Lecture 1.

THE MAIN DIVISION OF EXPRESSIVE MEANS. LEXICAL MEANS OF EXPRESSIVENESS.

1
1. "Ancient"/ traditional classification. The whole
stock of stylistically relevant language means is
traditionally subdivided into 2 classes: tropes and
figures of speech.
TROPES comes from Greek τροπος which means a
turn, a change of meaning from literal to figurative, a
transference of meaning.
FIGURES OF SPEECH:
comprise two groups - figures of construction and
figures of diction. Figures of construction are
deviations from the regular syntactical pattern, the use
of construction aimed at intensifying the meaning.
Figures of diction deal with
sound effects. The drawback of this classification is
that there are a lot of obscure
cases.
2. Functional classification. According to it all
stylistically relevant language means are divided into
figurative and expressive language means
(изобразительные и выразительные).
FIGURATIVE language means embrace all kinds of
the transference of meaning. They include not only
words as in tropes, but word combinations and even
phonemes - everything that evokes images. (E.g.
rhythm - E.Poe "Eldorado") EXPRESSIVE language
means are those which intensify the power of an
utterance through special arrangement of the language
material, especially through syntactical structures, but
also all types of intensifiers, alliteration etc.
3. Modern classification. The present state of
development of linguistics allows to give a new
interpretation of the facts. A British scholar G.Leech
distinguishes between paradigmatic and syntagmatic
figures. Paradigmatic figures give the writer a choice
from a range of items. Syntagmatic figures are viewed
horisontally, sequentially. Tropes can be referred to
paradigmatic means because they are based on
associations. E.g. She is a beautiful lily-of-the-valley.
Figures of construction are regarded as syntagmatic
units, because they are based on the linear character of
speech, on the influence of the context. E.g. I kissed
thee ere I killed thee. Leech's approach is used by a
Russian linguist Y.M.Skrebnev, who writes about
syntagmatic and paradigmatic stylistics; Skrebnev's
theory is also connected with Galperin's level-oriented
classification.
4. Level-oriented classification. It is simply
organized and very detailed. Galperin subdivides
expressive means and stylistic devices into:
a} phonetic b) lexical c} syntactical.
The terms expressive means and stylistic devices are
not completely synonymous. Not all expressive means
are stylistic devices, E.g. pauses, logical stress,
diminutive suffixes, intensifiers, emphatic
constructions "If only...!" etc. A stylistic device is a
generalized literary model employed for an expressive
purpose.

Classifications of tropes

Descriptive Tropes Tropes Expressing Relations

A. Tropes based on comparison A. Relations of identity

1) simile 1) synonyms
2) metaphor 2) periphrasis & euphemism
3) personification

B. Tropes based on constant B. Relations of contrast

connections (contiguity) 1) antithesis
1) metonymy 2) oxymoron
2) synecdoche 3) irony

C. Mixed group C. Relations of difference

1) allegory 1) climax (gradation)
2) antonomasia bathos (anticlimax)
3) epithet 2) hyperbole
understatement/litotes

Zeugma and pun - a marginal case between lexical and syntactic devices.

Descriptive tropes
DT include metaphoric, metonymic and mixed groups. All of them have one feature in common:
they are built on the presence of some common features in the objects described and some other
objects. Two objects or ideas may be associated by similarity or contiguity. Metaphoric group is
based on the former, metonymic - on the latter, mixed group is based on both.

2
 Metaphoric group
Metaphor - a transference of a name from 1 object to another on the basis of some common features
when two unlike objects are compared by identification. M. is often called a hidden comparison, but
no comparing word is used.
E.g. Some books are to be tasted, others swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.
(F.Bacon)
Metaphor may be expressed by any part of the sentence, by any part of speech, a nominal phrase, a
passage, sometimes even by the whole work of art.
Some linguists consider M. not so much a transference of meaning, but the interaction of the
primary and secondary (contextual) meaning. Others believe that metaphor is a new, 3rd meaning of
a word, the synthesis of 2 other meanings. The metaphoric description has the aim to give a new
prospective to the object, and it can be based on outer similarity, on inner, functional similarity or
on purely emotive grounds.
So, there are 3 basic views on M:
1) the substitution view – a M is a simple replacement of a literal statement,
2) the comparison view – a M is an abbreviated simile,
3) the interactive view – through the interaction of the meanings of the literal and metaphorical
terms a new version of the concept associated with the literal term arises.
Nowadays the subject of M. is very popular in linguistics. American linguists Lakoff and Johnson
in the book “Ms we live by” speak about conventional and cognitive Ms. They state that M is a basic
characteristic of language and human cognition. M is much tied to cultural values.

Simile - the juxtaposition of 2 objects, which belong to different classes of things, with some
common property by which one of them is more vividly characterized.
Simile shows likeness in dissimilar objects. The 2 components of the S. May be joined by
conjunctions like, as if, as though, as... as. The comparison may be expressed lexically by verbs to
seem, to remind of to resemble. Sometimes the degree of comparison can be used. E.g. The ruby
shall be redder than a red rose, and the sapphire shall be as blue as the great see. (O. Wilde)
Negative constructions can be also used, and a negative S. can be even more effective than a
positive one:
E.g. Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man’s ingratitude. (W. Shakespeare)
Personification is also a form of metaphor. It is a trope which ascribes human or personal qualities
to inanimate things so that they seem to possess life. E.g. A small sailing craft is not only beautiful
it is seductive and full of strange promise and the hint of trouble. (E.B. White "The Sea and the
Wind That Blows") The effect of personification can be also achieved with the help of direct
address - apostrophe (see above - "winter wind"), personal pronouns (she/he for it), capital letter.
1) it makes the description more dynamic.
2) It creates the general mood.
3) It helps to make abstractions tangible.
4) It creates the epic tone of the narration
Simile, metaphor, personification, and metaphorical epithets are called images (in the narrow
meaning of this word).
IMAGERY
Structure
Any image can be analyzed from the point of view of its structure.
This structure was worked out by Ivor Richards.
1. The tenor - the thing we are talking about, what is compared.
2. The vehicle - the thing to which the tenor is compared.
3. The ground - the common feature b/n the tenor and the vehicle.

3
The tenor of the metaphor may be present or implied, with simile it is practically always present.
The effect of the image depends on the kind of vehicles the author chooses. In different times
different poets and writers had preferences for different vehicles. E.g. Shakespeare - nature, Byron -
volcano, Shelly - water, Bronte - fire.
Sustained images: expressed not in one word, they are extended, developed, prolonged in various
ways. The writer may add new details to the vehicle discovering analogies with the tenor in more
than 1 point.
E.g. Clambering onward, we have slowly made our way out of a maze of isolated peaks into the
level plains of science.
The semantics of the image
1) Images show likeness in dissimilar objects. There must be something striking and unexpected in
every genuine image, it must produce a surprise effect due to the discovery of some common
elements in 2 seemingly disparate phenomena. This effect is called disparity action
2) Another distinctive feature of the genuine image is multiple meaning. We are simultaneously
conscious of double image, as if 2 transparent planes are matched and one is seen through the other.
There should be a certain semantic distance b/n the tenor and the vehicle, because if they are too
close, the prospective of double image may be ruined.
3) Ambiguity. An image must be capable of rendering more than one interpretation.
The functions of images
1. To extend the language, to say what cannot be expressed in terms of literal
meaning, to express the inexpressible. Very often abstract notions are compared to
or identified with material objects.
1. To make the description more vivid and definite.
2. To reveal certain feelings and emotional attitude to what's being described.
When images are absorbed into the language, we no longer respond to them as images. We refer to
them as "dead" E.g. The use of the language is an instrument for analysis. Dead metaphors form a
large group of the familiar phrases we depend on in speaking and writing, we can find them in the
dictionaries and we do not see any transference of meaning in them. There is a famous metaphor: "A
language is a cemetery of metaphors".
Before an image becomes completely dead it may be trite or hackneyed. These are images we have
heard or seen in print so often that they have lost their flavor and originality, but we still realize the
transference of meaning and they may have expressive connotation.
E.g. redhot temper, swollen ego, killing glance, shadow of a doubt, a crying shame, green with envy, in
his heart of hearts, the depths of her soul.
Trite images are frequently used in publicist style. In literature they considerably weaken writing.
Clichés bore the readers and give the impression that the writer is lazy or unimaginative, in speeches
clichés may suggest thoughtlessness or insincerity. Clever writers or speakers often use clichés in an
original way - revive them.
Genuine image (fresh, striking, unusual) trite cliché dead

TROPES BASED ON CONSTANT CONNECTIONS

Metonymy is a trope in which the name of some object or idea is substituted for another to which it
has some permanent objectively existing relations.
Possible relations:
 A concrete thing for an abstract notion
 The container for the thing contained
 Relations of proximity
 The material for the thing made of it
 The instrument for the action or the doer of the action
 Etc.
There is lexical metonymy (china, Champaign, hands) and stylistic (genuine) metonymy.

4
Synecdoche is a trope in which the part represents the whole or the other way round.
Due to metonymy and synecdoche the utterance becomes energetic, vivid; a high degree of
generalization is achieved.
Metonymy doesn’t presuppose comparison (like metaphor). It always logical, intellectual, while
metaphor is mostly emotional.

Epithet is a word or a phrase used to describe a person or a thing rendering the author’s individual
perception of them, his/her subjective, emotionally colored attitude. An adjective may be used in its
direct meaning and be an epithet. They shouldn’t be mixed with logical attributes: wooden table –
wooden face; iron knife – iron will. Epithets are markedly suggestive, imaginative, evaluative.
Classification of epithets can be based on 1)semantic or 2)structural principle.
1) Metaphorical – presuppose comparison,
metonymical – rare but very expressive (the umbrella man – the ex-umbrella man),
transferred – the property indicated in an object is transferred to it from some other object
associated with it (sleepless pillow, trembling visit).
2) Word epithets,
sentence epithets (Fool! Pigs!),
phrase epithets (He was look-before-you-leap sort of a man),
reversed epithets (a monster of a dog, a toy of a car, pepper of a man, a peach of a girl).
String epithet.
Antonomasia is a lexical SD in which a proper name is used instead of a common noun or vice
versa, i.e. a SD, in which the nominal meaning of a proper name is suppressed by its logical
meaning or the logical meaning acquires the new - nominal — component.
E.G. "He took little satisfaction in telling each Mary, shortly after she arrived, something...." Th.
Dreiser
"There are three doctors in an illness like yours. I don't mean only myself, my partner and
the radiologist who does your X-rays, the three I'm referring to are Dr. Rest, Dr. Diet and Dr.
Fresh Air." D. Cusack
Still another type of antonomasia is presented by the so-called "speaking names" - names
whose origin from common nouns is still clearly perceived. Such names from Sheridan's School for
Scandal as Lady Teazle or Mr. Surface immediately raise associations with certain human qualities.
The double role of the speaking names, both to name and to qualify, is sometimes preserved in
translation. Cf. the list of names from another of Sheridan's plays, The Rivals: Miss Languish -
Мисс Томней; Mr. Backbite - М-р Клевентаун; Mr. Credulous - М-р Доверч; Mr. Snake - М-р
Гад, etc. Or from F. Cooper: Lord Chatterino - Лорд Балаболо; John Jaw — Джон Брех; Island
Leap-High - Остров Высокопрыгия.
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"). Common nouns used in the second type
of antonomasia are in most cases abstract, though there are instances of concrete ones being used
too.
An allegory is an extended image, especially a story in which fictional characters and actions are
used to understand and express aspects of concepts relating to human existence. A parable is a
brief allegory that is used to teach a moral lesson.

TROPES EXPRESSING RELATIONS

A. SYNONYMS AS REPLACERS AND SPECIFIERS
Syn-s are used in literary texts for 2 different reasons. 1. to avoid monotonous repetition of
the same word in a sentence or a sequence of sentences.
E.g. The little boy was crying. It was the child’s usual time for going to bed, but no one paid
attention to the kid. - replacers
2. The other purpose of co-occurrence of synonyms in a text is to make the description as
complete as possible, to provide additional shades of meaning:
5
 Dear Paul, it’s very weak and silly of me, I know, to be so trembly and shaky from head to
foot. - specifier
Periphrasis – circumlocution, description instead of name, roundabout way of speaking. It
is naming the characteristic features of the object instead of naming the object itself. It
demonstrates redundancy of lingual elements. Its stylistic effect varies from elevation to humor.
Euphemism – a kind of periphrasis.
In previous epochs – popular, rather than calling a spade a spade. 20th c – humorous effect.
e.g. two hundred pages of blood-curdling narrative.
Some periphrases are traditional, trite
e. g. The fair sex. My better half.
Periphrases are divided into:
1. Logical - based on inherent properties of a thing.
e. g. Instrument of destruction, the object of administration.
2. Figurative - based on imagery: metaphor, metonymy
e. g. To tie a knot - to get married; in disgrace of fortune - bad luck.

B. TROPES EXPRESSING RELATIONS OF CONTRAST

Irony is a stylistic device in which the contextual evaluative meaning of a word is directly opposite
to its dictionary meaning,
Oxymoron is a stylistic device the syntactic and semantic structures of which come to clashes. In
Shakespearian definitions of love, much quoted from his Romeo and Juliet, perfectly correct
syntactically, attributive combinations present a strong semantic discrepancy between their
members. Cf.: "O brawling love! О loving hate! О heavy lightness! Serious vanity! Feather of lead,
bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!"
The most widely known structure of oxymoron is attributive. But there are also others, in
which verbs are employed. "to shout mutely" "the street damaged by improvements" "silence was
louder than thunder".
Antithesis is a semantic opposition often emphasized by its realization in similar structures. It is
often observed on lower levels of language hierarchy, especially on the morphemic level where two
antonymous affixes create a powerful effect of contrast: "Their pre-money wives did not go together
with their post-money daughters." (H.)

C. TROPES EXPRESSING RELATIONS OF DIFFERENCE

Hyperbole - a stylistic device in which emphasis is achieved through deliberate exaggeration. The
feelings and emotions of the speaker are so raffled that he resorts in his speech to intensifying the
quantitative or the qualitative aspect of the mentioned object. E.g.: In his famous poem "To His Coy
Mistress" Andrew Marvell writes about love: "My vegetable love should grow faster than empires."
Hyperbole is one of the most common expressive means of our everyday speech - trite
language hyperboles which, through long and repeated use, have lost their originality and remained
signals of the speaker's roused emotions.
Hyperbole may be the final effect of another SD - metaphor, simile, irony
E.g. "He has the tread of a rhinoceros" "The man was like the Rock of Gibraltar".
Hyperbole can be expressed by all notional parts of speech. There are words though, which
are used in this SD more often than others: pronouns ("all", ''every", "everybody") ; numerical
nouns ("a million", "a thousand"); adverbs of time ("ever", "never").
Hyperbole is aimed at exaggerating quantity or quality. When characteristic features of the
object are hot overrated, but intentionally underrated, we deal with litotes - understatement. English
is well known for its preference for understatement in everyday speech - "I am rather annoyed"
instead of "I'm infuriated", "The wind is rather strong" instead of "There's a storm" are typical of
British polite speech, but are less characteristic of American English.

6
 Litotes is also a two-component structure in which two negations are joined to give a
positive evaluation. Thus "not unkindly" actually means "kindly", though the positive effect is
weakened and some lack of the speaker's confidence in his statement is implied. The first
component of a litotes is always the negative particle "not", while the second, always negative in
semantics, varies in form from a negatively affixed word to a negative phrase. E.g. "Her face was
not unhandsome" "Her face was not unpretty".
The function of litotes has much in common with that of understatement - both weaken the
effect of the utterance. The uniqueness of litotes lies in its specific "double negative" structure and
in its weakening only the positive evaluation.

Climax (gradation) - arrangement of the correlated ideas, in which each next word
combination (clause, sentence) is logically more important or emotionally stronger and more
explicit: "Better to borrow, better to beg, better to die!" (D.) "I am firm, thou art obstinate, he is
pig-headed." (B.Ch.) A strings of synonyms or semantically related words belonging to the same
thematic group.
Proceeding from the nature of the emphasized phenomenon it is possible to speak of logical,
emotive or quantitative types of climax. The most widely spread model of climax is a three-step
construction, in which intensification of logical importance, of emotion or quantity (size,
dimensions) is gradually rising step by step. In emotive climax though, we rather often meet a two-
step structure, in which the second part repeats the first one and is further strengthened by an
intensifier, as in the following instances: "He was so helpless, so very helpless." (W.D.) "She felt
better, immensely better." (W.D.) "I have been so unhappy here, so very very unhappy." (D.)
Bathos – a sudden toning down from lofty to low. Defeated expectancy effect.
He was unconsolable - for an afternoon. (G.)
Not louder shrieks to pitying heaven are cast,
When husbands or when lap-dogs breathe their last (Pope)
Inhuman piercing shrieks that could not have been produced by a manly set of vocal organs – they
were indecent, terrifying, humiliating screams, such as women omit when they see ghosts or
caterpillars.

Zeugma and pun operate on the same linguistic mechanism: namely, one word is
deliberately used in two meanings. The effect of these SDs is humorous. In very many cases
polysemantic verbs that have a practically unlimited lexical valency and can be combined with
nouns of most varying semantic groups, are deliberately used with two or more homogeneous
members, which are not connected semantically, as in such examples from Ch. Dickens: "He took
his hat and his leave", or "She went home, in a flood of tears and a sedan chair". These are cases of
classical zeugma, highly characteristic of English prose.
When the number of homogeneous members, semantically disconnected, but attached to the
same verb, increases, we 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 of the thematic group, defeating our
expectancy and producing humorous effect. E.g. S. Leacock: "A Governess wanted. Must possess
knowledge of Romanian, Russian, Italian, Spanish, German, Music and Mining Engineering."
Contextual conditions leading to the simultaneous realization of two meanings and to the
formation of pun may vary. It can be misinterpretation of one speaker's utterance by the other,
which results in his remark dealing with a different meaning of the misinterpreted word or its
homonym. Punning may be the result of the speaker's intended violation of the listener's
expectation. E.g. O. Wilde's play The Importance of Being Ernest.