Module 4 Lesson 1
Foregrounding
Introduction
In this lesson we will grab the opportunity to review some principles on foregrounding.
Learning Objective
At the end of this module it is expected that you will be able to:
1. Analyze and discuss the concept of foregrounding and the notion of the poetic function of
language.
2. Discuss the devices of foregrounding
3. Give examples of each type of foregrounding
Learning Content
Foregrounding
Foregrounding refers to a form of textual patterning which is motivated specifically for literary
aesthetic-purposes.
Typically involves a stylistic distortion of some sort. Either:
1. Through an aspect of the text which deviates from a linguistic norm
2. The aspect of the text is brought to the fore through repetition or parallelism.
It is a technique for making strange in language or to extrapolate from Shklovsky’s Russian term
ostranenie= a method of defamiliarization in textual composition. Shklovsky (1917/1965) saw
defamiliarization as accompanied by feeling: stylistic devices in literary texts “emphasize the emotional
effect of an expression”. Defamiliarization obliges the reader to slow down, allowing time for the feelings
created by the alliterations and metaphors to emerge.
The point of foregrounding is that it should acquire salience in the act of drawing attention to itself.
It is motivated for artistic purposes.
Foregrounding is a term borrowed from the Prague School of Linguistics. It is used by Geoffrey
Leech and Mick Short (1981) to refer to artistically motivated deviation.
For Mukarovsky (1977) when used poetically, words and groups of words evoke a greater richness
of images and feelings than if they were to occur in a communicative utterance.
For Miall and Kuiken (1944), it is a stylistic variation that evokes feelings and prolong reading time.
Devices of foregrounding: Deviation
Parallelism
I. Deviation is a phenomenon when a set of rules or expectations are broken in some way,
like for example when you change a font style. This deviation from expectation produces
the effect of foregrounding which attracts attention and aids memorability because it will
result to some degree of surprise in the reader, and his/her attention is thereby drawn to
the form of the text itself (rather than its content).
Leech divides deviation into eight types: 1) lexical deviation, 2)grammatical deviation, 3)semantic deviation,
4) phonological deviation, 5)graphological deviation, 6)dialectal deviation,7)deviation of register and
8)deviation of historical period.
a) Lexical deviation
1) Lexical deviation is usually associated with neologism (the coining of entirely new words), which is
misunderstood as violation of lexical rule. In neologism, an existing rule (of word formation) is applied with
greater generality than is customary.
We call new words nonceformations if they are made up ‘for nonce’ example 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.
2) 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, inspite of the fact that English has already a
noun ‘achievement’ derived from that verb. It is obvious that the word is a noun here because of the
preceding article ‘the’.
3) Third is 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).
Example:
The prefixation of fore to a verb to convey the meaning ‘beforehand’ as in foresee or foretell.
Without noticing the oddity , we would use verbs such as foresell or foreappear.
T.S. Elliot in his The Wasteland uses the verb foresuffer in the line “And I Teresias have foresuffered
all”. Spenser creates new words like shaggybearded, and Hopkins the widowmaking, unchilding, and
unfathering.
b) Grammatical Deviation
There are two types of grammatical deviation: morphological and syntactic deviation
a) Morphological deviation is an intentional deviation from the ordinary spelling, formation,
construction, or application of words. It involves adding affixes to words which they would not
usually have or removing their usual affixes. Breaking words up into their constituent
morphemes or running several words together so they appear as one long word.
Examples: eggtentical and intellible in James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake
Linguistically speaking, morphology is the scientific scrutiny of the internal structure of the smallest
grammatical units.
To Crystal (2003) any sort of violence to the English morpheme, like ill-formed morphemes is
referred to as deviant morphological construction.
Example: Here a livingly free mysterious dreamsoul floatstands oak by birth by maple
pine.
Portmanteau word is a combination of two or more words or morphemes, and their definitions into
one new word such as smog, coined by blending smoke and fog, or motel, from motor and hotel. Similarly
Eurasia is of Europe and Asia, Bardolatry of the bard and idolatry, which means excessive worship of
William Shakespeare and his works.
b) 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
She dwelt among the untrodden ways (Wordsworth)
Grammatical deviation indicates social classes of speakers. The existence of differences in
language between social classes:
Speaker 1: I aint done nothing.
Speaker 2: I haven’t done anything.
Speaker1: I don’t it yesterday.
Speaker 2: I did it yesterday.
Speaker 1: I were me that done it.
Speaker 2: I didn’t do it.
Grammatical deviations are where a poet or writer uses the double negative, double comparative,
and the double superlative. Sometimes it is a result of ‘faults analogy’. Analogy is the term referring to a
process of regularization which affects the exceptional forms in the grammar of a language.
Example:
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)
I do not like bread, don’t I? I do like bread, don’t I?/ I do not like bread, do I?
I unlike bread. I dislike bread, do I?
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made (W.B. Yeats, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree)
c) Semantic Deviation: A linguistic device that occurs when the meaning of a word, phrase or
sentence is ambiguous or unexpected.
They are classified largely into three sections: Semantic oddity, Transference of meaning, and
Honest deception.
1. Semantic oddity means semantic bizarreness of expression. There are five types of
symantic oddity:
Pleonasm is the use of more words than those necessary to denote more sense.
Examples: burning fire
the man he said
They are giving free gifts.
Periphrasis is the use of longer phrasing in place of possible shorter form of
expression.
Example:
“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.” Instead of saying “I am displeased with your behavior.”
Tautology is needless repetition of an idea, statement or word.
Example: first and foremost
A beginner who has just started
Oxymoron is a combination of words that have opposite or very different meanings.
Examples: cruel kindness
The calm wind blow
Paradox is something that is made up of two opposite things and that seems
impossible but is actually true or possible.
Examples: sound of silence (an actor: He loves being in public eye but also
deeply values and protects his privacy)
The child is the father of the man.
2. Transference of Meaning is classified into four types of figurative language:
a. Synechdoche is a figure of speech in which
a part is put for the whole
Example: fifty sail for fifty ships
hand for the whole person
whole for the part Example: society for high society
species for the genus Example: cutthroat for assassin
genus for species Example: creature for a man
b. metonymy= consisting of the use of the name of one thing for that of another of which it is
associated.
Example: skull for death
crown for king
rose for love
c. metaphor= It is a figure of speech in which likeness between two objects is implied. Of the
two objects, one is well known, and the other is unknown; and the former is applied to
explain the latter.; thus, “The French Revolution was the whirlwind of the universe.” Here
the well-known power and effects of the “whirlwind” are used to give a vivid idea of the
terribly destructive effects of the French Revolution.
d. Simile= It is a figure which expresses the likeness one object bears to another. The
objects compared must differ in kind. The likeness is generally expressed by some words
such as like, as, compared to.
Examples of simile:
1. His voice was like the sound of many waters.
2. Their eyes were like embers.
3. He fell as falls the thunder-riven oak.
Value of the Simile: The simile aids the understanding in illustrating the thought by
comparison to something already known; it impresses the feelings by the surprise of finding a
likeness where none was expected, and it pleases by the beauty of the comparison.
3. Honest deception: Is a situation whereby the true nature of things is indirectly
described using exaggerating language styles.
Leech classifies the term into three tropes:
a. Hyperbole (exaggeration). It represents things as greater or less, better or worse, than
they really are.
Examples: “The waves ran mountain high.”
“I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love you till China and Africa meet, And the river
jumps over the mountain And the salmon sang in the street, I’ll love you till the ocean
is folded and hung up to dry.”
b. Litotes (understatement)
Example: Not a bad singer.
The name of Britain’s biggest dog is “Tiny”.
c. Irony—It is language which, taken literally, expresses the contrary of what is meant.
The real drift of the speaker is seen in his tone or manner. Thus, Elijah said to the
prophets of Baal, “Cry aloud, for he is a god.”
d) Phonological deviation
There are basically two types of phonological deviation:
Conventional license of verse composition
The first kinds of phonological deviations are: aphesis, syncope, and apocope.
a. Aphesis: the omission of an initial part of a word or phrase
Example: ‘tis
‘lone
‘mid
b. Syncope: omission of a medial part of a word
Example: ne’ver
pow’r
o’er
c. Apocope: omission of a final part of a word
Example: oft’
wi’
They are conventional licenses of verse composition. They change the pronunciations of
the original words so that the poet may better and more easily arrange sound patterns to achieve
their intended communicative effects.
Poetic license is a writer’s privilege to depart from some expected standard.
Till a’ the seas gang dry , my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun:
I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.
(Robert Burns, A Red, Red Rose)
Special pronunciation for the convenience of rhyming: the noun wind is pronounced
like the verb wind
Mispronunciation and sub-standard pronunciation
Intentional mispronunciation and sub-standard pronunciation. Purpose: vividly describe a
character. True to life.
“May God starve ye yet,” yelled an Irish woman who now threw open a nearby window and
stuck out her head. “Yes and you,” she added, catching the eye of one of the policemen. “You
bloody murthering thafe! Rack my son over the head, will, you hard-hearted, mothering divil? Ah,
yeꟷ”
(Sister Carrie by T. Dreiser)
The way of speaking reveals that the speaker is a working class woman.
Since most of our literature is written, there would be 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.
Sometimes deviation is from the normal use of sound or mispronunciation which have never been
corrected or they arise from physical defect.
e) Graphological Deviation: strangeness of written form
Graphology is related to type of print, grammetrics, punctuation, indentation, etc.
Graphology is the encoding of meaning in visual symbols.
Type of print: italics, bold print, capitalization and decapitalization, etc.
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.
Me up at does Me up at does out of the floor quietly stared a poisoned mouse still who alive is
asking what have i done that You wouldn’t have
(e.e. cummings)
The first line of each line should be capitalized. Cumming breaches the convention by capitalizing
the first letter of the opening line and that of the closing line so that the two words Me and You stand out
and become stylistically prominent.
f) Dialectical deviation (Dialectism)
o It is the borrowing of features of socially or regionally defined dialects
o It 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.
Ow, eez ye –ooa san, is e? Oh, he’s your son, is he?
g) Deviation of Register
It is 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.
h) Deviation of historical period
It is 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 the present’.