Chapter 9 Elliptical Forms (Lower): Disjunction

Section One, Disjunction

The Definition and Function of Disjunction: The Interruption and Turning of the Verbal Path

“Because of special situations (such as the implicitness of meaning, sudden turns of thought, sudden appearances of events, and so forth), there are times when the verbal path is deliberately interrupted; this is a rhetorical method.” 1 “Disjunction means that when using language, because of special situations, the verbal path is deliberately interrupted halfway, producing incomplete meaning or incomplete sentence components, in order to express the implicitness of meaning, sudden turns of thought, or the prominence of events.” 2

When ancient writers composed poetry and prose, flashes of inspiration often caused their train of thought to diverge onto unusual paths, producing extraordinary artistic conceptions:

“It is hard to meet, and hard as well to part;
The east wind is powerless, a hundred flowers fade.”

(Tang dynasty, Li Shangyin, “Untitled”)

“Within the despairing lament of lyrical narration, the brushwork suddenly opens outward, causing the emotions and events previously narrated to abruptly acquire a revolving and dancing sense of ethereal emptiness.” 3

“Disjunction” occurs in writing or speech when the “verbal path is suddenly interrupted,” causing the “language to leap,” accompanied by various transformations of meaning:

“Sudden closure means cutting off without reconnecting, leaving meaning beyond the words;
sudden connection means reconnecting abruptly after interruption;
branch interruption means diverging sideways, without necessarily reconnecting afterward;
interrupted continuity means there are omitted narrative portions between connected passages of text.” 4

The use of disjunction serves “to pursue compact momentum in writing, deliberately leaping over a sentence so that the flow of writing becomes tense and urgent; or, in order to adapt to urgent situations, when using language one cannot proceed sequentially and completely, and therefore frequently leaps over words and sentences to express sudden turns of thought.” 5

Section Two, The Formal Structure of Disjunction

“Disjunction is a linguistic abnormality formed within special linguistic contexts. Its function is to truthfully express the emotional condition present during speech. In form it is always fragmented and incomplete; when written, em dashes or ellipses should be used. When disjunction is employed with perfect appropriateness, although the wording is incomplete, complete emotional resonance may nevertheless be achieved; although the verbal path is disconnected, an effect of connection may still be attained, enabling readers to grasp meanings beyond the words.” 6 The formal structure of “disjunction” possesses the following characteristics: 7

(1) In formal terms, the language must necessarily be interrupted midway; it is a kind of linguistic abnormality. “If it can truly accord with the actual emotions and circumstances, then although incomplete, it possesses emotional resonance surpassing completeness; although disconnected, it possesses effectiveness surpassing connection.”

(2) It often employs “…” (ellipsis marks) or “—” (em dashes) to indicate interruption, using simple and economical brushwork to create suspense, or to express extremely abundant content, increasing implicit beauty and giving readers broad imaginative space, enabling readers to “grasp the meaning beyond the language.”

(3) It is mostly used in description, capable of expressing the complex personalities of characters and revealing their complicated inner psychological activities.

(4) Interruptions and changes in language prevent writing from becoming rigid; plot developments revolve and advance; the article rises and falls in waves; the literary path winds through hidden depths.

Section Three, The Forms of Expression of Disjunction

There are five situations of interruption in the verbal path: “sudden closure,” “sudden connection,” “branch interruption,” “inserted speech,” and “ellipsis.” The first three cause the language to “leap,” while the fifth causes the language to “omit,” and therefore together they are collectively called “disjunction.” 8

“Sudden closure, sudden connection, branch interruption, and interrupted continuity are alike in interrupting the verbal path, yet the four possess their own distinctions: sudden closure cuts off without reconnecting, leaving meaning beyond the words; sudden connection reconnects abruptly after interruption; branch interruption diverges sideways, without necessarily reconnecting afterward; interrupted continuity contains omitted narrative portions between connected passages of text.” 9

I. Sudden Closure

“To suddenly stop halfway through speaking, refusing to say everything, allowing others to grasp the meaning beyond the words.” 10

“When speech reaches the upper half, the lower half is suddenly withdrawn and cut off, either left unsaid or diverted elsewhere, allowing listeners to infer the unspoken meaning or hear the overtones beyond the strings.” 11

Or:

“To suddenly interrupt speech midway and turn to speaking of something else, allowing others to explore the meaning beyond the words. Sudden closure is often used in dialogue and monologue. The overtones beyond the strings may be inferred by readers from the context, yet cannot truly be completed.” 12

Sudden closure is further divided into “vocative sudden closure” and “dialogic sudden closure.” 13

Li Kuixian, “Bottle Palm”

Long sword, shall I return home?

Freedom of speech not—

Freedom cannot be spoken of, cannot be spoken of………

In this passage, the poet deliberately speaks somewhat vaguely and incompletely. Because the second line undergoes “sudden closure,” this grammatically incomplete phrase is produced. The author intentionally requires readers to associate and complete the phrase’s meaning for themselves.

II. Sudden Connection

When discourse suddenly shifts from A to B, this is called “sudden connection.”

“In dialogue, the original verbal path is suddenly broken off, either reconnecting to the preceding speech or turning toward another topic.” 14

“After speech is interrupted, it is then suddenly reconnected. The reconnected portion may sometimes abruptly connect to an inserted question, and sometimes to the speaker’s immediate thoughts. Sudden connection frequently uses discontinuous language to express situations in which characters wish to speak yet stop, wish to stop yet continue speaking, reflecting the speaker’s unusual emotional condition. Sudden connection is commonly used in questioning, dialogue, and self-narration.” 15

Sudden connection is further divided into “questioning sudden connection” and “self-narrative sudden connection.” 16

Shen Zhifang, “Drawing a Minor Fortune at Dazaifu in Fukuoka, Japan” 17

How did slaughter become exchange and passage in little more than half a century?

The deities within the residence smile as usual, yet do not answer

Even after the Shōwa era, Chinese men still come here to heal their wounds

Drawing fortunes and praying for blessings is always better than reading history—and then taking blood pressure medicine

“Drawing fortunes and praying for blessings is always better than reading history—and then taking blood pressure medicine.” The latter half of this sentence is an example of “self-narrative sudden connection.” After “reading history,” the poet uses “—” (an em dash) to indicate a pause for thought, and the answer that follows seems somewhat abrupt, yet it is intended to express the unbearable weight of China’s suffering modern history, because every time one reads history, one’s blood pressure rises continuously.

III. Branch Interruption

When A is interrupted by B, this is called “branch interruption.”

“Because other speech or other events intrude sideways, the original speech is interrupted, causing the discourse to become incomplete or disconnected above and below. This resembles sudden closure yet is not sudden closure; resembles sudden connection yet is not sudden connection. It is the most peculiar linguistic phenomenon within the rhetoric of disjunction.” 18

“That is, before speech is completed, it is interrupted either by another person’s words or by a sudden event, causing the original speech to become incomplete. Branch interruption is commonly used within authorial narration, character narration, or character dialogue.” 19

Branch interruption is further divided into “narrative branch interruption” and “dialogic branch interruption.” 20

Yang Mu, “Forbidden Game” 21

Someone picked up the guitar in the corner of the house

Repeating a distant, distant great romance

I joyfully walked toward the place where pigeons pecked for food

That man driving the donkey
(he had already spread six rumors about me last night)

Turned back to greet me, drowsily—the guitar sound suddenly stopped

A volley of gunshots…

“Drowsily—the guitar sound suddenly stopped∕A volley of gunshots…” After the sentence reaches “a volley of gunshots…,” only the echo of gunfire remains ringing within the reader’s ears. As for who exactly fired that volley of shots—was it the man playing the guitar? Or the man driving the donkey? Or was another assassin lying in ambush at the scene? Who was struck and wounded and fell? Or perhaps the shooter merely intended to issue a warning, like police firing into the air while pursuing a suspect? All of these possibilities may be valid. The poet provides insufficient clues, and therefore all these possibilities may also fail to be the answer.

IV. Inserted Speech

Inserting B into A is called “inserted speech,” referring to “whenever some words or phrases are inserted outside the necessary language.”22. The “inserted speech” appearing in modern poetry passages approximately has two situations: one is “continuative explanation,” and the other is “jumping explanation.” The former is the most common. “Continuative explanation” is an explanation extended from the original narrative perspective, possessing a supplementary and explanatory function similar to “aside narration”; “jumping explanation,” on the other hand, is a kind of “metalanguage,” where the author jumps out of the linguistic context within the text, appears personally, and converses with the reader.

Zheng Chouyu “The Naked Prophet”23

Naked together with an ocean liner in a tropical bay

The beautiful skin of that steel animal

Had some green tattoos pricked onto it by spring

I remember, and I wore nothing

(Not even tattoos)

If not for the shadows of some phoenix trees

I would have died of shame before the long-feathered seabirds

In this stanza there is a section of “inserted speech,” possessing “the nature of continuative (supplementary) explanation.” “(Not even tattoos)” supplements the previous line “I remember, and I wore nothing.” This kind of inserted speech of “supplementary explanation” is often used by poets within poetic lines.

Qiu Huan “Cooking the Night”24

The days of buying flowers have come

I obediently bought flowers

Inserted them into a pair of eyes

(omitted)

(Sorry)

(Please continue reading)

The days of buying seawater have come

I obediently bought seawater

(Really sorry)

In this poem, the portions within parentheses are (meta language) metalanguage. In the midst of writing, the author suddenly appears and asks the reader, “Please continue reading.” In nature, this belongs to jumping explanation. The purpose of this kind of metafictional writing lies in questioning the ability of language to describe reality and subverting the author’s absolute authority within the text. In fact, it shares commonality with the postmodern spirit presented by language games and parodic collage.

V. Omission (Discontinuity)

Only speaking of A while omitting B is called “omission.” It is “for the purpose of expressing the urgency of a situation and demanding compactness in literary momentum, deliberately omitting some phrases or sentences”25. “Omission” (discontinuity) refers to “because of certain reasons, when the author writes character dialogue or inner monologue, sentences or passages are omitted, causing the text to become intermittent and fragmented. Its rhetorical function mainly lies in expressing the complex psychological activities of characters.”26.

Lin Zongyuan “A Small Worm Inside a Cabbage”

Quietly eating

Quietly sleeping

Quietly growing

This is a modern kind of enjoyment

The space gradually widens

A ray of sunlight ignites desire

Between light and darkness

Shrinking

Wanting to go out and see the world

Yet afraid of encountering the farmer’s little worm

Its head stretching out from the tiny hole deciding to live inside the hole quietly eating

Quietly sleeping

Suddenly

A kitchen knife

A small worm inside a cabbage, carefree and without sorrow, quietly eats until full and sleeps, sleeps and then eats upon waking. Suddenly, in the final section, a “huge close-up” of a kitchen knife appears. What will happen next? The poet leaves the ending for the reader to contemplate. Of course, most people can imagine the worm’s fate: cut into two halves, upper body and lower body separated. The worm’s fate is not difficult to “infer through reasoning,” because the poet provided sufficient clues.

【Annotations】

1 Edited by Lu Jiaxiang and Chi Taining, Dictionary of Examples and Explanations of Rhetorical Methods, Hangzhou: Zhejiang Education, 1990, p. 226.

2 Huang Qingxuan, Rhetoric, Taipei: Sanmin, 2002, p. 823.

3 Edited by Cheng Weijun and two others, Comprehensive Mirror of Rhetoric, Beijing: China Youth, 1991, p. 884.

4 Same annotation 3, p. 885.

5 Huang Yongwu, Methods of Refining Words and Sentences, Taipei: Hongfan, 1986, p. 137.

6 Edited by Tang Songbo and Huang Jianlin, Great Dictionary of Chinese Rhetorical Figures, Taipei: Jianhong, 1996, p. 562.

7 Chen Wangdao, Fundamentals of Rhetoric, Hong Kong: Daguang, 1964, p. 217.

8 Same annotation 2, p. 821.

9 Same annotation 3, p. 885.

10 Same annotation 6, p. 563.

11 Same annotation 1, p. 226.

12 Same annotation 3, p. 884.

13 Same annotation 3, pp. 885–886.

14 Same annotation 1, p. 226.

15 Same annotation 3, p. 884.

16 Same annotation 3, pp. 886–887.

17 Recorded from edited by Xin Yu and others, Genesis Poetry Selection: II, Taipei: Erya, 1994, pp. 62–63.

18 Same annotation 1, p. 226.

19 Same annotation 3, p. 884.

20 Same annotation 3, p. 887.

21 Recorded from Yang Mu, Collected Poems of Yang Mu II, Taipei: Hongfan, 1995, pp. 151–167.

22 Same annotation 2, p. 826.

23 Recorded from Zheng Chouyu, Collected Poems of Zheng Chouyu I, Taipei: Hongfan, 1979, pp. 180–181.

24 Recorded from http://hermes.hrc.ntu.edu.tw/lctd/asp/theory/theories/4/concept_2_1_1.htm#river

25 Same annotation 2, p. 827.

26 Same annotation 3, 1991, p. 885.

27 Recorded from Zheng Jiongming, Song of the Sweet Potato, Kaohsiung: Chunhui, 1987, p. 262.