1

THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF

THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

THE MOSCOW POWER ENGINEERING INSTITUTE

(Technical University)

THE INSTITUTE OF LINGUISTICS

Department of Applied Linguistics and Translating Techniques

TERM PAPER
SPECIALITY: Stylistics
SUBJECT: Inversion as a stylistic devise in the texts of newspaper
articles.

Moscow 2011

Table of contents
Introduction3
1.
1.1.
1.2.
1.3.
1.4.
2.

Theoretical part6
Stylistic as a science 6
Functional Styles..7
Newspaper style.10
Stylistic inversion........12
Practical part16
Conclusion22
Bibliography.24
Appendix26

Introduction

Stylistics, sometimes called l i n g u o - s t y 1 i s t i c s, is a branch of

general linguistics. It has now been more or less definitely outlined. It deals mainly
with two interdependent tasks: a) the investigation of the inventory of special
language media which by their ontological features secure the desirable effect of
the utterance and b) certain types of texts (discourse) which due to the choice and
arrangement of language means are distinguished by the pragmatic aspect of the
communication [10]. The two objectives of stylistics are clearly discernible as two
separate fields of investigation. The types of texts can be analyzed if their
linguistic components are presented in their interaction, thus revealing the
unbreakable unity and transparency of constructions of a given type. The types
of texts that are distinguished by the pragmatic aspect of the communication are
called functional styles of language (FS); the special media of language which
secure the desirable effect of the utterance are called stylistic devices (SD) and
expressive means (EM).
The first field of investigation, i.e. SDs and EMs, necessarily touches upon
such general language problems as the aesthetic function of language, synonymous
ways of rendering one and the same idea, emotional coloring in language, the
interrelation between language and thought, the individual manner of an author
in making use of language and a number of other issues.
The second field, i.e. functional styles, cannot avoid discussion of such
most general linguistic issues as oral and written varieties of lan guage, the
notion of the literary (standard) language, the constituents of texts larger than
the sentence, the generative aspect of literary texts, and some others.
It is in view of the ever-growing significance of the exploration of
language potentialities that so much attention is paid in linguo-stylistics to the
analysis of expressive means (EMs) and stylistic devices (SDs), to their nature
and functions, to their classification and to possible interpretations of additional
meanings they may carry in a message as well as their aesthetic value.

A FS is a patterned variety of literary text characterized by the greater or

lesser typification of its constituents, supra-phrasal units (SPU), in which the
choice and arrangement of interdependent and interwoven language media are
calculated to secure the purport of the communication.
Each FS is a relatively stable system at the given stage in the development
of the literary language, but it changes, and sometimes considerably, from one
period to another. Therefore functional style of language is a historical category.
There are many instances to prove this. Thus, the FS of emotive prose actually
began to function as an independent style after the second half of the 16th
century; the newspaper style budded off from the publicistic style; the oratorical
style has undergone considerable fundamental changes, and so with other FSs.
The development of each style is predetermined by the changes in the
norms of standard English [3].
It is also greatly influenced by changing social conditions, the progress of
science and the development of cultural life in the country. For instance, the
emotive elements of language were abundantly used in scientific prose in the
18th century. This is explained by the fact that scientists in many fields used the
emotional language instead of one more logically precise and convincing, because
they lacked the scientific data obtainable only by deep, prolonged research. With
the development of science and the accumulation of scientific data, emotive
elements gave way to convincing arguments and "stubborn" facts.
The English literary language has evolved a number of FSs easily
distinguishable one from another. They are not homogeneous and fall into
several variants all having some central point of resemblance, or better to say,
all integrated by the invarianti.e. the abstract ideal system.
The subject of the present work is the syntactical stylistic devise
inversion in the text of newspapers article. The aim of the work is to analyse the
tendency of using this SD in the newspapers.

The mass media (radio, newspapers, TV) are aimed at the widest possible
and audience. They play the important role in reflecting the life of society and in
building opinions. The mass media can draw the publics attention to the most
serious political, economic, social and ecological problems. They are doing much
to excite an interest in every aspect of the country's life. The aim of mass media is
not only to inform the people of everything that is going in the world but to help
them understand and correctly interpret the events. To reach the goals authors tend
to use different stylistic devices and expressive means such as metaphor,
metonymy, epithet, occasionalism, periphrasis, alliteration, oxymoron, inversion
and many others.
The timeliness of the work is determined by the importance of the
newspapers in modern world and by frequent using of inversion as one of the
expressive means in them. The press always focuses public attention on all the
most important questions of social, economic, scientific and cultural life. Most
newspapers in our country come out daily, besides there are some weekly
newspapers too. The edition board of a newspaper usually deals with the topical
issues of the day. The readers questions, opinions and suggestions which they send
in letters the editor help to improve the newspaper and make it more interesting. It
keeps people informed on topical issues of the day. Reports by political observes
and commentators help us get useful information at home and foreign affairs[7].

1. Theoretical part
1.1. Stylistic as a science
The subject of stylistics can be outlined as the study of the nature, functions
and structure of stylistic devices, on the one hand, and, on the other, the study of
each style of language as classified, its aim, its structure, its characteristic features

and the effect it produces, as well as its interrelation with other styles of language.
The task we set before ourselves is to make an attempt to single out such, problems
as are typically stylistic and cannot be treated in any other branch of linguistic
science.
English language as being divided into three main layers: the literary layer,
the neutral layer and the colloquial layer. The literary and the colloquial layers
contain a number of subgroups each of which has a property it shares with all the
subgroups within the layer. This common property, which unites the different
groups of words within the layer, may be called its aspect. The aspect of the
literary layer is its markedly bookish character. It is this that makes the layer more
or less stable. The aspect of the colloquial layer of words is its lively spoken
character. It is this that makes it unstable, fleeting [7].
The aspect of the neutral layer is its universal character. That means it is
unrestricted in its use. It can be employed in all styles of language and in all
spheres of human activity. The literary layer of words consists of groups accepted
as legitimate members of the English vocabulary. They have no local or dialectal
character. The colloquial layer of words as qualified in most English or American
dictionaries is not infrequently limited to a definite language community or confine
to a special locality where it circulates[2].
There are 2 basic objects of stylistics:
- special linguistic means (stylistic devices and expressive means) which
secure the desirable effect of the utterance;
- certain types of texts discourse which due to the choice and
arrangement of the language are distinguished by the pragmatic aspect of
communication (functional styles).

1.2. Functional Styles

Functional Style is a system of interrelated language means serving a
definite aim in communication. It is the coordination of the language means and
stylistic devices which shapes the distinctive features of each style and not the
language means or stylistic devices themselves.
Each style, however, can be recognized by one or more leading features
which are especially conspicuous. For instance the use of special terminology is a
lexical characteristics of the style of scientific prose, and one by which it can easily
be recognized.
A style of language can be fined as a system of coordinated, interrelated
and inter-coordinated language means intended to full-fill a specific function of
communication and aiming at a defined effect. Style of language is a historical
category.
The English literary system has evolved a number of styles easily
distinguishable one from another. They are not homogeneous and fall into several
variants of having some central point of resemblance or better to say. All integrated
by the invariant - i.e. the abstract ideal system.
They are:
1) Official(documents and papers); or the style of official documents, is the
most conservative one. It preserves cast-iron forms of structuring and uses
syntactical constructions and words long known as archaic and not observed
anywhere else. Addressing documents and official letters, signing them, expressing
the reasons and considerations leading to the subject of the document (letter-all this
is strictly regulated both lexically and syntactically. All emotiveness and subjective
modality are completely banned out of this style [1].
2) Scientific (brochures, articles, other scientific publications); is employed
in professional communication. Its most conspicuous feature is the abundance of
terms denoting objects, phenomena and processes characteristic of some particular
field of science and technique. Scientific style is also known for its precision,

clarity and logical cohesion which is responsible for the repeated use of such clich?
s as: Proceeding from; As it was said above; In connection with and
other

lexico-syntactical

forms

emphasizing

the

logical

connection

and

interdependence of consecutive parts of the discourse [5].

3) Publicistic (essay, public speech); is a perfect example of the historical
changeability of stylistic differentiation of discourses. In ancient Greece, e.g., it
was practiced mainly in its oral form and was best known as oratorio style, within
which views and sentiments of the addresser (orator) found their expression.
Nowadays political, ideological, ethical, social beliefs and statements of the
addresser are prevailingly expressed in the written form, which was
labeled publicist in accordance with the name of the corresponding genre and its
practitioners. Publicist style is famous for its explicit pragmatic function of
persuasion directed at influencing the reader and shaping his views, in accordance
with the argumentation of the author. Correspondingly, we find in publicist style a
blend of the rigourous logical reasoning, reflecting the objective state of things,
and a strong subjectivity reflecting the authors personal feelings and emotions
towards the discussed subject [6].
4) Belles-lettres style(genre of creative writing); or the style of creative
literature may be called the richest register of communication: besides its own
language means which are not used in any other sphere of communication, belleslettres style makes ample use of other styles too, for in numerous works of literary
art we find elements of scientific, official and other functional types of speech.
Besides informative and persuasive functions, also found in other
functional styles, the belles-lettres style has a unique task to impress the reader
aesthetically. The form becomes meaningful and carries additional information as
you must have seen from previous chapters. Boundless possibilities of expressing
ones thoughts and feelings make the belles-lettres style a highly attractive field of
investigation for a linguist.

Speaking of belles-lettres style most scholars almost automatically refer to

it prose works, regarding poetry the domain of a special poetic style. Viewed
diachronically this opinion does not seem controversial, for poems of previous
centuries, indeed, adhered to a very specific vocabulary and its ordering.
But poetry of the twentieth century does not show much difference from
prosaic vocabulary, its subjects are no more limited to several specific poetic
fields but widely cover practically all spheres of existence of contemporary man.
So it is hardly relevant to speak of a separate poetic style meaning contemporary
literature [1].
4) Newspaper style(mass media); as it is evident from its name, is found in
newspapers. You should not conclude though that everything published in a
newspaper should be referred to the newspaper style. The paper contains vastly
varying materials, some of them being publicist essays, some-feature articles,
some-scientific reviews, some-official stock-exchange accounts etc., so that a daily
(weekly) newspaper also offers a variety of styles. When we mention newspaper
style, we mean informative materials, characteristic of newspaper only and not
found in other publications.
To attract the readers attention to the news, special graphical means are
used. British and American papers are notorious for the change of type, specific
headlines, space ordering, etc. We find here a large proportion of dates and
personal names of countries, territories, institutions, individuals. To achieve the
effect of objectivity and impartiality in rendering some fact or event, most of
newspaper information is published anonymously, without the name of the
newsman who supplied it, with little or no subjective modality. But the position
and attitude of the paper, nonetheless, become clear from the choice not only of
subject-matter but also of words denoting international or domestic issues [5].

10

1.3. Newspaper style

N e w s p a p e r s t y l e was the last of all the styles of written literary
English to be recognized as a specific form of writing standing apart from other
forms.
English newspaper writing dates from the 17 th century. At the close of the
16th century short news pamphlets began to appear. Any such publication either
presented
one

news

specific

from
subject.

only
News

one

source

pamphlets

or

appeared

dealt

with

only

from

time to time and cannot be classed as newspapers, though they were

unquestionably the immediate forerunners of the British press.
It took the English newspaper more than a century to establish a style
and a standard of its own. And it is only by the 19th century that newspaper
English may be said to have developed into a system of language media, forming
a separate functional style.
English newspaper style may be defined as a system of interrelated
lexical, phraseological and grammatical means which is per ceived by the
community as a separate linguistic unity that serves the purpose of informing
and instructing the reader [9].
Information and evaluation co-exist in the modern English newspaper,
and it is only in terms of diachrony that the function of information can claim
priority. In fact, all kinds of newspaper writing are to a greater or lesser degree
both informative and evaluative. But, of course, it is obvious that in most of the basic
newspaper "genres" one of the two functions prevails; thus, for example, news of
all kinds is essentially informative, whereas the editorial is basically
evaluative.
The newspaper also seeks to influence public opinion on political and other
matters. Elements of appraisal may be observed in the very selection and way of
presentation of news, in the use of specific vocabulary, such as allege and claim,

11

casting some doubt on the facts reported and syntactic constructions indicating a
lack of assurance on the part of the reporter as to the correctness of the facts
reported or his desire to avoid responsibility (for example, 'Mr. X was said to have
opposed the proposal'; 'Mr. X was quoted as saying...'). The headlines of news
items, apart from giving information about the subject-matter, also carry a
considerable amount of appraisal (the size and arrangement of the headline,
the use of emotionally colored words and elements of emotive syntax), thus
indicating the interpretation of the facts in the news item that follows. But, of
course, the principal vehicle of interpretation and appraisal is the newspaper
article and the editorial in particular. Editorials (leading articles or leaders) are
characterized by a subjective handling of facts, political or otherwise [11]. They
have much in common with classical specimens of publicistic writing and are often
looked upon as such. However, newspaper evaluative writing unmistakably
bears the stamp of newspaper style. Thus, it seems natural to regard newspaper
articles, editorials included, as coming within the system of English newspaper
style. But it should be noted that while editorials and other articles in
opinion columns are predominantly evaluative, newspaper feature articles, as a
rule,

carry

considerable

amount

of

information,

and

the

ratio of the informative and the evaluative varies substantially from article to
article.
The principal function of a n e w s p a p e r s t y l e i s t o inform
the reader. It goes without saying that the bulk of the vocabulary used in newspaper writing is neutral and common literary. But apart from this, newspaper style
has its specific vocabulary features and is characterized by an extensive use of:
special political and economic terms, non-term political vocabulary, newspaper
cliches, abbreviations, neologisms, foreign words.
The above-listed peculiarities are vocabulary parameters used in an English
newspaper. They are generally devoid of any emotional coloring. But some
popular papers tend to introduce emotionally colored elements into the matter-of-

12

fact via using different stylistic devices. Some of them are metaphor, metonymy,
irony, simile, periphrasis, euphemisms, hyperbole, allusions and many others. One
of these stylistic devices used in the newspaper articles is stylistic inversion which
presents a great interest. In order to learn more about its using in the newspaper
articles lets get down to its detailed description [8].

1.4. Stylistic Inversion

W o r d - o r d e r is a crucial syntactical problem in many languages.
In English it has peculiarities which have been caused by the concrete
and specific way the language has developed. O. Jespersen states that
the English language.' ...has developed a tolerably fixed word-order
which in the great majority of cases shows without fail what is the Subject of the sentence." This "tolerably fixed word-order" is Subject
Verb

(Predicate) Object

(SP0).

Further,

Jespersen

mentions a

statistical investigation of word-order made on the basis of a series of

representative 19th century writers. It was found that the order S
P was used in from 82 to 97 per cent of all sentences containing all
three members, while the percentage for Beowulf was 16 and for King
Alfred's prose 40.
This predominance of SPQ word-order makes conspicuous any
change in the structure of the sentence and inevitably calls forth a modification in
the intonation design.
The most conspicuous places in the sentence are considered to be the
first and the last: the first place because the full force of the stress can
be felt at the beginning of an utterance and the last place because there
is a pause after it. This traditional word-order had developed a definite
intonation design. Through frequency of repetition this design has
imposed itself on any sentence even though there are changes introduced

13

in the sequence of the component parts. Hence the clash between semantically
insignificant

elements

of

the

sentence

when

they

are

placed

in

structurally significant position and the intonation which follows the

recognized pattern [12].
Thus in one of The Times article much quoted sentence:
"Chances to win Democratic Party has; any governmental support
it has not."
The first and the last positions being prominent, the verb has and
the negative not get a fuller volume of stress than they would in ordinary
(uninverted) word-order. In the traditional word-order the predicates has and has
not

are

closely

attached

to

their

objects

chances

and

support.

English predicate-object groups are so bound together that when we

tear the object away from its predicate, the latter remains dangling in
the sentence and in this position sometimes calls forth a change in meaning of the
predicate

word.

In

the

inverted

word-order

not

only

the

objects

chances and support become conspicuous but also the predicates has and
has not.
In this example the effect of the inverted word-order is backed up
by two other stylistic devices: antithesis and parallel construction. Unlike
grammatical inversion, stylistic inversion does not change the structur al
meaning of the sentence, that is, the change in the juxtaposition of
the members of the sentence does not indicate structural meaning but
has

some

superstructural

function.

Stylistic

inversion

aims

at attaching logical stress or additional emotional colouring to the sur face

meaning

of

the

utterance.

Therefore

specific

intonation

pattern

is the inevitable satellite of inversion.

Stylistic inversion in Modern English should not be regarded as a
violation of the norms of standard English.

It is only the practical

14

realization of what is potential in the language itself. The following patterns of

stylistic inversion are most frequently met in both English prose and English
poetry.
1. The object is placed at the beginning of the sentence (see the example
above).
2. The attribute is placed after the word it modifies (postposition
of the attribute). This model is often used when there is more than one
attribute, for example:
"With efforts futile and unavailing..." (The Times)

3. a) The predicative is placed before the subject, as in

"A bloody sanguinary war it was." (The Independent)
or b) the predicative stands before the link-verb and both are placed
before the subject, as in
"Rude was Nicolas Sarkozy in his speech..." (The Observer)
4.

The adverbial modifier is placed at the beginning of the sen tence,

as in:
"Eagerly they wished the revolution." (The Independent)

5.

Both modifier and predicate stand before the subject, as in:

"In went Mr. Cameron." (The Guardian)
"Down dropped the breeze..." (Coleridge)

These five models comprise the most common and recognized models of
inversion.

15

However, in modern English and American newspapers, as has been shown

elsewhere, there appears a definite tendency to experiment with the
word-order to the extent which may even render the message unintelligible. In this
case there may be an almost unlimited number of rearrangements of the members
of the sentence.
Inversion as a stylistic device is always sense-motivated. There is
a tendency to account for inversion in poetry by rhythmical considerations. This
may

sometimes

be

true,

but

really

talented

poets

will

never

sacrifice sense for form and in the majority of cases inversion in poetry
is called forth by considerations of content rather than rhythm.
Inverted word-order, or inversion, is one of the forms of what are
known

as

word-order

emphatic
is

constructions.

nothing

more

than

What

generally

unemphatic

called

construction.

traditional
Emphatic

constructions nave so far been regarded as non-typical structures and

therefore are considered as violations of the regular word-order in the
sentence. But in practice these structures are as common as the fixed
or traditional word-order structures. Therefore inversion must be regarded as an
expressive

means

of

the

language

models [4].

2. Practical part

having

typical

structural

16

In the practical part we will examine all the types of stylistic inversion
which were meant in the theoretical part. Each type to a greater or lesser degree
represents a special difficulty for translation. In the term paper there are examples
from the articles from newspapers such as Forbes, Independent, Times,
Observer, Daily Telegraph, The Moscow News, The Economist and
Sunday Times.
The first example was found in the newspaper Observer. This is an
advertisement of new cheese Farmhouse English Cheese:
Can you tell the cheese from the real cheese? Cheese can be made
almost anywhere. But real cheese has to be made on the farm. And happily it
still is. On the handful of farms in Somerset, in the rolling pastures of Cheshire
and in the dales of Lancashire, make we our cheese [14].
?
.
. .
,
.
This example of inversion refers to the fifth type of grammatical inversion
i.e. modifier and predicate stand before the subject.
In this example everything is done for the best influence on consumer. The
front placement of the adverbial modifier draws the attention and a consumer first
of all reacts to this information. The important information of producer about the
fact that real cheese has to be made on the marvelous meadows and so on is
emphasized by the front placement of the producing place. That was possible to
reach this goal only by the placement of adverbial modifier in the front place. If
we compare this word order with the traditional one we make our cheese on the
handful of farms in Somerset then the production place loses its emphatic stress.
Here the inversion performs intensificative and logic-informative function.

17

The second example is from Forbes [22]. Here is the advertisement of

computers.
In the Chin dynasty, they built a wall. Now theyre using AST Computers
to add a highway.

. ,
.
This is the forth type of inversion i.e. the adverbial modifier is placed at
the beginning of the sentence. In this example the string of logic is violated by
the shift of the sentence member on the uncommon place. So here we have the
logical-informative function of inversion. The part of the sentence which is placed
on the front place is underlined and here we have the emphatic stress. The
information of this part of the sentence is principal but with the traditional word
order its additional, subsidiary and unstressed. In order to underline the adverbial
modifier along with object in the sentence the adverbial modifier is placed before
the subject so that the common word order is violated. This stylistic device is used
to attract potential consumers attention to the advertised product (computer). This
example is a characteristic of a newspaper style as it is full of information. Using
the inversion we change the word order and break the logical chain of expressions.

Part of a major economic restructuring tax rises and privatizations will

form [20].

.
This is example of the first type of inversion . Here we have the object
placed at the beginning of the sentence. Here it is about creating an effect used to
draw you deeper into the story. In the examples above, the words "Part of a major

18

economic restructuring " are an attention grabber (probably stressed more in the
first sentence than it would be in the middle of the clause). It is presented at the
beginning to give a kind of preface to the rest of the sentence and to catch your
eye-mind-emotion chain.
Legal behaviour it may be; moral behaviour it is not.
; .
Note that inversion makes italicizing stressed words unnecessary. This
might be a good strategy for all those who only have UE BASIC, as we can't show
stress without resorting to tactics similar to those who feels a need toCAPITALISING. Yet it must be remembered that inversion can seem extremely
artificial in English, it is used only rarely - when required for cohesion,
conciseness or emotional stress on certain words.
This example we found in the magazine Forbes ASAP [21].
Most service providers offer a road map. But how many are willing to dig
in and help pave the road?
At the heart of Unisys Services is our customerize philosophy
.
?
Unisys Services ,
.
This is the fifth type of inversion so when the both modifier and predicate
stand before the subject. Its function is not only grammatical but logicalinformative. We have the rheme on the front place in order to stress the new
information and to attract readers attention. If we make a traditional word order
we will have the following:
Our customerize philosophy is t the heart of Unisys Services.

19

This sentence has already had an emotional coloring because of the

expressive vocabulary and the word customerize is marked out by the bold type.
When changing the word order the effect of attracting attention becomes stronger.
Therefore inversion here has a got a great sense. It singles out necessary
information and has got an emotional impact on a reader. It gives additional
emotional colouring to the sentence.

On his European counterparts Mr Berlusconi has called to do more to

help with the worsening economic situation [19].
c
.
This is the first type of inversion: the object stands at the beginning of the
sentence. In this example the inversion has got several functions. First of all its a
grammatical one, the second is informative function. The rheme is placed before
the theme. With the help of inversion a necessary part of the sentence is pointed
out. Inversion transgresses the traditional word order and this contradiction attracts
attention.
Had the authorities not evacuated low-lying neighbourhoods last
Saturday, enormous amount of people would have died [18].
,
.
It is correct that we cannot use a contracted negative form when we use
inverted word order to express unreal or impossible condition in the past. Instead,
we are obliged to use the full form of not. Of course, had we used the more normal
if-clause to express this conditional idea, the contracted negative form would have
been the norm.

20

Should you not wish to sign the contract, you must let them know before
the end of June [17].
,
.
Note that we can also use the inversion structure with should when we are
talking about present and future conditions and, again, negative forms are not
contracted. Use of should here has nothing to do with obligation, but is simply an
alternative to the present simple in the more normal if-clause.
Finally, inversion is possible, though I think less common, with this form of
the conditional when we are talking about the improbable future. Again negative
forms are not contracted:
Were she not his daughter, he'd have no hesitation in phoning the police
[16].
, .
We use the inversion strategy when we want what we are saying to sound
more carefully considered and it is also characteristic of more formal and literary
styles.
Crystal clear the aim is: to keep personal power and the power of the
party of crooks and thieves [15].
:
.
Here we have the third type of inversion: the predicative is placed before
the subject. The author of this article wanted to stress all the clearness of the

21

aim and that is why he put the attribute predicative before the subject. Here
we have an emotional colouring function of inversion.
A country with a great history of scientific inventions, cultural talent in
music, literature and performing arts is Russia [13].
,
, .
This example of inversion we found in the newspaper Passport. The
inversion consists in the predicatives placement before the link-verb. They both
are placed before the subject. Here we have both informative and emotional
colouring function of stylistic inversion.
This example has analogy with the previous one. The adverbial modifier is
placed before the subject. Its the forth model of inversion according to Galperins
classification. This example if from Vogue and here we have an ad of cosmetics.
The advertising slogan is:
Just like true love, its made last.
- .
There is an adverbial modifier first of all not the subject and predicate as in
the traditional word order. The information which is carried by the adverbial
modifier is the main one for attracting attention of the costumers. The readers
attention is drawn by such unusual word order and therefore the whole expression.
Then the product itself becomes more attractive for buyers. Here we have the
logical-informative function of the stylistic inversion. The most important
information is placed at the beginning.

Conclusion

22

Inversion is used to give emphasis or to be rhetorical in more formal

situations, in political speeches, on the news, and also in literature. Some native
speakers may also use them occasionally in day-to-day conversation.
Inversion which was briefly mentioned in the definition of chiasmus is very
often used as an independent stylistic device in which the direct word order is
changed either completely so that the predicate (predicative) precedes the subject,
or partially so that the object precedes the subject-predicate pair.
The stylistic device of inversion should not be confused with grammatical
inversion which is a norm in interrogative constructions. Stylistic inversion deals
with the rearrangement of the normative word order. Questions may also be
rearranged. The inverted question presupposes the answer with more certainty than
the normative one. It is the assuredness of the speaker of the positive answer that
constitutes additional information which is brought into the question by the
inverted word order.
The analysis of inversion in English has shown that it may have several
functions in a sentence. Each of these functions has its own goal. Sometimes they
help to mark out a word in order the reader to remember the title, advertised
product or something else. Sometimes it helps to add emotional colouring to the
surface meaning of the utterance. With the help of inversion we can increase
informativity of a message and attract readers attention. The function of
intensification serves for strengthening an emphatic stress on a concrete word in a
sentence.
In the course of the work I found out that inversion is used in newspaper
for both informative and emotional colouring function.
In this research we analyzed using inversion in the texts of newspaper
articles and its pragmatic aspect:
- we have defined stylistic inversion and its classification and structure,

23

- we have revealed linguistic peculiarities of using stylistic inversion,

- we have explained ways of translation the stylistic inversion and
difficulties in translation the inversion,
- we analyzed the pragmatic functions and difficulties in translation of
stylistic inversion.
We have begun with the definition of the stylistic inversion and its
classification and structure. It is difficult evidence because of inhomogeneous tasks
and conditions of communication and in general of peculiarities of extra linguistic
base. Although about language and style of newspaper is written a lot of special
functional stylistic investigation of this style have began not long ago.
NEwspaper is a literature on actual, social, political themes. Newspaper style has
spoken varieties, in particular the oratorical sub-style. The new spoken varieties are
the radio commentary, the essay and articles.
Newspaper style is also characterized by brevity of expression. Galperin
states that the newspaper style became discernible as a separate style in the middle
of the 18th century. The basic aim of the newspaper style is to exert an influence on
public opinion, to convince the reader or the listener that the interpretation given
by the writer or speaker is correct and to make them accept his or her views though
logical argumentation and emotional appeal. The style of newspaper studied as a
restricted language. Headline is the most basic text organizing tool used to invite
the reader to become involved with the publication. English headlines are short and
catching.
Thus, this research has given us the idea of stylistic inversion.

Bibliography

24

1) Birner, Betty J. Information Status and Word Order: An Analysis of English

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Newspaper Observer, November, 2010

Newspaper Independent November, 2010
Newspaper Daily Telegraph April, 2010
Newspaper The Moscow News, October, 2010
Newspaper New York Times, January, 2001
Newspaper Sunday Times, December, 2010

20) Newspaper The Economist. January, 2011.

21) Newspaper Forbes ASAP. April 11, 2011.
22) Newspaper Forbes. February 19, 2011.

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23) Vogue. March, 2011.

Appendix

26

Proportion of usage of each type of stylistic inversion in the texts of a newspaper article
1-The object is placed at
the beginning of the
sentence
2-The attribute is placed
after the word it modifies
3-The predicative is placed
before the subject
4-The adverbial modifier is
placed at the beginning of
the sentence
5-The modifier and
predicate stand before the
subject