AMER MAHMOOD YOUSAF

ENGLISH DEPTT.GOVT. ISLAMIA COLLEGE CIVIL LINES LAHORE

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 paragraphAnd 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’

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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.

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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