Many words in Russian have both direct and figurative meanings. We will talk about what this phenomenon is, how to define a word in a figurative meaning and how this transfer occurs in our article.
About the literal and figurative meaning of the word
Even from the elementary grades of school, we know that words in the Russian language have a direct meaning, that is, a basic one, directly related to any object or phenomenon. For example, for the noun " exit" it is “an opening in a wall or fence through which one can leave a confined space” (Another exit into the courtyard, hiding behind a secret door).
But in addition to the direct meaning, there is also a figurative meaning of the word. Examples of such meanings in one lexical unit are often numerous. So, the same word " exit" This:
1) a way to get rid of the problem (Finally we came up with a decent exit from the situation);
2) quantity of products produced (As a result exit details turned out to be slightly lower than expected);
3) appearance on stage ( Exit the main character was met with a standing ovation);
4) rock outcrop (In this place exit limestone made the rocks almost white).
What influences the transfer of the meaning of a word
Depending on what specific feature can be associated with the transfer of the name of one object to another, linguists distinguish three types of it:
- Metaphor (transfer is associated with the similarity of characteristics of different objects).
- Metonymy (based on the contiguity of objects).
- Synecdoche (transferring a general meaning to its part).
The figurative meaning of the word based on the similarity of functions is also considered separately.
Now let's take a closer look at each of the listed types.
What is a metaphor
As mentioned above, a metaphor is a transfer of meaning based on the similarity of features. For example, if objects are similar in shape (the dome of a building - the dome of the sky) or in color (golden jewelry - golden sun).
The metaphor also implies the similarity of other meanings:
- by function ( heart human - the main organ, heart city - main area);
- by the nature of the sound ( grumbles old lady - grumbles kettle on the stove);
- by location ( tail animal - tail trains);
- on other grounds ( green I am youth - not mature; deep melancholy - it is difficult to get out of it; silk hair - smooth; soft the look is pleasant).
The figurative meaning of a word in the case of a metaphor can also be based on the animation of inanimate objects, and vice versa. For example: the whisper of leaves, gentle warmth, nerves of steel, an empty look, etc.
Metaphorical rethinking is also not uncommon, based on the convergence of objects according to seemingly different characteristics: gray mouse - gray fog - gray day - gray thoughts; sharp knife - sharp mind - sharp eye - sharp corners (dangerous events) in life.
Metonymy
Another trope that uses words used figuratively is - This is metonymy. It is possible under the condition of contiguity of concepts. For example, transferring the name of the premises ( Class) to the group of children in it ( Class rose to meet the teacher) is a metonymy. The same thing happens when you transfer the name of an action to its result (do baking bread - fresh bakery) or properties on their owner (have bass- the aria was sung by the talented bass).
The same principles apply to the transfer of the author’s name to his works ( Gogol- staged in the theater Gogol; Bach- listen Bach) or the name of the container for the contents ( plate- he already two plates ate). Adjacency (proximity) is also monitored when transferring the name of a material to a product made from it ( silk- she in silks walked) or tools for the person working with him ( braid- apparently here braid walked).
Metonymy is an important way of word formation process
With the help of metonymy, any word in a figurative meaning acquires more and more new semantic loads. So, for example, the word " node" even in ancient times it was obtained by transferring the meaning of “a rectangular piece of material into which some objects are tied” (take with you node). And today in dictionaries other meanings have been added to it, which appeared through metonymy:
- the place where the lines of roads or rivers intersect or converge;
- part of a mechanism consisting of tightly interacting parts;
- an important place where something is concentrated.
Thus, as you can see, the new figurative meaning of words, which arose with the help of metonymy, serves the development of vocabulary. By the way, this also allows you to save speech effort, since it makes it possible to replace an entire descriptive construction with just one word. For example: "early Chekhov" instead of "Chekhov in the early period of his work" or " audience” instead of “people sitting in a room listening to a lecturer.”
Synecdoche is considered one of the types of metonymy in linguistics.
What is synecdoche
Words with a figurative meaning, examples of which were given earlier, acquired a new meaning due to some similarity or proximity of concepts. And synecdoche is a way of pointing to an object through the mention of its characteristic detail or distinctive feature. That is, as mentioned above, this is a transfer of the general meaning of a word to its part.
Here are some of the most common types of this trope.
How and when is synecdoche used?
Synecdoche always depends on the context or situation, and in order to understand which words are used figuratively, the author must first describe the hero or his environment. For example, it is difficult to determine from a sentence taken out of context who we are talking about: “ Beard blew smoke from a clay pipe.” But from the previous story everything becomes clear: “Next to him, with the appearance of an experienced sailor, sat a man with a thick beard.”
Thus, synecdoche can be called an anaphoric trope, focused on subtext. The designation of an object by its characteristic detail is used in colloquial speech and in literary texts to give them a grotesque or humorous coloring.
The figurative meaning of a word: examples of transfer by similarity of functions
Some linguists also separately consider the transfer of meaning, in which the condition that phenomena have identical functions is met. For example, a janitor is a person who cleans the yard, and a janitor in a car is a device for cleaning windows.
A new meaning also appeared for the word “counter,” which was used to mean “a person who counts something.” Now the meter is also a device.
Depending on which words in a figurative meaning arise as a result of the named process, their associative connection with the original meaning may disappear completely over time.
How sometimes the process of transference affects the underlying meaning of a word
As already mentioned, as figurative meanings develop, a word can expand its semantic meaning. For example, the noun " the basis" meant only: "a longitudinal thread running along the fabric." But as a result of the transfer, this meaning expanded and was added to it: “the main part, the essence of something,” as well as “a part of a word without an ending.”
Yes, the emerging figurative meaning of polysemantic words leads to an increase in their expressive properties and contributes to the development of the language as a whole, but it is interesting that at the same time some meanings of the word become obsolete and are put out of use. For example, the word “ nature" has several meanings:
- Nature ( Nature attracts me with its purity).
- Human temperament (passionate) nature).
- Natural conditions, environment (picture from life).
- Replacing money with goods or products (pay in kind).
But the first of the listed meanings, with which, by the way, this word was borrowed from the French language, is already outdated; in dictionaries it is designated as “obsolete.” The rest, which developed with the help of transference on its basis, are actively functioning in our time.
How words are used figuratively: examples
Words in a figurative sense are often used as an expressive means of fiction, the media, and also in advertising. In the latter case, the technique of deliberately colliding different meanings of one word in the subtext is very popular. Thus, advertisements say about mineral water: “A source of vigor.” The same technique is visible in the slogan for shoe polish: “Brilliant protection.”
The authors of works of art, to give them brightness and imagery, use not only the already known figurative meaning of words, but also create their own versions of metaphors. For example, Blok’s “silence blooms” or Yesenin’s “birch Rus'”, which over time became very popular.
There are also words in which the transfer of meaning has become “dry”, “erased”. As a rule, we use such words not to convey an attitude towards something, but to name an action or object (go to a goal, the bow of a boat, the back of a chair, etc.). In lexicology they are called nominative metaphors, and in dictionaries, by the way, they are not designated as figurative meaning.
Incorrect use of words in a figurative meaning
In order for words in the literal and figurative meaning to always be in their places in the text and be justified, you need to follow the rules for their use.
It should be remembered that the use of metaphor requires the presence of similarities in the characteristics of the object of the name and in the meaning of the word applied to it. Meanwhile, this is not always observed, and the image used as a metaphor sometimes does not evoke the necessary associations and remains unclear. For example, a journalist, speaking about a ski race, calls it a “ski bullfight” or, reporting about inanimate objects, designates their number as a duet, trio or quartet.
Such a pursuit of “beauty” leads to the opposite result, causing the reader to be perplexed and sometimes laugh, as in the case when it was said about Tolstoy’s portrait: “Tolstoy was hanging in the office by the window.”
The same words can be used in different ways in speech, receiving different meanings. Stand out straight And portable meanings of words. Direct(or basic, main) meaning of a word is a meaning that directly correlates with the phenomena of objective reality.
Yes, words table, black, boil have the following meanings: 1. A piece of furniture in the form of a horizontal board on high supports, legs; 2. Color of soot, coal; 3. Seethe, bubble, evaporate from strong heat (about liquids). These values are stable, although historically they may change. For example, the word table in the Old Russian language it meant “throne”, “reign”.
The direct meanings of words depend less than others on the context, on the nature of connections with other words.
Portable(indirect) meanings of words - those meanings that arise as a result of the conscious transfer of a name from one phenomenon of reality to another on the basis of similarity, commonality of their characteristics, functions, etc.
Yes, word table used in several figurative meanings: 1. A piece of special equipment or part of a cold-formed machine ( operating table, raise the machine table); 2. Nutrition, food ( rent a room with a table); 3. A department in an institution in charge of a special range of affairs ( information desk).
Word black has the following figurative meanings: 1. Dark, as opposed to something lighter, called white ( black bread); 2. Has taken on a dark color, darkened ( black from tan); 3. In the old days: chicken ( black hut); 4. Gloomy, desolate, heavy ( black thoughts); 5. Criminal, malicious ( black treason); 6. Not main, auxiliary ( back door in the house); 7. Physically difficult and unskilled ( dirty work).
Word boil has the following figurative meanings:
1. Manifest to a strong degree ( work is in full swing); 2. To manifest something with force, to a strong degree ( seethe with indignation); 3. Move randomly ( river was boiling with fish).
As we see, when transferring meaning, words are used to name phenomena that do not serve as a constant, usual object of designation, but are brought closer to another concept by various associations that are obvious to speakers.
Figurative meanings can retain figurativeness ( black thoughts, black betrayal). However, these figurative meanings are fixed in the language; they are given in dictionaries when interpreting words. This is how figurative meanings differ from metaphors that are created by writers.
In most cases, when transferring meanings, imagery is lost. For example: pipe elbow, teapot spout, carrot tail, clock ticking. In such cases, they speak of extinct imagery in the lexical meaning of the word.
The transfer of names occurs on the basis of similarities in something between objects, characteristics, and actions. The figurative meaning of a word can be attached to an object (sign, action) and become its direct meaning: teapot spout, door handle, table leg, book spine, etc.
The value transfer process goes like this : baby's foot(direct) - table leg(portable) - table leg(direct).
The primary, direct meaning can sometimes be restored only by studying the history of the word.
Let us summarize the above material in the table:
Types of portable values
Depending on what attribute the meaning is transferred from one object to another; the following types of figurative meanings of a word are distinguished.
1) Transfer of values according to any similarity between objects and phenomena. Such figurative meanings are called metaphorical. Metaphor(from the Greek Metaphora - transfer) is the transfer of a name from one object, action, property, phenomenon to other actions, properties, phenomena based on the similarity of their characteristics (for example, shape, color, function, location and etc.). Examples of metaphorical meanings:
a) onion head, eyeball - transfer based on the similarity of the shape of objects;
b) the bow of a boat, the tail of a train, the head of a nail - transfer based on the similarity of the arrangement of objects;
c) wiper (meaning “a cleaning device on the glass of a car”), electric position, watchman (meaning “a device on a dish for holding boiling milk”) - transfer based on the similarity of the functions of objects.
Many metaphorical figurative meanings of the word are characterized by anthropomorphism, that is, the assimilation of the properties of the surrounding physical world to the properties of a person. Compare these examples: an evil wind, indifferent nature, the breath of spring, “The River is Playing” (the title of the story by V.G. Korolenko), the stream is running, the volcano has awakened, etc.
On the other hand, some properties and phenomena of inanimate matter are transferred to the human world, for example: a cold look, an iron will, a heart of stone, a golden character, a mop of hair, a ball of thoughts, etc. There are metaphors general language, when one or another metaphorical meaning of a word is used widely, as a result of which it is known to all speakers of a given language (nail head, river branch, black envy, iron will), and individual, created by a writer or poet, characterizing his stylistic style and not becoming widespread. Compare, for example, metaphors:
S.A. Yesenin: fire of red rowan, birch tongue of the grove, chintz of the sky, grains of the eyes, etc.;
B.L. Pasternak: the labyrinth of the lyre, the bloody tears of September, the buns of lanterns and the crumpets of the roofs, etc.
2) Transfer of name from one subject to another based on adjacency these items. This transfer of values is called metonymy(from Greek Metonymia - renaming). Metonymic transfers of meaning are often formed according to certain regular types:
a) material - a product made from this material. For example, the words gold and crystal can denote products made from these materials (she has gold in her ears; there is solid crystal on the shelves);
b) vessel - the contents of the vessel (ate two plates, drank a cup);
c) author - the works of this author (I read Pushkin, I know Nerkasov by heart);
d) action - an object of action (actions aimed at publishing a book, an illustrated edition of a book as an object);
e) action - the result of action (construction of a monument - monumental structure);
f) action - a means or instrument of action (putty of cracks - fresh putty, fastening of gear - ski binding, transmission of movement - bicycle transmission);
g) action - place of action (exiting the house - standing at the exit, traffic stop - bus stop);
h) animal - fur or meat of an animal (a hunter caught a fox - what kind of fur is it, arctic fox or fox?).
One of the peculiar types of metonymy is synecdoche. Synecdoche(from the Greek Sinekdoche - ratio) - the ability of a word to name both a part of something and the whole. For example, the words face, mouth, head, hand designate the corresponding parts of the human body. But each of them can be used to name a person: unauthorized persons are prohibited from entering; in family five mouths; Kolya- light head.
Some characteristic features of a person - beard, glasses, clothes and others are often used to denote a person. For example:
- Hey, beard, where are you going?
- I’m standing behind the blue cloak...
“It’s true that it’s expensive,” sigh the red trousers (Ch.)
When polysemous, one of the meanings of a word is direct, and everyone else - portable.
Direct meaning of the word- this is its main lexical meaning. It is directly aimed at the subject (immediately evokes an idea of the subject, phenomenon) and is least dependent on the context. Words denoting objects, actions, signs, quantity, most often appear in
direct meaning.
Portable meaning of the word- this is its secondary meaning that arose on the basis of the direct one. For example:
Toy, -and, and. 1. A thing used for playing. Kids toys.
2. transfer One who blindly acts according to someone else's will is an obedient instrument of someone else's will (disapproved). To be a toy in someone's hands.
The essence of polysemy lies in the fact that some name of an object or phenomenon is transferred, transferred also to another object, another phenomenon, and then one word is used as the name of several objects or phenomena simultaneously. Depending on the basis on which the name is transferred,” there are three main types of figurative meaning: 1) metaphor; 2) metonymy; 3) synecdoche.
Metaphor(from the Greek metaphora - transfer) - this is the transfer of a name by similarity, for example: ripe apple -eyeball(by form); human nose- bow of the ship(by location); chocolate bar- chocolate tan(by color); bird wing- airplane wing(by function); the dog howled- the wind howled(according to the nature of the sound), etc. yes
Metonymy(then Greek metonymia - renaming) is the transfer of a name from one object to another based on their contiguity *, for example: water is boiling- behindthe kettle is boiling; porcelain dish- tasty dish; native gold- Scythian gold etc. A type of metonymy is synecdoche.
Synecdoche(from the Greek “synekdoche” - co-implying) is the transfer of the name of the whole to its part and vice versa, for example: thick currant- ripe currants; beautiful mouth- extra mouth(about an extra person in the family); bighead- clever mind etc.
In the process of developing figurative names, a word can be enriched with new meanings as a result of narrowing or expanding its basic meaning. Over time figurative meanings may become straight.
It is possible to determine in what meaning a word is used only in context. Compare, for example, the sentences: 1) Wesat on the corner bastion, so it could go both wayssee everything (M. Lermontov). 2) In Tarakanovka, as in the deepest bearish corner, there was no place for secrets (D. Mamin-Sibiryak)
* Adjacent - located directly next to, having about border.
In the first sentence the word corner used in its literal meaning: “the place where two sides of something meet or intersect.” And in stable combinations “in a blind corner”, “bearish corner” the meaning of the word will be figurative: in a remote corner- in remote areas, bearliving corner - desolate place.
In explanatory dictionaries direct meaning of the word is given first, and figurative values are numbered 2, 3, 4, 5. The value recorded as figurative recently comes with the mark "peren" For example:
Wood,-oh, -oh. 1. Made from wood, 2. trans. Motionless, unexpressive. Wooden facial expression. ABOUT Wood oil- cheap grade of olive oil.
In a polysemantic word, direct and figurative meanings are distinguished. Direct directly denotes objects and phenomena of reality. The direct meaning is also called main, primary, main, free, nominative (nominative). It least of all depends on the combination of a word with other words in speech; it is most commonly used, usually in first place in dictionaries: tongue - 1. “Organ in the oral cavity in the form of a muscular outgrowth in humans and animals”: mucous membrane of the tongue.
The other meanings of the word are based on the direct meaning - figurative: they are revealed only in context. 2. The tongue will bring it to Kyiv - “the organ of speech that reproduces thought.” 3. Institute of Russian Language named after A. S. Pushkin - “a means of communication between people - sound, grammatical structure.” 4. I love Lermontov’s language - “style, style, manner of expression.” 5. I order you to take the tongue - “prisoner”. 6. ...And every language that is in it will call me, and the proud grandson of the Slavs, and Finn... (P.) - “people, nationality.” This or that participation of the language - the organ in the figurative nominations of the language - speech ability, the language spoken by the nation or its individual representative, determines the connection of figurative meanings with each other and with the direct meaning.
The figurative meaning of a word denotes facts not directly, but through a relationship to the corresponding direct meaning.
The direct meaning of a word cannot always be explained, as is the case with the word language, as well as the words grass, bush, birch and many others. Most often, the direct meaning is primary, i.e. “most ancient,” chronologically the first for a given word. The primary value is called the original, historical value. It serves as the basis for the emergence and development of other, figurative meanings. The primary meaning of the word hand is “gathering” - from the Slavic root renkti - “to collect”. Figurative meanings of this word: 1) labor activity (experienced hands); 2) blow (raise your hand); 3) help (this is to his advantage); 4) handwriting (I didn’t know his hand); 5) symbol of power (pass into other hands); 6) condition (under a cheerful hand); 7) marriage (marriage proposal), etc.
Modern Russian literary language / Ed. P. A. Lekanta - M., 2009