CONTRASTIVE STYLISTICS:

FIGURES OF SPEECH

LECTURER – PROF. ALLA MARTYNYUK

LECTURE 1
LEXICAL FIGURES OF SPEECH:
SUBSTITUTION: QUANTITATIVE TRANSFERENCE

Plan
1. Definition and general outline of lexical stylistic devices: figures of
substitution and figures of combination.
2. General outline of figures of substitution.
3. Figures of substitution based on quantitative transference
• Hyperbole
• Meiosis
• Litotes
 LEXICAL STYLISTIC RESOURCES

MEANS:
• foregrounded
MEANS (stylistically
charged) lexical units of a
DEVICES:
language system (words and
foregrounded speech units
idiomatic phrases); e.g.,
(tropes) like metaphors; e.g.,
crap, lolly, bread = money,
the sunshine of your smile
матусенька, мамка = мати;
to kick the bucket = to die
LEXICAL STYLISTIC DEVICES = TROPES = RHETORICAL FIGURES
result from rearranging neutral linguistic units in a
situation of communication where they acquire stylistic
value= become foregrounded
FIGURES OF SUBSTITUTION r FIGURES OF COMBINATION
• substituting the name of one object /
event with the name of another object / • combining names of objects /
event prompted by the speaker’s events in a way prompted by the
subjective view and evaluation of the
situation speaker’s subjective view and
evaluation of the situation
E.g., metaphor in which substitution is
based on the analogy between the objects /
events belonging to different domains E.g., oxymoron which combines
words naming semantically
Посмішки, цвітіння людських обличь –
червоні троянди пристрасті, білий гнів incompatible objects / events /
ломикаменю (saxifrage), колюча шипшина situations
(brier) зневаги, сині іриси втоми (Л.
Костенко) up the down staircase
HUMANS FLOWERS UP DOWN
 FIGURES OF SUBSTITUTION

Figures of quantity Figures of quality Figures of contrast

Hyperbole Meiosis Metonymy Metaphor Irony

Litotes Synecdoche Personification

Simile
Periphrasis Simile
Personification
Antonomasia
Allegory
Antonomasia
Dysphemism Euphemism Allegory
Allusion

Antonomasia
FIGURES OF QUANTITY
HYPERBOLE
• from Latin hyperbolē, from Ancient
Greek ὑπερβολή (huperbolḗ) “excess,
exaggeration”, from ὑπέρ (hupér)
“above” + βάλλω (bá llō ) “I throw”

• a deliberate exaggeration of a
certain quality of the object,
phenomenon or state of affairs
(size, shape, dimensions,
volume, distance, time etc.)
 HYPERBOLE: BASIC FEATURES
• She thought she would die of embarrassment.
• Dresden was one big flame. The one flame ate everything organic,
everything that would burn
(Kurt Vonnegutt’s real experiences in World War II. Vonnegut was interned in
Dresden, Germany, and survived the city’s bombing, which killed around 25,00
civilians.)

• is a matter of exaggeration that goes

beyond the actual facts
√ Hyperbole is an intoxication
• does not signify the real state of affairs
with emotion (Oлександр
but represents reality through
emotionally coloured perception of the Потебня (1835 – 1891))
speaker
EXAMPLES (EVERYDAY SPEECH)
 HYPERBOLE: TYPES (DEGREE OF CONVENTIONALITY)
DEAD = TRITE
• conventional (bordering on
idiomatic stylistic means)
• expected, inconspicuous
• expresses high intensity of
emotions (mostly, in everyday
speech)
• I would give the world to see her
again
• She was scared to death
LIVING = ORIGINAL
• creative
• unexpected, conspicuous
• expresses high intensity of
emotions to build the narrative
(mostly, in fiction)(to say more:
create some atmosphere, image,
etc.)
• He was so tall that I wasn’t sure
he had a face (O’Henry)
HYPERBOLE: LINGUISTIC MARKERS (MOSTLY TYPICAL OF TRITE
HYPERBOLE)

Though pronouns like all, every, everybody, everything/ всі,

hyperbole is всякий, кожний;
not limited e.g., Every single rascal tries to cheat the public here
to any
specific
adverbs like never, always / ніколи, завжди, всюди,
means of
страшенно, колоссально;
expression,
it can be e.g.,The path went on forever
recognised
due to some numerals like a million, a thousand / coтня, тисяча,
typical мільйон;
linguistic e. g., Тато ж тебе сто разів просив не робити з мухи
markers слона; I beg a thousand pardons
HYPERBOLE: SPHERES OF USE: EVERYDAY SPEECH
(EXAMPLES)

• He knows everybody in this town.

• I’m dying of shame.
• I am trying to solve a million issues these days.
• If I can’t buy that perfect dress, I’ll die!
• We’re so poor we don’t have two cents to rub together.
• He's got tons of money.
• It was so cold, I saw polar bears wearing hats and jackets.
• Я вас чекав цілу вічність.
• Ми не бачилися сто років.
• Таким поглядом можна вбити.
HYPERBOLE: SPHERES OF USE: PUBLIC SPEECHES

• So first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing
we have to fear is fear itself. (Franklin Roosevelt, “First
Inaugural Address”)
• Please sit down because having produced nine million
award shows, I know the producer's up there saying, 'Hurry,
say thanks fast’.
(Dick Clark, “Daytime Emmy Award Acceptance Address”)
HYPERBOLE: SPHERES OF USE: FICTION/FILMS +

• Коли б його пустити з косою просто, він обкосив би всю земну кулю,
аби тільки була добра трава та хліб і каша (О. Довженко, «Зачарована
Десна»)
• I’m just one stomach flu away from my goal weight (The Devil Wears Prada)
• I’m the king of the world! (Titanic)
• The best thing about visiting the President is the food! Now, since it was all free,
and I wasn’t hungry but thirsty, I must’ve drank me fifteen Dr. Peppers.
(Forrest Gump)
• As God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again (Gone with the Wind)
• Your sister’s so skinny, she has to run around in the shower to get wet
(www American schoolboy)
HYPERBOLE: SPHERES OF USE: POETRY

At last the garbage reached so high

That finally it reached the sky (Sh. Silverstein)

I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love you

Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street,
I’ll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry
(W.H Auden’s poem «As I Walked One Evening»):
HYPERBOLE: SPHERES OF USE: POETRY

•Так ніхто не кохав.

Через тисячі літ лиш приходить подібне кохання (В. Сосюр)

• Давно, давно вже Київ панував.

Його церкви аж хмари зачіпали (А. Метлинський )
HYPERBOLE: SPHERES OF USE: ADVERTISING
•Adds amazing luster for infinite, mirror-like shine
(Brilliant Brunette shampoo)
•Mints so strong they come in a metal box (Altoids)
•Breakfast of champions (Wheaties)
•Taste the rainbow (Skittles)
•America runs on Dunkin’ (Dunkin’ Donuts)
•Red Bull gives you wings (Red Bull)
HYPERBOLE: SPHERES OF USE: SONGS

Now there's just no chance

for you and me, there'll never be,
And don't it make you sad about it,
Cry me a river, Cry me a river.
(Justin Timberlake, “Cry Me a River”)

I would fly to the moon and back if you'll be...

If you'll be my baby,
Got a ticket for a world where we belong,
So would you be my baby?
(Savage Garden, “To the Moon and Back”)
HYPERBOLE: FUNCTIONS
• √expresses a speaker’s intensity of emotions + attracts attention to
what is being said – true for all hyperbole
• These books weigh a ton (frustration, negative
surprise)
• Я вже сто разів тобі про це казала (irritation)
• There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go,
nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing
to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County’
(Harper Lee, “To Kill a Mockingbird”) (boredom)
HYPERBOLE: FUNCTIONS
√exaggerates positive qualities of the referent

• The best a man can get (Gillette)

√creates a humorous effect
I think this is the most extraordinary collection of
human talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been
gathered at the White House – with the possible
exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."(John F.
Kennedy, “White House dinner honoring Nobel Prize
winners”)
HYPERBOLE: FUNCTIONS
√ creates grotesque (strange and unpleasant description, especially in a
silly or frightening, or ugly way)

• I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in

London, that a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a
most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed,
roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve
in a fricasie, or a ragoust. (Jonathan Swift, “A Modest Proposal”)
FIGURES OF QUANTITY
MEIOSIS

• from the Greek μειόω (“to make

smaller”, "to diminish")
• a deliberate diminution of a
certain quality of the object,
phenomenon or state of affairs
(size, shape, dimensions, volume,
distance, time etc.).
For example, when Mercutio is
wounded mortally and he says “ay,
ay, a scratch, a scratch…” («Romeo
and Juliet» by William
Shakespeare).
MEIOSIS: BASIC FEATURES
if hyperbole is overstatement,
meiosis is understatement

British lingua-culture is rather famous for understatement that works to

downplay the significance of an unpleasant thing/situation, to control strong
negative emotions
• I’m just going outside (Captain Lawrence Oates, British Antarctic explorer,
before walking out into a blizzard to face certain death, 1912)
Oates, afflicted with gangrene and frostbite, walked from his tent into a blizzard.
His death is seen as an act of self-sacrifice when, aware that his ill health was
compromising his three companions' chances of survival, he chose certain death
Though, not all meiosis has negative associations.
• She wore a pink hat, the size of a button (J. Reed)
MEIOSIS: TYPES (DEGREE OF CONVENTIONALITY)
DEAD = TRITE
•conventional
• expected, inconspicuous
•expresses politeness (mostly,
in everyday speech)
•Одну секундочку
LIVING = ORIGINAL
•creative
•unexpected, conspicuous
•builds the narrative (mostly,
in fiction)
• We danced on the
handkerchief-big space
between the speakeasy
tables (R.Warren)
MEIOSIS: LINGUISTIC MARKERS (MOSTLY TYPICAL OF TRITE MEIOSIS)
Like Nouns of measure: a drop, a second, a minute,
hyperbole, крапельку, хвилиночку, секундочку, три кроки
meiosis is
not He can do the job in a second
restricted to Зачекайте хвилинку
by any
specific Він пішов пару секунд тому
means of Він живе у трьох кроках звідси, etc.
expression,
but has Adverbs: just, only, simply
some typical
linguistic
markers
MEIOSIS: SPHERES OF USE
√ Everyday speech

•Their house is one minute from here

•Можна ще крапельку супу

√ Fiction/poetry/folklore
• Як то кажуть: дрібку солі,
Крихту хліба в ночі, дні й дні…
Все ділили (А. Малишко)
• Чи я в мужа не жона,
Чий не майстериця!
Покроїла я штани –
Вийшла рукавиця!
MEIOSIS: FUNCTIONS
√ describes referents (objects, characters and events) through
diminution
•Бабуся малесенька, ледве од землі видно (М. Вовчок, «Сестра»)

√ reduces negative features of the referents:

• And, to deal plainly,
I fear I am not in my perfect mind…
(W. Shakespeare, “King Lear”)
√ creates a humorous effect:
• The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated (M. Twain)
MEIOSIS: FUNCTIONS

√ reduces the significance of someone or something in order to

heighten something else simultaneously
One of the earliest recorded usages of meiosis dates back to the
seventh book of the New Testament where Paul belittles himself in
order to emphasize the power of God:
"For I am the least of all the apostles and do not even deserve to be
called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the
grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without
effect… (litotes)" (1 Corinthians 15:9-10).
MEIOSIS: FUNCTIONS
√ reduces the significance of someone or something in order to
manipulate
• A lawyer defending a schoolboy who has set fire to his school might
call the act of arson – a prank. In this case using meiosis is an
attempt to diminish the significance of the act (technically, grand
arson) to the level of a harmless joke or minor act of vandalism.
• “Will you walk into my parlour?” said the Spider to the Fly,
‘Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy;
The way into my parlour is up a winding stair,
And I’ve a many curious things to shew when you are there.” 
(Mary Howitt, “The Spider and The Fly”)
HYPERBOLE/MEIOSIS METAPHORIC
HYPERBOLE/MEIOSIS
• are incongruent with the state of
affairs in reality
• rely on the violation of human
stereotypic experience of reality
• I’ve seen this river so wide it had
only one bank (M. Twain)
• stay within the same domain
• are incongruent with the state of
affairs in reality
• rely on the violation of human
stereotypic experience of reality
• involve implicit or explicit
comparison two domains
• The guy is a real microbe (meiosis +
metaphor) HUMANS - MICROBES
• He has the tread of a rhinoceros
(meiosis + implicit metaphoric
simile) HUMANS – ANIMALS
 METAPHORIC HYPERBOLE/MEIOSIS
Trite
• She ran at the speed of light
• She’s as big as an elephant
• повільний як черепаха
• швидкий як блискавка
• море сліз
• А сома, сома мені самому
доводилося бачити такого
завбільшки, як комбайн!
Тільки трохи довшого
Original
• He didn't appear like the same man;
then he was all milk and honey – now
he was all starch and vinegar. (Ch.
Dickens)
• The man was like a Rock of Gibraltar
• Та який тісний і темний світ, якщо
в тебе нікого в ньому нема, коли ти
тільки піщинка на березі,
порошинка, яку несе серед хмари
куряви вітер (С. Скляренко)
FIGURES OF QUANTITY
LITOTES

• from a Greek word meaning

«simple»
• a specific variety of meiosis which
makes a positive statement
through negation
• in English it typically depends on a
specific syntactic construction
the negative particle not/the word
no + a word / word combination
with a relatively negative meaning
LITOTES: POSITIVE THROUGH NEGATIVE
Litotes Neutral language
Not bad Good
Not too shabby Nice
No ordinary city A very special city
He was not unfamiliar with the works of He was well acquainted with the works of
Dickens Dickens

She is not as young as she was She is old

He is no oil painting He is ugly
Not unwelcome Welcome
Not unlike Like
LITOTES: BASIC FEATURES
• uses ironical understatement
in order to emphasize an idea or √“I want to claim that the
situation rather than minimize rhetorical figure litotes is one of
its importance those methods which are used to
talk about an object in a discreet
• uses understatement to way. It clearly locates an object for
emphasize a point by stating the the recipient, but it avoids naming
negative to further affirm the it directly “. (J.R. Bergmann)
positive To ignore an object and still
• discovers a unique way to
To ignore
pretend an object
to talk about and
it instilla
attract people’s attention to an pretend
negative towaytalk about
is the best itway
in toa
idea and that is by ignoring it negative
make it way appear is important
the best wayand
to make it appear important
prominent
and prominent.
LITOTES: SPHERES OF USE: EVERYDAY SPEECH
• Julia was not dissatisfied with herself
• The decision was not unreasonable
• The venture was not impossible
• John’s behaviour was not disrespectful
• Martin was not without a sense of humour
• He was not without taste
• He is no coward
• He is no fool
• He found that this was no easy talk
• It troubled him not a little
• Він був не без смаку
LITOTES: SPHERES OF USE: FICTION, FILMS+
• The hall he scanned. By the wall then went he; his weapon raised high
by its hilts. That edge was not useless to the warrior now. (Beowulf)
• The food was not undelicious. (Homer Simpson)
• Not a bad day’s work on the whole, he muttered, as he quietly took off
his mask. (E. Orczy «The Scarlet Pimpernel»)
• “To be a good actress, she must always work for the truth in what she's
playing”, the man said in a voice not empty of self-love. (N. Mailer)
• Kirsten said not without dignity: "Too much talking is unwise." (A.
Christie)
• Still two weeks of success is definitely not nothing and phone calls were
coming in from agents for a week. (Ph. Roth)
LITOTES: SPHERES OF USE: RHETORIC

• Indeed, it is not uncommon for slaves even to fall out and quarrel
among themselves about the relative goodness of their masters, each
contending for the superior goodness of his own over that of the others.
(Frederick Douglass)
• The problem with speeches isn’t so much not knowing when to stop, as
knowing when not to begin. (Frances Rodman)
• A designer knows he or she has achieved perfection, not when there is
nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
(Nolan Haims)
 LITOTES: FUNCTIONS
√makes a description vivid, emotional (typical of all litotes)
• She was not a little upset (L. Carroll, «Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland»)
• Я – експонат не безталанний (Т. Гаврилів)
√ extenuates positive qualities of the referents (indirectly)
• I was quiet, but not uncommunicative: reserved, but not reclusive:
energetic at times, but seldom enthusiastic.   (J. Bunyan)
√ makes diplomatic/polite/indirect statements
• It was not unnatural if Gilbert felt a certain embarrassment. (E. Waugh)
• The idea was not on the whole erroneous. The thought did not displease
me. (I. Murdoch)
LITOTES: FUNCTIONS
√ creates a humorous effect
• Einstein is not a bad mathematician.
• Soames, with his lips and his squared chin was not unlike a bull dog.
(J. Galsworthy)
√ makes an ironic statements
• Sixty is not a bad age – unless in perspective, when no doubt it is
contemplated by the majority of us with mixed feelings (J. Conrad, «The
Inn of the Two Witches»).
FIGURES OF QUANTITY
√ HYPERBOLE = EXAGGERATION (SAYING
“TOO MUCH” = OVERSTATING)
√ MEIOSIS = UNDERSTATEMENT (SAYING “TOO
LITTLE” = UNDERSTATING)
√ LITOTES = UNDERSTATING TROUGH DOUBLE
NEGATION

SUMMING UP
THANK YOU FOR
ATTENTION
CS 2023 : FIGURES OF SPEECH LECTURE 1