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What Is Grammar For
What Is Grammar For
Department of European,
American and Intercultural Studies
2015-2016
WEEK 3 - LECTURE 1
Dr. Margherita Dore
margherita.dore@uniroma1.it
Stylistic Devices and Figures of Speech
Pagina 2
Stylistic Devices & figures of speech
Alliteration: repetition of initial consonant sound (e.g. for
the greater good of; fantastic philosophy)
(Willard Espy)
6
Metaphor
A metaphor is a mapping between two different conceptual
domains. The different domains are known as the target (more
abstract, e.g. ARGUMENT, ANGER) and the source domain (more
concrete, e.g. WAR, A HEATED FLUID IN A CONTAINER). The target
domain is the topic or concept that you want to describe through
the metaphor while the source domain refers to the concept that
you draw upon in order to create the metaphorical construction:
ARGUMENT IS WAR:
I defended my views
He shot down all of my arguments
ANGER IS A HEATED FLUID IN A CONTAINER:
She really blew her lid
She blew her top
She just exploded
Metaphors are the basic schemes by which people
conceptualise their experience and their external world.
Metaphor
However, literature metaphors are typically more novel and
less clear. Writers consciously strive for novelty in literary
expression. Let look for instance at these lines by Sylvia
Plath’s poem ‘Metaphors’ (and consider that the author may
have thought to be pregnant at the time she wrote this):
[I’m] An elephant, a ponderous house,
A melon strolling on two tendrils.
PREGNANT WOMEN ARE BIG
SYLVIA IS AN ELEPHANT(big animal)
SYLVIA IS A HOUSE (a big building)
SYLVIA IS A MELON (a big round fruit) standing on thin sticks
(=legs)
Example – Friends, series 1
Metaphor: SEX IS A ROCK CONCERT
Monica: What you guys don't understand is, for us, kissing is as
important
as any part of it.
Joey: Yeah, right!.......Y'serious?
Phoebe: Oh, yeah!
Rachel: Everything you need to know is in that first kiss.
Monica: Absolutely.
Chandler: Yeah, I think for us, kissing is pretty much like an opening
act, y'know? I mean it's like the stand-up comedian you have to sit
through before Pink Floyd comes out.
Ross: Yeah, and-and it's not that we don't like the comedian, it's that
that... that's not why we bought the ticket.
Chandler: The problem is, though, after the concert's over, no matter how
great the show was, you girls are always looking for the comedian
again, y'know? I mean, we're in the car, we're fighting traffic... Basically
just trying to stay awake.
Rachel: Yeah, well, word of advice: Bring back the comedian.
Otherwise next time you're gonna find yourself sitting at home,
listening to that album alone.
Joey: Are we still talking about sex?
Exercise 1
Read this passage from Fiends, Series 1, and try to explain the
metaphor in it:
[Context: Ross has just been left by his lesbian wife and he is very upset.
He suggests that if there is only one woman for every man he has lost his
chance to be happy. Joey tries to cheer him up]
Joey: What are you talking about? ‘One woman’? That's like
saying there's is only one flavor of ice cream for you. Lemme
tell you something, Ross. There's [sic.] lots of flavors out
there. There's Rocky Road, and Cookie Dough, and Bing!
Cherry Vanilla, You could get 'em with Jimmies or nuts,
or whipped cream! This is the best thing that ever happened
to you! You got married, you were, like what, eight? Welcome
back to the world! Grab a spoon!
Ross: I honestly don't know if I'm hungry or horny!
Exercise 1 - key
Joey’s metaphor:
(Dore 2008)
Exercise 2
Read the stanza below and explain the figures of speech in it
(along with anything else you can think of according to what
we studied so far):
Lettuce Duck
Intentional Ambiguity is Fun
A newspaper.
ITALIAN VERSION:
Che cosa è nero, bianco e rosso ovunque?
A. L’Unità, or (a Communist newspaper)
B. Una zebra con l’abbronzatura (a zebra with a sunburn)
NOTE: The first “red” retains the “read” association, while the
second “red” does not.
(Chiaro [2008]: 580)
Bilingual Humour (Italian) - Discussion
• Neither of these translations encapsulate the semantic
ambivalency attached to the words “red/read.” “Nevertheless,
solution A does capture the ‘read’ element of the original riddle
coupled with the metaphorical value of the colour term ‘red’
attached to a popular left wing newspaper L’Unità.”
WEEK 2 - LECTURE 2
Dr. Margherita Dore
margherita.dore@uniroma1.it
• What is grammar for?
• Types of Grammar
• One English Grammar or Many?
• Grammatical structure and function
• Five functional elements
• Interpreting a sentence
15/11/2015 Pagina 24
Before Starting
CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR
LOVE IS A JOURNEY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu-9rpJITY8
What is grammar for?
N V N
John kissed Mary
Mary kissed John
The women, however, concluded that computers should be masculine, 'le computer',
because:
1) In order to get their attention, you have to turn them on
2) They have a lot of data, but they are still clueless
3) They are supposed to help you to solve problems, but half the time they are the
problem
4) As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you'd waited a little you could
have got a better model.
Bibliography
What we covered so far: