SD BASED ON THE USE OF PRONOUNS

Being very abstract, pronouns in contrast with nouns and adjectives are rarely used stylistically, which makes their stylistic usage especially expressive.

Pronouns may acquire stylistic value if they denote persons or objects that have not been named or introduced but are still represented as familiar. This device, in media res plunges the reader into the midst of events, making the author’s narrative more intimate (see E. Hemingway’s stories Now I Lay Me and In Another Country).

A particular stylistic effect may be created due to the usage of archaic (thee, thou, thy) or low colloquial forms of pronouns. While archaic forms make the speech sound official, solemn, or poetical, low colloquial forms usually render some speech characteristics. Pronouns can also undergo various contextual transpositions:

1) when we is used instead of I (I → we transposition):

a) Pluralis Auctoris ("editorial we”), when the author speaks on behalf of a certain group, party, or class;

b) Pluralis Majestatis, when we is used as a symbol of royal power;

c) Pluralis Modestial, when we is used as a means of involving the reader or listener into the author’s thoughts. It is typical of oral or written scientific prose;

d) when we is employed to impart to the utterance a jocular unceremonious coloring;

2) I → one transposition which gives an utterance a more general, impersonal character;

3) I → you transposition which frequently occurs in reported speech and some descriptions;

4) I → he/she transposition that takes place when:

a) the speaker tells his/her life story as an onlooker;

b) the speaker addresses himself/herself as an interlocuter;

c) the speaker overstresses his/her relevance;

d) the speaker laughs away what is said about him/her by the others;

5) you → we ("clinical we”) transposition, which conveys a patronizing attitude of the senior superior to the junior/inferior. It can also create a humorous effect.

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