The Noun. Stylistic potential of nounal categories.
Transposition is possible with nouns because of their polysemantic character as lexico-semantic variants of one word may belong to different lexico-grammatical groups, have different valency and reference. Investigations proved that transposition of a word from one group to another might result in expressive, evaluative, emotional, etc. connotations. The best-known types of the transposition of this type are personification and zoonification considered in the discussion of metaphors.
Transposition of adjectives into the group of the nouns, used to address people brings about not only emotional and expressive colouring but stylistic, e.g. colloquial, as well, e.g., Listen, my sweet! Come on, lovely! The use of substantivized adjectives instead of nouns with the same root built by means of derivation results in a more abstract and bookish character of the words, e.g.. The devil-artist who had staged it (the battle) was a master, in comparison with whom all other artists of the sublime and the terrible were babies. (Aldington)
The Genitive case. The stylistic potential of the genitive case forms is based on two most common facts: the genitive case form is an indicator of personification and a word in the genitive case form is given more prominence as an attribute. Compare, for example, Hollywood’s Studios Empty and The Studios of Hollywood Empty as newspaper headlines. The first will be preferable as the word ‘Hollywood’ is given more importance as it appears to be stressed.
Often ’s is used with the nouns which are regarded as presenting special interest for man’s activity: the mind’s general development, my life’s aim, duty’s call, etc. They prove to be more expressive if compared with the corresponding of-phrase. The so-called ‘group genitive’ where ‘s is added not to a single word stem but to a whole attributive complex also creates expressiveness due to violation of typical valency. The function of such attributes, as a rule, is to create a humorous effect, e.g., She is the boy I used to go with’s mother. It’s the young fellow in the back room’s car. The comic effect is created by such factor as heterogeneous valency, the length of an attributive complex, logical im of the words put together.
It has been mentioned that grammatical forms can be polysemantic, for example, the genitive case can express such relations as possessivity, origin, measure, subject or object of an action, etc. In some cases at least two meanings may be realized simultaneously. The title of a story “The murder of my aunt” may be interpreted in two ways: that somebody murdered my aunt, or that my aunt murdered somebody, which results in a stylistic effect.
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Something in her tone reminded me of the girl’s “I think he killed a man ” and had the effect of stimulating my curiosity. (F.S.Fitzgerald)
Number. The indicator of number can create a certain stylistic effect when used with the nouns normally not used in the plural form, such as proper names, abstract and material nouns. E.g., Well, they are my bloody in-laws, Kit. Don’t work out your own hatreds on them. (M.Binchy)
Heaven remained rigidly in its proper place on the other side of death, on this side flourished the injustices, the cruelties, the meannesses, that elsewhere people so cleverly hushed up. (Greene)
…garish pots and vases painted in shocking greens, pinks, and oranges that startled at first glance, then almost compelled you to buy.(Sh.O’Flanagan)
The most grotesque and fantastic conceits haunted him in his bed at night. (F.S.Fitzgerald)
The number of material nouns, which allow of this use, is not great: sands, waters, snows, etc. E.g, The lone and bare sands stretch far away. (Shelly) “The Snow s of Kilimanjaro” (Hemingway)
Another case of intensified expressiveness is revealed in those cases when the idea of plurality is assigned to the words containing it: lots of people, numbers of children.
Alongside with the heterogeneous valency possible with the group genitive similar phenomenon can be registered with the plural number, e.g., One I-am-sorry-for-you is worth twenty I-told-you-so’s.
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