Lecture 4

Lexical Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices

metaphor
personification
metonymy
epithet
Zeugma, pun and violation of a phraseological unit

The expressiveness of the metaphor is promoted by the implicit

simultaneous presence of images of both objects-the one which is actually named
and the one which supplies its own "legal" name. So that formally we deal with the
name transference based on the similarity of one feature common to two different
entities, while in fact each one enters a phrase in the complexity of its other
characteristics. The wider is the gap between the associated object.-, the more
striking and unexpected-the more expressive-is the metaphor.
If a metaphor involves likeness between, inanimate and animate objects, we
deal with personification as in "the face of London", or "the pain of the Wean"".
Metaphor, as all other SDs, is fresh, original, genuine, when first used, and
trite, hackneyed, stale when often repeated. In the latter case it gradually loses its
expressiveness becoming just another entry in the dictionary, as in the "leg of a
table" or the "sunrise", thus serving a very important source of enriching the
vocabulary of the language.
Metaphor can be expressed by all notional parts of speech, and functions 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, each
supplying another feature of the described phenomenon, this cluster creates a
sustained (prolonged) metaphor.
Metonymy. another lexical SD,-like metaphor-on losing its Originality also
becomes instrumental in enriching the vocabulary of the language, though
metonymy is created by a different semantic process and is based on contiguity
(nearness) of objects or phenomena. Transference of names in metonymy does not
involve a necessity for two different words to have a common component in their
semantic structures, as is the case with metaphor, but proceeds from the fact that
two objects (phenomena) have common grounds of existence in reality. Such
words аs "cup" and "tea" have no linguistic (semantic) nearness, but the first one
may serve the container of the second, hence-the conversational cliche "Will you
have another cup?", which is a case of metonymy, once original, but due to long
use, no more accepted as a fresh SD.
"My brass will call your brass," says one of the characters of A. Hailey's
Airport to another, meaning "My boss will call your boss." The transference of
names is caused by both bosses being officers, wearing uniform caps with brass
cockades.
The scope of transference in metonymy is much more limited than that of
metaphor, which is quite understandable: the scope of human imagination
identifying two objects (phenomena, actions) on the grounds of commonness of
one of their innumerable characteristics is boundless while actual relations between
objects are more limited. This is why metonymy, on the whole, is a less frequently
observed SD, than metaphor.
Similar to singling out one particular type of metaphor into the self-
contained SD of personification, one type of metonymy-namely, the one, which is
based on the relations between thе 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 functions characteristic of
nouns (subject, object, predicative).
Epithet is probably as well known to you as metaphor, because it is , widely
mentioned by the critics, scholars, teachers, and students discussing a literary
work. Epithet expresses a characteristic of an object, both existing and imaginary.
Its basic feature is its emotivcness and subjectivity: the characteristic attached to
the object to qualify it is always chosen by the speaker himself. Our speech
ontologi-cally being always emotionally coloured, it is possible to say that in
epithet it is the emotive meaning of the word that is foregrounded to suppress the
denotational meaning of the latter.
Epithet has remained over the centuries the most widely used SD, which is
understandable - it offers ample opportunities of qualifying every object from the
author's partial and subjective viewpoint, which is indispensable in creative prose,
publicist style, and everyday speech. Through long and repeated use epithets
become fixed. Many fixed epithets are closely connected with folklore arid can be
traced back to folk ballads (e.g. "true love", merry Christmas', etc.). A number of
them have originated in euphemistic writing, of the late sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries (e.g. "a valiant youth", "a trembling maiden", "dead silence", etch Those
which were first found in Homer's poetry and have been repeated since, are known
as Homeric epithets (e.g. "swift-footed Achilles", "rosy-fingered dawn").
The structure and semantics of epithets arc extremely variable which is
explained by their long and wide use. Semantically, there should be differentiated
two main groups, the biggest of them being affective (or emotive proper). These
epithets serve to convey the emotional evaluation of the object by the speaker.
Most of the qualifying words found in the dictionary can be and are used as
affective epithets (e.g. “gorgeous”, “nasty”, “magnificent”, “atrocious”, etc).
 Zeugma, pun and violation of a phraseological unit
Simultaneous realization within the same short context of two meanings of a
polysemantic word is called zeugma. E.g. “All girls were in tears and white
muslin”. Here the independent meaning of the verb “were” (to be in white muslin –
to be dressed in white muslin) and its phraseological meaning (to be in tears – to
cry), which slightly faded in the phraseological unit, are realized simultaneously.
The same effect is achieved when the word upon which the effect is based, is
repeated, which creates the stylistic device of pun. Such simultaneous realization
of two meanings sometimes leads to a misunderstanding, deliberately organized by
the author. The same happens with the ambiguous use of prepositions, which leads
to mixing up the attribute with the prepositional object. E.g. “Did you hit a woman
with the child?” – “No, Sir, I hit her with a brick.”
The further away are the meanings of a polysemantic word, the stronger is the
stylistic effect achieved by their simultaneous realization. Humoristic effect is
achieved here due to the ridiculousness of bringing together two such different
meanings.
Two homonyms have still less in common than two meanings of a polysemantic
word, and their realization within the same context always brings forth a pun.
Another device based on the interaction between the primary and secondary
meanings is violation of a phraseological unit. The inner mechanism of this device
lies in the literal interpretation of the elements of a phraseological unit, though the
ways to achieve it are different: it can be the author’s intrusion into the unit. E.g.
“… it took a desperate, ungovernable, frantic hold of him.”
Another way of violation of a phraseological unit is its prolongation.
Very often violation of a phraseological unit takes place in proverbs and sayings,
most of which are set phrases and fusions.
A false phraseological coinage occurs mainly in direct speech of personages to
characterize them through their speech. The final result achieved is always
humorous.
As we have seen the interaction between the primary and secondary meanings of a
word is realized in many ways and for its main stylistic function has the
achievement of humorous effect.