Intensification of a Certain Feature of a Thing or Phenomenon

The significance of antonomasia in belles-lettres style should not be neglected because it helps to reveal the hid?den meaning of the story of narration. E.g.: in Shakes?peare's "Hamlet" at the end of the play the Prince of Nor?way, Fortinbrass appears on the stage. The meaning of his name is significant in interpreting Shakespeare's concep?tion. It consists of two words: "fort" and "brass". The first word means "a building specially strengthened for mili?tary defence", the second word "brass" is a French word and denotes a "hand". The implication is that people need a strong and brave ruler (King) in this country.

Sometimes for a special reason one of the features of the thing is made the most essential, it is elevated to great?est importance. Such stylistic devices as simile, perip?hrasis, euphemism are included into this group. The intensification of some feature of the concept in question is realized in a device called simile.

The simile is a stylistic devise expressing a likeness between different object.

The formal elements of the simile are the following conjunctions and adverbs: as, like, as like, such as, as if, seem etc.

The simile is based on the comparison of objects be?longing to different spheres. Eg.:

Mr. Dombey took it (the hand) as if it were a fish.

We must not confuse ordinary comparison and simile as a stylistic device which represent two diverse proces?ses. Comparison implies estimation of two objects which belong to one class of objects with the purpose of establishing the sameness or difference. Comparison takes into consideration all the properties of the two objects. E.g.: "The boy seems to be as clever as his mother" is or?dinary comparison. "Boy" and "mother" belong to the sa?me class of objects - human beings.

A simile consists of three components:

1) What is compared (the subject of a simi?le);

2) With what the comparison is made (the object of the simile);

3) The basis of the comparison.

She's happy as a lark.

Subj. basis obj.

The simile must not be confused with a metaphor, though they are both based on a likeness between objects:

1. My verses flow like streams.

2. My verses flow in streams.

Problematic question: What is the difference between simile and metaphor? The linguistic nature of these two stylistic devises is different. The metaphor is based on the interaction betwe?en the logical and the contextual logical meanings of a word, whereas the simile employs a word in its direct meaning.

In these traditional similes the names of animals, plants, natural phenomena are frequently used.

Strong like a lion, hard as a rock, to twinkle like a star, busy as a bee, to work like a horse, to fly like a bird, stubborn as a mule, thirsty as a camel, slow as a tortoise.

These combinations have ceased to be genuine simi?les and have become cliches in which the second com?ponent has become merely an intensifier.

Traditional similes are often employed by writers in the direct speech of characters, thus individualizing their speech; and are seldom represented in the author's narra?tive.

The stylistic function of simile is 1) imaginative cha?racterization of a phenomenon and 2) to produce a humo?rous effect by its unexpectedness. Eg.: A nice old man, hairless as a boiled onion.

2.Periphrasis is a word-combination, which is used instead of the word designating an object. E.g.:

"My son...has been deprived of what can never be replaced".

The periphrasis "What can never be replaced" stands for the word "mother". The concept of such renaming of an object by a phrase is easily understood by the reader within the given context, the latter being the only code, which makes the deciphering of the phrase possible.

As a result of frequent repetition periphrasis may be?come well established in the language as a synonymous expression for the word generally used to signify the ob?ject. Such popular word combinations are called tradi?tional (dictionary, language) periphrasis or periphrastic synonyms. E.g.:

a gentleman of the robe - a lawyer; ^rthe better (fa?ir) sex - woman; the man in the street - the ordi?nary person; my better half - my wife; the ship of the desert - camel.

Traditional (language, dictionary) periphrasis and the words they stand for are synonyms by nature, the periph?rasis being expressed by a word combination.

In contrast to periphrastic .synonyms genuine, speech periphrases as a stylistic device are new nominations of objects, being the elements of individual style of writers, which realize the power of language to coin new names for objects by disclosing some qualities of the objects.

Euphemistic periphrasis as a variety of periph rasis is used for one, which seems to be rude or unple?asant. In contrast to euphemism euphemistic periphrasis is a stylistic device.

Stylistic periphrasis can be divided into two groups: logical and figurative. Logical periphrasis is based on one of the inherent properties of the object described. For example: instruments of destruction (Dickens) = "pis?tols"; the most pardonable of human weaknesses (Dic?kens) = "love".

Figurative periphrasis is based either on metaphor or on metonymy. For example: the sky-lamp of the night = "the moon". Here the moon is understood by metaphorical periphrasis "lamp". Other examples are: the House of the God = "the church"; to enter the house = "to become a MP", etc.

One of the stylistic functions of periphrasis is to pro?duce a satirical or humorous effect, sarcastic description:

"Come on", said Miss Hardforth, "has the cat got your tongue?" = can you speak?; to be snatched up to the skies = to die.

3.Euphemism is a periphrasis, which is used to repla?ce an unpleasant word or expression by a more acceptable one. For example, the word "to die" has the following eu?phemisms: to pass away, to expire, to be no more, to de?part, to join the majority, to cross the bar. So euphemisms are synonyms of words and phrases which aim at pro?ducing a deliberately mild effect.

The life of euphemisms is short. They very soon be?come closely associated with the object named and give away to a newly-coined words or phrases. We trace periodic changes in terminology: the mad house; lunatic asylum; mental hospital; idiots; feeble-minded, low medium, high grade, mental defectives, persons of un?sound mind; mentally ill patients. These changes in the system of nomination are the signposts of progress in the development of the language.

Euphemisms may be divided into several groups ac?cording to their spheres of application. The most recogni?zed are the following: 1) religious, 2) moral, 3) medical, 4) political and 5) parliamentary.

Partly the political euphemisms always delude public opinion, distort the political events. Instead of saying "a liar" in the political sphere we usually come across such expressions as: terminological inexactitudes; "unemploy?ment" is called a dismissed worker.

Sometimes facts are distorted with the help of euphe?mistic expression. Thus the headline in one of the British newspapers "Tension in Kashmir" was to hide the fact that there was a real uprising in that area; "Undernourishment of children in India" stood for "starvation".

In emotive prose euphemisms are usually expressed by metonymy, metaphor or periphrasis.

One of the stylistic function of euphemisms is to pro?duce a humorous effect or to distort the truth, to make the statement milder. E.g.: intoxication - drunkenness, perspi?ration ? sweata

4.Hyperbole is a stylistic device based on the interac?tion between the logical and emotive meanings of the word. It is deliberate overstatement or exaggeration of some quantity, quality, size, etc., the aim of which is to intensify one of the features of the object to such a degree that from the practical point of view the fulfilment of which is impossible. Both the writer and the reader (or the speaker and the listener) are fully* aware of the delibe-rateness of the exaggeration. The use of hyperbole shows the overflow of emotions in the speaker and the listener.

Hyperbole may be expressed in a periphrastic descrip?tive way. E.g.:

"What I suffer in that way no tongue can tell" (J. K. Jerome)

"No tongue can tell" means "it is very difficult to express by means of the language". In this case hyperbole is based on metonymy (tongue).

Very often hyperbole is used to create humorous or satirical effect and so to express the author's attitude to?wards the described.

Like many stylistic devices, in the result of conti?nuous usage hyperbole may lose its originality and beco?mes a unit of the language-as-a-system, i.e. trite.

We constantly use expressions containing hyperbole in our everyday speech. Such exaggerations are distingui?shed from a hyperbole as a stylistic device.

I haven't seen you for ages, I asked him on my bended knees, You promised it one thousand times, A thousand pardons, scared to death, I'd give the world to see him, etc.

Such hyperboles are used in literature in direct speech to show the emotional state of the personage at the mo?ment of his uttering the remark.

Hyperbole is a device which sharpens the readers abi?lity to make a logical assessment of the utterance.