Lecture 3

Stylistic Lexicology

Lecture Plan
1. Trope as a stylistic phenomenon.
Classification of tropes
2. Stylistic devices based on the
interaction of two logical meanings
(metaphor, metonymy, irony)
3. Stylistic devices based on the
interaction of logical and nominal
meanings (antonomasia)

Lecture Plan
4. Stylistic devices based on the
interaction of logical and emotive
meanings (epithet, hyperbole, oxymoron)
5. Stylistic devices based on the
interaction based on the interaction of
logical and figurative meanings (zeugma,
pun)
6. Stylistic devices which give additional
characteristics to the objects described
(simile, periphrasis, euphemism)

Key Words

trope
metaphor
metonymy
irony
antonomasi
a
epithet
hyperbole

oxymoron
zeugma
pun
simile
periphrasis
euphemism

1
Trope as a stylistic
phenomenon.
Classification of
tropes

The act of name-exchange, of

substitution is traditionally
referred to as transference,
for the name of one object is
transferred onto another,
proceeding from their
similarity or closeness. Each
type of intended substitution
results in a stylistic device
called a trope

Groups of tropes
1. The interaction of different
types of lexical meaning.
a) dictionary and contextual
(metaphor, metonymy, irony);
b) primary and derivative
(zeugma and pun);
c) logical and emotive (epithet,
oxymoron);
d) logical and nominative
(antonomasia);

Groups of tropes
2. Intensification of a feature
(simile, hyperbole,
periphrasis)
3. Peculiar use of set
expressions (clichs,
proverbs, epigram,
quotations)

2
Stylistic devices
based on the
interaction of two
logical meanings

A metaphor is a relation
between the dictionary
and contextual logical
meanings based on the
affinity or similarity of
certain properties or
features of the two
corresponding concepts

Metaphors as any stylistic

devices can be classified
according to their degree of
unexpectedness. Thus
metaphors which are
absolutely unexpected, are
quite unpredictable, are
called genuine metaphors

Metaphors commonly used

in speech and sometimes
fixed in the dictionaries as
expressive means of
language are trite
metaphors or dead
metaphors

Metaphors with two or

more revived
components are called
sustained or
prolonged metaphors

Metonymy is based on a
different type of relation
between the dictionary and
contextual meanings, a
relation based not on
affinity, but on some kind of
association connecting the
two concepts which these
meanings represent on
proximity

The proximity may be revealed:

1) between the symbol and the thing
it denotes
2) in the relations between the
instrument and the action performed
with this instrument;
3) in the relation between the
container and the thing it contains
4) the concrete is put for the
abstract;
5) a part is put for the whole

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

3
Stylistic devices
based on the
interaction of
logical and nominal
meanings

Antonomasia is a
lexical stylistic device in
which a proper name is
used instead of a
common noun or vice
versa

4
Stylistic devices
based on the
interaction of
logical and emotive
meanings

The epithet is based on the

interplay of emotive and logical
meaning in an attributive word,
phrase or even sentence, used
to characterize an object and
pointing out to the reader
some of the properties or
features of the object with the
aim of giving an individual
perception and evaluation of
these features or properties

Classification of Epithets
From the point of view of their
compositional structure epithets
may be divided into:
1) simple (adjectives, nouns,
participles)
2) compound;
3) sentence and phrase epithets
4) reversed epithets - composed of
2 nouns linked by an of-phrase.

Classification of Epithets
Semantically according to I. Galperin
1) associated with the noun following
it, pointing to a feature which is
essential to the objects they
describe: dark forest; careful
attention.
2) unassociated with the noun,
epithets that add a feature which is
unexpected and which strikes the
reader: smiling sun, voiceless
sounds

Oxymoron is lexical
stylistic device the
syntactic and semantic
structures of which come
to clashes

Hyperbole is a lexical
stylistic device in which
emphasis is achieved
through deliberate
exaggeration