Германские языки | Филологический аспект №02 (94) Февраль 2023

Nonce Words in Children’s Literature: Stylistic and Pragmatic Functions

Денисова Наталья Викторовна
Кандидат филологических наук, доцент кафедры английской филологии и лингвокультурологии Санкт-Петербургского государственного университета
Кованова Евгения Анатольевна
Кандидат филологических наук, доцент кафедры английской филологии и лингвокультурологии Санкт-Петербургского государственного университета

Аннотация: The paper studies lexical innovations, or nonce words, as an essential tool of language game employed by British authors of children’s fiction. Using the methods of morphological, semantic, stylistic and pragmatic analyses, the paper identifies the key functions of literary coinages in books for children. Accepting Poix’s view of new words as a means of enriching the text rather than the lexicon, we hold that nonce words perform a few pragmatic functions, going further beyond style. It is argued that nonce words help involve the young readers into literary discourse by constructing a code to facilitate communication between the author and the reader, evoke an emotional response in them, boost their cognitive and creative skills.
Ключевые слова: language creativity, language game, nonce words, children’s fiction, word formation, pragmatics of literary coinages.

Denisova Natalya Viktorovna
Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of English Language and Cultural Studies, St. Petersburg State University
Kovanova Evgeniya Anatolyevna
Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of English Language and Cultural Studies, St. Petersburg State University

The English have a long literary tradition of tales and poems crammed full of nonce words. The presence of unexpected and playful coinages in English literature for children implies that “lexical innovation is essential to the fantasy-driven world of children’s books” [1, p. 2]. The term ‘nonce word’ is inextricably associated with play upon words, or in a broader sense, the concept of language game. Language game in its various manifestations and the phenomenon of word coinage have attracted the attention of many scholars, linguists and philosophers, namely, L. Wittgenstein, B.J. Blake, D. Crystal, M.H. Christiansen and N. Charter, T.A. Gridina, V.I. Shakhovsky, E.A. Zemskaya, M.V. Kitaygorodskaya, A.O. Tananykhina, S.A. Nikanorov, E.A. Shamina, and many others. Such close attention can be explained by the prevalence, complexity and multifunctionality of this phenomenon. T.A. Gridina fairly remarks that language game is “simultaneously a cognitive, psychological, linguistic, cultural, and aesthetic phenomenon, the functional essence of which is not limited to comic effect only.” [2, p. 4]. Following T.A. Gridina and other researchers, we understand language play as a manifestation of linguistic creativity, a display of people’s speech competence, a non-canonical and innovative use of language units, a means of shaping the author’s style, a deliberate violation of the language norm to create a certain emotional and aesthetic response in the addressee [3; 4; 5; 6; 7]. According to T. Guralnik and A. Pavlova, “the relevance of language play could be determined by the psychology of human perception: the most unusual appeals more and sustains longer” [8].

When language game appears in fiction, it is always intentional, unlike children’s wordplay or mistakes which result out of their limited communicative competence. In fiction, playful language serves as a complex tool which performs a number of important stylistic and pragmatic functions. Among the main functions of language play in books for children, besides the ludic and poetic functions, scholars of language distinguish the phatic, metacommunicative, linguocreative, linguo-cognitive, imitative, characterological, emotional, expressive, euphemistic and that of structuring the storyline and narration. These are implemented at all levels of the language system and involve a variety of techniques: alliteration and assonance, spoonerisms and malapropisms, punning and allusions, lexical innovations and nonce words, to name just a few [9, 5]. For example, the use of such devices to create a speech portrait of the Big Friendly Giant from Roald Dahl's The BFG makes the character lucid, tangible, unrefined: the readers recognize his mistakes as their own and “accept” the slipshod, ungrammatical and often weird way of expressing his ideas. BFG's idiolect, his speech habits attract the young readers, immediately making him one of “us” in the us/them dichotomy, so the readers can easily relate to the main character of the narrative [9, p. 39].

This paper mostly deals with lexical innovations, specifically occasionalisms (or nonce words, as they are mostly known in foreign linguistics; for more details see [1, p. 3-4]) and their functions in children’s fiction. In this paper, an occasionalism is understood as an individual neologism created by a poet or writer following the word-formation models existing in the language and often used exclusively in the context, as a semantically-loaded term, a lexical means of emphatic expression and language play [18]; besides, “in literature, the main motivation for new word formations is not to enrich the lexicon but to enrich the text itself” [1, p. 3]. Authors of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language define a nonce word as a lexeme created for temporary use or for the nonce (meaning ‘for the once’), to solve an immediate problem of communication [19]. This, however, goes against nonce words used in literature, since it is hard to imagine that authors would coin a new word impulsively without planning – quite the contrary, it is done on purpose, for poetic effect [1, p. 3]. Though most of such innovations “will be stored in the mental lexicon only for the duration of the reading experience” [10, p. 166], some nonce words may acquire a fixed meaning inferred from the context and use, possibly even becoming an established part of the language, at which point they stop being nonce words. When this happens, they enter dictionaries, as is the case with several nonce words created or popularized by Roald Dahl: scrumdiddlyumptious, Oompa Loompa, golden ticket and human bean.

Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and Edward Lear’s Nonsense Botany are among the first well-known texts that introduced nonsense language to children’s literature and featured a number of nonce words (for example, Bandersnatch, frabjous, galumphing, mimsy from the nonsense poem Jabberwocky, the latter word itself making it to the dictionary and meaning ‘meaningless language, nonsense’). Later the use of nonce words was adopted by such distinguished children’s authors as J.R.R. Tolkien, B. Potter, R. Dahl, J.K. Rowling, Ph. Pullman, C. Cowell, J. Donaldson, S. Butler and others. It is easy to understand why nonce words appeal to children: first, as K. Chukovsky points out, “the nonsense … not only does not interfere with the child’s orientation to the world that surrounds him, but, on the contrary, strengthens in his mind a sense of the real” [11]. Second, children learn to appreciate the musicality of language and its sound long before they learn the meaning of new words. This means that young children perceive stories and poetry differently than the adult reader [12]. And third, play and playfulness are essential for children, being an integral part of early education. By hearing and decoding nonce words children can develop their language skills, acquire a taste for literature and simply have fun. 

Among the reasons for coining new nonce words, scholars highlight the need for accuracy in expressing thoughts and ideas, the desire for laconic brevity, the need to express the author’s attitude to the character or the subject of speech, the desire to de-automate perception, to create a new magic world through naming the objects of the fantasy reality, to attract the reader's attention [13, 14], to shape speech habits of the main character, their idiolect [15], to involve the young reader in linguistic and cognitive game through riddles, to elicit an emotional response from the reader [9], to refine the text [1], to establish the contact with the reader by creating a special code that children can understand [4]. Writers enjoy coining nonce words, while children enjoy decoding them. The success of the book – and a potential film adaptation – enables such occasionalisms to endure and gain currency [1].

The analysis of the selected material showed that nonce words in fiction for children focus around the following pragmatic functions: linguocreative, linguo-cognitive, imitative, phatic, characterological, and emotive. The use of language game in children’s literature is “an essential tool for establishing contact between the writer and the reader (child)” [5, p. 72]; therefore, many occasionalisms perform the phatic function. This can be best illustrated by the use of occasional deviations from “normal” language: I is a very mixed up Giant; your brekfust is reddy (R. Dahl, The BFG). “Naive” grammar and spelling are used as peculiar to certain characters, just as they are typical for youngsters and teenagers, which appeals to young readers. M. Brennan writes, “although the BFG demonstrates a remarkably comprehensive vocabulary, his grammatical skills more closely resemble those of a child of three” [12, p. 30]; therefore, children can identify with him and similar characters. Thus, such occasional grammar structures and “misspelt” words also perform the imitative function which allows the child to recognize the character as somebody familiar or close and to relate to them.

Two other pragmatic functions often performed by occasional words in children’s books are linked to language creativity and cognition. They are manifested in the many lexical innovations by R. Dahl, who employed various ways of creating new words: infixation (jiggyraffe), misdivision (a norphan, Miss Souri), blending (mudburger), misuse of affixation (foulsome), etc. Besides, some of his occasionalisms switch the reader’s focus from the function to either the sound or result produced by an object: sizzlepan instead of frying-pan, or frothstick instead of egg-beater. R. Dahl extensively employed sound symbolism, or phonaesthesia, in creating many of his occasionalisms: the words that start with grob- and trog- (such as in the names of nightmares trogglehumper, grobswitcher) mean something unpleasant, while words starting with phizz- (such as in the name of a good dream phizzwizard) always mean something splendid. The authors of the Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary aimed at children aged 8-12 (“the perfect dictionary with a Roald Dahl twist”) included many of these coinages in order to develop children’s language and literacy skills and teach them how to be creative in writing [20]. Numerous examples of occasionalisms performing the linguocreative and linguo-cognitive functions can be found in British books, including their playful titles (J. Donaldson's Spinderella, Jack and the Flumflum Tree, Princess Mirror-Belle and the Dragon Pox; S. Butler’s You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yeti, Sea-ing is Believing and many others).

As for the characterological function, it is often performed by occasional anthroponyms (charactonyms). Their unusual form attracts the readers’ attention, while their semantic load elicits an emotional response from young readers, fostering the development of cognitive, linguistic and creative abilities [16]. Such semantically loaded names as Bloodbottler, Childchewer and Fleshlumpeater (R. Dahl’s The BFG), Willy Wonka (R. Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), Snotface Snotlout (C. Cowell’s How to Train Your Dragon), Ooof the Ogre, Molar Sisters, Grogbah, Granny Regurgita, Mrs Venus (S. Butler’s Nothing to See Here Hotel) display the distinctive qualities or features of the characters: Bloodbottler is a giant who likes blood, Fleshlumpeater is a giant who eats human flesh like sugar lumps, Willy Wonka is a wonk, i.e. a person who works or studies too much and knows a lot, Snotface Snotlout is a lout with a snotty face (obviously a negative character, an antagonist), while Molar sisters are tooth fairies who lisp because they lack teeth.

Finally, the emotive function which nonce words perform manifests itself when such words, especially occasional onyms, evoke certain feelings in the readers, shape their attitude to the depicted character through a combination of euphonics, word-structure and semantics. Granny Regurgita arouses antipathy at first mention, since the reiterated sounds (gr, r, g) and the semantics (regurgitate) immediately elicit the reader’s emotional response – she is indeed a disgusting troll character. In the case of semantically loaded occasional names, the emotive function is often expressed by means of alliteration and rhyme (Maidmasher and Childchewer in R. Dahl’s The BFG, J. Donaldson’s The Giant Jumperee, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III and Mogadon the Meathead in C. Cowell’s How to Train Your Dragon).

In practice these functions often overlap, which can be shown with the help of the nonce word Gruffalo coined by J. Donaldson for the main character of two of her most famous books. The word is a blend formed from onomatopoeic gr(rr) which denotes dog growling but can also be used to express anger or annoyance + (b)uffalo. The author may have also drawn the meaning of the new word from the adjective gruff – a word with a negative connotation denoting somebody unfriendly, rough or surly in manner or with a low voice. According to M. Burke, the use of the Gr sound at the start of the name evokes negativity, harshness and discomfort, owing to the fact that it is a common consonant cluster in words with that connotation (for example, growl, groan, grumble). The first syllable in the name – gruff – is shared with the other children's literary characters of the Three Billy Goats Gruff [17]. Besides, the word Gruffalo beautifully rhymes with the exclamation “Oh!”. The main character named Gruffalo is thus a growling wild beast similar to a buffalo with “terrible tusks, terrible claws, and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws”. Onomastic play in this word establishes contact with the child, performs the linguocreative and cognitive functions and describes the main character, evoking emotions and forming the reader's attitude towards the character.

Summing up, we can conclude that British literature has a long tradition of coinage and intentional use of nonce words in books for children. Authors tend to use nonce words for a number of reasons: they enable them to involve the young readers or pre-readers in the discourse, help describe the characters and shape attitude towards them, boost cognitive, creative and linguistic development of children, trigger creative thinking, tell a unique story and engage the readers in linguistic play. Thus, occasionalisms coined specifically for each story perform a number of important functions: linguocreative, cognitive, ludic, imitative, phatic, characterological and emotive.                                                                                

1. Poix, C. Neology in children’s literature: A typology of occasionalisms / Lexis [Online], 12 | 2018, Online since 14 December 2018. URL: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/213637275.pdf (date of access: 05.03.2023).
2. Gridina T.A. Language game in fiction. Yekaterinburg, 2008. 166 p.
3. Zemskaya E.A., Kitaygorodskaya M.V., Rozanova N.N. Language game // Russian colloquial speech. Phonetics. Morphology. Lexis. Gesture. M.: Nauka, 1983. Pp. 172-214.
4. Nikanorov S.A. On the Issue of Language Play Techniques in Fiction for Children // Bulletin of Chelyabinsk State University, 2020. №7 (441). Philology Sciences. Iss. 121. Pp. 122-130.
5. Nikanorov S.A. Mental guidelines for language game in children’s literature: thesis of the Cand. of Phil. Sc. Yekaterinburg, 2000. 200 p.
6. Crystal D. Language play. L.: Penguin Books, 1998. 248 p.
7. Kochneva N.S. Game status of the proper name in a literary text (in works by V.P. Krapivin): abstract of the thesis of the Cand. of Phil. Sc. M., 2022. 28 p.
8. Guralnik T.A., Pavlova A.V. Language Play and Lexical Innovation of the 21st Century English // European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences, 2020. - Vol. 83. Pp. 168-179. URL: https://www.europeanproceedings.com/article/10.15405/epsbs.2020.04.02.19 (date of access: 11.03.2023)
9. Denisova N.V., Kovanova E.A. The phenomenon of language game in Roald Dahls’ books (A case study of The BFG) // Philological sciences. Issues of theory and practice. 2019. V. 12. №. 4. Pp. 34-39.
10. Munat, J. Lexical creativity as a marker of style in science fiction and children’s literature / Munat. J. (ed.), Lexical Creativity, Texts and Contexts. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamin, 2007. Pp. 163-185.
11. Chukovsky K. and Morton M. A Special APR Supplement: The Sense of Nonsense Verse. // The American Poetry Review. Vol. 5, №6, 1976. Pp. 38-41.
12. Brennan M. Beyond the Boundaries of English: Nonsense Language in Children’s Literature. MA thesis. Waterloo: University of Waterloo, 2018. 86 p.
13. Babenko N.G. Occasional in fiction: A structural and semantic analysis. Kaliningrad, 1997.
14. Tananykhina A.O. Language game in Anglophone literary fairy tales // Vestnik of Cherepovets state university. 2014. №. 7 (60). Pp. 113-117.
15. Shamina E.A. Phonetic motivation as a foundation for literary neologisms (based on R. Dahl’s fairy tale The BFG) // Theoretic and applied linguistics. 2015. V. 1. № 4. С. 85-98.
16. Denisova N.V., Kovanova E.A. Onomastic play in Roald Dahl’s Fairy-Tales: Pragmatics and Translation. Proceedings of the VIII National University Conference with International Guests Current Issues in Linguistics, St. Petersburg, 2019. Pp. 164-170.
17. Burke M. Language and style in The Gruffalo. Language and Literature. 31 (1), 2022. Pp. 41–61.
Список источников
18. Rozental D.E., Telenkova M.A. Dictionary of linguistic terms. A textbook for teachers. M.: Prosveshchenie, 1976. 624 p.
19. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of The English Language. 3rd edition. Ed. David Crystal. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019.
20. Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary: From Aardvark to Zozimus, a Real Dictionary of Everyday and Extra-Usual Words. Illustrated Edition. By S. Rennie. Oxford University Press, 2018. 288 p.