Deviation

 to make his language creative or

inventive
 a language different from the
conventional and everyday language
 Using unconventional or unusual
language,
 give his readers unexpected surprise
and make a strong impression on their
mind .
 This kind of the creative use of language
is technically called a linguistic deviation
 creates a language deviated from the
norms of literary convention
Deviation and Foregrounding
 a term used to describe spelling and
pronunciation of a word or a sentence
structure which does not conform to a
norm
 a linguistic phenomenon has an
important psychological effect on the
readers ( or hearers ).
 A deviant part becomes especially
noticeable , or perceptually prominent .
This is called "foregrounding"
 many ways in which poets or writers can
produce deviation and hence
foregrounding.
 The term foregrounding is borrowed
from literary criticism .
 Literary critics usually distinguish the
foreground of a painting from its
background .
 The foreground is that part of a painting
which is in the center and towards the
bottom of the canvas .
 the items which occur in the foreground
of a painting will usually be thought of as
constituting the subject matter of the
painting .
 Nothing in a work of arts is insignificant .
 if one changes something as small as a
comma , one can change the meaning
of the poem as a whole .
 But even some elements remain
important than others , and foreground
parts can be regarded as the most
important of all.
Kinds of Linguistic Deviation
 Leech divides deviation into eight types:
 lexical deviation,
 grammatical deviation,
 semantic deviation,
 phonological deviation,
 graphological deviation,
 dialectal deviation,
 deviation of register and
 deviation of historical period.
Lexical Deviation :
 usually associated with neologism,
which is misunderstood as a ‘violation of
lexical rule’.
 In neologism, an existing rule (of word-
formation) is applied with greater
generality than is customary.
 We call new words NONCE-
FORMATIONS if they are made up ‘for
the nonce’, i.e., for a single occasion
only,
 rather than serious attempts
 to augment the wordstock for some new
need.
 Nonce-formations have occasionally
come to be adopted by the community in
which case they cease by definition to
be nonce and become neologism.
 A second example of lexical deviation is
the process of converting a word from
one grammatical class to another. This
process is called functional conversion.
 My heart in hiding
 Stirred for a bird-the achieve of, the
mastery of the thing (Hopkins ,The
Windhover
 Here, Hopkins takes the verb (achieve)
and uses it as a noun, in spite of the fact
that English already has a noun,
achievement derived from that verb.
 It is obvious that the word is a noun here
because of (1) the preceding definite
article, (2) the (of) apparently beginning
a post-modifying prepositional phrase,
and (3) the grammatical parallel with
mastery.
 A third way in which writers can produce
foregrounding through lexical deviation
is by the use of affixation ( the addition
of a prefix or suffix to an item already in
the language) and compounding ( the
joining together of two or more items to
make a single compound one )
 Sometime some "slips of the tongue " or
"speech errors " in which one deviates in
some way from the intended utterance to
form a new word are called malapropism.
 The term malapropism refers to the misuse
of words which comes from the name of
Mrs. Malaprop in Sheridans the Rivals. She
would say (reprehend ) for (apprehend),
(derangement) for (arrangement) and
(epitaphs) for (epithets).
 The literary man’'s lexical innovation can
mostly be placed in the category of
nonce-formations.
 Examples:
 The prefixation of fore to a verb, to
convey the meaning ‘beforehand’, as in
foresee, foretell and foreknow.
 Without noticing oddity, we would use
verbs such as foresell or foreappear.
 T.S Elliot in his The Waste Land uses
the verb foresuffer in the line
 ‘And I Tiresias have foresuffered all’
 Spenser creates new words like shaggy-
bearded, and Hopkins has the widow-
making, unchilding and unfathering.
 Quite a number of widely used English
words originated in poetry, such as
assassination (Shakespeare), blatant
(Spenser), casuistry(Pope)
 In E. E. Cummings poem in-just the
compound nouns
 goat-footed, mud-luscious , puddle-
wonderful, balloonman, eddieandbill,
bettyandisbel are ‘nonce-formations'.
 Cummings invents them for being
suggestive of a “child’s language”: hence,
mud-luscious (pleasant muddy) and
puddle-wonderful (= pleasant puddly).
 They evoke the joyful scenery-
 the children playing happily on the muddy
ground after spring rain.
 2.Secondly, the names are merged into
one another; eddieandbill and
bettyandisbel
 eddie and bill are the names of two little
boys which have several levels of
meaning:
 (1)the decapitalization of the names
demonstrates the boys are very little;
 (2) eddie and bill are merged into one
word eddieandbill renders the cubic
impression – the boys are running hand
in hand.
 The effect here is to render the hustle,
bustle, and speed of the children as they
come running to the summons of the
whistle.
 3. The nonce-formation balloonman is
the compounding of the words balloon
and man which implies several meaning:
 1) the man who sells balloons;
 2) the man looks like a mixture of
balloons and man because there are a
lot of balloons in his hands and over his
head;
 3) balloonman is the symbol of spring.
Balloons grant a profound impression of
happiness and joy.
 Goatfooted/ balloonMan makes readers
to associate it with Greek god Pan-Half-
man, half-goat.
 Pan, God of music and play, is the
symbol of spring.
 The capitalization of “Man” in
balloonman emphasizes that the man
selling balloons is Pan-God of spring
Grammatical Deviation
 Two types of grammatical deviation are
morphological and syntactic deviations.
 Morphological deviation is an intentional
deviation from the ordinary spelling,
formation, construction, or application, of
words.
 Examples of morphological deviation are
museyroom, eggtentical, and intellible in
James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake.
 The entire book is written in a largely
idiosyncratic language, consisting of a
mixture of standard English lexical items
and neologistic multilingual puns and
portmanteau words,
 portmanteau word is a combination of
two (or more) words or morphemes, and
their definitions, into one new word
 such as in smog, coined by blending
smoke and fog, or motel, from motor
and hotel. Spanish and English create
the portmanteau Spanglish.
 starfish is a compound, not a
portmanteau, of star and fish
 (a hypothetical portmanteau of these
words might be stish).
 "slithy" means "lithe and slimy" and
"mimsy" is "flimsy and miserable".
Gerrymandar
 The original " Gerrymander" pictured in
an 1812 cartoon. The word is a
portmanteau of Massachusetts
Governor Elbridge Gerry's name, with
"salamander"
 the word brunch(breakfast + lunch)
 the newly independent African republic
of Tanganyika and Zanzibar chose the
word Tanzania as its name.
 Similarly Eurasia is of Europe and Asia.
 " Wikipedia" is an example; it combines
the word " wiki" with the word "
encyclopedia".
 Bardolatry, of "the bard" and "idolatry,"
means excessive worship of William
Shakespeare and his works.
 Oxbridge is common for the UK's two
oldest universities, those of Oxford and
Cambridge.
Liger
 A scientific example is a liger, which is a
cross between a male lion and a female
tiger(a tiglon or tigon is a similar cross in
which the male is a tiger)

 Many company or brand names are

portmanteaus, including Microsoft, of
micro computer and software;
Spork
 in Non-standard English
 A spork
 a spork is an eating utensil that is a
combination of a spoon and fork.
 A skort is an item of clothing that is part
skirt, part shorts.
She dwelt among the untrodden
ways (Wordsworth).
 syntax deviations might be 1) bad or
incorrect grammar and 2)syntactic
rearrangement/ hyperbaton. One important
feature of grammatical deviation is the
case of ungrammaticality.
 I doesn't like him.
 I know not
 Saw you anything?
 He me saw.
 grammatical deviation indicates the social
classes of speakers. The existence of
differences in language between social
classes
 Speaker(1) Speaker(2)
 I aint done nothing.
 I haven't done anything.
 I don't it yesterday. I did it yesterday.
 I were me that done it. I didn't do it .
 grammatical deviations are where a poet
or a writer uses the double negative,
the double comparative and the double
superlative.
 In Old and Middle English the idea of
negation was often expressed several
times in a single sentence:
 " I will never do nothing no more ".
 writers or poets deviate from
grammatical rules by combining two
ways of expressing comparison
 the use of grammatical deviation is re-
sequencing of phrases inside the clause
away from the normal subject-verb-
adverbial order . For example :
 "Then spake king Arthur to Sir Bedivere
".
 (Tennyson "Morte d' Arther)
 Grammatical deviation, sometimes, is a
result of 'faults analogy'. Analogy is a
term referring to a process of
regularization which affects the
exceptional forms in the grammar of a
language.
 in Cumming's poem “anyone lived in a
pretty how town”grammatical deviations
are employed in a novel way
 he sang his didn't
 he danced his did

 they sowed their isn't

 they reaped their same
 she laughed his joy
 she cried his grief

 they said their nevers

 they slept their dream

 laughed their cryings

 and did their dance

 reaped their sowing

 and went their came
 She walks in beauty , like the night
 Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
 And all that's best of dark and bright
(Byron)
 Beauty is truth, truth beauty (Keats)
 The just man justices (in As Kingfishers
Catch Fire).
 In Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the
Lock (1712–14):
 “Bright as the sun, her eyes the gazers
strike.”
 "From Cocoon forth a Butterfly
 As Lady from her Door
 Emerged--a summer afternoon--
 Repairing
 everywhere.
 "(Emily Dickinson, "From Cocoon forth a
Butterfly")
 ''Some rise by sin, and some by virtue
fall."
 (Escalus in William Shakespeare's
Measure for Measure, Act II, scene one)
 "And a small cabin build there, of clay
and wattles made"
 (W. B. Yeats, "The Lake Isle of
Innisfree")
 "pity this busy monster manunkind not"
 (e.e. cummings)
 Some 'asyntactic' style:
 The Wanderer
 There head falls forward, fatigued at
evening,
 And dreams of home,
 Waving from window, spread of
welcome,
 Kissing of wife under single sheet,
 But waking sees
 Bird-flocks nameless to him, through
doorway voices
 Of new men making another love.
 “So fair and foul a day I have not seen”
 “the little / lame balloonman / whistles
far and wee”.
 “Anyone lived in a pretty how town”
Semantic Deviation
 I am not yet born; O hear me. (Louis
MacNeice's Prayer before Birth)
 The child is father of the man.
(Wordsworth's My Heart Leaps Up)
 She was a phantom of delight
(Shakespeare)
 Beauty is truth, truth beauty (Keats)
 In semantic deviation it is important to
deal with what Leech calls tropes
 Metaphors and similes are tropes.
 they are classified largely into three
sections:
 1. Semantic oddity
 2. Transference of meaning
 3. Honest Deception
1. Semantic Oddity
 Semantic oddity means semantic
bizarreness of expression.
 There are five types of semantic oddity:
 1. Pleonasm
 2.periphrasis
 3.tautology
 4. Oxymoron
 5. Paradox
2. Transference of Meaning
 According to Leech's classification,
transference of meaning is classified
into four types of figurative language:
 1. Synecdoche
 2. Metonymy
 3. Metaphor
 4. Simile
3. Honest Deception
 Also Leech classifies the term honest
deception into three tropes :
 1.Hyperbole(Exaggeration)
 2. Litotes (understatement)
 3. Irony
1. pleonasm
 , ‘see with your eyes’
 "The most unkindest cut of all."
(William Shakespeare,Julius Caesar)
'He was a man, take him for all in all, I
shall not look upon his like again'
(Shakespeare.Hamlet, )
 - burning fire
 - cash money
 - end result
 - all together
 - invited guests
2. periphrasis
 “I am displeased with your behavior
 “the manner in which you have
conducted yourself in my presence of
late has caused me to feel
uncomfortable and has resulted in my
feeling disgruntled and disappointed
with you”.
 Calling the devil "Old Nick", calling
Macbeth the "Scottish Play" or saying
"bakers dozen"
3.tautology
 ‘They spoke in turn, one after the other.’
 I am feeling very sleepily sleepy as I got
up at 5 am in the morning.
 They are giving free gifts!
 In my opinion, I think that...
 And etc.
 John's first priority is to get a good job.
 The reason is because.
 It is new innovation.
 Today's modern technology.
 She ate a salmon fish sandwich.
 The plumber fixed our hot water heater.
 Morning sunrise.
 Either it will rain tomorrow, or it won't.
 My best friend likes to watch suspense
thrillers.
 I made it with my own hands for you.
 In present time and age, the price hike is
shooting up.
 My best friend likes to watch suspense
thrillers.
 I made it with my own hands for you.
 In present time and age, the price hike is
shooting up.
 This project should be completed on
time, as it is the necessary requirement
of the company.
 Bits and pieces
 The vast majority of the people are in
favor of his philosophy.
 To return again.
 I got this dress at cheapest price.
 Frozen Ice.
 I have heard this with my own ears.
 First and foremost, let's begin.
 Say it over again once more.
 We will get the salary along with the
added bonus.
 I never make predictions, especially
about the future.
 That is indeed a sad misfortune.
 Me myself personally cordially invite you
to the party.)
4. Oxymoron
 The calm wind blew,
 The sun shone a blinding light.
 All around, a deafening silence as,
 The atmosphere changed shape.
 A Fine Mess
 A just war
 A little big
 A new classic
 absolutely unsure
 abundant poverty
 Accidentally on Purpose
 accurate estimate
 accurate horoscope
 accurate rumors
 Act Naturally
 active retirement
 adult children
5.paradox
 “All animals are equal, but some are
more equal than others”.
 “I must be cruel to be kind.”
 The earth that’s nature’s mother is her
tomb;
 What is her burying grave, that is
Rainbow in her womb;
 “Child is father of the man”
1.synecdoche
 ‘Australia lost by two goals’

 2. Metonymy
 the White House for the US president
 3.metaphor and
 4. simile.
Metaphor
 Robert Frost says,
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
("The Road Not Taken")
 l(a
 le
 af
 fa
 ll
 s)
 one
 l
 iness- e e cummings
 as freedom is a breakfastfood
 or truth can live with right and wrong
 or molehills are from mountains made
 —long enough and just so long
 will being pay the rent of seem
 and genius please the talentgang
 and water most encourage flame
 as hatracks into peachtrees grow
 or hopes dance best on bald men’s hair
 and every finger is a toe
 and any courage is a fear
 —long enough and just so long
 will the impure think all things pure
 and hornets wail by children stung
 or as the seeing are the blind
 and robins never welcome spring
 nor flatfolk prove their world is round
 nor dingsters die at break of dong
 and common’s rare and millstones float
 —long enough and just so long
 tomorrow will not be too late
 worms are the words but joy’s the voice
 down shall go which and up come who
 breasts will be breasts thighs will be
thighs
 deeds cannot dream what dreams can
do
 —time is a tree(this life one leaf)
 but love is the sky and i am for you
 just so long and long enough
3. Honest Deception
 1.Hyperbole(Exaggeration)
 “Well now, one winter it was so cold that
all the geese flew backward and all the
fish moved south and even the snow
turned blue. Late at night, it got so
frigid that all spoken words froze solid
afore they could be heard. People had
to wait until sunup to find out what
folks were talking about the night
before.”
 "I'll love you, dear,
 I'll love you till China and Africa meet,
 And the river jumps over the mountain
 And the salmon sing in the street,
 I'll love you till the ocean
 Is folded and hung up to dry
 And the seven stars go squawking
 Like geese about the sky."
2. Litotes(understatement)
 he wasn't slow to accept the offer
 "The grave's a fine a private place,
But none, I think, do there embrace."
 (Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress")
*."for life's not a paragraph
And death I think is no parenthesis"
(e.e. cummings, "since feeling is first")
 "We made a difference. We made the
city stronger, we made the city freer, and
we left her in good hands. All in all, not
bad, not bad at all."
(Ronald Reagan, Farewell Address to
the Nation, January 20, 1989)
3.Irony
 (*.The name of Britain’s biggest dog was
“Tiny”.
 *.You laugh at a person who slipped
stepping on a banana peel and the next
thing you know, you slipped too.
 *.The butter is as soft as a marble piece.
 *.“Oh great! Now you have broken my
new camera.”
 “Go ask his name: if he be married.
 My grave is like to be my wedding bed.”
 “‘tis true this god did shake”
 “Upon the murderer I invoke this curse-
whether he is one man and all unknown,
 Or one of many- may he wear out his life
in misery to miserable doom!”).
3. Phonological Deviation
 There are basically two types of
deviation:
 1) conventional licences of verse
composition and
 2) special pronunciation for the
convenience of rhyming
 The first kinds of phonological deviations
are aphesis, syncope and apocope.
 Aphesis : the omission of an initial part
of a word or phrase
 ‘tis
 Syncope : the omission of a medial part
 Ne'’er, o'’er, pow’'r
 Apocope: the omission of a final part
 oft
 The second-type example: the noun
wind is pronounced like the verb
 wind
 Short stresses that the sound dimension
of language belongs to speech. Since
most of our literature is written, there
would be a relatively little scope for
phonological deviation.
 The implicit sound pattern can always
be made explicit in reading aloud.
 To a large extent, this implicit phonology
is determined by choice of words and
structure at the syntactic level, where it
can be regarded as an important
ingredient of stylistic value
 It is worth mentioning that phonological
deviation as phonetic behavior is
determined by individual and a
reasonable conformity to a serviceable
norm and will function as a sort of
standard in all speech communities
 Educated speakers, then show a wide
range of permissible variation in
pronunciation and usage.
 It is controlled partly by a literary norm
and partly by social sanction though the
half educated often abandon good local
speech for something which is difficult to
refer to a norm
 Sometimes deviation is from the normal
use of sound or mispronunciation which
have never been corrected or they arise
from physical defect
4. Graphological Deviation
 To the extent that spelling represents
pronunciation, any strangeness of
pronunciation will be reflected by a
strangeness of written form (lineation).
 Two American poets who explore
possibilities of purely visual patterning in
poetry are William Carlos Williams and
E.E. Cummings.
 Cummings is well-known for his use of
other types of orthographic deviation:
discarding of capital letters and
punctuation where convention calls for
them, jumbling of words, eccentric use
of parentheses, etc.
 Ariel to Miranda: - Take
 This slave of Music, for the sake
 Of him who is the slave of thee…(Shelley)
 Pity this busy monster, manunkind, not.
Progress is a comfortable disease;
 your victim(death and life safely beyond)
 plays with the bigness of his littleness
 - electrons deify one razorblade
 into a mountainrange; lenses extend (A
complete poem by E.E.Cummings) e.e.
cumming
6. Dialectal Deviation
(Dialectism)
 The borrowing of features of socially or
regionally defined dialects
 Is a minor form of license not generally
available to the average
 writer of functional prose, who is
expected to write in the
 generally accepted and understood
dialect known as ‘standard’
(add title here)
 heydeguyes (a type of dance) and
rontes (young bullocks) in
 Spenser’s The Shepheardes Calendar
7. Deviation of Register
 The use of a certain register in a wrong
domain
 Register borrowing in poetry is often
accompanied by the further incongruity
of register mixing, or the use in the
same text of features characteristic of
different registers.
(add title here)
 In Auden’s Letter to Lord Byron:
 And many a bandit, not so gently born
 Kills vermin every winter with the Quorn
 Quorn (BrE trademark a vegetable
substance that can be used in cooking
instead of meat)
8. Deviation of Historical
Period
 The use of linguistic heritage, including
dead languages such as Latin and
Greek and archaism ‘the survival of the
language of the past into the language
of present’.
 In T.S. Elliot’s East Cooker:
 The association of man and woman
 In daunsinge, signifying matrimonie