Homonymy in the book of Lewis Carroll "Alice in Wonderland"

Anadiphsis (the final element of one sentence, paragraph, stanza is repeated in the initial part of the next sentence, paragraph, stanza.

E.g. Three fishers went sailing out into the West. Out into the West, as the sun went down. (Kingsley)

Chiasmus (parallelism reversed, two parallel syntactical constructions contain a reversed order of their members).

E. g. That he sings and he sings, and for ever sings he-I love my Love and my Love loves me! (Coleridge)

Syntagmatic semasiology or semasiology of sequences deals with semantic relationships expressed at the lengh of a whole text. As distinct from paradigmatic semasiology which studies the stylistic effect of renaming syntagmatic semasiology studies types of names used for linear arrangement of meanings.

Skrebnev calls these repetitions of meanings represented by sense units in a text figures of co-occurrence. The most general types of semantic relationships can be described as identical, different or opposite. Accordingly he singles out figures of identity, figures of inequality and figures of contrast.

Figures of identity

Simile (an explicit statement of partial identity: affinity, likeness,

similarity of 2 objects).

E. g. My heart is like a singing bird. (Rosetti)

Synonymous replacement (use of synonyms or synonymous phrases

to avoid monotony or as situational substitutes).

E. g. He brought home numberless prizes. He told his mother countless

stories. (Thackeray)

E. g. I was trembly and shaky from head to foot.

Figures of inequality

Clarifying (specifying) synonyms (synonymous repetition used to characterise different aspects of the same referent).

E.g. You undercut, sinful, insidious hog. (O'Henry)

Climax (gradation of emphatic elements growing in strength).

E. g. What difference if it rained, hailed, blew, snowed, cycloned? (O'Henry).

Лпп-climax (back gradation--instead of a few elements growing in intensity without relief there unexpectedly appears a weak or contrastive element that makes the statement humorous or ridiculous).

E. g. The woman who could face the very devil himself or a mouse--goes all to pieces in front of a flash of lightning. (Twain)

Zeugma (combination of unequal, or incompatible words based on the economy of syntactical units).

E.g. She dropped a tear and her pocket handkerchief. (Dickens) Pun (play upon words based on polysemy or homonymy).

E. g. What steps would you take if an empty tank were coming toward you?--Long ones.

Disguised tautology (semantic difference in formally coincidental parts of a sentence, repetition here does not emphasise the idea but carries a different information in each of the two parts).

E. g. For East is East, and West is West... (Kipling)

Figures of contrast

Oxymoron (a logical collision of seemingly incompatible words).

E. g. His honour rooted in dishonour stood, And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true.

(Tennyson)

Antithesis (anti-statement, active confrontation of notions used to show the contradictory nature of the subject described).

E. g. It was the bestof 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 era of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of Darkness... Hope... Despair. (Dickens)

His fees were high, his lessons were light. (O'Henry)

An overview of the classifications presented here shows rather varied approaches to practically the same material. And even though they contain inconsistencies and certain contradictions they reflect the scholars' attempts to overcome an inventorial description of devices. They obviously bring stylistic study of expressive means to an advanced level, sustained by the linguistic research of the 20th century that allows to explore and explain the linguistic nature of the stylistic function. This contribution into stylistic theory made by modern linguistics is not contained to classifying studies only. It has inspired exploration of other areas of research such as decoding stylistics or stylistic grammar that will be discussed in further chapters.

carroll book expressive mean

II.2 Homonyms

Many words, especially characterized by a high frequency rating, are not connected with meaning by a one relation-ship. On the contrary, one symbol as a rule serves to render several different meanings. The phenomenon may be said to be the reverse of synonymy where several symbols correspond to one meaning. Two or more words identical in sound and spelling but different in meaning, distribution and (in many cases) origin are called homonyms. The term is derived from Greek (homos 'similar' and onoma 'name') and thus expresses very well the sameness of name combined with the difference in meaning.

E. g. bank, n.- a shore

bank, n.-an institution for receiving, lending, exchanging money

ball, n. -- a sphere; any spherical body

ball, n.- a large dancing party

English vocabulary is rich in such pairs and even groups of words. Their identical forms are mostly accidental : the majority of homonyms coincided due to phonetic changes which they suffered during their development.

Homonymy exists in many languages, but in English it is particularly frequent, especially among monosyllabic words. In the list of 2,540 homonyms given in the Oxford English Dictionary 89% are monosyllabic words and only 9,1% are words of two syllables. From the viewpoint of their morphological structure, they are mostly one-morpheme words.

If synonyms and antonyms can be regarded as the treasury of the language's expressive resources, homonyms are of no interest in this respect, and one cannot expect them to be of particular value for communication. Metaphorically speaking, groups of homonyms and pairs of antonyms are created by the vocabulary system with a particular purpose whereas homonyms are accidental creations, and therefore purposeless.

In the process of communication they are more of an encumbrance, leading sometimes to confusion and misunderstanding. Yet it is this very characteristic which makes them one of the most important sources of popular humour.

The pun is a joke based upon the play upon words of similar form but different meaning (i.e. on homonyms) as in the following: "A tailor guarantees to give each of his customers a perfect fit."

(The joke is based on the homonyms: 1 .fit, n.-perfectly fitting clothes; 2.fit,u. -- a nervous spasm)

Homonyms which are the same in sound and spelling (as the example given in the beginning of this chapter) are traditionally termed homonyms proper.

The following joke is based on a pun which makes use of another type of homonyms:

"Waiter!"

"Yes, sir."

"What's this? " "It's bean soup. "

"Never mind what it has been. I want to know what it is now."

Bean, n.-and bean, Past Part, of to be are homophones. As the example shows they are the same in sound but different in spelling. Here are some more examples of homophones:

Night, n.- knight, n.; piece, n. -peace, n. ; scent, n. -cent, n. - sent, v. (Past Indef., Past Perf., of to send); rite, n.-to write, v.-right, adj.; sea, n.-to see, v.-C[si:] (the name of a letter).

The third type of homonyms is called homographs. These are words which are the same in spelling but different in sound.

E.g. to bow [bau],v.-to incline the head or body in salutation

bow [bju],n.-a flexible strip of wood for propelling arrows

to lead [li:d],v.-to conduct on the way, go before to show the way lead [led],n.-a heavy, rather soft metal

to tear [tea-], v.-to pull apart or in piece by force

tear [tw],n.-a drop of the fluid secreted by the lacrimal glands of the eye

II.2.1 Sources of Homonyms

One source of homonyms has already been mentioned: phonetic changes which words undergo in the course of their historical development. As a result of such changes, two or more words which were formerly pronounced differently may develop identical sound forms and thus become homonyms.

Night and knight, for instance, were not homonyms in Old English as the initial k in the second word was pronounced, and not dropped as it is in its modern sound form: O. E. kniht (cf. O.E. niht). A more complicated change of form brought together another pair of homonyms: to knead ( O.E. cnedah) and to need (O.E. neodiah).

In Old English the verb to write had the form writan, and the adjective right had the forms reht, riht. The noun sea descends from the Old English form sae, and the verb to see from O.E. seon. The noun work and the verb to work also had different forms in Old Enhlish: wyrkean and weork respectively.

Borrowing is another source of homonyms. A borrowed word may , in the final stage of its phonetic adaptation, duplicate in form either a native word or another borrowing. So, in the group of homonyms rite, n.- to write, v.-right, adj. the second and third words are of native origin whereas rite is a Latin borrowing (<Lat. ritus). In the pair piece ,n.-peace,n., the first originates from Q.'F.pais, and the second from O.F. (<Gaulish) pettia. Bank ,n.("shore") is a native word, and bank ,n. ("a financial institution") is an Italian borrowing. Fair, adj. (as in a fair deal, it's not fair] is native, and fair, n. ("a gathering of buyers and sellers") is a French borrowing. Match, n. ("a game; a contest of skill, strength") is native, and match ,n. ("a slender short piece of wood used for producing fire") is a French borrowing.

Word-building also contributes significantly to the growth of homonymy, and the most important type in this respect is undoubtedly conversion. Such pairs of words as comb,n.- to comb,v.,pale,ad]. - to pale, v. To make ,v.- make,n. are numerous in the same in sound and spelling but refer to different categories of parts of speech, are called lexico-grammatical homonyms.

Shortening is a further type of word-building which increases the number of homonyms. E.g. fan, n. in the sense of "an enthusiastic admirer of some kind of sport or of an actor, singer , etc." is a shortening produced from, fanatic. Its homonym is a Latin borrowing/aw, n. which denotes an implement for waving lightly to produce a cool current of air. The noun rep, n. denoting a kind of fabric (cf. with the R. penc) has three homonyms made by shortening : rep,n. (<repertory), rep,n.(<representative), rep,n.(<reputationy, all the three are informal words. During World War II girls serving in the Women Royal Naval Service (an auxiliary of the British Royal Navy) were jokingly nicknamed Wrens (informal). This neologistic formation made by shortening has the homonym wren,n. "a small bird with dark brown plumage barred with black" (R. KpanuenuK).

Words made by sound-imitation can also form pairs of homonyms with other words e. g. bang, n. ("a loud, sudden, explosive noise") - bang, n. ("a fringe of hair combed over the forehead"). Also: mew, n. ("the sound a cat makes") - mew, n. ("a sea gull") -- mews ("a small terraced houses in Central London").

The above-described sources of homonyms have one important feature in common. In all the mentioned cases the homonyms developed from two or more different words, and their similarity is purely accidental. (In this respect, conversation certainly presents an exception for in pairs of homonyms formed by conversation one word of the pair is produced from the other: a find < to find.)

Now we come to a further source of homonyms which differs essentially from all the above cases. Two or more homonyms can originate from different meanings of the same word when, for some reason, the semantic structure of the word breaks into several parts. This type of formation of homonyms is called split polysemy. From what has been said in the previous chapters about polysemantic words, it should have become clear that the semantic structure of a polysemantic words presents a system within which all its constituent meanings are held together by logical associations. In most cases, the function of the arrangement and the unity is determined by one of the meanings (e. g. the meaning "flame" in the noun/ire). If this meaning happens to disappear from the word's semantic structure, associations between the rest of the meanings may be severed, the semantic structure loses its unity and falls into two or more parts which then become accepted as independent lexical units.

Let us consider the history of three homonyms:

board, n. - a long and thin piece of timber

board, n. - daily meals, especially as provided for pay,

E. g. room and board

board, n. - an official group of persons who direct or supervise some activity, e. g. a board of directors

It is clear that the meanings of these three words are in no way associated with one another. Yet, most larger dictionaries still enter a meaning of board that once held together all these other meanings "table". It developed from the meaning "a piece of timber" by transference based on contiguity (association of an object and the material from which it is made). The meanings "meals" and "an official group of persons" developed from the meaning "table", also by transference based on contiguity: meals are easily associated with a table on which they are served; an official group of people in authority are also likely to discuss their business round a table.

Nowadays, however, the item of furniture, on which meals are served and round which boards of directors meet, is no longer denoted by the word board but by the French Norman borrowing table, and board in this meaning, though still registered by some dictionaries, can very well be marked as archaic as it is no longer used in common speech. That is why, with the intrusion of the borrowed table, the word board actually lost its corresponding meaning. But it was just that meaning which served as a link to hold together the rest of the constituent parts of the word's semantic structure. With its diminished role as an element of communication, its role in the semantic structure was also weakened. The speakers almost forgot that board had ever been associated with any item of furniture, nor could they associate the concepts of meals or of a responsible committee with a long thin piece of timber (which is the oldest meaning onboard). Consequently, the semantic structure of board was split into three units.

A somewhat different case of split polysemy may be illustrated by the three following homonyms:

spring, n. -- the act of springing, a leap

spring, n. - a place where a stream of water comes up out of the earth (R. родник, источник)

spring, n. -- a season of the year.

Historically all three nouns originate from the same verb with the meaning of "to jump, to leap" (O.E. springan), so that the meaning of the first homonym is the oldest. The meanings of the second and third homonyms were originally based on metaphor. At the head of a stream the water sometimes leaps up out of the earth, so that metaphorically such a place could well be described as a leap. On the other hand, the season of the year following winter could be poetically defined as a leap from the darkness and cold into sunlight and life. Such metaphors are typical enough of Old English and Middle English semantic transferences but not so characteristic of modern mental and linguistic processes. The poetic associations that lay in the basis of the semantic shifts described above have long since been forgotten, and an attempt to re-establish the lost links may well seem far-fetched. It is just the near-impossibility of establishing such links that seems to support the claim for homonymy and not for polysemy with these three words.

It should be stressed, however, that split polysemy as a source of homonyms is not accepted by some scholars. It is really difficult sometimes to decide whether a certain word has or has not been subjected to the split of the semantic structure and whether we are dealing with different meanings of the same word or with homonyms, for the criteria are subjective and imprecise. The imprecision is recorded in the data of different dictionaries which often contradict each other on this very issue, so that board is represented as two homonyms in Professor V. K. Muller's dictionary, as three homonyms in Professor V. D. Arakin's and as one and the same word in Hornby's dictionary.

II.2.2 Classification of Homonyms

The subdivision of homonyms into homonyms proper, homophones and homographs is certainly not precise enough and does not reflect certain important features of these words, and, most important of all, their status as parts of speech. The examples given in the beginning of this chapter show that homonyms may belong both to the same and to different categories of parts of speech. Obviously, a classification of homonyms should reflect this distinctive feature. Also, the paradigm of each word should be considered, because it has been observed that the paradigms of some homonyms coincide completely, and of others only partially.

Accordingly, Professor A. I. Smirnitsky classified homonyms into two large classes: 1. Full homonyms, 2. Partial homonyms

Full lexical homonyms are words which represent the same category of parts of speech and have the same paradigm.

E. g match, n. -- a game, a contest

match, n. - a short piece of wood used for producing fire

wren, n. - a member of the Women's Royal Naval Service wren, n. - a bird

Partial homonyms are subdivided into three subgroups:

Simple lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words which belong to the same category of parts of speech. Their paradigms have one identical form, but it is never the same form, as will be seen from the examples.

E.g. (to) found, v.

found, v. (Past Indefinite, Past Participle of to find)

to lay, v.

lay, v. (Past Indef. Of to lie)

to bound, v.

bound, v. (Past Indef, Past Part, of to bind)

B.Complex lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words of different categories of parts of speech which have one identical form in their paradigms.

E.g. rose, n.

rose, v. (Past Indef. Of to rise)

maid, n.

maid, v. (Past Indef, Past Part, of to make)

left, adj.

left, v. (Past Indef, Past Part, of to leave)

bean, n.

been, v. (Past Part, of to be)

one, num.

won, v. (Past Indef, Past Part, of to win)

C. Partial lexical homonyms are words of the same category of parts of speech which are identical only in their corresponding forms.

E.g. to lie (lay, lain), v.

to lie (lied, lied), v.

to hang (hung, hung), v.

to hang (hanged, hanged), v.

to can (canned, canned)

can (could)

II.2.3 Homonyms in the book

Lewis Carroll used many stylistic devices in his book. One of them is pun. This definition of pun is given in the dictionary of literary terms of J.A.CUDDON.1979 Published by Penguin Books: "Pun-a figure of speech which involves a play upon words. The Greek term is paronomasia. One of the earliest types of word-play, the pun is widespread in many literatures and gives rise to a fairly universal form of humour" Lewis Carroll used homonyms to create the humourous effect, some dialogues are based on the play upon words, and it causes misunderstanding. Here are the extracts from the book where homonyms are used on this purpose.

1. "Mine is a long tale!" said the Mouse, turning to Alice, and sighing. "It is a long tail, certainly," said Alice, looking down with wonder at the Mouse's tail; "but why do you call it sad?" And she kept on puzzling about it while the Mouse was speaking, so that her idea of the tale was something like this:

"Fury said to

a mouse, That

he met in the house, 'Let

us both go

to law: I

will prosecute you.

Come, I'll

take no denial; We

must have

a trial:

For really

this morning I've

nothing

to do.'

Said the

mouse to

the cur,

'Such a trial,

dear Sir, With

no jury

or judge,

would

be wasting our

breath.'

I'll be

judge,

I'll be

Jury,'

Said cunning

old

Fury:

'I'll

try

the

whole

cause,

and

condemn

you to

death.'"

This way L. Carroll realizes the unwanted mistake of Alice, caused by homonymy

of the words "tale" and "tail": and there appeared the verse in the shape of mouse's

tail.

'Tale' and 'tail' are homophones Tale.

tale-['teil]-w., a story, number, count (Practical English Dictionary)

tale --n., a story, told story <Old English talu ; Old German zala (german Zahl "number"); Old Island tola "story; number" (A Dictionary of English Homonyms and Homoforms)

Webster's School Dictionary:

- Tale \ ?tвl \ n 1 : man oral relation or recital <a tale of woe> 2: a story about imaginary event <a fairy tale> 3 : a false story : LIE 4: a piece of harmful gossip <all sorts of tales were going around about them> 5 a : COUNT 1, TALLY b : a number of things taken together : TOTAL [ Old English talu ]

Tail

Tail-n.,<Old English taegel; Old German zagal (german dial. Zagel); Old Island tagl "a tail of a horse"; got. tagl "hair"(A Dictionary of English Homonyms and Homoforms)

Webster's School Dictionary:

-tail \?tвl \ n 1: the rear end or a lengthened growth from the rear end of the body of an animal 2: something resembling an animal's tail <tail of a kite> [Old English tegel]

Tail-[teil]-n., the projecting continuation of the backbone at the hinder end of an animal(Practical English Dictionary)

2. "You can draw water out of a water-well," said the Hatter; "so I should think you could draw treacle out of a treacle-well - eh, stupid?"

"But they were in the well," Alice said to the Dormouse, not choosing to notice this last remark.

"Of course they were," said the Dormouse: "well in".

Here Carroll continues playing upon words: by changing the word order he changes words' meaning. He used the proper homonym 'well' in this joke.

Well

Well-['wel]-adv. In a good manner or degree. - a. In good health; suitable. Well-[wel]-n. a deep hole for water; a spring. - v. i. to flow out or up (Practical English Dictionary)

well[wel] >(A Dictionary of English Homonyms and Homoforms)

I n., a deep hole for water <Old English wella; Old German wella (Germ. Welle) "a wave"; Old Island veil "boiling"; relative Lit. vilnis "wave"; Russian eonna II adv., in a good manner or degree <Old English wel; Old German wela, wola (Germ. wohl); Old Island vel, Got. waila; relative Latin velle "to want"

Webster's School Dictionary:

Well \?wel\ n 1 a : an issue of water from the earth : a pool fed by a spring b: a source of supply: WELLSPRING <was a well of information> 2: a hole sunk into earth to reach a natural deposit (as of water, oil, or gas) 3 something suggesting a well (as in being damp, cool, deep, or dark) [Old English welle] Well adv.la: in a pleasing or desirable manner <me party turned out well> b : in a good or proper manner < did the work well> 2; in a full or generous manner < eat well> <the orchard bore well> 3: with reason to courtesy: PROPERLY <we could not very well refuse> 4: in all respects <a well deserved ovation> 5: in an intimate way<know a person well> 6: without trouble or difficulty <I could well have gone> 8: exactly la <remember it well> [Old English wel]

3. "It's a mineral, I think," said Alice.

"Of course it is," said the Duchess, who seemed ready to agree to everything that Alice said: "there's a large mustard-mine near here. And the moral of that is - 'The more there is of mine, the less there is of yours." The author uses the homonymy of the word "mine". It's a proper homonym.

Mine

Mine-pron., that belonging to me(Practical English Dictionary)

Mine-n., a deep hole for digging out coal, metals, etc.; an underground gallery with a charge of explosive; a large shell or canister of explosive placed in the sea to destroy ships. (Practical English Dictionary)

A Dictionary of English Homonyms and Homoforms: Mine

Ipron., that belonging to me < Old English mоm; Old German mоm (Germ, mein); Old Island minn, Got. meins; relative Russian меня>

IIn., an underground gallery with a charge of explosive; a deep hole for digging out coal, metals, etc. <XIII, from (Old) French mine, perhaps from Celt. (Middle Island, Gael, mein "ore")> v., to obtain from a mine <XIV>

Webster's School Dictionary:

?mine \min, 'mоm\ adj., archaic : my - used before a word beginning with a vowel or h <mine eyes> <mine host> or sometimes as a modifier of a preceding noun <mother mine> [Old English mm]

²mine \'mоn\ pron., sing or pl in construction : that which belongs to me : those which belong to me - used without a following noun as an equivalent in meaning to the adjective my

³mine \'mоn\ n ; a pit or tunnel from which mineral substances (as coal or gold) are

taken 2 : a deposit of ore 3: a subterranean passage under an enemy position 4a : a charge buried in the ground and set to explode when disturbed (as by an enemy) b : an explosive device placed underwater to sink enemy ships 5: a rich source of supply <a mine of information> [Middle French]

mine \'mоn\ vb l : to dig a mine 2: to obtain from a mine <mine coal> 3: to work in a mine 4a : to burrow in the earth : dig or from mines under a place b : to lay military mines in or under <mine a harbor>

4."And how many hours a day did you do lessons?" said Alice, in a hurry to change the subject.

"Ten hours the first day," said the Mock Turtle: "nine the next and so on." "What a curious plan!" exclaimed Alice.

"That's the reason they're called lessons," the Gryphon remarked: "because they lessen from day to day."

The character gives the funny etymology of the noun lesson. Of course, he is not as serious as I am. The author used the pair of homophones:

Lesson

Lesson-[lesn]-n., a portion of scripture read in church; something to be learnt by a pupil; a part of course of teaching; an experience that teaches. (Practical English Dictionary)

A Dictionary of English Homonyms and Homoforms:

Lesson (96,83%) n., a part of course of teaching; <XIII, from (Old) French leqon\ -Latin lectio, lection "collecting, reading" from lect-, stem pp from legere "to collect; to read">

Webster's School Dictionary:

Lesson \?les-n\ n 1 : a passage from sacred writings read in a worship servise

2 : a piece of instruction <the story carries a lesson>; esp : a reading or exercise to be studied by a pupil <master each lessori> 3 a : something learned by study or experience <the lessons of life> b: a rebuke or punishment meant to forestall the repetition of an offence <gave the naughty child a lessori> [Old French legon, from Latin lectio "act of reading", from legere "to read"]

Lessen

A Dictionary of English Homonyms and Homoforms:

(3,17%) v., to decrease <XIV, from less, comparative of little a.,"small": Old English lяtel, compar. Iжssa; Old Friz. lзssa>

Webster's School Dictionary:

Lessen \'les-n\ vb : to make or become less less \?les\ adj. 1 : of a small number: FEWER <less than three> 2 : of lower rank, degree, or importance < no less a person than the principal> 3a : of reduced size or extent b : more limited in quantity <in less time> [Old English lжs, adv. and n., and lжssa, adj.]

Lessen-[lesn]-v. t. to diminish. (Practical English Dictionary)

5."Nothing can be clearer than that. Then again - before she had this fit' - you never had fits, my dear, I think?" said the King to the Queen.

"Never!" said the Queen furiously, throwing an inkstand at the Lizard as she spoke.

"Then the words don't fit you," said the King looking round the court with a smile. There was a dead silence.

"It's a pun!" the King added in an angry tone, and everybody laughed, "Let the jury consider their verdict," the King said, for about the twentieth nine that day.

-The King's pun is based on two different meanings of the word 'fit':

fit-[fit]-n., a sudden passing attack of illness; a seizure with convulsions, spasms, loss of consciousness, etc., as of epilepsy, hysteria, etc., a sudden and passing state and mood. (Practical English Dictionary)

fit-a. well-suited, worthy; proper, becoming; ready; in good condition. (Practical English Dictionary)

A Dictionary of English Homonyms and Homoforms: Fit

In., a sudden passing attack of illness <Old English fitt "a struggle";

IIn., "part of a ballad; musical stanza" <Old English fitt; perhaps relative German Fitze; Old Island fit

IIIa., suitable, ready < XIV, source is unknown, perhaps it's connected with II n. v., to suit; to supply <XIV, from IIIa.>

Webster's School Dictionary:

?fit \?fit\ n 1 : a sudden violent attack of a disorder (an epilepsy) especially when marked by convulsions or loss of consciousness 2 : a sudden flurry (as of activity)

?completed the assignment in a fit of efficiency> 3 : an emotional outburst <afit of anger> [Old English fitt "strife"]

²fit adj. 1a : adapted to an end or design : APPROPRIATE <water/zЈ for drinking>

b: adapted to the enviroment so as to be capable of surviving 2 PROPER 3 : put into a suitable state < a house fit to live in> 4 : QUALIFIED, COMPETENT 5: sound physically and mentally : HEALTHY [Middle English]

³fit vb 1: to be suitable for or to : BEFIT 2a : to be correctly adjusted to or shaped for b : to insert or adjust until correstly in place c : to make a place or room for 3 : to be in agreement or accord with <the theory fits the facts> 4a : to make ready:

PREPARE b: to bring to a required form and size : ADJUST c : to cause to conform to or suit something else 5 : SUPPLY, EQUIP <fitted the ship with new engines>6: to be in harmony or accord : BELONG [ Middle English fitten]

II.3 Lewis Carroll and his book

Lewis Carroll's real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. He was born at Darsbery Parsonage , Jan. 27, 1832, and died at Guilford, Jan. 14 1898.

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was a Professor of mathematics, he worked in Oxford University as a tutor, he was the author of several works on mathematics and logic. Professor Dodgson liked to communicate with children very much, and he had more friends among them than among adult people. Most of all his friends he liked Alice Lidell, a daughter of head of Christ Church College. She was that person who was presented the first hand-written text of the fairy tale "Alice's adventures Under Gruond", which Doctor Dodgson had told Alice and her sisters Lorine and Edith in the famous picnic on 4^th of July in 1862. The hand-written text was illustrated with author's drawings. And only in 1865 supplemented variant of the tale was published under another title "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", this time illustrated by Jon Daniel, under Carroll's control.

During 125 years that have passed from the day of publication of "Alice in Wonderland" it became clear that his book - in not only an outstanding work but an innovating one, and that the modest tutor of Oxford was an unusual thinker, which pondered over many problems of contemporary with him knowledge, and at times surpassing his time. It became definitely clear nowadays when his diaries and letters, his works at logic and puzzles, and when several modern scientists began to search his works, including two tales about Alice, from the positions of our times.

IV. Practical part

Practical part consist s of two levels .

The first level is designed for lessons of lexicology in Nekrasov State Teaching College.

The second level is is designed for home reading lessons at secondary school.

First level .

I. Consider your answers to the following.

Which words do we call homonyms?

Why can't homonyms be regarded as expressive means of the language?

What's the traditional classification of homonyms? Illustrate your answer with examples.

What are the distinctive features of the classification of homonyms suggested by Professor A. I. Smirnitsky?

What are the main sources of homonyms? Illustrate your answer with examples.

In what respect does split polysemy stand apart from other sources of homonyms?

Prove that the language units board ("a long and thin piece of timber") and board ("daily meals") are two different words (homonyms) and not two different meanings of one and the same word. Write down some other similar examples.

What is the essential difference between homonymy and polysemy? What do they have in common? Illustrate your answer with examples.

II. Find pairs of homonyms in these extracts from the text and define the type of these homonyms. On what linguistic phenomenon is the joke in the following extracts based? What causes misunderstanding?

1."Mine is a long tale!" said the Mouse, turning to Alice, and sighing.

"It is a long tail, certainly," said Alice, looking down with wonder at the Mouse's tail; "but why do you call it sad?"

2."It's a mineral, I think," said Alice.

"Of course it is," said the Duchess, who seemed ready to agree to everything that Alice said: "there's a large mustard-mine near here. And the moral of that is - 'The more there is of mine, the less there is of yours."

3."You can draw water out of a water-well," said the Hatter; "so I should think you could draw treacle out of a treacle-well - eh, stupid?"

"But they were in the well," Alice said to the Dormouse, not choosing to notice this

last remark.

"Of course they were," said the Dormouse: "well in".

4."And how many hours a day did you do lessons?" said Alice, in a hurry to change the subject.

"Ten hours the first day," said the Mock Turtle: "nine the next and so on." "What a curious plan!" exclaimed Alice.

"That's the reason they're called lessons," the Gryphon remarked: "because they lessen from day to day."

5. "Nothing can be clearer than that. Then again - before she had this fit' - you never had fits, my dear, I think?" said the King to the Queen. "Never!" said the Queen furiously, throwing an inkstand at the Lizard as she spoke. "Then the words don't fit you," said the King looking round the court with a smile. There was a dead silence.

III. Find homophones to the underlined words:

.. .the Mock Turtle yawned ant shut his eyes. "Tell her about the reason and all that," he said to the Gryphon.

" The reason is," said the Gryphon, "that they would go with the lobsters to the dance. So they got thrown out to sea. So they had to fall a long way. So they got their tails fast in their mouths. So they couldn't get them out again. That's all." "Thank you," said Alice, "it's very interesting. I never knew so much about whiting."

IV. Explain the homonyms which form the basis for the following jokes. Classify their types.

An observing man claims to have discovered the colour of the wind. He says he went out and found it blew.

Child: Mummy, what makes the Tower of Pisa lean?

Fat mother:! have no idea, dear, or I'd take some myself.

Advertisement: "Lion tamer wants tamer lion."

Father: Didn't I tell you not to pick any flowers without leave? Child: Yes, daddy, but all these roses had leaves.

Diner: Waiter, the soup is spoiled. Waiter: Who told you that?

D i n e r: A little swallow.

The difference between a cat and a comma is that a cat has its claws at the end of its paws, and a comma has its pause at the end of a clause.

A canner exceedingly canny

One morning remarked to his grannie: "A canner can't can anything that he can, But a canner can't can a can, can'e?"

V. Provide homonyms for the italicized words in the following jokes and extracts and classify them according to Professor A. I. Smirnitsky's classification system.

1.Teacher: Here is a map. Who can show us America? Nick goes to the map and finds America on it. Teacher: Now, tell me, boys, who found America? Boys: Nick.

2.Father: I promised to buy you a car if you passed your examination, and you have failed. What were you doing last term? S o n: I was learning to drive a car.

3."What time do you get up in summer?"

"As soon as the first ray of the sun comes into my window." "Isn't that rather early?" "No, my room faces west."

4."Here, waiter, it seems to me that this fish is not so fresh as the fish you served last Sunday."

"Pardon, sir, it is the very same fish."

5.Old Gentleman: Is it a board school you go to, my dear? Child: No, sir. I believe it be a brick one!

6. Stanton:! think telling the truth is about as healthy as skidding round a corner at sixty.

Freda: And life's got a lot of dangerous corners - hasn't it, Charles?

S t a n t o n: It can have - if you don't choose your route well. To lie or not to lie - what do you think, Olwen?

(From Dangerous Corner by J. B. Priestley)

VI. Do the following italicized words represent homonyms or polysemantic words? Explain reasons for your answers.

1. 26 letters of ABC; to receive letters regularly. 2.no mean scholar; to mean something. 3. to propose a toast; an undone toast. 4. a hand of the clock; to hold a pen in one's hand. 5. to be six foot long; at the foot of the mountain. 6. the capital of a country; to have a big capital (money). 7. to date back to year 1870; to have a date with somebody. 8. to be engaged to Mr. N; to be engaged in conversation. 9. to make afire; to sit at the//re(place). 10. to peel the bark off the branch; to bark loudly at the stranger. 11. A waiter is a person who, instead of waiting on you at once, makes you wait for him, so that you become a waiter too.

Conclusion

For the conclusion I'd like to say the book of Lewis Carroll is a universal book, and it can be used not only as the source of texts for reading at the lessons of English language but it generously provides philologists with the examples of many language phenomenons, such as polysemy, homonymy, Carroll used a lot of stylistic devices in his book, for example pun, personification. Carroll lavishly used resources of his native language in his books about Alice's adventures. This book is full of original language discoveries, the author of "Alice in Wonderland" experiments with the language, plays with it. We admire his bright imagination of Professor Dodgson, and try to guess, why a raven is like a writing desk....

I hope that my work would be useful for my colleagues in the process of teaching English and, perhaps, it would inspire other final-year students to work on Lewis Carroll's books in other new directions, though, in my opinion, the process of investigating this book is interminable.

Some of them make the speech of the characters vivid, interesting, humorous, ironical, emotional, understandable; they reflect their thoughts and feelings.

He novels take place in undescribable and unnamed places, but it all begins with a simple rabbit hole. After that Alice's adventures take her to places unknown.

Obviously Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass is chalked full of symbolism and imagery, but most people who read the book don't see the logic behind it. The greatest literary device that Carroll used was logic itself. As a supreme logician the world which he created was a perfect place...a place of truth, honesty, and order. This concept is hard to grasp but it is most certainly true(Spacks).

Symbolism was laced throughout the books. On every page there was something that represented something else. At the beginning the transferring of her size from small to large and so forth represented the process of maturation. Another example is the caucus-race representing the electoral process.

I caught an allusion within the book, or at least i thought it was one. I believe that all the knights and kings of different colors represent King Arthur and his knights. In King Arthur his knights battle knights of all different colors, red, green, yellow, etc., and in Thought the Looking-Glass there are different colored knights and kings who fight.

The personification in the two books is incredible and unbelievable at some points. It stretches from pigs to cats that can vanish and talk to chess pieces with imagination to playing cards that are alive. Don't forget all the animals at the beginning of Alice in Wonderland that join her when she falls down the rabbit hole.

Imagery is everywhere in this book. Carroll did a great job of desrcibing the out-of-this-world places that Alice travelled to as well as the strange creatures that she met. The elaborate pictures don't hurt either.

Finally, we come to language. The language in this book is in a category of its own. Carroll writes for children but has the ability to use language and imagination that would make an adult interested as well. Also, just about all of the songs and poems throught the books are spin-offs on famous songs or poems.

However you view Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, there can be no debate about the amount of literary devices used and the genious of Lewis Carroll.

he survey of different-functional styles will not be complete without at least a cursary look into what constitutes the very notion of text as-a production of man's creative activity in the realm of language. The word 'text', which has imperceptibly crept into common use has never been linguistically ascertained. It is so broad in its application that it can refer to a span of utterance consisting of two lines, on the one hand, and to a whole novel, on the other. Therefore the word needs specification in order to make clear what particular kind of language product has the right to be termed text. When analysing the linguistic nature of a text it is first of all necessary to keep in mind the concept of permanence as set against ephemerality. Text, being the result of language activity, enjoys permanence inasmuch as it belongs to the written variety of language. Text can be what it claims to be only if it possesses the quality of integrity, i.e. wholeness characterized by its gestalt. In other words, text must enjoy a kind of independent existence; it must be an entity in itself. The integrity of the text presupposes the subordination of certain parts to one particular part which reveals the main idea and the purport of the writer. It has already been stated that a text consists of units which we called supra-phrasal. These units are not equal in their significance: some of them bear reference to. the main idea, others only back up the purport of the author. It follows then that supra-phrasal units can be classified as predicative and relative. The interrelation between these will show what kind of importance the author attaches to one or other part of the utterance. The theory of communication has brought about new concepts regarding the information imparted by different texts. It will be of use to distinguish between the following terms: meaning, signification and content. The term 'content' should be reserved for the information imparted by the whole of the text. It follows then that the information contained in a text is its content. However, the content is not a mechanical summing up of the significations of the sentences and the supra-phrasal units. The integrating power of the text greatly influences the signification of the sentences, depriving them of the independence they would enjoy in isolation. The same can be observed in the sentence, where the words to a greater or lesser degree lose their independence and are subjected to sometimes almost imperceptible semantic modifications. To phrase the issue differently, the content of a text modifies the significations of the sentences and the meanings of the words and phrases. The integrating power of the text is considerable and requires careful observation. The information conveyed by a text may be of different kinds; in particular, two kinds of information might be singled out, viz. content-conceptual and content-factual. Content-conceptual information is that which reveals the formation of notions, ideas or concepts. This kind of information is not confined to merely imparting intelligence, facts (real or imaginary), descriptions, events, proceedings, etc. It is much more complicated.  It follows then that content-conceptual information is mainly found in the belles-lettres language style. Here it reigns supreme although it may also be encountered in some other functional styles and particularly in diplomatic texts. Content-factual information is that contained in what we have already named matter-of-fact styles, i.e. in newspaper style, in the texts of official documents and in some others. The aim of our work is to analyse the story «Alice/s Adventures in wonderland» by Lewis Caroll.  Our problems are: - to find different stylistic Devices in the text; - to analyse them.

Final remarks This brief outline of the most characteristic features of the five language styles and their variants will show that out of the number of features which are easily discernible in each of the styles, some should be considered primary and others secondary; some obligatory, others optional; some constant, others transitory. The necessary data can be obtained by means of an objective statistical count based on a large number of texts, but this task cannot be satisfactorily completed without the-use of computers.  Another problem facing the stylicist is whether or not there are separate styles within the spoken variety of the language, and the analysis of these styles if it can be proved that there are any. So far we are of the opinion that styles of language can only be singled out in the written variety. This can be explained by the fact that any style is the result of a deliberate, careful selection of language means which in their correlation constitute this style. This can scarcely be attained in the oral variety of language which by its very nature will not lend itself to careful selection. However, there is folklore, which originated as an oral form of communication; and which may perhaps be classed as a style of language with its own' structural and semantic laws. There many different Stylistic Devices in «Alice's Adventures in wonderland» by Lewis Carroll. They help to produce strong effect to readers. It helps to depict more clear picture of the story.

Bibliography

Auden, W. H. "Today's 'Wonder-World' Needs Alice." Aspects of Alice. Edited by Robert Phillips. New York: The Vanguard Press, 1971:3-12..

Carroll, Lewis. Alice in Wonderland. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1992.

Levin, Harry. "Wonderland Revisited." Aspects of Alice. Edited by Robert Phillips. New York: The Vanguard Press, 1971: 175 -197.

Reichertz, Ronald. The Making of the Alice Books. Buffalo, NY: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1997.

"A cat may look at a king." The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs. Oxford University Press, 2004. Answers.com 18 December 2007.

Дедова С.А. Учебно-методическое пособие по работе с книгой Л. Кэрролла "Приключения Алисы в Стране Чудес" (для студентов гуманитарных специальностей, изучающих английский язык). - Омск: Изд-во ОмГУ, 2004. - 80 с.

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Bailey, Richard W. Current Trends in the Analysis of Style. "Style", vol. 1, No. 1, 1997.

Akhmanova 0. Linguostylistics. Theory and Method. MGU, M., 1992.

Definitions and examples are taken from: Longman Language Activator. - 1997

Стилистика

Словарь

Швейцер А.Д. Литературный английский язык в США и Англии. М.: Высшая школа, 1971. - 200 с.

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