TROPES
AND FIGURES OF SPEECH
The basic linguo-stylistic concepts – tropes and figures of speech have
always existed in the European philological tradition. Tropes are based on the principle of a transferred meaning, when a
word or a combination of words is used to denote an object which is not usually
correlated with this word. The stylistic effect of figures of speech is based on the principle of unusual arrangement
of linguistic units, unusual construction or extension of the utterance.
Stylistics
focuses on the expressive properties of linguistic units, their functioning and
interaction in conveying ideas and emotions in a certain text or communicative
context.
Stylistics
interprets the opposition or clash between the contextual meaning of a word and
its denotative meaning. It helps to create images, as it can reflect the
surrounding world by naming, qualifying and evaluating it.
Image
as a linguistic notion, is mainly built
on such lexico-scmantic stylistic devices combining some general semantic
meaning with a certain linguistic form resulting in stylistic effect. It is
like an algorithm employed for an expressive purpose. For example, the
interplay, interaction, or clash of the dictionary and contextual meanings of
words will bring about such stylistic devices as metaphor, metonymy or irony.
Image is to be decoded by the reader. It follows that the creation of an image
results from the interaction of different meanings of a word
(word-combination): a) dictionary and b) contextual (prompted by the speaker’s
subjective original view and evaluation of things).
I.
R. Galperin divided
images into three categories: two concrete (visual and aural) and one abstract:
1.
A visual image is a
concrete picture of an object born in our mind’s eye:
The lazy geese, like a snow cloud Dripping their
snow on the green grass,
Tricking and topping, sleepy and proud (J.
Ransom).
2.
An aural image makes us
hear the sounds of nature and things.
3.
A relational image
gives the idea of “the relation between objects through another kind of
relation”, and the two kinds of relation reveal “the inner connections between
things or phenomena”.
For example: Captain
Vere may have caught Billy to his heart, as Abraham may have caught young Isaac
on the brink of offering him up in obedience to the exacting behest (H. Melville).
Imagery
as paradigmatic means of the language based on the association of words with
those, close in meaning, and thus potentially possible, but not represented in
the text. Image is a certain picture of the objective world, a verbal
subjective description of this or another person, event, occurrence, sight made
by the speaker with the help of the whole set of expressive means and stylistic
devices. Images are created to produce an immediate impression to human sight, hearing, sense of touch or
taste.
The category of expressiveness has long been the
subject of heated discussions among linguists. In etymological sense
expressiveness may be understood as a kind of intensification of an utterance
or of a part of it depending on the position in the utterance of the means that
manifest this category and what these means are. But somehow lately the notion of
expressiveness has been confused with another notion, viz. emotiveness. Emotiveness, and correspondingly the emotive
elements of language, are what reveal the emotions of writer or speaker. They
are designed to awaken co-experience in the mind of the reader. Expressiveness
a broader notion than emotiveness and is by no means to be reduced to the
latter. Emotiveness is an integral part of expressiveness and, as a matter of
fact, occupies a predominant position in the category of expressiveness.
The evaluation is also based on
whether the choice of language means conforms with the most general pattern of
the given type of text - a novel, a poem, a letter, a document, an article, an
essay and so on. The notion of evaluation takes into account that words may reveal
a subjective evaluation and sometimes use it for definite stylistic effects,
thus calling the attention of the reader to the meaning of such words.
Thus,
stylistics is first and foremost engaged in the study of connotative meanings.
All language units can be conventionally divided into two groups:
•
Those which, along with
their denotative meaning, possess a connotation (i.e. carry some additional
information, either expressive or emotive) are called stylistically marked, or
stylistically coloured.
•
Those which do not have
a connotative meaning are stylistically neutral.
The
linguistic units of phonetic, morphological, lexical, syntactical language
levels which enter the first group are called expressive means (EM):
Phonetic EM include pitch,
melody, stresses, tones - intonation in general. The use of emphatic intonation
enables the speaker to intensify an utterance emotionally or logically, to
convey different additional meanings that are not expressed by the chosen
words.
Morphological EM
are those means of expressing grammatical meanings which display a kind of
emphasis. These are, for example, stylistically marked forms of the Present and
Past Simple Tense with emphatic verb do : He did come (Compare to stylistically
neutral He came) or marked forms of Imperative Mood: Do come; Don’t you forget.
Lexical EM include
heterogeneous stylistically coloured words (poetic, archaic, bookish, slang,
jargon, vulgar, etc). These words usually stand in opposition to their neutral
synonym.
Expressive
means of language are mostly employed in types of speech that aim to affect the
reader or listener: poetry, fiction, oratory, and informal intercourse but
rarely in technical texts or business language.
Stylistic devices (tropes,
figures of speech) unlike expressive means are not language phenomena. They are
formed in speech and most of them do not exist out of context. According to
principles of their formation, stylistic devices are grouped into phonetic,
lexico-semantic and syntactic types. Basically all stylistic devices are the
result of revaluation of neutral words, word-combinations and syntactic
structures. Revaluation makes language units obtain connotations and stylistic
value. A stylistic device is the subject matter of stylistic semasiology.
A
stylistic device combines some general semantic meaning with a certain
linguistic form resulting in stylistic effect. It is like an algorithm employed
for an expressive purpose. From ancient times to the present, SD (each having a
number of peculiar functions to perform) have been extensively employed by
orators and writers to strengthen and embellish their styles of speech and
composition.
Expressive
means and stylistic devices have a lot in common but they are not completely
synonymous. All stylistic devices belong to expressive means but not all
expressive means are stylistic devices. Phonetic phenomena such as vocal pitch,
pauses, logical stress, and drawling, or staccato pronunciation are all
expressive without being stylistic devices
STYLISTIC
DEVICES BASED ON DIFFERENT TYPES OF LEXICAL MEANING
Metaphor,
metonymy, synecdoche, allegory, irony, zeugma, pun, hyperbole,
litotes, epithet, oxymoron, antonomasia, personification, periphrasis.
litotes, epithet, oxymoron, antonomasia, personification, periphrasis.
There
are 3 groups.
1.
The interaction of different types of lexical meaning.
a)
dictionaiy and
contextual (metaphor, metonymy, irony);
b)
primary and derivative
(zeugma and pun);
c)
logical and emotive
(epithet, oxymoron);
d)
logical and nominative
(autonomasia);
2.
Intensification of a feature (simile, hyperbole, periphrasis).
a)
Metaphor
is a lexical SD based on the principle
of transference of names based on similarity between two objects, belonging to
different classes.
e.g. Art is a jealous mistress
The trees are sentinels guarding the road.
Metaphors
can be classified semantically,
or according to their degree of unexpectedness. Genuine metaphors are
unexpected, unpredictable, helping to visualize the picture. Their general
stylistic function is not a mere nomination but its expressive
characterization. Metaphor is one of the best image-creating devices favoured
by poets and writers. Thus, Lawrens Ferlnghetti resorts to metaphors describing
his “Big Fat Hairy Vision of Evil”:
For example: “Evil is sty in eye of universe”-, “Evil
is lush with horse teeth”;
“Evil is love
fried on the spit”.
Trite metaphors are expressions that
have been used so often that they have lost the impact they once had. But they
have not lost their expressive force altogether.
For
example: Her teeth
are pearls; a flight of imagination; a burning question, a pillar of the state.
Trite
metaphors are sometimes injected with new vigour by supplying a word or a
phrase, quite unexpected in the given context. Such metaphors are called mixed.
For example: The
cold hand of death quenched her thirst for life. The semantic links
between two trite metaphors cold
hand of death
and thirst
for life
are disconnected by the word quench — a hand can not
quench the thirst.
The structural types of metaphor are:
•
simple
metaphor which
consists of a couple of words, creating a single image, e.g. the water is praying-,
•
sustained
metaphor in
which the central image is supplied with additional words bearing some
reference to the main word. It can consist of a number of phrases or sentences.
Here we can single out a central metaphor and a number of subordinate
metaphors, adding much to its original flavor and enriching it with details.
For
example: The
indignant fire which flashed from his eyes could melt the glasses of his
spectacles – s majestic his wrath was.
From now on we are just a couple of puppets. They’ll pull
the string in London (A.J.Cronin).
Sustained
metaphor occurs whenever one metaphorical statement, creating an image (puppets) is
followed by another containing a continuation or logical development of the
previous metaphor (They'll
pull the string in London).
Metaphors
can be expressed by nearly all notional parts of speech and can perform
different syntactical functions, characteristic of them. From the
above arguments, explanations, and examples, we can easily infer the function
of metaphors; both in our daily lives and in a piece of literature. Using
appropriate metaphors appeals directly to the senses of listeners or readers,
sharpening their imaginations to comprehend what is being communicated to them.
Moreover, it gives a life-like quality to our conversations and the characters
of fiction or poetry. Metaphors
are also ways of thinking, offering the listeners and the readers fresh ways of
examining ideas and viewing the world.
Personification is
a kind of metaphor. It is a lexical stylistic device based on ascribing some
animate features to inanimate objects, phenomena, processes, abstract notions.
The abstract ideas are often capitalized and can be substituted by the pronouns
he or she.
For example: In
November a cold unseen stranger whom doctors call Pneumonia stalked about the
colony, touching one here and there with its icy fingers. (O Henry)
Love
fled
And
paced upon the mountains overhead,
And
hid his face amid a crow of stars (W.B. Yeats).
Personification
is often effected by direct address to an inanimate object or an
abstract
idea,
For example: Science! True daughter of Old Time
thou art (E.A.Poe).
The
stylistic purposes of metaphor and personification are different. They are used
to impart dynamic force to description, to create an image, to characterize
people or objects, to reproduce the particular mood of the viewer.
Metonymy
(Gk ‘name change’) is transference of names based on contiguity (nearness) of
objects or phenomena, having common grounds of existence in reality. Stylistics
deals preferably with varieties of metonymy, revealing a quite unexpected substitution
of one word for another or one concept for another. Such substitutions usually
impart some expressive force to the utterance.
The
types of metonymy-forming relations are:
•
a conspicuous feature can stand for a
person.
For example: Across
the country we went like the wind followed by a couple of black cars full of
moustaches.
•
the name of the author can be used
instead of the thing created.
For example: Forster, much more than Lawrence, corresponded to Mrs. Smith’s ideal of
the English novel;
•
names of tools instead
of names of actions.
For example: The pen is mightier than the sword;
•
the material instead of
the thing made of it.
For
example: The marble spoke.
•
the source of action
instead of the action.
For example: Give
every man thine ear and few thy voice.
•
(in advertising) the
desired effect (beauty, happiness) instead of the product, e.g. Buy beauty for 30£.
Synecdoche is a kind of
metonymy. It consists in using the name of a part to stand for the whole or
vice versa.
For example: He came into the bedroom, there were
two sleeping heads.
The
generic name may stand for its constituent. Synecdoche
is also observed when the singular is used instead of the plural and vice
versa.
For example: He
was a shy man, unable to look me in the eye.
Metonymy
is generally expressed by nouns and less frequently by substantivized numerals
and thus, perform syntactical functions of a subject, object, predicative.
For example: The three entered the room.
Both
metonymy and synecdoche are employed:
•
to build up imagery;
•
to emphasize the
property or an essential quality of the concept;
•
to characterize someone
indirectly by referring to their single body part or
feature;
•
to impart any special
force to linguistic expression.
Irony is a SD based on the interplay of two meanings, but
the meaning is born in context opposite
to the dictionary meaning of a word. Irony is transference of names based on
the direct contrast of two notions: the notion named and the notion meant.
For example: Oh, brilliantly done! stands for You’ve made
a mess of the things; A fine friend you are < you are a bad friend.
It
must be delightful to find oneself in a foreign country without a penny in
one’s pocket.
There
are two kinds of irony: verbal and sustained.
In
verbal irony it is always possible to indicate the exact word in which
contextual meaning opposes its dictionary meaning. The ironical sense of such
utterances is evident to any native speaker,
For example: Why do you come so soon?
You
used to come at ten о ’clock
And now you come at noon.
In
sustained irony we intuitively feel an ironical message but can not point the
exact word in whose meaning there is contradiction between the said and the
implied. For
example: The urbane activity with which a man
receives money is really marvelous, considering that we so earnestly believe
money to be the root of all earthly ills, and that on no account can a moneyed
man enter heaven.
The
term “irony” is often applied not to the logical or notional but merely to
stylistic opposition: using high-flown, elevated linguistic units with
reference to socially low or just insignificant topics:
For example: Let’s
go to my private thinking parlour (parlour, an old-fashioned bookish word, is
used to denote a filthy smelly office of the character).
Irony
is used:
• to intensify the evaluative meaning
of the utterance;
•
to produce humorous
effect;
•
to express very subtle,
almost imperceptible nuances of meaning;
•
to show irritation, displeasure,
pity, regret, etc.
•
For example: It
was a normal audience. Eighty per cent on day release from the city’s
hospitals, with pulmonary wards and ear-nose-and- throat departments getting
ticket priority.
Allegory (from the Greek,
“ to speak so as to imply something other) is a kind of metaphor extended
through an entire speech so that objects, persons and actions in the text are
equated with meanings that lie outside the text. Allegory is not an individual,
particular metaphor within a text; it is a more or less complete tale with
profound abstract meaning (moral, social, religious, or political) which is
discernible under its surface meaning. Allegory appeals more to imagination.
One
of the main features of allegory is the extended and extensive use of
personifications by which various abstract ideas are conveyed. For example: The fable of the fox and the crow.
Allegory
in its most common form is also akin to antonomasia. Words denoting abstract
notions are used as proper names. The most famous allegory in English is John
Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress”, an allegory of Christian salvation represented
by the varied experiences of its hero. The names of pilgrims are Christian and
Hopeful, the name of the giant is Despair, his wife’s name is Diffidence.
Implying
something more important than it seems to denote literally, allegory is widely
used in philosophical and satirical novels, for instance “Gulliver’s Travels”
by Swift, “Mardi” by Melville.
The
allegorical stories told by Christ in the Bible are called parables. The
function of allegory in them is to enlighten the hearer by answering questions,
suggesting some principles and offering a definite moral.
The
application of allegory in fables is even more didactic. Animals, irrational or
inanimate beings, for the purpose of moral instruction, act and speak with
human interests and passions.
For example: A
Famished Fox saw some clusters of ripe black grapes hanging from a trellised
vine. She
resorted to all her tricks to get at them, but wearied herself in vain, for she
could not reach them. At last she turned away, hiding her disappointment and
saying: “The Grapes
are sour and not ripe as I thought ”.
Zeugma. A
zeugmatic construction consists of at least three constituents. The basic word
of it stands in the same grammatical but different semantic relations to a
couple of adjacent words. The basic word combined with the first adjacent word
forms a phraseological word-combination. The same basic word combined with the
second adjacent word forms a free word-combination.
For example: She left in tears and Mercedes.
Reddy
got out of bed and low spirits.
He
took his hat and his leave.
Communicative function.
Zeugma is used to create a humorous effect which achieved by means of
contradiction between the similarity of the two syntactic structures and their
semantic heterogeneity: George possessed
two false teeth and a kind heart.
Epithet is a SD based on
the interaction of a logical and emotive meaning of a word, word combination,
phrase in an attributive function aimed at emphasizing some quality of a
person, thing, phenomenon with the task of revealing the evaluative subjective
attitude of the writer towards the thing described.
For example: mysterious
woman; a small barrel of a woman; hypocritical gossip; sleeping face.
Epithets
should not be confused with logical attributes. Logical epithets do not have
expressive power but indicate those qualities that may be regarded as generally
recognized (round table; green meadows; wooden chair)
Though
sometimes it is rather difficult to draw a
clear line of demarcation between epithet and logical attribute. In some passages the
logical attribute becomes so strongly enveloped in the emotional aspect of the
utterance that it begins to radiate emotiveness though by nature it is
logically descriptive.
Epithets
are deemed to be two-fold in nature as their striking effect is owed both to
semantics and structure. Thus, Professor I. Galperin and Kukharenko classify
epithets according to 2 standpoints – semantic and structural.
Semantically
prof. I. Galperin singles out :
Associated epithets
– pointing to a feature which is essential to the object they describe. The
idea expressed is to a certain extent inherent in the concept of the object.
For
ex.: fantastic terrors; dreary midnight.
Unassociated epithets
are attributes used to characterize the object by adding a feature not
inherent in it, i.e. a feature which may be so unexpected as
to strike the reader by its novelty. The adjectives do not indicate any
property inherent in the objects by fitting in the given circumstances only, as
in “heartburning
smile”; “voiceless sounds”; “sleepless pillow”.
As
far as novelty is concerned epithets can be trite and genuine. Through long and
repeated use epithets turn into fixed without losing their flavor. Such
epithets are mostly used in ballads, clichéd forms. For example: merry Christmas.
Kukharenko
singles out:
affective
(or emotive proper) epithets serving to convey the emotional evaluation of the
object by the speaker. Most of the qualifying words found in the dictionary can
be and are used as effective epithets. For
example: gorgeous; magnificent, atrocious.
Figurative or
transferred epithets are formed of
metaphors, metonymies and similes expressed by adjectives. Thus, epithets can
also be based on the principle of similarity of characteristics, on nearness of
the qualified objects and on their comparison respectively.
For
example: her painful shoes slipped off (Updyke)
Professor
Skrebnev points out that epithets can be metaphorical,
metonymic and ironical.
As
far as structural division is concerned the classifications of the scholars
have more points in common. Despite the differences in terms, in essence they
are very much alike.
Professor
Galperin differentiates between:
Simple , compound,
phrase, string, reversed epithets.
Simple epithets
are ordinary adjectives (one epithet is used at a time). For example: the mysterious
woman.
Compound epithets
are built like some compound adjectives. For example: a cloud-shapen giant.
Phrase epithets
can consist of a phrase or even a sentence in which words are crammed into one
language unit. Structural elements generally include words, expression, air,
attitude describing behavious or facial expression;
b)
Attributive clauses
beginning with that forms.
c)
Phrase epithets are
usually hyphenated, thus pointing to the temporary structure of the compound
word. They always produce an original impression.
For example: a move if
you dare expression (J. Baldwin)
String epithets or
chain epithets give a many-sided description of
the object. But in the enumeration of comparatively homogeneous attributes
there is always a suggestion of an ascending order of emotive elements,
culminating in the last one.
For example: You are a
scolding, unjust, abusive, aggravating, bad old creature! (Ch. Dickens)
Reversed (inverted)
epithets are composed of two nouns linked in an of-phrase. The
subjective, evaluative , emotional element is embodied not in the noun
attributebut in the noun described as a “small barrel of a woman”. The epithets
like this are called reversed or inverted as what is syntactically an attribute
(of a woman) is, in fact, the word which is really defined.
Kukharenko
differentiates between single, pair, phrase epithets, chain,
inverted, two-step.
Pair epithets are represented by two epithets joined by a
conjunction or asyndetically. For example:
wonderful and incomparable beauty (Oscar Wilde)
Tired old town
(Harper Lee)
Phrase epithets
can consist of a phrase or even a sentence in which words are crammed into one
language unit.
In the overwhelming majority of examples epithet is expressed by
adjectives or qualitative adverbs (e.g. “his triumphant look” = he looked
triumphantly).* Nouns come next. They are used either as exclamatory sentences
(“You, ostrich!”) or as postpositive attributes (“Alonzo the Clown”, “Richard
of the Lion Heart”).
Epithets are used
singly, in pairs, in chains, in two step structures, and in inverted
constructions, also as phrase attributes. All previously given examples
demonstrated single epithets. Pairs are
represented by two epithets joined by a conjunction or asyndetically as in
“wonderful and incomparable beauty” (O.W.) or “a tired old town” (H.L.). Chains (also called strings) of
epithets present a group of homogene ous attributes varying in number from
three up to sometimes twenty and even more. E.g. “You’re a scolding, unjust,
abusive, aggravating, bad old creature.” (D.) From the last example it is
evident that if a logical attribute (which in our case is the word “old”) is
included into the chain of epithets, it begins to shine with their reflected
light, i.e. the subjectivity of epithets irradiates onto the logical attribute
and adapts it for expressive purposes, along with epithets proper.
Two
step epithets are so called because
the process of qualifying seemingly passes two stages: the qualification of the
object and the qualification of the qualification itself, as in “an unnaturally
mild day” (Hut.), or “a pompously majestic female”. (D.) As you see from the
examples, two step epithets have a fixed structure of Adv + Adj model. Phrase epithets always produce an original
impression. Cf.: “the sunshine in the breakfast room smell” (J.B.), or “a move
if you dare expression”. (Gr.) Their originality proceeds from the fact of the
rare repetition of the once coined phrase epithet which, in its turn, is
explained by the fact that into a phrase epithet is turned a semantically
self-sufficient word combination or even a whole sentence, which loses some of
its independence and self sufficiency, becoming a member of another sentence,
and strives to return to normality. The forcible manner of this syntactical
transformation is the main obstacle for repeated use of such phrasally
structured epithets.
A different linguistic
mechanism is responsible for the emergence of one more structural type of
epithets, namely, inverted epithets. They
are based on the contradiction between the logical and the syntactical:
logically defining becomes syntactically defined and vice versa. E.g. instead
of “this devilish woman”, where “devilish” is both logically and syntactically
defining, and “woman” also both logically and syntactically defined, W.
Thackeray says “this devil of a woman”. Here “of a woman” is syntactically an
attribute, i.e. the defining, and
“devil”—the defined,
while the logical relations between the two re main the same as in the previous
example—“a woman” is defined by “the devil”.
All inverted epithets
are easily transformed into epithets of a more habitual structure where there
is no logico-syntactical contradiction. Cf.: “the giant of a man” (a gigantic
man); “the prude of a woman” (a prudish woman), etc. When meeting an inverted
epithet do not mix it up with an ordinary of phrase. Here the article with the
second noun will help you in doubtful cases: “the toy of the girl” (the toy
belonging to the girl); “the toy of a girl” (a small, toylike girl), or “the
kitten of the woman” (the cat belonging to the woman); “the kitten of a wom an”
(a kittenlike woman).
With the use of
epithets, writers are able to describe their characters and settings more
vividly, in order to give richer meanings to the text. Since they are used as a
literary tool, epithets help in making the description of someone or something
broader and hence easier to understand. With the help of epithets, writers and
poets develop suitable images in fewer words. Besides, the metaphorical use of
epithets helps in making poetry and prose vibrant and strong.
Oxymoron is a SD based on
the combination of two semantically contradictory notions, that help to
emphasise contradictory qualities simultaneously existing in the described
phenomenon as a dialectical unity (V.A.Kucharenko).
For
example:
“low skyscraper", “sweet
sorrow", “nice rascal", “pleasantly ugly face".
Oxymorons are generally introduced through attributive
constructions but there are some cases when verbs and adverbs are used. For
example: Streets damaged with improvements. To cry silenty; to shout mutely.
Oxymorons rarely become trite because their components
being opposite in nature seem to repulse each other. Though there are few
colloquial oxymorons showing a high degree of the speaker’s emotional
involvement into the communicative situation. For example: awfully nice, damn
perfect, bloody interesting.
It is important to understand the difference
between an oxymoron and a paradox. A paradox may consist of a sentence, or even
a group of sentences. An oxymoron, on the other hand, is a combination of two
contradictory or opposite words. A paradox seems contradictory to the general
truth, but it does contain an implied truth. An oxymoron, however, may produce
a dramatic effect, but does not make literal sense. Examples of oxymoron are
found both in casual conversations and in literature.
Oxymoron produces a
dramatic effect in both prose and poetry. For instance, when we read or hear the famous oxymoron, “sweet sorrow,” crafted by Shakespeare, it appeals to us
instantly. It provokes our thoughts, and makes us ponder the meaning of
contradicting ideas. This apparently confusing phrase expresses the complex
nature of love, that can never be expressed through simple words.
In everyday
conversation, however, people do not use oxymoron to make deep statements like
the one above. Instead, they do it to show wit. The use of oxymoron adds flavor
to their speech.
Antithesis. This
phenomenon is incomparably more frequent than oxymoron. The term 'antithesis'
(from Greek anti 'against'; thesis 'statement') has a broad range of meanings.
It denotes any active confrontation, emphasized co-occurrence of notions,
really or presumably contrastive. The most natural, or regular expression of
antithesis is the use of words with the opposite meaning in syntactically
similar patterns.
Antithesis emphasizes
the idea of contrast by parallel structures of the contrasted phrases or clauses. The
structures of phrases and clauses are similar, in order to draw the attention
of the listeners or readers. For example:
The use of contrasting
ideas, “a small step” and “a giant step,” in the sentence above emphasizes the
significance of one of the biggest landmarks of human history.
Some famous antithetical statements have become part of our everyday speech,
and are frequently used in arguments and discussions. Below is a list of some
common antithetical statements:
·
Man
proposes, God disposes.
·
Love is
an ideal thing, marriage a real thing.
·
Patience
is bitter, but it has a sweet fruit.
·
You are
easy on the eyes, but hard on the heart.
In literature, writers employ
antithesis not only in sentences, but also in characters and events. Thus, its
use is extensive. Below are a few examples of antithesis in literature:
For example: A Tale of Two Cities (By Charles Dickens)
The opening lines
of Charles
Dickens’ novel A Tale of Two Cities provides an unforgettable
antithesis example:
“It was the best of
times, it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom,
it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch
of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,
it was the spring
of hope, it was the winter
of despair,
we had everything before
us, we had nothing before us,
we were all going
direct to Heaven, we were all going
direct the other way.”
The contrasting ideas,
set in parallel structures, markedly highlight the conflict that existed in the time discussed in the novel.
Antithesis
is not only an expressive device used in every type of emotional speech
(poetry, imaginative prose, oratory, colloquial speech), but also, like any
other stylistic means, the basis of set phrases, some of which are not
necessarily emphatic unless pronounced with special force.
Antonomasia is
a SD based on the use of a common name as a proper noun and the use of a proper
noun as a common name. The term is derived from the Greek word antonomazein
meaning to name differently. A title, epithet, or descriptive phrase may serve
as a substitute for a personal name. It includes “speaking names”,
characterizing the person meant.
For
example:
Mr. Snake, Mrs. Dirty Fringe,
Mr. Altruism.
There
are two types of antonomasia: trite and
genuine. In trite antonomasia the association between the name and the
qualities of the bearer is a result of long and frequent usage (Don Juan,
Brutus). In genuine antonomasia this association is unexpected, fresh.
For example: He’d met Miss Original Pure and planned to marry her (F.Weldon).
Antonomasia
may serve:
•
to designate a member
of a group or class;
•
to characterize the
bearer of the name; .
•
to create humorous
effect,
For example: When I eventually met Mr.
Right I had no idea that his first name was Always (R.Rudner).
Allusion is a SD
based on the principle of deliberate
reference to some famous social, literary, Biblical, mythological, historical
facts.
If the audience is familiar with the event or
person, they will also know background and context. Thus, just a few words are
enough to create a certain picture (or scene) in the readers’ minds. The advantages are as
follows:
§
We don’t need lengthy explanations to clarify the problem.
§
The reader becomes active by reflecting on the analogy.
§
The message will stick in the reader's mind.
Examples:
§
the Scrooge Syndrome (allusion on the rich, grieve and
mean Ebeneezer Scrooge from Charles Dickens’ “Christmas Carol”)
§
The software included a Trojan Horse. (allusion on the
Trojan horse from Greek mythology)
§
Plan ahead. It was not raining when Noah built
the Ark. (Richard Cushing) (allusion on the biblical Ark of Noah)
Many allusions on historic events, mythology or the
Bible have become famous idioms.
Examples:
§
to meet one’s Waterloo (allusion on Napoleons defeat in the Battle of
Waterloo)
§
to wash one’s hands of it (allusion on Pontius Pilatus, who sentenced
Jesus to death, but washed his hands afterwards to demonstrate that he was not
to blame for it.)
Thus,
allusion is regarded as a perfect
way to create a sort of expressive colouring for the situation described
unless the recipient has sufficient volume of background knowledge.
Simile, (imaginative
comparison) is a SD regarded as an explicit statement of partial identity
(affinity, likeness, similarity) of two objects belonging to two different
classes. The word identity is only applicable to certain features of the
objects compared: in fact, the objects cannot be identical; they are only
similar, they resemble each other due to some identical features. A simile has
manifold forms, semantic features and expressive aims. As already mentioned, a
simile may be combined with or accompanied by another stylistic device, or it
may achieve one stylistic effect or another. Thus it is often based on the
exaggeration of properties described.
For example: Darkness
fell like a stone; She sings like a nightingale.
Unlike a metaphor, a simile draws resemblance with the help of the words regarded as
formal elements of simile:
1. a pair of objects
(The one which is compared is called the tenor, the one with which it is
compared is called the vehicle);
2. a connective:
• conjunctions: like,
as, than, as if, as though, such as;
• affixes (suffixes):
-wise, -like (ape-like fury);
We can find simile examples in our daily
speech. We often hear comments like, “John is as slow as a snail.” Snails are
notorious for their slow pace, and here the slowness of John is compared to
that of a snail. The use of “as” in the example helps to draw the resemblance.
Thus, the examples of similes of this kind, being often repeated, lose their
original expressiveness and acquire the status of trite ones.
Common Examples of
Simile
·
Our
soldiers are as brave as lions.
·
Her
cheeks are red like a rose.
·
He is as
funny as a monkey.
·
The water
well was as dry as a bone.
·
He is as
cunning as a fox.
Still, there are some examples of simile where the connectors
are not as visible, being expressed by notional verbs “seem”, “resemble”,
“appear”, “to remind of”, “to be
similar to”, “to bear a resemblance to”, “to have a look of”, though the utter goal of
figurative comparison is not lost. Then we deal with the situation of disguised
simile, possessing a strong expressive power. The term “disguised simile” was
introduced by V.A. Kukharenko.
For
example: She
seemed nothing more than a doll.
Simile should not be
confused with ordinary logical comparison where the compared
elements just reflect the evident fact:
For example: The
boy is as clever as his mother.
Simile Meaning and Function
So what is a simile and
its purpose? From the above discussion of simile examples, we can infer the
function of similes, both in everyday life and in literature. Using similes
attracts attention, and appeals directly to the senses of listeners or readers,
encouraging their imaginations to understand what is being communicated. Also,
it brings rhythm, life-like quality in our daily speech and the characters
of fiction or poetry.
Simile allows readers
to relate the feelings of a writer or a poet to their personal experiences.
Therefore, the use of similes makes it easier for the readers to understand
the subject matter of a literary text, which may have been otherwise too
demanding to be comprehended. Like metaphors, similes also offer variety in our
ways of thinking and offer new perspectives on the world.
Hyperbole is
a SD based on the principle of deliberate exaggeration of some features
essential to an object, person, concept, phenomenon, process. It is undoubtedly
labeled as an exaggerated statement. It presents a deliberate distortion of
proportions and is not meant to be taken literally. Hyperbole may be used due
to highly emotional attitude of the speaker towards the subject discussed.
For
example: I’ve been on
the road longer than asphalt.
His
hands dangled a mile out of his sleeves and feet might have served for shovels
(W. Irving).
Hyperbole
is often referred to in colloquial speech. Many colloquial hyperboles are trite
as their repeated use transform the way it sounds, eliminating the chances to
sound striking and appealing.
For
example: 1 nearly died
laughing.
I’ve told you forty times.
He was frightened to death.
Haven’t seen you for ages.
Such
expressions may lose their expressive power due to their frequent use and often
come unobserved in the flow of speech: neither the listener, nor sometimes even
the speaker notice the exaggeration.
In
poetry and prose hyperbole is noticed and appreciated by the reader.
A
genuine hyperbole is “exaggeration on a big scale. There must be something
illogical in it, something unreal, utterly impossible, contrary to common
sense, and even stunning by its suddenness” (Y.M. Skrebnev).
For
example: Dr Johnson drank his tea in
oceans (T.B.Macaulay).
Hyperbole
is used:
•
to serve expressive and
emotive purposes;
•
to emphasize quantity
or quality by exaggerating it;
For
example: My aunt is so fat that every
time she turns around it’s her birthday. His sister is so skinny, she has to
run around in the shower to get wet.
•
to produce some humorous effect;
For
example: “It must have been that caviar”, he was thinking. “That beastly caviar”. He violently hated caviar. Every
sturgeon in the Black Sea was his personal enemy (Al.
Huxley).
Hyperbole
is often combined with other stylistic devices - metaphor, simile, irony,
For example: He
gave me a look that could set asbestos on fire (D.
Fransis).
Hyperbole
can be expressed by nearly all notional parts of speech and thus, performs
different syntactical functions in the sentence.
Litotes is a specific variety of meiosis, expressing
an idea by the negation of the opposite idea. Thus, “she is not unattractive” means “attractive” but the positive meaning in
the negative construction is weaker.
Litotes
can be of different kinds:
•
a construction with the
particle not and the word with affixes expressing a negative, lack or opposite,
For example: She was not unhappy with him. He was not brainless.
•
negation of the
antonym, e.g. It’s not a
stupid answer.
•
a construction with the
negative particle and preposition “without”,
For example: A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country (A prophet is honored everywhere except in his
country).
Litotes
is used in different styles of speech. Its main stylistic functions are:
•
it enhances the effect
of the expressed ideas through their apparent weakening,
For example: The English poet Thomas Gray showed no inconsiderable
powers as a prose writer (Gray was in fact a
very good prose writer);
•
it is used to impress
by moderation, to make statements and judgments sound less categorical, more
diplomatic,
For
example: Your decision is
not unreasonable.
•
In the style of
scientific prose it is employed to show that the author expresses his thoughts
with caution,
For example: It is not uncommon for grammarians to distinguish between
language- dependent superficial grammatical forms and the deeper principles
underlying them;
•
it expresses irony.
For example: The place Florien runs is not so bad (good). Nobody has
been knifed here in a month
(R.Chandler).
(The ironic effect is achieved by means
of the contrast between what is said and what is implied).
Generally
litotes performs the function of weakening the effect of the utterance.
Periphrasis is
a stylistic device where the meaning of a word or phrase is indirectly
expressed through several or many words by way of circumlocution.. This way of
identifying the object of speech is related to metonymy. The distinction
between these two terms is that periphrasis can not be expressed by one
linguistic unit; it always consists of more than one word. Thus, calling a gun shooter,
the speakers use a trite metonymy, calling it the instrument of law, the
instrument of destruction,
they use a periphrasis. This stylistic device has a long history.
It was widely used in the Bible. Some occurrences are: He Who is sitting on the throng - the Deity.
In
past epochs, periphrasis was also employed to achieve a more elegant manner of
expression. Thus, Melville characterizes Renaissance as “a high hour
of renovated earth following the second deluge, when the waters of the Dark
Ages had dried up and once more the green appeared”.
In
contemporary prose, periphrasis is used:
•to
bring out and intensify some features or properties of the given object, For
example: Luckily you
have a bottle of the stuff that cheers and inebriates (J.K.Jerome) ;
•to
avoid monotonous repetition;
•to
create humorous effect.
The essence of the device is that it is decipherable only in
context.
Periphrasis
may be classified into a) figurative and b) logical. Figurative periphrasis is
based either on metaphor or on metonymy,
For example: The hospital was crowded with the surgically interesting
products of fighting in Africa.
In this case the extended metonymy
stands for wounded.
To tie a knot - to get married; in disgrace of fortune - bad
luck.
Logical
periphrasis is based on one of the inherent properties or perhaps a passing
feature of the object described, e.g. guardian
of public order – policeman;
If a Periphrasis is understandable outside the context it is
not a Stylistic Device and it is called traditional, dictionary or language
periphrasis. Here are some examples of well-known English periphrases: “my
better half” (my wife), “a gentleman of the long robe” (a lower). Such periphrases
gained wide currency become trite and serve as a universally accepted
periphrastic synonyms.
From the above examples of
periphrasis, one could surmise that this literary device is used to embellish
sentences by creating splendid effects to draw readers’ attention. These
periphrasis examples have also shown that the use of this literary device lends
poetic flavor to prose. Periphrasis is a feature of analytical language that
tends to shun inflection.
EUPHEMISM
Euphemisms are often regarded as a variety of periphrasis. Euphemism, as is known, is a word or phrase used
to replace an unpleasant word or expression by a conventionally more acceptable
one, for example, the word 'to die' has bred the following euphemisms: to
pass away, to be no more, to depart, to join the majority. So
euphemisms are synonyms which aim at producing a deliberately mild effect.
Euphemisms
may be divided into several groups according to their spheres of application.
The most recognized are the following: 1) religious, 2) moral, 3) medical and
4) parliamentary.
In other words Euphemism is a generally innocuous word or
expression used in place of one that may be found offensive or suggest
something unpleasant. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use
bland, inoffensive, and often misleading terms for things the user wishes to
dissimulate or downplay. Euphemisms are used for dissimulation, to refer to
taboo topics (such as disability, sex, excretion, and death) in a polite way,
and to mask profanity. The opposite of euphemism roughly equates to dysphemism.
-Ample proportions (Fat)
-Armed intervention (Military attack)
-Asleep with Jesus (Dead)
-Bought the farm (Died)
-Breathe one's last (Die)
-Broad in the beam (Fat)
-Bite the dust (Die)
-Eternal rest (Death)
-Laid off (Unemployed) (Origin)
-Laid off (Unemployed) (Origin)
DYSPHEMISM.
Dysphemism is the
opposite of euphemism; it is the replacement of a positive or neutral
expression with an unpleasant or negative one.
Examples of Dysphemism in Literature
For example: The Portrait of an
Artist as a Young Man (By James Joyce)
“Let him remember too, cried Mr. Casey to her
from across the table, the language with which the priests and the priests’
pawns broke Parnell’s heart and hounded him into his grave. Let him remember
that too when he grows up.
“— Sons of bitches! cried
Mr.Daedalus. When he was down they turned on him to betray him and rend
him like rats in a sewer. Low–lived dogs! And they look
it! By Christ, they look it! They behaved rightly, cried Dante. They obeyed
their bishops and their priests. Honour to them!”
In
this excerpt, Mr. Daedalus uses very harsh words in order to express his anger.
Though he could have used less offensive words, Joyce has employed the
dysphemistic technique. These humiliating expressions are shown in bold.
For example: The Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man (By James
Joyce)
“Whatever else is unsure in this stinking
dunghill of a world a mother’s love is not…”
Stephen Daedalus, in this excerpt, uses a harsh and disparaging term for
a world that is a “stinking dunghill,” while comparing it to a mother’s love
which is opposite to that, being pure and free of such negativities of the
world.
Function of Dysphemism
Dysphemism is used as a
device for degradation, minimization, or humiliation of individuals who are
disapproved of or condemned. When a speaker uses this technique, he uses marked
form directed towards a group or the listeners. The purpose is to express anger
or social distance from a particular group. It is frequently employed in
literary texts, political speeches, and colloquial expressions. Sometimes,
dysphemism could be the result of hatred and fear, though disapproval and
contempt might also motivate dysphemism to be used.
PUN, “PLAY
ON/UPON WORDS”
Informative
and contextual characteristics of pun. Structure of the pun. Pun’s components.
Pun
is synonymous with the current
expression 'play upon
words'.
Pun is defined as a SD consisting in a humorous use of words identical in sound
but different in meaning or the use of different meaning of the same word.
Thus, the semantic essence of the device is based on polysemy or
homonymy. It is an elementary logical fallacy called 'quadruplication of the
term'. The general formula for the pun is as follows: 'A equals В and
C, which is the result of a fallacious transformation (shortening) of the two
statements 'A equals B' and 'A equals C (three terms in all).
For example: Is
life worth living? It depends on the liver.
“Have you been seeing any spirits?” – inquired the old
gentleman.
“Or taking any?” – added Ben Allenn. (Ch. Dickens)
“Did you hit a woman with a child?”
“No, I hit her with a brick.” (Ch. Dickens)
Officer:
What steps (measures) would you take if an enemy tank were coming towards you?
Soldier: Long ones.
The
principle of semantic incompatibility of language units realized in zeugma is
also realized in pun. In fact, pun is a variant of zeugma, or vice versa. The
difference is structural: pun is more independent, it does not need a basic
component like zeugma. Pun is just a play on words.
Classification.
1.
Play on words may be based upon polysemy and homonymy:
a)
Visitor,
to a little boy.
-Is your mother engaged?
-Engaged ? She is already married.
b)
A
young lady, weeping softly into her mother's lap:
-
My husband just can't bear children!
He
needn't bear children, my dear. You shouldn't expect too.
Contextual
conditions resulting in the formation of “pun” may vary:
a)
intentional misinterpretation of a
word by the same speaker,
For example:
Victoria’s
father was a group-captain in the RAF and has retired to live in Grasse. “Out
to Grasse” Victoria calls it. This is a pun on “out to grass
” - the phrase used to describe retired horses
who are allowed to graze in the fields in their old age.
b)
pretended jocular
misunderstanding,
For example: Are
you getting fit or having one?
Hawkeye
uses the word “fit” in two different meanings “physically toned” and
“neurological crisis ”.
c)
intentional treating
idioms as if they were word combinations (or single words) used in their
primary sense:
For example: Cannibal Cook: Shall I stew both
those cooks we captured from the steamer?
Cannibal
King: No, one is enough. Too many cooks spoil the broth.
For example: He was a good sixty, or rather a bad
sixty.
d)
misinterpretation
caused by the phonetic similarity of two words,
For example: he ’ll - heel, we’d - weed.
There
are different kinds of pun:
a)
homographic where the pun exploits
multiple meanings of essentially the same word,
For example: “I am
not the only one who is late here”, says the ghost. “Late” means both “arriving
after expected time” and “dead”.
b)
ideophonic, where the words of
similar but not identical sound are confused,
For example: meter
- meet her, responsibility - response-ability.
c)
homophonic, in which the words are
pronounced identically but are of distinct and separate origin,
For example: I’ve
no idea how worms reproduce but you often find them in pairs (pears).
Puns can be simple (like given
above) and compound,
For example: “Three brothers asked their mother to
think of a name for their cattle-ranch. She suggested Focus Ranch, explaining
that Focus means where the sun’s rays meet ” (Sons
raise meat).
Pun
may be used in every type of emotional speech (poetry, imaginative, prose,
colloquial speech). In previous epochs this stylistic device was used for
serious rhetorical effect, e.g. in the Bible. “Thou art Peter and upon this rock I
will build my church.” The name “Peter” is
derived from “Petros”
and means “rock,
stone”.
In
modem poetry and prose pun is employed with a humorous aim. It is widely used
in riddles and jokes,
For example: When
did the blind man see? When he picked up his hammer and saw.
For example: 2
much - too much, K-9 (police dog) - canine,
4u- for you.
The
use of pun in advertisements makes them catchy, easy to remember, e.g.
Antiseptic sticks act “on
the spot”.
ZEUGMA
Zeugma consists in
combining unequal, semantically heterogeneous, or even incompatible words or
phrases,
For example: He
loved philosophy and good dinner.
One
part of speech (most often the main verb, but sometimes a noun) governs two or
more other parts of a sentence. The basic word of such combination stands in
the same grammatical but different semantic relations to a couple of adjacent
words.
For example: Only the rector, white-haired, wiped
his long grey moustache with his serviette and jokes (D.H.Lawrence).
Петя пил чай с сахаром, Ваня - с удовольствием,
а Сева - с женой.
Zeugma
may also be based on a free combination of words plus an idiomatic set-phrase.
For
example: He lost his
hat and his temper.
In
the following joke: “
Did you hit a woman with a child? - No, sir. I hit her with a brick”
- the first combination functions as an attribute to the word “woman”, the second as
an adverbial modifier of manner.
This
SD is employed for humorous effect and is particularly favoured in English
emotive prose. Zeugma is a kind of economy of syntactical units: one unit
(word, phrase) makes a combination with two or several others without being
repeated itself:
For example: "She was married to
Mr. Johnson, her twin sister, to Mr. Ward; their half-sister, to M r. Trench." The passive-forming phrase was
married does not recur, yet is obviously connected with all three prepositional
objects. This sentence has no stylistic colouring, it is practically neutral,
For example: "She
dropped a tear and her pocket handkerchief." (Dickens)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (By Mark
Twain)
For example: “They covered themselves with dust and
glory.”
Zeugma
is sometimes differentiated from “syllepsis.” Like zeugma, syllepsis also
employs the technique of using a single verb for more than one part in a
sentence, but where that single verb applies grammatically and logically to
only one. For example, in the sentence, “They saw lots of thunder and
lightning,” the verb “saw” is logically correct only for the lightning, as
thunder is “heard.”
Zeugma, when used
skillfully, produces a unique artistic effect, making the literary works more
interesting and effective as it serves to adorn expressions, and to add
emphasis to ideas in impressive style. Zeugma examples are also in literary
works of famous writers
and poets from several centuries ago, to add vividness and conciseness to their
texts.
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