W 102 F

Introduction

Konkrete Sprache, certus oratius, concreto estilo, concret diction -- all of them have the same meaning: concrete language. Concrete language is an essential element of writing skills; it is supposed to be specific, adequate, entire and light but it is difficult to produce one in any language.

In a descriptive or analytic essay, the problem is more complicated, and the case is just getting more difficult when students have to write the essay in a foreign language. The phrases, expressions and sayings are learnt and not automatic as in their first language.

In this paper I will present a few features of concrete language in writing by giving a survey on this specific problem so that the reader will develop how to avoid it.

Method

I collected nine miniature essays because -- according to my previous experiences -- I found this task really expedient and crucial. I chose the essays randomly from students of Janus Pannonius University’s English Department, in April, 1998. All of the students attend the same course, called Writing and Research Skills, which supervised Horváth József whose aim was "to enable [students] to write in fluent, accurate, and plain English and [improve their] planning, sequencing, presenting, packaging and editing skills.”

Till the end of the semester students had to present a portfolio including a minimum of five essays from their collection. One of these essays had to be a miniature, expressing an emotion, feeling, state, thought or physical experience that is unforgettable or significant in their lives. Moreover, the writer had to prove and develop descriptive skills in an essay which contains a maximum of 100 words.

After the selection of the miniature collection I started analysing their concrete language, focusing on titles, the length of the essays, the first and last words, special meanings of each word (such as iconic, symbolic, cultural and hermeneutic æ according to Sári László’s analysis), poetical images, use of verbs and adjectives, personal voice and the description of the inside and outside world.

Results and Discussion

Giving name to a new-born child is not easy; title-giving is similar to this experience. A well-chosen title always predicts the topic to the reader: it has to be short and adequate in connection with the writing, carrying the overall image of itself. Many writer of the miniatures solved this problem by choosing titles which referred precisely to the experience or feeling. For example, Pintér Katalin’s "Feeling Dejected"; Fónai Annamária’s "A Terrible Fever"; Bokodi Judit’s "Fatigue"; Sándor Bernadett’s "The Feeling Of Sleepiness" and Dózsa Éva’s "Feeling Cold".
But the real challenge for the writers was to keep their say within certain boundaries, that is the extension had to stay 100 word. The reduction of the number of words made the whole text captious; this length seemed to be too short and nearly all of the writers overstepped this limit by using 157 words in Dózsa Éva's essay or 148 words in Pintér Katalin’s case. Probably one of the reasons was that the writers wrote an introduction and a conclusion instead of considering their chosen theme closely.

Observing the words which built up the miniatures, I think that reducing the number of words helps to pay more attention to the function of them. Looking at the essays I found an intriguing feature of drafts: the emphasis of the first and last word in the context. In most of the essays they are the alpha and the omega of the meanings. The best example for this is Bakonyi Berta’s essay that starts with the pronoun ‘I’ and ends with ‘ONE’, and these two words carry the meaning of the whole essay which is about being a part of nature.

To make an essay colourful and remarkable we can use the special meanings what words contain. All words are to signify something which can be a different representation, a so-called code.

In some texts when a sign refers to something as a constituent of the possible world, we call it iconic sign, although, at the same time it represents itself. The words trap, bridge, butterfly from Pintér Katalin’s, Vajda Violetta’s and Kaszás Henrietta’s essays give perfect examples. These words stand for not only for themselves, but they help to the reader to imagine them in iconic context.

But there are words which refer to something else than they denote. The connection between the signifier and the object determined by the conventions of cultures or subcultures around. There are a few examples: reminiscence, nothing or passion in Kaszás Henrietta’s miniature, where the sign itself occurs as a reference.

Going further in the explanation of the words we arrive at the cultural signs where symbolic signs are stated within prescribed rules and prohibitions of a culture, and this makes them more specific. For example Kárpáti Andrea’s essay which refers to a funeral and this word carries symbolic as well as cultural meaning.

Hermeneutic signs can include the iconic, symbolic and the cultural layers of representation. Somehow they transcend this world and enter into a mysterious and uncanny one. I chose a few examples from Kaszás Henrietta’s miniature, such as sense, time, soul. All of them represent something untouchable, they carry an enigma within their inner part, what you can approach by opening, understanding the hiding layers but the mystery will be still there at the end.

Going further on this field, I would like to direct attention to the poetical images in miniatures. Metaphors, similes, repetitions and rhyming words can refresh the whole text. Unfortunately, only one writer used this opportunity to make her essay more colourful and satisfactory (Kaszás Henrietta).

Use of specific verbs and many adjectives help to emphasise the expression of the experience; they make the texts more visual, audible and experimental, for example in Fónai Annamária’s essay: roam, collapse, drip, suffer, fall.

Writing an essay about one's feeling or experience must be private and confidential in a way. To achieve this target, the writer may use a personal voice aiming and maintaining the reader's intimate feeling and this would make the essay more realistic, experimental and believable.

From the aspect of the readers' reactions the writers often managed to make every moment special and omnipresent. The two-folded delineation of the inside and outside world's description in parallel happened in many mini essays. An outstanding example is Fónai Annamária’s in which she emphasised her physical experience with her environment's changing.

Conclusion

Making a research paper on concrete language did not seem to be an easy task but I tried to find some helping tips for everyone who might need it. I had the pleasure to select some miniatures and provide typical examples for various cases with the help of them.

I can only hope that I satisfied the expectations and the readers find a direct way to concrete language.