我们试观察Raymond Chandler 在其所著的小说The Lady in the Lake中安排的句法风格标记:
An elegant handwriting, like the elegant hand that wrote it. I pushed it to one side and had another drink, I began to feel a little less savage. I pushed things around the desk. My hands felt thick and hot and awkward. I ran a finger across the corner of the desk and looked at the streak made by the wiping off of the dust. I looked at the dust on my finger and wiped that off. I looked at my watch. I looked at the wall. I looked at nothing.
I put the liquor bottle away and went over the wash-bowl to rinse the glass out. When I had done that I washed my hands and bathed my face in cold water and looked at it.
从以上片断中可以看出,作者反复使用了两个句式:(a)“I”加 上verb phrase;(b)“I”加上verb phrase 加上“and”及verb phrase。作者重复使用以上两种句式,客观效果产生了单调感,正是这种单调感对渲染文中角色两种“无目的的情绪”起了重要作用。这似乎正是Chandler这段文字的风格意义。
英语中有特色的句法形式很多,反复使用于某一上下文中即形成风格的句法标记,如并列(coordination)、复合(subordination)、平行 (parallel)、对仗(antithesis)、省略(omission)、重复(repetition)等等。上述取自Chandler的引文用的是并列和重复。福克纳(W. Faulkner)经常用的句法风格手段则是“复合”和环扣式盘结扩展。从广义上说,在行文中以反复使用某种句法结构求得某种语言特征的风格手段,都表现为风格的句法标记,如破折句、疑问句、祈使句、绝对式结构以及不合语法句、俚俗句及歧义句的超常使用。
责任编辑:admin