SYNTACTICAL DEVICES BASED ON PECULIAR LINKAGE

Asyndeton (Gr. asundetos ‘disconnected’) is a deliberate avoidance of connectives in the constructions where they would normally be used.

E.g. The noise was terrible, shattering: hundreds of tin buckets were being kicked down flights of stone steps; walls of houses were falling in; ships were going down; ten thousand people were screaming with toothache; steam hammers were breaking loose; whole warehouses of oilcloth were being stormed … (Priestley)

The absence of the connective may connote various implications: it indicates tense, energetic activities or shows a succession of minute actions. Besides, it imparts dynamic force to the syntactical unit.

Polysyndeton

It is – as opposed to asyndeton – an excessive use (repetition) of connectives.

E.g. … it was also rather exciting, which was more than could be said of the 13 bus and the lounge at the Burpenfield and her room there and the aspirin and the hot water. (Priestley)

Intentionally used, the device creates the atmosphere of bustling activity, underlines the simultaneity of actions, discloses the connection of properties enumerated (their equal significance), imparts rhythm, and promotes a high-flown tonality of narrative.

E.g. Angel Pavement and its kind, … assisted by long hours of artificial light, by hasty breakfasts and illusory lunches, by walks in boots made of sodden cardboard and rides in germ-haunted buses, by fuss all day and worry all night, had blanched the whole man, had thinned his hair and turned it grey … (Priestley)

The excessive use of conjunctions may betray the poverty of the speaker's grammar, showing the primitiveness of the character.

E.g. I always been a good girl; and I never offered to say a word to him; and I don't owe him nothing; and I don't care; and I won't be put upon; and I have my feelings the same as anyone else. (Shaw) (Cf. with the Russian a.)

The Gap-Sentence Link (cumulation)

It is a formal separation of the utterance into two parts that leads to the obvious break in the semantic texture of the utterance and forms an ‘unexpected semantic leap.’

It is usu. conveyed by a full stop. Besides, the two parts may often be connected by and or but.

E.g. He will answer. And go.

As a result, the separated part sounds stronger and attracts attention.

E.g. ‘…You didn’t reelly know what you were doing at the time, did you?’

‘That’s it. I didn’t. Nerves, y’know. Highly strung …’ (Priestley)

The gap-sentence link has various functions.

It may be used to indicate a subjective evaluation of the facts; it may introduce an effect resulting from a cause which has already had verbal expression or a sudden transition from one thought to another; it may serve to signal the introduction of inner represented speech

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