Гальперин И. Р. Стилистика английского языка

"Epatant!" he heard one say.
"Jargon!" growled Soames to himself.
The introduction of actual foreign words in an utterance is not, to our mind, a special stylistic device, inasmuch as it is not a conscious and intentional literary use of the facts of the English language. However, foreign words, being alien to the texture of the language in which the work is written, always arrest the attention of the reader and therefore have a definite stylistic function. Sometimes the skilful use of one or two foreign words will be sufficient to creаtе the impression of an utterance" made in a foreign language. Thus in the following example:
"Deutsche Soldaten – a little while ago, you received a sample of American strength." (Stefan Heym, "The Crusaders")
The two words 'Deutsche Soldaten' are sufficient to create the impression that the actual speech was made in German, as in real life it would have been.
The same effect is sometimes achieved by the slight distortion of an English word, or a distortion of English grammar in such a way that the morphological aspect of the distortion will bear a resemblance to the morphology of the foreign tongue, for example:
"He look at Miss Forsyte so funny sometimes. I tell him all my story; he so sympatisch." (Galsworthy)
Barbarisms have still another function when used in the belles-lettres style. We may call it an "exactifying" function. Words of foreign origin generally have a more or less monosemantic value. In other words, they do not tend to develop new meanings. The English So long, for example, due to its conventional usage has lost its primary meaning. It. has become a formal phrase of parting. Not so with the French "Au revoir." When used in English as a formal sign of parting it will either carry the exact meaning of the words it is composed of, viz. 'See you again soon', or have another stylistic function. Here is an example:
"She had said 'Au revoir!' Not good-bye!" (Galsworthy)
The formal and conventional salutation at parting has become a meaningful sentence set against another formal salutation at parting which, in its turn, is revived by the process to its former significance of "God be with you," i. e. a salutation used when parting for some time.
In publicistic style the use of barbarisms and foreign words is mainly confined to colouring the passage on the problem in question with a touch of authority. A person who uses so many foreign words and phrases is obviously a very educated person, the reader thinks, and therefore a "man who knows." Here are some examples of the use of barbarisms in the publicistic style:
"Yet en passant I would like to ask here (and answer) what did Rockefeller think of Labour..." (Dreiser, "Essays and Articles")
"Civilization" – as they knew it – still depended upon making profits ad infinitum." (Ibid.)
We may remark in passing that Dreiser was particularly fond of using barbarisms not only in his essays and articles but in his novels and stories as well. And this brings us to another question. Is the use of barbarisms and foreign words a matter of individual preference of expression, a certain idiosyncrasy of this or that writer? Or is there a definite norm regulating the usage of this means of expression in different styles of speech? The reader is invited to make his own observations and inferences on the matter.
Barbarisms assume the significance of a stylistic device if they display a kind of interaction between different meanings, or functions, or aspects. When a word which we consider a barbarism is used so as to evoke a twofold application we are confronted with an SD.
In the example given above – "She had said 'au revoir!' Not goodbye!" the 'au revoir' will be understood by the reader because of its frequent use in some circles of English society. However, it is to be understood literally here, i. e. 'So long' or 'until we see each other again.' The twofold perception secures the desired effect. Set against the English 'Good-bye' which is generally used when people part for an indefinite time, the barbarism loses its formal character and re-establishes its etymological meaning. Consequently, here again we see the clearly cut twofold application of the language unit, the indispensable requirement for a stylistic device.