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Interaction of Dictionary and Contextually Imposed Meanings.MetaphorThe most frequently used, well known and elaborated among lexical stylistic devices is a metaphor – transference of names based on the associated likeness between two objects, as in the “pancake”, “ball” for the “sky” or “silver dust”, “sequins” for “stars”. So there exists a similarity based on one or more common semantic component. Metaphor, as all other lexical stylistic devices, is fresh, original, genuine when first used, and trite, hackneyed, stale when often repeated. In the latter case it gradually loses its expressiveness.Metaphor can be expressed by all notional parts of speech. Metaphorfunctions in the sentence as any of its members.When the speaker (writer) in his desire to present an elaborated image does not limit its creation to a single metaphor but offers a group of them, this cluster is called sustained (prolonged) metaphor.Examples:
· 'He is a man of cloth', which means he belongs to a religious order. · 'He writes with a fine hand', means he has a good handwriting. IronyThe stylistic device based on the contrary concepts is called irony. It is also based on the simultaneous realization of two logical meanings – dictionary and contextual, but the two meanings stand in opposition to each other. F.e. It must be delightful to find oneself in a foreign country without a penny in one’s pocket. In irony subjectivity lies in the evaluation of the phenomenon. The essence of irony consists in the foregrounding not of the logical but of the evaluative meaning. Irony thus is a stylistic device in which the contextual evaluative meaning of a word is directly opposite to its dictionary meaning.The context is arranged so that the qualifying word in irony reverses the direction of the evaluation and a positive meaning is understood as a negative one and (much-much rare) vice versa. “She turned with the sweet smile of an alligator”. The word ”sweet” reverse their positive meaning into the negative one due to the context. So, like all other lexical stylistic devices irony does not exist outside the context. There are two types of irony: verbal irony and sustained irony. In the stylistic device of verbal irony it is always possible to indicate the exact word whose contextual meaning diametrically opposes its dictionary meaning. And we deal with sustained irony when it is not possible to indicate such exact word and the effect of irony is created by number of statements by the whole text. This type of irony is formed by the contradiction of the speaker’s (writer’s) considerations and the generally accepted moral and ethical codes. 2.Interaction of Primary and Derivative Meanings. SD based on Polysemantic Effect. Pun, zeugma, semantically false chains and nonsense of non-sequence are united into a small group as they have much in common both in the mechanism of their formation and in their function. Namely, one word-form is deliberately used in two meanings. The effect of these lexical stylistic devices is humorous. Contextual conditions leading to the simultaneous realization of two meanings. The formation of pun may vary. We deal with zeugma when polysemantic verbs that can be combined with nouns of most varying semantic groups are deliberately used with two or more homogeneous members which are not connected semantically, as in such example: “He took his hat and his leave”. Zeugma is highly characteristics of English prose of previous centuries.When the number of homogeneous members, semantically disconnected but attached to the same verb increases we deal with semantically false chains, which are thus a variation of zeugma. As a rule, it is the last member of the chain that falls out of the semantic group, producing humorous effect. The following case may serve an example: “A Governesswanted. Must possess knowledge of Rumanian, Italian, Spanish, German,Music and Mining Engineering”.In most examples of zeugma the verb loses some of its semantic independence and strength being considered as member of phraseological unit or cliche. Nonsense of non-sequence results in joining two semantically disconnected clauses into one sentence, as in: “Emperor Nero played the fiddle, so they burnt Rome”. Two disconnected statements are forcibly linked together. In all previously discussed lexical stylistic devices we dealt with various transformations of the denotational meaning of words, which participated in the creation of metaphors, metonymies, puns, zeugmas, etc. 3.Interaction of Logical and Nominal meanings. AntonomasiaAntonomasia is a lexical stylistic device in which a proper name is usedinstead of a common noun or vice versa. Logical meaning serves to denote concepts and thus to classify individual objects into groups (classes).The nominal meaning of a proper name is suppressed by its logical meaning and acquires the new – nominal – component. Nominal meaning has no classifying power for it applies to one single individual object with the aim not of classifying it constituting a definite group, but, on the contrary with the aim of singling it out of the group of similar objects, of individualizing one particular object. The word “Mary” doesnot indicate if the denoted object refers to the class of women, girls, boats, cats, etc. But in example: “He took little satisfaction in telling each Mary, something…” the attribute “each”, used with the name, turns it into a common noun denoting any woman. Here we deal with a case of antonomasia of the first type.Another type of antonomasia we meet when a common noun is still clearly perceived as a proper name. So, no speaker of English today has it in his mind that such popular English surnames as Mr.Smith or Mr.Brown used to mean occupation and the color. While such names as Mr.Snake or Mr.Backbite immediately raise associations with certain human qualities due to the denotational meaning of the words “snake” and “backbite”. Antonomasia is created mainly by nouns, more seldom by attributive combinations (as in “Dr.Fresh Air”) or phrases (as in“Mr.What’s-his-name’) 4.Interaction of Logical and Emotive Meanings. EpithetEpithet is a lexical stylistic device that relies on the foregrounding of the emotive meaning. The emotive meaning of the word is fore grounded to suppress the denotational meaning of the latter. Like metaphor, metonymy and simile epithets are also based on similarity between two objects, on nearness of the qualified objects and on their comparison.Through long and repeated use epithets become fixed. Many fixed epithets are closely connected with folklore. First fixed epithets were found in Homer’s poetry (e.g. “swift-footed Achilles”).Semantically, there should be differentiated two main groups.· The biggest one is affective epithets. These epithets serve to convey the emotional evaluation of the object by the speaker. Most of qualifying words found in the dictionary can be and are used as affective epithets.· Tthe second group – figurative epithets. The group is formed of metaphors, metonymies and similes and expressed predominantly by adjectives (e.g. “the smiling sun”, “the frowning cloud”), qualitative adverbs (e.g. “his triumphant look”), or rarely by nouns in exclamatory sentences (e.g. “You, ostrich!”) and postpositive attributes (e.g.“Richard of the Lion Heart”).Two-step epithets are so called because the process of qualifying passes two stages: the qualification of the object and the qualification of the qualification itself, as in “an unnaturally mild day”. Two-step epithets have a fixed structure of Adv+Adj model. Phrase-epithets always produce an original impression (e.g. “shutters-coming-off-the-shops early morning”). Their originality proceeds from rare repetitions. Phrase-epithet is semantically self-sufficient word combination or even a whole sentence which loses some of its independence and self-sufficiency, becoming a member ofanother sentence. Hyperbole and understatementHyperbole is a lexical stylistic device in which emphasis is achievedthrough deliberate exaggeration.Hyperbole is one of the common expressive means of our everyday speech (e.g. “I have told it to you a thousand times”). Due to long and repeated use hyperboles have lost their originality.Hyperbole can be expressed by all notional parts of speech. It is important that both communicants should clearly perceive that theexaggeration serves not to denote actual quality or quantity but signals the emotional background of the utterance. If this reciprocal understanding is absent, hyperbole turns into a mere lie. Hyperbole is aimed at exaggerating quantity or quality. When it isdirected the opposite way, when the size, shape, dimensions, characteristic features of the object are not overrated, but intentionally underrated, we deal with understatement. English is well known for its preference for understatement in everyday speech. “I am rather annoyed” instead of “I’m infuriated’, “The wind is rather strong” instead of “There’s a gale blowing outside” are typical of Britishpolite speech, but are less characteristic of American English. OxymoronOxymoron is lexical stylistic device the syntactic and semantic structures of which come to clashes (e.g. “cold fire”, “brawling love”). The most widely known structure of oxymoron is attributive. But there are also others, in which verbs are employed. Such verbal structures as “to shout mutely” or “to cry silently” are used to strengthen the idea.Oxymoron may be considered as a specific type of epithet.Originality and specificity of oxymoron becomes especially evident in non-attributive structures which also (not infrequently) are used to express semantic contradiction as in “the street was damaged by improvements”, “silence was louder than thunder”. Oxymorons rarely become trite, for their components, linked forcibly, repulse each other and oppose repeated use. There are few colloquial oxymorons, all of them show a high degree of the speaker’s emotional involvement in the situation, as in “awfully pretty”. 5.Intencification of a Certain Feature or a Thing or Phenomenon SIMILEThe intensification of some one feature of the concept in question is realized in a device called simile.Ordinary comparison and simile must not be confused. Comparison takes into consideration all the properties of the two objects, stressing the one that compared. Simile excludes all the properties of the two objects except one which is made common to them. F.e. “The boy seems as clever as his mother” is an ordinary comparison. And “She is as live as a bird” is a simile.To use simile is to characterize one object by bringing it into contact with another object belonging to an entirely different classed things. Similes have formal elements in their structure connective words such as like, as much, as, as if, seem.Examples: sly as a fox, blind as a bat, busy as a bee, etc. PERIPHRASIS.is a device which denotes the use of a longer phrasing in place of a possible shorter and plainer form of expression. Periphrasis makes the reader perceive the new appellation against the background of the one existing in the language code and the twofold simultaneous perception secures the stylistic effect.F.e.” I understand you are poor, and wish to earn money by nursing the little boy, my son, who has been deprived of what can never be replaced”Stylistic Periphrasis can be divided into logical and figurative. Logical Periphrasis is based on one of the inherent properties . F.e. “The most pardonable of human weakneses”, “able to read words of more than one syllable”.FIGURATIVE periphrasis is based on metaphor or metonymy, the key word of the collocation being the word used figuratively, f.e “ the punctual servant of all work”, “to tie the knot”.Date: 2015-12-24; view: 2728
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