounding has come to mean
  several things at once
• the (psycholinguistic) processes by which -
  during the reading act - something may be given
  special prominence
• specific devices (as produced by the author)
  located in the text itself. It is also employed
  to indicate the specific poetic effect on the
  reader
• an analytic category in order to evaluate
  literary texts, or to situate them historically,
  or to explain their importance and cultural
  significance, or to differentiate literature from
  other varieties of language use, such as everyday
  conversations or scientific reports.

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• Thus the term covers a wide area of meaning.
• This may have its advantages, but may also be
  problematic which of the above meanings is
  intended must often be deduced from the context
  in which the term is used.

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Devices of Foregrounding

• Outside literature, language tends to be
  automatized its structures and meanings are used
  routinely.
• Within literature, however, this is opposed by
  devices which thwart the automatism with which
  language is read, processed, or understood.
• Generally, two such devices may be distinguished,
  deviation and parallelism.

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• Deviation corresponds to the traditional idea of
  poetic license the writer of literature is
  allowed - in contrast to the everyday speaker -
  to deviate from rules, maxims, or conventions.
• These may involve the language, as well as
  literary traditions or expectations set up by the
  text itself.
• The result is some degree of surprise in the
  reader, and his / her attention is thereby drawn
  to the form of the text itself (rather than to
  its content).
• e.g. neologism, live metaphor, or ungrammatical
  sentences, as well as archaisms, paradox, and
  oxymoron

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• Devices of parallelism are characterized by
  repetitive structures (part of) a verbal
  configuration is repeated (or contrasted),
  thereby being promoted into the foreground of the
  reader's perception.
• e.g., rhyme, assonance, alliteration, meter,
  semantic symmetry, or antistrophe.

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Phonological deviation

• Syllable omission
• Goody, goody. Payer back for all those Rise
  an Shines.(Lies down, groaning) You know it
  dont take much intelligence to get yourself into
  a nailed-up coffin, Laura. But who in hell ever
  got himself out of one without removing one
  nail? (Tom, 175)
• Payer(pay her ), Rise an Shines(Rise and
  Shine)
• (from The Glass Menagerie)

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Levels of language

• Language is not merely a mass of sounds and
  symbols, but is instead an intricate web of
  levels, layers and links. 

Levels of Language Levels of Language Levels of Language
1 Phonology Phonetics   The sound of spoken language the way words are pronounced
2 Graphology The patterns of written language the shape of language on the page 
3 Morphology The way words are constructed words and their constituent structures 
4 Syntax grammar The way words combine with other words to form phrases and sentences
5 Lexical analysis lexicology The words we use the vocabulary of a language
6 Semantics The meaning of words and sentences  
7 Pragmatics discourse analysis The way words and sentences are used in everyday situations the meaning of language in context.
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That puppys knocking over those pot plants!

• Graphology Roman alphabet, in a 12 point
  emboldened Georgia font. Exclamation mark
  suggests an emphatic style of vocal delivery.
• Phonology Potential for significant variation in
  much of the phonetic detail of the spoken version
  (e.g. the /t/ vs. glottal stop /r/ variations
  /ing/ vs. /in/ ). The social or regional
  origins of a speaker may affect other aspects of
  the spoken utterance.
• Morphology 3 constituents two root morphemes
  (pot and plant) and a suffix (the plural
  morpheme s), making the word a three morpheme
  cluster.

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That puppys knocking over those pot plants!

• Grammar A single clause in the indicative
  declarative mood. It has a Subject (That
  puppy), a Predicator (s knocking over) and a
  Complement (those potplants).
• Semantics The demonstrative words That and
  those express physical orientation in language
  by pointing to where the speaker is situated
  relative to other entities specified in the
  sentence( deixis) - suggest that the speaker is
  positioned some distance away from the referents
  puppy and potplants.
• Pragmatic This sentence in a two-party
  interaction will be understood as a call to
  action on the part of the addressee. Yet the same
  discourse context can produce any of a number of
  other strategies compared with Sorry,but I
  think you might want to keep an eye on that
  puppy.. (politeness)

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Phonological deviation

• 2. Pronunciation deviation from the norm
• Often happens to interjection, which is
  deliberately pronounced longer, expressing a
  stronger emotion
• When Laura and Jim talks about her unicorn, her
  long answer shows that she has a deep feeling
  toward the glass collection.  
• Mmm-hmmm! (Laura, 205)
• (from The Glass Menagerie)

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Phonological deviation

• Done deliberately in regard to the rhyme, just to
  keep the poems rhymed.
• e.g. wind (N) / wind /
• wind (V) / waind/

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Graphological Deviation

• Related to type of print, grammetrics,
  punctuation, indentation, etc.
• Parenthesis explains a specific action /
  certain / separate situation,
• When Amanda called Tom to be seated by the table,
  Toms reply showed his reluctance to his mother.
  
• Coming. Mother. (He bows slightly and
  withdraws, reappearing a few moments later in his
  place at the table.) (Tom, 164)

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Graphological Deviation

• 2. Capital
• Whats the matter with you, you---big---big---IDI
  OT! (Amanda, 172)
• Phonological and graphological deviation are
  often closely linked. This is because authors
  sometimes use respelling to provide information
  about how something sounds when spoken aloud,
  often to capture (and emphasize) regional or
  social variation.
• Man.dis life no easy (Zadie Smith 2000)

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Graphological Deviation

• Poets often disregard the rules of writing. They
  write words in such a way without any boundaries
  in lines, space, or rhyme
• E.E. Cumming
• seeker of truthfollow no pathall paths lead
  wheretruth is here

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Lexical Deviation

• The coining of entirely new words (neologism)
• When he awakened under the wire, he did not feel
  as though he had just cranched. Even though it
  was the second cranching within the week, he felt
  fit (Cordwainer Smith 1950).
• The prefix fore is applied to verbs like see
  and tell.
• T.S. Eliot uses the term foresuffer.
• Functional conversion of word class
• But me no buts (Henry Fielding 1730)

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Syntactical Deviation

• Poet disregards the rules of sentence
• i. fastened me flesh
• ii. A grief ago (Dylan Thomas)
• iii. the achieve of, the mastery of the things
  (Hopkins, the Windhover)
• Typical word order can be altered to produce
  particular effects
• What dire Offence from amrous Causes springs
  (Alexander Pope 1714)

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Morphological Deviation

• Involves adding affixes to words which they would
  not usually have, or removing their usual
  affixes
• Breaking words up into their constituent
  morphemes, or running several words together so
  they appear as one long word

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Morphological Deviation

• a billion brains may coax undeath
• from fancied fact and spaceful time
• (e.e. cummings 1960)
• coldtonguecoldhamcoldbeefpickledgherkinssaladfrenc
  hrollscresssandwichepottedmeatgingerbeerlemonadeso
  da water
• (Kenneth Grahame 1908)

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Semantic deviation

• Tranference of meaning
• phrase containing a word whose meaning violates
  the expectations created by the surrounding words
• e.g., a grief ago (expect a temporal noun)
• in the room so loud to my own (expect
  a spatial adjective)

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Semantic Deviation

• Simile - describes one thing as another using
  such words like or as. Simile also has the
  power of making language visual and vivid.
• Lauras separation increases till she is like a
  piece of her own glass collection, too
  exquisitely fragile to move from the shelf.
  (Glass Menagerie, 161)

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Semantic Deviation

• 2. Metaphor one thing describes another without
  the use of like or as
• So it is! A little silver slipper of a moon.
  Have you made a wish on it? (Amanda, 182)

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Repetition

• Another method of foregrounding
• Repeated structure
• Blow, blow, thou winter wind
• (Shakespeare, As You Like It)
• Wind is greater than usual / the speaker has
  stronger feelings about it than usual

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Repetition

• No pain felt she / I am quite sure she felt no
  pain
• (Robert Browning, Porphyrias Lover)
• Foreground the notion that the murder caused no
  physical discomfort to the victim, and thus
  signals once more the fact that the speaker might
  be disturbed, might be distorting the truth, and
  might not be giving an accurate account of the
  events narrated.

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Parallelism

• Parallel structure joins together two or more
  recognizably similar, yet not identical
  structures
• Repeated elements
• Can occur at all levels of language
  (phonological, syntactic, morphological etc.)
• But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was
  bruised for our iniquities
• (Isaiah, 53, v)

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Phonological parallelism

• Rhyming verse
• Alliteration, assonance, consonance
• "the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple
  curtain." (Edgar Allen Poe, The Raven)
• Severus Snape," "Luna Lovegood," "Rowena
  Ravenclaw (characters in Harry Potter series)

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Syntactic / grammatical Parallelism

• "Thinking less, feeling more. Doing less, being
  more. Fearing less, loving more.
• Also, lexical parallelism i.e. less/more
• word ? phrase ? clause
• The birds are in their nests and in their nests
  they sing.
• Each morning we sing, each morning we dance, and
  each morning we pray.

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Parallelism and effect

• Parallelism is more than just a repetition of
  sentence structure. The thoughts expressed by the
  repeating pattern are also repeated. When we talk
  of things being in parallel, then the things are
  of equal force and have the same tone.
• He was a tender young man, he was a gentle young
  man, he was an affectionate young man. He was the
  man everyone wanted.
• In the example above, the repeating thought is
  that of a young man of very warm affection.
• Parallelism in prose aims at basically two
  things
• 1. Reinforcing ideas of importance and
• 2. Making the text more pleasurable to the
  reader.
• In the first instance, if the writer wants to
  reinforce a certain idea or thought, he will
  repeat it by using a cyclic pattern he will
  repeat sentence structure or word order. The
  overall effect is that the reader will notice the
  point that he wants to emphasise and pay
  particular attention to it.

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Parallelism and effect

• Parallelism in prose also aims at pleasuring the
  reader. We are naturally musical by nature and
  are sensitive to rhythm. Not only do we notice
  rhythmical patterns, but we also enjoy them.
  Thus, a passage imbued with parallelism is
  enjoyable and memorable.

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Parallelism and effect

• It was the best of times, it was the worst of
  times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age
  of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it
  was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season
  of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was
  the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,
  we had everything before us, we had nothing
  before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we
  were all going direct the other way...
• (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities? )

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The language of poetry

• Little Bo-peep
• Has lost her sheep
• And doesnt know where to find them
• Leave them alone
• And they will come home
• Waggling their tails behind them

Fair is foul and foul is fairHover through wind
and murky air
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Forms of sound patterning

• Rhyme full rhyme, incomplete rhyme
• Alliteration
• Assonance
• Consonance
• Repetition

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• Rhyme
• two words rhyme if their final stressed vowel and
  all following sounds are identical
• two lines of poetry rhyme if their final strong
  positions are filled with rhyming words.
• Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
• Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
• All the kings horses and all the kings men
• Couldnt put Humpty together again

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Full rhyme

• Sometimes known as perfect, true or exact rhyme.
  This is a case when the stressed vowels and all
  following consonants and vowels are identical,
  but the consonants preceding the rhyming vowels
  are different e.g. chain, drain soul, mole. In
  other words this is a case of near-exact
  repetitions of end-sounds.

Incomplete rhyme

• Also known as half-rhymes, which are not exact
  repetitions but are close enough to resonate e.g.
  supper, blubber.

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• Alliteration repetition of the initial consonant
  of a word
• Magazine articles Science has Spoiled my
  Supper and Too Much Talent in Tennessee?
• Comic/cartoon characters Beetle Bailey, Donald
  Duck
• Restaurants Coffee Corner, Sushi Station
• Expressions busy as a bee, dead as a doornail,
  good as gold, right as rain, etc...
• Novels Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff,
  Rowena Ravenclaw, Salazar Slytherin

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Alliteration

• The repetition of sound, usually consonant, at
  the beginning of words.
• Example
• sweet smell of success, a dime a dozen, bigger
  and better, jump for joy
• And sings a solitary song That whistles in the
  wind. (Wordsworth)

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• Assonance Repetition of vowel sounds to create
  internal rhyming within phrases or sentences
• The sound of the ground is a noun.
• Hear the mellow wedding bells. (Poe)
• And murmuring of innumerable bees (Tennyson)
• The crumbling thunder of seas (Stevenson)
• That solitude which suits abstruser musings
  (Coleridge)
• Dead in da middle of little Italy, little did
• we know that we riddled some middle men
• who didn't do diddily. (Big Pun)

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• Consonance The repetition of two or more
  consonants using different vowels within words.
• All mammals named Sam are clammy
• And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each
  purple curtain (Poe)
• Rap rejects my tape deck, ejects projectile /
  Whether jew or gentile I rank top percentile.
  (Hip-hop music)

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Onomatopoeia

• a word that imitates the sound it represents
• Examplesplash, wow, gush, kerplunk
• Examples Over the cobbles he clattered and
  clashed in the dark inn-yard, / He tapped with
  his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and
  barred Tlot tlot, tlot tlot! Had they heard it?
  The horse-hooves, ringing clear / Tlot tlot,
  tlot tlot, in the distance! Were they deaf that
  they did not hear?
• ("The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes)

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ONOMATOPOEIA

• Words that imitate the sound they are naming
• BUZZ
• OR sounds that imitate another sound
• The silken, sad, uncertain, rustling of
  
• each purple curtain . . .

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• Repetition
• Words, words, words. (Hamlet)
• This, it seemed to him, was the end, the end of
  a world as he had known it... (James Oliver
  Curwood)
• We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on
  the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields
  and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills
  we shall never surrender. (Winston Churchill)
• What lies behind us and what lies before us are
  tiny compared to what lies within us. (Ralph
  Waldo Emerson)

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Rhythm

• The regular periodic beat.
• a unit which is usually larger than the
  syllable, and which contains one stressed
  syllable, marking the recurrent beat, and
  optionally, a number of unstressed syllables
  (Leech (1969) 105).
• It may involve a succession of weak and strong
  stress long and short high and low and other
  contrasting segments of utterance. Rhythm can
  occur in prose as well as in verse.

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Meter

• Meter is a type of rhythm of accented and
  unaccented syllables organized into feet, aka
  patterns.
• It is determined by the character and number of
  syllables in a line. Meter is also dependent on
  the way the syllables are accented.
• Shall I compare thee to a summers day?
• (Shakespeares Sonnet 18)
• The above line consists of ten syllables that
  show a pattern of unstressed and stressed
  syllables 1st syllable unstressed, 2nd syllable
  stressed, 3rd syllable unstressed. 10th
  syllable. The unstressed syllable is underlined
  while the stressed syllable is in bold (Cumming
  2006).

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Foot stress patterning

• A foot is made up of a pair of unstressed and
  stressed syllables. Thus, the above line
  altogether contains five feet (see below)
•     1              2              
  3              4              5 Shall
  I.... compare .. thee to.... a sum.... mers
  day?

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Stress patterning

• Iamb 2 syllables, unstressed stressed
• Trochee 2 syllables, stressed unstressed
• Anapest 3 syllables, 2 unstressed stressed
• Dactyl 3 syllables, stressed 2 unstressed
• Spondee 2 stressed syllables
• Pyrrhic 2 unstressed syllables

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5 types of Feet
Iamb (Iambic) Unstressed Stressed Two Syllables "To be or not to be" (Shakespeares Hamlet)
Trochee (Trochaic) Stressed Unstressed Two Syllables "Double, double, toil and trouble." (Shakespeares Macbeth)
Spondee (Spondaic) Stressed Stressed Two Syllables heartbreak
Anapest (Anapestic) Unstressed Unstressed Stressed Three Syllables "I arise and unbuild it again" (Shelley's Cloud)
Dactyl (Dactylic Stressed Unstressed Unstressed Three Syllables Openly
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Metrical patterning

• Dimetre 2 feet
• Trimetre 3 feet
• Tetrametre 4 feet
• Pentametre 5 feet
• Hexametre 6 feet
• Heptametre 7 feet
• Octametre 8 feet

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Meter depends on the type of foot and the number
of feet in a line. Below are the types of meter
and the line length
Monometer One Foot
Dimeter Two Feet
Trimeter Three Feet
Tetrameter Four Feet
Pentameter Five Feet
Hexameter Six Feet
Heptameter Seven Feet
Octameter Eight Feet
    1              2              
3              4              5 Shall
I.... compare .. thee to.... a sum.... mers
day?
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Practice

• Here's an example of how a line by Shakespeare is
  divided into feet
• from FAIR est CREA tures WE deSIRE
  inCREASE

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Intimations of Immortality Robert Frost

• THERE was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
        
• The earth, and every common sight,  
              
• To me did seem       
• Apparell'd in celestial light,  
• The glory and the freshness of a dream.          
• It is not now as it hath been of yore  
          
• Turn wheresoe'er I may,
•               By night or day,  
• The things which I have seen I now can see no
  more.

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Choice of lexical Figurative expressions

• Friends, Romans and Countrymen, lend me your
  ears
• Anthony in Shakespeares
• Julius Caesar

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Simile

• O, my luve is like a red, red rose,
• Thats newly sprung in June
• O, my luve is like the melodie
• Thats sweetly playd in tune.
• Robert Burns
• (1759-96)

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Metaphor

• All the worlds a stage,
• And all the men and women merely players
• They have their exits and their entrances.
• And one man in his time plays many parts,
• His acts being seven ages
• William Shakespeare
• (1564-1616)

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Metonymy

• There is no armour against fate
• Death lays his icy hand on kings
• Sceptre and Crown
• Must tumble down
• And in the dust be equal made
• With the poor crooked Scythe and Spade.
• James Shirley (1596-1666)

A figure of speech that consists of the use of
the name of one object or concept for that of
another to which it is related, or of which it is
a part,
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Synecdoche

• They were short of hands at harvest time. (part
  for whole)
• Have you any coppers? (material for thing made)
• He is a poor creature. (genus for species)
• He is the Newton of this century. (individual for
  class)

A figure of speech in which a part is used for
the whole or the whole for a part, the special
for the general or the general for the special
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Sentence Structure
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Checking our grammatical intuitions

• We are going to look at three clauses, or simple
  sentences, taken from Ted Hughes's 'Esther's
  Tomcat', all of which describe the cat.
• Daylong this tomcat lies stretched flatAs an old
  rough mat, no mouth and no eyes.Continual wars
  and wives are whatHave tattered his ears and
  battered his head.Like a bundle of old rope and
  ironSleeps till blue dusk. Then reappearHis
  eyes, green as ringstones

Daylong this tomcat . Sleeps till blue dusk.
Then reappear his eyes.
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• Over the roofs go his eyes and outcry.
• His eyes and outcry go over the roofs.
• The tomcat still grallochs the odd dog on the
  quiet, will take the head clean off your simple
  pullet. Is unkillable.
• What is deviant about this sentence?

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Grammatical structure and grammatical function

• The two sentences below use exactly the same
  words, but clearly mean different things.
• John kisses Mary
• Mary kisses John
• What is it about these two sentences which gives
  rise to the different meanings?

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NP VP NP
Subject Predicator Object
John kissed Mary
Mary kissed John
'John' and 'Mary' have different grammatical
functions in the sentences
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Functions of words and phrases in sentences

• Simple sentences and clauses in English are made
  up of five functional elements
• Subjects (S)
• Predicators (P)
• Objects (O)
• Complements (C)
• Adverbials (A).
• Although these five elements do not turn up in
  every sentence (we will begin to see why below),
  they have a strong tendency to occur in the above
  order.

SPOCA
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SPOCA

• The SPOCA elements are functional constituents of
  sentences.
• In the simple cases, they each consist of a
  phrase, but those phrases 'do different jobs'
  (i.e. have different functions) in sentences and
  clauses.

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SPOCA Element
Predicators consist of verb phrases (e.g. 'ate', 'had been eating', 'is', 'was being') which can be used to express tense and aspect) function as The centre of English sentences and clauses, around which everything else revolves They express actions (e.g. 'hit'), processes (e.g. 'changed', 'decided') and linking relations (e.g. 'is', 'seemed') They are the most obligatory of English sentence constituents Examples Mary loves John (transitive predicator), John had been running (intransitive predicator), John seems quiet (linking predicator)
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SPOCA Element
Subjects consist of noun phrases (NPs) (e.g. 'a student', 'John') function as The topic of the sentence, and the 'doer' of any action expressed by a dynamic predicator and normally come before that predicator . Subjects are the next most obligatory element after predicators Examples Mary loves John, The exhausted student had been running, John seems quiet
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SPOCA Element
Objects consist of noun phrases (NPs) function as the 'receiver' of any action expressed by a dynamic predicator, where relevant and normally come immediately after that predicator.Objects are obligatory with transitive predicators (but do not occur with intransitive or linking predicators) Examples Mary loves John, The exhausted student had eaten all his food, Mary has the biggest ice cream
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• Transitive predicators predicators that require
  an object (I like pies)
• Intransitive predicators predicators that can be
  used without a direct object. Verbs like come and
  go and die do not need objects. Contrast verbs
  like 'make' and 'catch', which are transitive.
  Some verbs can function both intransitively and
  transitively, eg. reading.

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SPOCA Element
Complements consist of noun phrases (e.g. 'a student') or adjective phrases (e.g. 'very happy') and normally come immediately after a linking predicator (when they are subject complements) or an object (if they are object complements) Complements are obligatory with linking predicators function as the specification of some attribute or role of the subject (usually) or the object (sometimes) of the sentence Examples John is a student, The exhausted student is ill, Mary made her mother very angry
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SPOCA Element
Adverbials consist of adverb phrases (AdvPs e.g. 'soon', 'then' 'very quickly', prepositional phrases (PPs e.g. 'up the road', 'in a minute' or noun phrases (e.g. 'last Tuesday', 'the day before last') function as the specification of a condition related to the predicator (e.g. when, where or how the predicator process occurred)Adverbs are the most optional of the SPOCA elements and can normally occur in more positions than the other SPOCA elements, though the most normal position for most adverbials is at the ends of clauses Examples Then John walked up the road, The exhausted student became ill last Thursday, Next Mary stupidly made her mother very angry on her wedding anniversary
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What phrases will we find in each of the sentence
elements?
S Noun Phrase
P Verb Phrase
O Noun Phrase
C Adjective Phrase orNoun Phrase
A Adverb Phrase orPrepositional Phrase orNoun Phrase
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What are the most common (conventional) orderings
of the sentence elements?
Sentence
John / laughed
John / ate / the student
John / is / crazy
John / laughed / mysteriously
John / ate / some more students / on Thursday
The rest of the students / voted John / maniac of the year
The students / gave / John / his bus fare to the asylum
SPOCA
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Dr SPOCA!! Dr SPOCA!!
S SUBJECT A Noun Phrase which refers to the entity which is thetopic of the sentence (what the sentence is about), andif the predicator of the sentence is a dynamic verb,the subject is the "doer" of the action. Usually comesfirst in the sentence, before the Predicator.
P PREDICATOR A Verb Phrase which expresses the action/process orrelationship in the sentence.
O OBJECT A Noun Phrase which refers to the entity which is the recipient of the action/process. Only occurs with transitivePredicators. Usually comes after the Predicator.
C COMPLEMENT A Noun Phrase or Adjective Phrase which normally comes after a linking Predicator and expresses some attribute or role of the SUBJECT. Sometimes it expresses an attribute or role of the OBJECT. Almost always comes after the Predicator.
A ADVERBIAL An Adverbial, Prepositional or Noun Phrase which usually specifies some condition related to the Predicator, e.g. when, where or how some action occurred. It is by far the most mobile of the sentence elements, and can occur in many different positions in a sentence (the other four sentence elements are much more fixed). Its most normal position is at the end of the sentence, however.
Hence the ordering S-P-O-C-A Hence the ordering S-P-O-C-A
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• Notice that unusual orderings are deviant and so
  produce foregrounding. Consider, for example
• (i) Crazy John is.(ii) with not a soul having
  seen us

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Analysing some simple sentences using SPOCA
analysis

• (i) Work out what kind of phrase each constituent
  is (NP, VP, AdjP, AdvP, PP)
• (ii) Show the SPOCA structures of the sentences
  they occur in.

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Analysing some simple sentences using SPOCA
analysis

1. John loves Mary.
2. Mary loves John.
3. John was very annoyed.
4. The hungry student hates overcooked cabbage.
5. The telephone rang.
6. The cheerful woman was kissing her radiant
   husband with great abandon.
7. Mary lifted the receiver angrily within two
   seconds.

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Thank you for listening

• All the best!
• Dr. Zalina Mohd Kasim
• E-Mail zalina_at_fbmk.upm.edu.my
• Phone [phone]
• FBMK Room No. A153
• (1st Floor, Language Studies Block, Faculty of
  Modern Languages and Communication UPM)

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Recommended Reading

• Simpson, P. (2004) Stylistics a Resource Book
  for Students. London Routledge.
• Short, M. (1996) Exploring the Language of Poems,
  Plays and Prose. London Longman.
• Leech, G. N. (1969) A Linguistic Guide to English
  Poetry. London Longman.
• Simpson, P. (1997) Language through Literature
  an Introduction. London Routledge.
• Cummings, M. R. Simmons (1983) The Language of
  Literature a Stylistic Introduction to the Study
  of Literature. Oxford Pergamon Press.
• Culpeper, J., M. Short, P. Verdonk (1998)
  Exploring the Language of Drama from text to
  context. London Routledge.
• Verdonk, P. (2002) Stylistics. Oxford Oxford
  University Press.

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