Реферат: Лексические приемы экспрессивной речи (Lexical Stylistic Devices)

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lexical stylistic devices

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Introduction                                                         

Lexical stylistic devices

       Metaphor                                                                  

Metonymy                                                                 

Pun, zeugma, semantically false chains,

nonsense of non-sequence                                           

Irony                                                                         Antonomasia                                                             

Epithet                                                                     

Hyperbole and understatement                                     

Oxymoron                                                                 


Introduction

Lexical stylistic device is such type ofdenoting phenomena that serves to create additional expressive, evaluative,subjective connotations. In fact we deal with the intended substitutionof the existing names approved by long usage and fixed in dictionaries,prompted by the speaker’s subjective original view and evaluation of things.Each type of intended substitution results in a stylistic device called also a trope.

This act of substitution is referred to transference– the name of one object is transferred onto another, proceeding from theirsimilarity (of shape, color, function, etc.) or closeness (of materialexistence, cause/effect, instrument/result, part/whole relations, etc.).

Lexical stylistic devices

Metaphor

The most frequently used, well known andelaborated among lexical stylistic devices is a metaphor – transference ofnames based on the associated likeness between two objects, as in the“pancake”, “ball” for the “sky” or “silver dust”, “sequins” for “stars”. Sothere exist a similarity based on one or more common semantic component.And the wider is the gap between the associated objects the more striking andunexpected – the more expressive – is the metaphor.

If a metaphor involves likeness betweeninanimate and animate objects, we deal with personification, asin the “face of London” or “the pain of the ocean”.

Metaphor, as all other lexical stylisticdevices, is fresh, original, genuine when first used, and trite, hackneyed,stale when often repeated. In the latter case it gradually loses itsexpressiveness.

Metaphor can be expressed by allnotional parts of speech. Metaphor functions in the sentence as anyof its members.

When the speaker (writer) in his desireto present an elaborated image does not limit its creation to a single metaphorbut offers a group of them, this cluster is called sustained (prolonged)metaphor.

Metonymy

Another lexical stylistic device –metonymy is created by a different semantic process. It is based oncontiguity (nearness) of objects. Transference of names in metonymy doesnot involve a necessity for two different words to have a common component intheir semantic structures as is the case with metaphor but proceeds from thefact that two objects (phenomena) have common grounds of existence inreality. Such words as “cup” and “tea” have no semantic nearness, but the firstone may serve the container of the second, hence – the conversational cliche“Will you have another cup?”.

Metonymy as all other lexical stylisticdevices loses its originality due to long use.

The scope of transference in metonymy ismuch more limited than that of metaphor, which is quite understandable: thescope of human imagination identifying two objects (phenomena, actions) on thegrounds of commonness of their innumerable characteristics is boundless whileactual relations between objects are more limited. One type of metonymy –namely the one, which is based on the relations between the part and the whole– is often viewed independently as synecdoche.

As a rule, metonymy is expressed by nouns(less frequently – by substantivized numerals) and is used in syntactical functionscharacteristic of nouns (subject, object, predicative).

Pun,zeugma,

semanticallyfalse chains

and nonsenseof non-sequence

Pun, zeugma, semantically false chainsand nonsense of non-sequence are united into a small group as they have much incommon both in the mechanism of their formation and in their function.

In the stylistic tradition of theEnglish-speaking countries only the first two (pun and zeugma) are widelydiscussed. The latter may be viewed as slight variations of the first ones. The foursome perform the same stylisticfunction in speech and operate on the same linguistic mechanism. Namely, oneword-form is deliberately used in two meanings. The effect of these lexical stylistic devices is humorous. Contextual conditions leadingto the simultaneous realization of two meanings.

The formation ofpunmayvary. One speaker’s utterance may be wrong interpreted by the other due to theexistence of different meaning of the misinterpreted word or its homonym. Forexample, “Have you been seeing any spirits?” “Or taking any?” The first“spirits” refers to supernatural forces, the second one – to strong drinks.Punning may be also the result of the speaker’s intended violation of thelistener’s expectation. 

We deal with zeugma when polysemanticverbs that can be combined with nouns of most varying semantic groups aredeliberately used with two or more homogeneous members which arenot connected semantically, as in such example: “He took his hat and hisleave”. Zeugma is highly characteristic of English prose of previous centuries.

When the number of homogeneousmembers, semantically disconnected but attached to the same verb increaseswe 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 ofthe semantic group, producing humorous effect. The following case may serve anexample: “A Governess wanted. Must possess knowledge of Rumanian, Italian,Spanish, German, Music and Mining Engineering”.

In most examples of zeugma the verbloses some of its semantic independence and strength being considered as memberof phraseological unit or cliche. 

Nonsense of non-sequence results in joiningtwo semantically disconnected clauses into one sentence, as in: “Emperor Neroplayed the fiddle, so they burnt Rome”. Two disconnected statements areforcibly linked together.

In all previously discussed lexicalstylistic devices we dealt with various transformations of the denotationalmeaning of words, which participated in the creation of metaphors,metonymies, puns, zeugmas, etc. Each of these lexical stylistic devices addedexpressiveness and originality to the nomination of the object. Their subjectivityrelies on the new and fresh look at the object mentioned and shows the objectfrom a new and unexpected side.

Irony

In irony subjectivity lies in the evaluationof the phenomenon. The essence of irony consists in the foregrounding notof the logical but of the evaluative meaning. Irony thus is a stylistic devicein which the contextual evaluative meaning of a word is directly oppositeto its dictionary meaning.

The context is arranged so that thequalifying word in irony reverses the direction of the evaluation and apositive meaning is understood as a negative one and (much-much rare) viceversa. “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 thecontext.

There are two types of irony: verbal irony and sustainedirony. In the stylistic devise of verbal irony it is always possible toindicate the exact word whose contextual meaning diametrically opposesits dictionary meaning. And we deal with sustained irony when it is notpossible to indicate such exact word and the effect of irony is created bynumber of statements by the whole text. This type of irony isformed by the contradiction of the speaker’s (writer’s) considerations and thegenerally accepted moral and ethical codes.Antonomasia Antonomasia is a lexical stylistic device in which a propername is used instead of a common noun or vice versa. Logical meaning servesto denote concepts and thus to classify individual objects into groups(classes). The nominal meaning of a proper name is suppressed by its logicalmeaning and acquires the new – nominal – component. Nominal meaning has noclassifying power for it applies to one single individual object with the aimnot of classifying it constituting a definite group, but, on the contrary withthe aim of singling it out of the group of similar objects, of individualizingone particular object. The word “Mary” does not indicate if the denoted objectrefers to the class of women, girls, boats, cats, etc. But in example: “He tooklittle satisfaction in telling each Mary, something…” the attribute “each”,used with the name, turns it into a common noun denoting any woman. Here wedeal with a case of antonomasia of the first type.Another type of antonomasiawe meet when a common noun is still clearly perceived as a proper name. So, nospeaker of English today has it in his mind that such popular English surnamesas Mr.Smith or Mr.Brown  used to mean occupation and the color. While suchnames as Mr.Snake or Mr.Backbite immediately raise associations with certainhuman qualities due to the denotational meaning of the words “snake” and“backbite”.Antonomasia is created mainly by nouns, more seldom byattributive combinations (as in “Dr.Fresh Air”) or phrases (as in“Mr.What’s-his-name’).EpithetEpithet is a lexical stylistic device that relies on theforegrounding of the emotive meaning. The emotive meaning of the word isforegrounded to suppress the denotational meaning of the latter. Thecharacteristic attached to the object to qualify it is always chosen by thespeaker himself. Epithet gives opportunities of qualifying every object fromsubjective viewpoint, which is indispensable in creative prose, publicist styleand everyday speech.Like metaphor, metonymy and simile epithets are alsobased on similarity between two objects, on nearness ofthe qualified objects and on their comparison. Through long and repeated use epithets become fixed.Many fixed epithets are closely connected with folklore. First fixed epithetswere found in Homer’s poetry (e.g. “swift-footed Achilles”).Semantically, there should be differentiated two maingroups. The biggest one is affective epithets. These epithets serve toconvey the emotional evaluation of the object by the speaker. Most ofqualifying words found in the dictionary can be and are used as affectiveepithets. The second group – figurative epithets. The group is formed ofmetaphors, 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 bynouns in exclamatorysentences (e.g. “You, ostrich!”) and postpositive attributes (e.g.“Richard of the Lion Heart”).Two-step epithets are socalled because the process of qualifying passes two stages: the qualificationof the object and the qualification of the qualification itself, as in “anunnaturally mild day”. Two-step epithets have a fixed structure of Adv+Adjmodel.Phrase-epithets alwaysproduce an original impression (e.g. “shutters-coming-off-the-shops earlymorning”). Their originality proceeds from rare repetitions. Phrase-epithet issemantically self-sufficient word combination or even a whole sentence whichloses some of its independence and self-sufficiency, becoming a member ofanother sentence.Hyperbole and understatementHyperbole is a lexical stylistic device in which emphasisis achieved through deliberate exaggeration.Hyperbole is one of the common expressive means of oureveryday speech (e.g. “I have told it to you a thousand times”). Due to longand repeated use hyperboles have lost their originality.Hyperbole can be expressed by all notional parts ofspeech.It is important that both communicants should clearlyperceive that the exaggeration serves not to denote actual quality or quantitybut signals the emotional background of the utterance. If this reciprocalunderstanding is absent, hyperbole turns into a mere lie.Hyperbole is aimed at exaggerating quantity or quality.When it is directed the opposite way, when the size, shape, dimensions,characteristic features of the object are not overrated, but intentionallyunderrated, we deal with understatement. English is well known for itspreference for understatement in everyday speech. “I am rather annoyed” insteadof “I’m infuriated’, “The wind is rather strong” instead of “There’s a galeblowing outside” are typical of British polite speech, but are less characteristicof American English.Oxymoron Oxymoron is lexical stylistic device the syntactic andsemantic 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 structuresas “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 especiallyevident in non-attributive structures which also (not infrequently) are used toexpress 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 fewcolloquial oxymorons, all of them show a high degree of the speaker’s emotionalinvolvement in the situation, as in “awfully pretty”. 1.  Y.M.Skrebnev. Fundamentals of English Stylistics. M. V.Sh. 19942.  I.R.Galperin. Stylistics. M. V.Sh. 19813.  V.A.Kukharenko. A Book of Practice in Stylistics. M. V.Sh. 1986
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