LEXICAL STYLISTIC DEVICES

Lexical stylistic devices are based on the interaction between the logical and nominal meanings of the word, or between two logical meanings of the word, or between the logical and emotive meaning of the word. The most frequently recognized lexical devices (LD) are:

1. Antonomasia 10. Oxymoron

2. Personification 11. Zeugma

3. Metaphor 12. Pun

4. Metonymy

5. Irony

6. Sarcasm

7. Exaggeration (hyperbole)

8. Understatement (litotes)

9. Epithet

ANTONOMASIA

(Alternate Spelling: antinomasia)

Speaking names.

Etymology: From the Greek, "instead of" plus "name”.

Antonomasia is a lexical stylistic device in which a proper name is used instead of a common noun or vice versa. Logical meaning serves to denote concepts and thus to classify individual objects into groups (classes). For example, the names below are closely associated with the occupation or traits of character of the real or literary person.

Tarzan – wild.
Solomon – a wise man.
Casanova – a philanderer.
Beowulf – a myth.
Rembrandt – an artist.
Judas – Betrayer.
Aristotle – a philosopher.
Schwarzenegger – Arnie, The Austrian Oak, The Governor – tough.
Cicero – orator.
Gandhi – non-violence.
Silicon Valley – where all the geeks go, high-tech hub.
Beckham – footballer.
Einstein – brainy.

The Bard of Avon – William Shakespeare.
The Iron Lady – Margaret Thatcher
The King of Pop – Michael Jackson.
Son of Peleus – Achilles.
The Comeback Kid – Bill Clinton.

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 or 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. In the following sentence the word “Mary” does not indicate the class of women, girls, boats, cats, etc., but denote any common woman: “He took little satisfaction in telling each Mary what his plans were…” 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/her 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”.

Antonomasia is regarded being always trite when its contextual meaning is logical because to become the proper name, the common noun must have fixed logical associations between the name itself and the qualities of the bearer. This is usually the result of long and frequent usage which can’t preserve the originality: Mr. Brown, Miss Spark, Mr. Smith, Lady Bill, Miss Radford, etc.

Antonomasia is original when the variety of common nouns becoming contextual proper names is unlimited, that’s why each case is an original creation. This type of antonomasia has a distinct stylistic function – to characterize the person and name him/her. This is the definite example of the so-called “speaking names”: Miss Go-Lightly, Miss Woodrough, Miss Sharp, Lady Teasel, Uriah Heap, Scrooge, Miss Sparrow, Mr.Ladyboy, Sweeny, etc.

The character of James "Sawyer" Ford in the ABC television program “Lost” regularly uses antonomasia to annoy his companions. His nicknames for Hurley have included Lardo, Kong, Pork Pie, Stay Puff, Jubbah, Deep Dish, and Jethro.

Calling a lover Casanova, Elvis Presley the King, Bill Clinton the Comeback Kid, you emphasise the most typical, pleasant or not very, features of character or behaviour. Speaking names often become common nouns: Scrooge (miser, penny pincher), Cinderella (untidy girl, sloven), Uriah Heap (hypocrite), (Simple) Simon (simpleton), Madame Bovary (unhappy woman), Sherlock (detective), Caesar (king), Brutus (traitor). Many of these examples have come into use from literature and the Bible. Popular literary characters are so inseparable from their personal features that their proper names very soon become common names denoting those peculiar features. For instance, Scrooge and Uriah Heap are Ch.Dickens’s heroes, Madame Bovary – that of G. Flaubert’s novel, Sherlock – from C.Doyle’s detective stories, etc.

Thus antonomasiahelps characterize the person in question introducing from the very beginning his/her most prominent traits and contributes to better understanding of the narration.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 5253