The quantitative aspect of foregrounding in the classical and contemporary short stories

Authors

  • Ihor Bloshchynskyi

    Foreign Languages Department, Bohdan Khmelnytskyi National Academy of State Border Guard Service of Ukraine
  • Yuliya Boyko

    Department of Germanic Philology and Translation Studies, Khmelnytskyi National University
  • Oleksandr Yemets

    Department of Germanic Philology and Translation Studies, Khmelnytskyi National University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.59400/fls.v5i2.1675

Abstract

The article considers the language means of realizing the quantitative aspect of foregrounding in the short stories by Chopin and contemporary flash fiction. The major technique of the quantitative aspect of foregrounding in Chopin's stories is stylistic convergence. Stylistic convergences in her stories normally include extended metaphors and phonetic repetitions. They are usually located in such a strong position as the beginning (in 8 out of the 10 analyzed stories) where the writer describes the personality and appearance of the main character. The use of alliterations makes the stories very poetical. Stylistic convergences in contemporary flash fiction stories are also used in the most foregrounded fragments in the texts, similar to Chopin's stories. The difference lies in the place of convergences: in the analyzed stories they are placed in another strong position, in the ending. Thus, the writers give or suggest their own conclusions about the importance of such values as family, tolerance, and sympathy to other people. The convergences in flash fiction contain two major components-metaphors and syntactic repetitions. Also, the convergences in the analyzed flash fiction stories are smaller in size than in Chopin's texts and include such stylistic devices as play for words, oxymorons.

Keywords:

quantitative aspect of foregrounding, stylistic convergence, extended metaphor, syntactical repetitions, pragmatic effect, strong position

References

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Issue

Vol. 5 , Iss. 2 (September 2023)

Article Type

Article

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Copyright © 2023 Ihor Bloshchynskyi, Yuliya Boyko, Oleksandr Yemets

Creative Commons License

This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.