The concept of stylistic device has been studied by many language researchers. But as such, there is no single generally accepted classification of stylistic devices, although attempts to construct a classification of stylistic devices have been repeatedly made by language researchers. So, for example, S.E. Nikitin and N.V. Vasiliev interpret a stylistic device as “a way of organizing the utterance of a text that enhances its expressiveness” and notes that figures of speech “are used as a stylistic device,” while the stylistic device and figure of speech are considered as generic concepts. Similarly V.Ya. Pastukhova examines the relationship between these two concepts: “We understand a stylistic device as a method that is consciously, with a specific purpose, used by the poet to more accurately express his thoughts, to enhance the figurative and expressive function of speech. It acts as a general, generic in relation to the particular, specific - a trope, a figure.”
I.B. Golub and D.E. Rosenthal interpret the stylistic device as a deliberate refusal to use expressive and figurative means of language.
I.V. Arnold, noting that, according to some researchers (in particular I.R. Galperin), the main sign of a technique is the intentionality and purposefulness of its use, notes that it is impossible not to recognize that both in the word “technique” and in the word “means” “There is a component of purposefulness.”
Therefore, he calls the distinctive feature of a technique “the type of this or that poetic turn, and not its purposefulness.” Meanwhile, I.R. Halperin, identifying a stylistic device and a stylistic device, considers the main feature of a stylistic device to be typification, and not just purposefulness. According to the definition of I.R. Galperin, a stylistic device is an intentional and conscious strengthening of any typical structural or semantic feature of a language unit (neutral or expressive), which has reached generalization and typification and thus become a generative model. Any expressive means of language can be used as a stylistic device if it is typified and generalized for certain purposes of “artistic influence.” The main feature is the intentionality or purposefulness of the use of a particular element, as opposed to its existence in the language system. A stylistic device is a method that is consciously, with a specific purpose, used by a poet or writer to more accurately express his thoughts, to enhance the figurative and expressive function of speech. It acts as a general, generic in relation to the particular, specific - a trope, a figure. A stylistic device can be independent or coincide with the means of language.
Also, it should be noted that expressive means and stylistic devices have much in common, but these two concepts are not at all synonymous. All stylistic devices relate to means of expression, but not all means of expression are stylistic devices. Expressive means have a greater degree of predictability compared to stylistic devices. As noted by S.I. Vinogradov, a stylistic device is a generalization, typification, condensation of facts objectively existing in a language, means for expressing thoughts, and not a simple reproduction of these facts, but their creative processing. This creative use of the real possibilities of linguistic expression can sometimes take bizarre forms, bordering on the paradoxicality of use and the grotesque. Any expressive means of language can be used as a stylistic device if it is typified and generalized for certain purposes of artistic influence.
V. Vinogradov believes that some stylistic means of language have become isolated as techniques of artistic speech only; in other styles of speech they are not used, for example, improperly direct speech. However, the linguistic features of other styles of speech - newspaper, scientific, business, etc. - also influence the formation of individual stylistic means and determine their versatility. Linguistic means used in the same functions gradually develop a kind of new qualities, become conventional means of expressiveness and, gradually developing into separate groups, form certain stylistic devices. Therefore, an analysis of the linguistic nature of stylistic devices (many of which were described in ancient rhetoric, and subsequently in courses on the theory of literature), is an indispensable condition for a correct understanding of the features of their functioning.
The classification of some lexical means of a language is based on the principle of interaction between different types of lexical meanings. Many researchers have been involved in the classification of stylistic devices. Currently, the generally accepted and most used classifications are: Yu.M. Skrebneva, I.R. Galperina, G.N. Licha.
Let's look at some of them. According to Skrebnev's classification, stylistic devices are divided into figures of quantity and figures of quality. He includes hyperbole and meiosis (litote, understatement) among the former.
To the figures of quantity Yu.M. Skrebnev refers to techniques formed on the basis of expressing the comparison of two dissimilar objects (phenomena) or their properties with a common feature. In this case, a common feature objectively characterizes one of the compared objects. If this feature is attributed to the object to a greater extent, an expressive means arises - hyperbole, if to a much lesser extent - meiosis (a variety of the latter is litotes). Figures of quality include figures based on the transfer of meaning. Value transfer can be of three types:
- 1. adjacency transfer, which is based on the connection between two representations. Forms a metonymic group of tropes;
- 2. transfer in meaning, based on the comparison of two objects, and there is no connection between them. A metaphorical group of tropes is formed;
- 3. transfer by substitution is the use of words with the opposite meaning. For example, irony.
The first type includes metonymy in its two forms: synecdoche and periphrasis, and its varieties (euphemism and anti-euphemism). Metonymy is the transfer of a name from one object to another based on their contiguity. For example:
- - Crown for sovereign;
- - Homer for Homer's poems;
- - Wealth for rich people. He drank a whole glass of whiskey.
A type of metonymy is synecdoche. This trope consists of replacing the plural with a singular, using the name of a part instead of the whole, a particular instead of a general, and vice versa.
Paraphrase from [Greek. pernfrasis] - a syntactical-semantic figure consisting of replacing a one-word name of an object or action with a descriptive multi-word expression. Euphemism (from the Greek euphemia - abstinence from inappropriate words, softened expression), replacement of rude or harsh words and expressions with softer ones, as well as some proper names - with symbols.
The second type is metaphor. Skrebnev describes metaphor as an expressive renaming based on the similarity of two objects. For example:
- - She is a flower;
- - People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
According to Skrebnev, metaphor also includes such varieties as: allusion, personification and antonomasia. The third type is irony. Yu.M. Skrebnev notes that the term “irony”, derived from the Greek word “eironeia” (“hidden ridicule”), denotes a trope based on the direct opposition of meaning to meaning (meaning here refers to the traditional content of a linguistic unit, and meaning is understood as the actual value units).
Yu.M. Skrebnev distinguishes two types of irony. The first type of irony refers to irony in language, that is, to such statements that cannot be perceived in a literal sense (some linguists call this type of irony anti-phrase). For example: That's a pretty kettle of fish! A fine friend you are!
Skrebnev classifies the second type of irony as the vast majority of statements that can be perceived either in a literal meaning or in an ironic sense. In oral speech, irony is often emphasized by emphatic intonation. In written language, its typical markers are quotation marks and italics. More often than not, the author’s true point of view is revealed by the situation.
Yu.M. Skrebnev refers to irony as two schemes for creating ironic meaning: “criticism hidden under praise” and the more rare, in his words, “praise hidden under criticism.” Thus, the author does not consider negative modality necessary for irony. Irony can be expressed either by words or phrases, or by sentences, or even by an entire artistic narrative. Yu.M. Skrebnev gives an example of the expression of irony by an entire narrative, such as “Vanity Fair” by W. Thackeray or “Faithful Friend” by O. Wilde.
Unlike Leach and Galperin, Skrebnev does not classify expressive means and stylistic devices into language levels. First of all, Skrebnev divides stylistics into paradigmatic stylistics (or stylistics of units) and syntagmatic stylistics (or stylistics of consequences). He then considers the levels of language and considers all stylistically similar phenomena according to this level of principle in both paradigmatic and syntagmatic stylistics.
He also clearly identifies another level, complementing it with phonetics, morphology, lexicology, and adding semasiology (or semantics) to syntax. According to Skrebnev, the relationship between these five levels and the two aspects of stylistic analysis is two-way.
This linguistic material of these levels provides stylistic features studied by paradigmatic and syntagmatic stylistics. The difference lies in their different structures.
Paradigmatic stylistics contains five levels:
- 1. phonetic;
- 2. morphological;
- 3. lexical;
- 4. syntactic;
- 5. semasiological.
Paradigmatic semasiology studies the transfer of meanings, known as tropes. Paths (Greek: tropos - turn, turn, image) are words that acquire a figurative meaning, capable of losing their nominative function in an artistic context and acquiring bright expressive coloring and stylistic figures, calling them figurative and expressive means.
Stylistic means are varied and numerous, but they are all based on the same linguistic principle on which the entire mechanism of language is built: comparison of phenomena and establishment of similarities and differences between them, contrast and equivalence.
In Leach's classification of stylistic devices, the main criterion is linguistic deviation from the norm. Since the material of our research is poetry, in the future we will turn to lexical devices. He points out that it is common for writers and poets to be said to use language in unorthodox ways and to be allowed some degree of poetic license in depicting the real world. “Poetic freedom” refers to a note of piety, a historical period, poetry. Leach bases his classification on the principle of distinction between deviation from the norm and the nominal meaning of an object. Among the features of deviations from the norm, he identifies paradigmatic and syntagmatic deviations. According to Leach, all figures should be divided into syntagmatic and paradigmatic.
The distinction between deviance and norm, according to Leach, can be explained by metaphor, which involves the semantic transfer of combinable compounds. Another example of deviation from the norm is personification. In this case, we are dealing with purely grammatical oppositions: personal - impersonal; animate - inanimate; concrete - abstract. This type of deviation entails the use of an inanimate noun in a context appropriate to a personal noun. For example: As Connie had said, she handled just like any other airplane, except that she had better manners than most. In this example, she seems to support airplane and personify it at the grammatical level. The deviant use of she in this sentence is enhanced with better manners, which can be associated with people.
Leach defines this type of deviation from the norm as “specific deviation from the norm” because, as he explains, this deviation is an unexpected, unpredictable choice that leads to a violation of the norm, i.e., deviation from it. He compares this to what the Prague School of linguistics calls “high-priority problem solving.”
Leach notes that unlike paradigmatic figures, syntagmatic features are based on opposition. The syntagmatic sequence of linguistic units presupposes a choice of equivalents that must be made in various aspects of this sequence, while the author repeatedly selects these units. Leach illustrates this through the use of alliteration. For example, in place of the sentence “Robert turned over a hoop in a circle,” we would have a deliberate excess of the “r” sound in “Robert Rowley rolled a round roll round.”
Basically, the difference described by Leach between paradigmatic and syntagmatic deviations from the norm is considered by him as: in the first case it is a redundancy in choice, and in the second case it is a gap in the subsequent.
This classification includes many other divisions and details that are described in Leach's book. This theory was created by him to analyze stylistic forms, considered as deviant forms from the lexical and grammatical norms of the language.
The classification of some lexical stylistic means of language is based on the principle of interaction of different types of lexical meanings.
Thus, a stylistic device is a method that is consciously, with a specific purpose, used by a poet or writer to more accurately express his thoughts, to enhance the figurative and expressive function of speech. Expressive means have much in common with stylistic devices, but these two concepts are not synonymous. The generally accepted classifications at present are those of Yu.M. Skrebneva, I.R. Galperina, G.N. Licha. Yu.M. Skrebnev divides figures into figures of quality and quantity, and unlike I.R. Galperin and G.N. Lich, the scientist does not classify stylistic devices into language levels (lexical, phonetic, morphological, syntactic, semasiological).
Lecture 14
Stylistics deals with the effect of the choice and use of linguistic means in different conditions of communication. In every developed literary language there are more or less definite systems of linguistic expression that differ from each other in the features of the use of common linguistic means. In each of these systems, one group of means can be distinguished, which is the leading, the most noticeable, the most significant. Thus, terminology is a lexical and phraseological feature of scientific prose. However, terminology alone does not provide grounds for separating scientific prose into an independent system. The systematic nature of the use of linguistic means is manifested primarily in the interaction and interdependence of all basic means used in a given text.
The systematic nature of the use of linguistic means leads to the fact that in various spheres of language use the choice of words and the nature of their use, the predominant use of certain syntactic structures, the peculiarities of the use of figurative means of language, the use of various methods of connection between parts of a statement, etc. are normalized. systems are called speech styles or speech styles. Style is a socially conscious and functionally conditioned, internally unified set of methods of use, selection and combination of means of speech communication in the sphere of one or another popular, national language, correlated with other similar methods of expression that serve other purposes, perform other functions in speech social practice of this people.
The analysis of the language of artistic works is carried out with the division of stylistic means into visual and expressive.
Visual means in this case, all types of figurative use of words, phrases and phonemes are called, uniting all types of figurative names with the general term ohm"paths". Figurative means serve for description and are predominantly lexical. This includes types of figurative use of words and expressions such as metaphor, metonymy, hyperbole, litotes, irony, periphrase And etc.
expressive means, or figures of speech, do not create images, but increase the expressiveness of speech and enhance its emotionality with the help of special syntactic structures: inversion, rhetorical question, parallel constructions, contrast, etc.
At the present stage of development of stylistics, these terms are preserved, but the level achieved by linguistics allows them to be given a new interpretation. Visual means can be characterized as paradigmatic, since they are based on the association of words and expressions chosen by the author with other words close to them in meaning and therefore potentially possible, but not represented in the text, words in relation to which they are given preference.
Expressive means are not paradigmatic, but syntagmatic, since they are based on the linear arrangement of parts and their effect depends precisely on the arrangement.
The division of stylistic means into expressive and figurative is arbitrary, since figurative means, i.e. tropes also perform an expressive function, and expressive syntactic means can participate in the creation of imagery, in the image.
In addition to the division into figurative and expressive means of language, the division into expressive means of language and stylistic devices is quite widespread, with the division of language means into neutral, expressive and stylistic proper, which are called techniques. Under stylistic device understand the intentional and conscious strengthening of any typical structural and/or semantic feature of a linguistic unit (neutral or expressive), reaching generalization and typification and thus becoming a generative model. With this approach, the main differential feature becomes the intentionality or purposefulness of the use of one or another element, as opposed to its existence in the language system.
Some categories of words in a language, especially qualitative adjectives and qualitative adverbs, can, in the process of use, lose their basic, subject-logical meaning and appear only in the emotional meaning of enhancing quality. In such combinations, when restoring the internal form of the word, attention is drawn to the logically mutually exclusive concepts contained in the components of the combination. It was this feature in a typified form that gave rise to a stylistic device called an oxymoron.
Along with linguistic figurative and expressive means, it should also be mentioned thematic stylistic means. The theme is the reflection of a selected area of reality in a literary work. Whether the author is talking about a trip to exotic countries or a walk through an autumn forest, about lush feasts or prisoners in a dungeon, the choice of topic is inextricably linked with the artistic task, and therefore has a stylistic function, is a means of influencing the reader and a reflection of the writer’s worldview. Each literary movement gives preference to a specific set of themes.
In modern science, a new approach to the interpretation of expressive means of fiction has emerged, based on new principles. The detailed classification of the means themselves, developed at previous stages of the development of science, is preserved, but occupies an auxiliary, and not the main position. The main stylistic opposition becomes the opposition between the norm and deviation from the norm or between traditionally denoting And situationally denoting.
Situational replacement of a traditional designation with its rarer equivalent increases expressiveness. Any trope - metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, hyperbole, irony, etc. - is based precisely on the replacement of a traditional designation with a situational designation.
The problem of deviation from the norm is one of the central issues of stylistics. There is an opinion that stylistic effect depends primarily on deviations and that the very essence of the language of poetry lies in the violation of norms.
Others, on the contrary, argue that aesthetic pleasure depends on orderliness and that works devoid of tropes and figures of speech, written according to the principle, can also create an aesthetic effect. autologies, those. the use of words in a poetic text only in their literal meaning, and that the absence of devices is also a kind of device (minus device). Truth lies in the dialectical unity of these two opposites. Deviations from the norm, accumulating, create a new norm with an increment of value and a certain orderliness, and this new norm can be changed again in the future.
Linguists say that in language there are constant and variable quantities. The constant values are those that form the basis of the structure of the language and the strict rules that exist at all its levels. Their violation cannot create additional meanings, it only creates nonsense. For example, the order of morphemes in a word is rigidly fixed, and the prefix cannot be moved from the beginning of the word to its end. In modern English, the place of the article in relation to the noun it defines is also constant: the article necessarily precedes the noun. For the phonetic level, important constants are the set of positions in which certain phonemes may or may not occur.
On the other hand, there are rules that allow for variation, and variation introduces additional meanings. There is, for example, a normal, traditional order of the members of a sentence, which in English is relatively strict; deviations from this order - the so-called inversion - give a significant stylistic effect, highlighting and strengthening certain words. But there is also a grammatical inversion (interrogative form), which is not expressive.
One of the types of inversion has acquired the character of a grammatical norm, conveying the meaning of interrogativeness, but this norm can, in turn, be violated: an expressive question can be asked with direct word order.
Vocabulary provides the greatest opportunities for choice and variation. It is convenient to take here either the dominant of the corresponding synonymous series or the most probable word in this context as the traditional designation. Replacing a neutral and frequent dominant word with one of its rarer synonyms is stylistically relevant.
Deviations from the norm can occur at any level: graphic, phonetic, lexical, morphological, syntactic, at the level of images and plot, etc.
In Russian linguistics the term has already been more or less established transposition, those. the use of words and forms with unusual grammatical meanings and/or with unusual subject reference. Transposition is expressed in a violation of valence connections, which creates additional connotations of evaluativeness, emotionality, expressiveness or stylistic relevance, as well as in the semantic complication of lexical meaning. There is another term for the same phenomenon - grammatical metaphor.
The writer receives greater freedom of choice in the sense of organizing the text outside the sentence: in the sense of text sequence, frame structures, parallel structures, etc. All this falls within the purview of stylistics.
So, the contrast between the traditionally denoting and the situationally denoting is the contrast between the simplest, most frequent, and therefore the most probable use of linguistic elements and the one that the writer chose in this message.
Stylistic means are varied and numerous, but they are all based on the same linguistic principle on which the entire mechanism of language is built: comparison of phenomena and establishment of similarities and differences between them, contrast and equivalence.
From information theory it is known that a message, text and speech can be considered as a probabilistic process, the main patterns of which are described by the distribution of probabilities of its elements: graphic, phonetic, lexical, syntactic structures, topics, etc. and their combinations. It is natural to assume that the reader’s perception of the text and its decoding is based on probabilistic forecasting. The reader has at his disposal a certain probabilistic model of language, which gives him an idea of some average norm for a given type of text and allows him to notice deviations from it. Since when deviating from the norm, the process of understanding slows down somewhat, the deviation turns out to be noticeable. Therefore, the reader can actually perceive the stylistic effect as the relationship between the element or combinations of elements that are most common for a given situation, and the deviation from the norm that he can notice in the text.
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List of the most commonly used stylistic devices:
1. ALLITERATION - repetition in poetic speech (less often in prose) of the same consonant sounds in order to enhance the expressiveness of artistic speech; one of the types of sound recording.
2. ALLUMISION - a hint through a similar-sounding word or mention of a well-known real fact, historical event, literary work.
3. AMPLIFIATION - 1) an oratorical and stylistic technique of pumping epithets, images, synonyms, comparisons, etc. into a phrase to enhance the effect of speech on the reader (listener); 2) the accumulation in a literary work of unnecessary phrases and expressions that are not necessary for this work.
4. AMPHIBOLYNAME - ambiguity of expression that arises as a result of a number of stylistic reasons: 1) structural ambiguity in the construction of a sentence, most often ambiguity, when the subject in the nominative case is difficult to distinguish from the direct object in the accusative case; 2) unsuccessful transfer of part of a phrase from one line to another in violation of the syntactic order of words; 3) an overly complex or confusing syntactic construction of a phrase in the presence of a sharp grammatical inversion and in the absence of precise punctuation.
5. ANACHRONYMOUS - intentional or accidental rearrangement by the author of historical facts in a literary work, mention of a person or object belonging to another era or time.
6. ANTICLIMMAX - one of the types of gradation, the arrangement in poetic (and sometimes in everyday) speech of words or expressions in a descending order in terms of intonation strength and meaning.
7. ANTITHEMZA - a sharp opposition of concepts, positions, images, states, etc. in artistic or oratory speech.
8. ARGOTYMS - words and figures of speech, borrowed from one or another argot, used as a stylistic device (usually to characterize the speech of a character in a work of fiction).
9. ARCHAIMZMS, IMSTORISM - obsolete, obsolete words or old grammatical forms, sometimes used in poetic speech to enhance artistic expressiveness (solemnity, ridicule, irony) or to convey a certain flavor of the era.
10. AFORIZM - a saying that expresses any original thought with extreme brevity in a polished form.
11. VULGARIMS - rude words not accepted in literature or expressions that are incorrect in form, inserted into the text of a work of art to give it a certain everyday flavor or as a deliberate stylistic element that reduces the high tone of the work.
12. GALLICYMZMS - words borrowed from the French language (coat, coat, frill, swagger), or a figure of speech compiled according to the French model.
13. GERMANYMS - words borrowed from the German language (accountant, sandwich, dance master) or figures of speech, compiled according to German speech patterns.
14. HYPEEMRBOLA - a figurative expression that exaggerates any action, object, phenomenon; used to enhance the artistic impression.
15. GRADUATION - consistent intensification or, conversely, weakening of comparisons, images, epithets, metaphors and other expressive means of artistic speech. There are two types of gradation - climax (ascent) and anti-climax (descent).
16. DESCRНPTIO - one of the types of retardation in a work of art (description of nature, setting, everyday life). Descriptio is a stylistic device that delays the development of the plot, but at the same time is a lateral device for the development of the narrative as a whole. Descriptio is found in all great works of art - novels, stories, poems.
17. ZAMUM (abstruse language) is speech devoid of semantic meaning, in which the relationship between the signifier and the signified either does not exist, or is established arbitrarily and each time anew. It is found in ancient magical texts, folklore (spells, teasers), and in everyday speech (in a purely expressive function). The Russian futurists who proposed the term use an experimental poetic language based on onomatopoeia, arbitrary sound combinations and illogical word transformations.
18. ZemVGMA - a stylistic device, the construction of a long speech period in such a way that in a sentence with homogeneous subordinate clauses, the predicate in verb form is placed at the beginning of the period, and later it is implied.
19. VILLAGE - a dissonant accumulation of vowels at the junction of two or three words. Gaping is often found in Russian poetry.
20. Allegory - depiction of an abstract idea through a specific, clearly represented image.
21. IROMNIA - subtle ridicule, covered with external politeness; this stylistic device is also called antiphrasis.
22. PUN - a play on words, a turn of phrase, a joke based on a comic play on the sound similarity of dissimilar words or phrases.
23. KATAHREMZA - a combination of words, concepts, expressions that are contradictory, but not contrasting in nature, contrary to their literal meaning.
24. CLIMMAX - one of the types of gradation, the arrangement of words and expressions in a phrase in order of their increasing meaning.
25. RING - a compositional and stylistic device that consists of repeating the initial words or individual sounds at the end of a poetic line (stanza or entire work).
26. CONTAMINATION - 1) interaction of linguistic units that are close in meaning or sound (most often words or phrases), leading to the emergence, not always natural, of new units or to the development of a new meaning in one of the original units; 2) textual technique, combining texts from different editions of one work.
27. LITOmTA - 1) definition of any concept or object by negating the opposite; 2) understatement of the subject, which has another name - reverse hyperbole.
28. LOGOGRIF - 1) a stylistic device for constructing a phrase or verse by selecting such words, the sequential combination of which gives a picture of a gradual decrease in sounds (or letters) of the original long word; 2) a word game, which consists in making other short words from the letters of one long word.
29. MAmKSIMA - a type of aphorism, a type of maxim that is moralistic in content; usually expressed in a stating or didactic form.
30. PARTELLATION (in literature) - an expressive syntactic device of written literary language: a sentence is intonationally divided into independent segments, graphically highlighted as independent sentences
31. PERIPHRAMZ, periphramza - 1) a stylistic device that consists of replacing a word or phrase with a descriptive figure of speech, which indicates the characteristics of an object not directly named; 2) the writer’s use of the form of a well-known literary work, in which, however, sharply opposite content is given, most often satirical, with parallel observance of the syntactic structure and number of stanzas of the original, and sometimes with the preservation of individual lexical constructions.
32. PLEONAMZM - verbosity, unnecessary qualifying words in a phrase.
33. PROVINCIALISM - words and expressions that deviate from the norms that form the basis of the literary language; usually these are regional words used only in a given area.
34. COMMON WORDS (EXPRESSIONS) - words and expressions that deviate from the norms underlying the literary language; used in everyday speech and everyday communication.
35. PROFESSIONALISM - words and expressions used in speech by representatives of a certain profession.
36. REMINISCENCE - intentional or involuntary reproduction by the poet of a familiar phrasal or figurative structure from another work of art.
37. RETARDATION - a stylistic technique of slowing down the direct plot narration in a literary work by introducing descriptions of nature, appeals to the hero’s past, philosophical reasoning, lyrical digressions, etc.
38. SARKAMZM - caustic mockery, the highest degree of irony, based not only on the enhanced contrast of the implied and the expressed, but also on the immediate deliberate exposure of the implied.
39. SOLECISM - a term of ancient rhetoric, a violation of the morphological or grammatical norms of a literary language without prejudice to the meaning of a given word or expression.
40. STYLIZATION - reproduction of the features of the style of another era, literary movement, writing style of an author or the spoken language of a person belonging to a certain social stratum.
41. TAUTOLOGY - 1) a combination or repetition of the same or similar words (“true truth”, “entirely and completely”, “clearer than clear”); 2) an explicit circle in definition, proof, etc.; 3) a logically true formula (statement), a logical law.
42. EUPHYMIMZM, or euphemism - prudence, a polite expression (sometimes ostensibly polite), softening the direct meaning of a harsh, rude or intimate statement.
Stylistic techniques and means of expression
Stylistic devices and expressive means
Epithet (epithet [ˈepɪθet]) - a definition of a word expressing the author’s perception:
silvery laugh silvery laugh
a thrilling tale
a sharp smile
The epithet always has an emotional connotation. It characterizes an object in a certain artistic way and reveals its features.
a wooden table (wooden table) - only a description, expressed in an indication of the material from which the table is made;
a penetrating look (penetrating look) - epithet.
Comparison (simile [ˈsɪməli]) is a means of likening one object to another on any basis in order to establish similarities or differences between them.
The boy seems to be as clever as his mother. The boy seems to be as smart as his mother.
Irony (irony [ˈaɪrəni]) is a stylistic device where the content of a statement carries a meaning that is different from the direct meaning of this statement. The main purpose of irony is to evoke a humorous attitude in the reader towards the facts and phenomena described.
She turned with the sweet smile of an alligator. She turned around with a sweet alligator smile.
But irony is not always funny; it can be cruel and offensive.
How clever you are! You're so clever! (Implies the opposite meaning - stupid.)
Hyperbole (hyperbole) is an exaggeration aimed at enhancing the meaning and emotionality of a statement.
I have told you it a thousand times. I've told you this a thousand times.
Litotes/Understatement (litotes [ˈlaɪtəʊtiːz]/understatement [ˈʌndə(r)ˌsteɪtmənt]) - understatement of the size or meaning of an object. Litotes is the opposite of hyperbole.
a cat-sized horse
Her face isn't a bad one. She has a good face (instead of “good” or “beautiful”).
Periphrasis/Paraphrase/Periphrase (periphrasis) - an indirect expression of one concept with the help of another, its mention by not direct naming, but description.
The big man upstairs hears your prayers. The big man above hears your prayers (by "big man" we mean God).
Euphemism (euphemism [ˈjuːfəˌmɪzəm]) is a neutral expressive device used to replace uncultured and rude words in speech with softer ones.
toilet → lavatory/loo toilet → restroom
Oxymoron (oxymoron [ˌɒksiˈmɔːrɒn]) - creating a contradiction by combining words that have opposite meanings. The suffering was sweet! The suffering was sweet!
Zeugma (zeugma [ˈzjuːɡmə]) - omitting repeated words in similar syntactic constructions to achieve a humorous effect.
She lost her bag and mind. She lost her bag and her mind.
Metaphor (metaphor [ˈmetəfɔː(r)]) is the transfer of the name and properties of one object to another based on the principle of their similarity.
floods of tears
a storm of indignation
a shadow of a smile
pancake/ball → the sun
Metonymy (metonymy) - renaming; replacing one word with another.
Note: Metonymy must be distinguished from metaphor. Metonymy is based on contiguity, on the association of objects. Metaphor is based on similarity.
Examples of metonymy:
The hall applauded. The hall welcomed us (by “hall” we mean not the room, but the spectators in the hall).
The bucket has spilled. The bucket splashed (not the bucket itself, but the water in it).
Synecdoche (synecdoche) is a special case of metonymy; naming a whole through its part and vice versa.
The buyer chooses the quality products. The buyer selects quality goods (by “buyer” we mean all buyers in general).
Antonomasia (antonomasia [ˌantənəˈmeɪzɪə]) is a type of metonymy. Instead of a proper name, a descriptive expression is used.
The Iron Lady The Iron Lady
Casanova Casanova
Mr. All-Know
Inversion (inversion [ɪnˈvɜː(r)ʃ(ə)n]) is a complete or partial change in the direct order of words in a sentence. Inversion imposes logical tension and creates emotional coloring.
Rude am I in my speech. I am rude in my speech.
Repetition (repetition [ˌrepəˈtɪʃ(ə)n]) is an expressive means used by the speaker in a state of emotional tension and stress. Expressed in the repetition of semantic words.
Stop! Don"t tell me! I don"t want to hear this! I don"t want to hear what you"ve come for. Stop it! Do not tell me! I don't want to hear this! I don't want to hear what you came back for.
Anadiplosis (anadiplosis [ˌænədəˈpləʊsɪs]) is the use of the last words of the previous sentence as the beginning words of the next.
I was climbing the tower and the stairs were trembling. And the stairs were trembling under my feet. I climbed the tower, and the steps shook. And the steps shook under my feet.
Epiphora (epiphora [ɪˈpɪf(ə)rə]) is the use of the same word or group of words at the end of each of several sentences.
Strength is given to me by fate. Luck is given to me by fate. And failures are given by fate. Everything in this world is given by fate. Strength was given to me by fate. Luck was given to me by fate. And failure was given to me by fate. Everything in the world is decided by fate.
Anaphora/Monophony (anaphora [əˈnaf(ə)rə]) - repetition of sounds, words or groups of words at the beginning of each speech passage.
What's the hammer? What the chain? Whose hammer was it, whose chains,
In what furnace was your brain? To seal your dreams?
What the anvil? What dread grasp Who took up your swift swing,
Dare its deadly terrors clasp? Got mortal fear?
("The Tiger" by William Blake; Translation by Balmont)
Polysyndeton/Multi-union (polysyndeton [ˌpɒli:ˈsɪndɪtɒn]) - a deliberate increase in the number of conjunctions in a sentence, usually between homogeneous members. This stylistic device emphasizes the significance of each word and enhances the expressiveness of speech.
I will either go to the party or study up or watch TV or sleep. I will either go to a party or study for an exam or watch TV or go to bed.
Antithesis/Contrast (antithesis [ænˈtɪθəsɪs]/contraposition) - a comparison of images and concepts that are opposite in meaning or opposite emotions, feelings and experiences of the hero or author.
Youth is lovely, age is lonely, youth is fiery, age is frosty. Youth is beautiful, old age is lonely, youth is fiery, old age is frosty.
Important: Antithesis and antithesis are two different concepts, but in English they are denoted by the same word antithesis [æn"tɪƟɪsɪs]. A thesis is a judgment put forward by a person, which he proves in some reasoning, and an antithesis is a judgment opposite to the thesis.
Ellipsis (ellipsis [ɪˈlɪpsɪs]) is the deliberate omission of words that do not affect the meaning of the statement.
Some people go to priests; others to poetry; I to my friends. Some people go to priests, others to poetry, I go to friends.
Aposiopesis (aposiopesis [ˌapə(ʊ)ˌsʌɪəˈpiːsɪs]) - a sudden stop in speech, making it unfinished; interrupting one sentence and starting a new one.
I if only could I ... But now is not the time to tell it. If only I could, I... But now is not the time to talk about it (instead of an ellipsis in English, a dash can be used. More information about punctuation can be found in the material “Punctuation Marks”).
A rhetorical question (rhetoric/rhetorical questions [ˈretərɪk/rɪˈtɒrɪk(ə)l ˈkwestʃ(ə)nz]) is a question that does not require an answer, since it is already known in advance. A rhetorical question is used to enhance the meaning of a statement, to give it greater significance.
Have you just said something? Did you say something? (Like a question asked by a person who did not hear the words of another. This question is asked not in order to find out whether the person said something at all or not, since this is already known, but in order to find out exactly what he said.
Pun/Wordplay (pun) - jokes and riddles containing puns.
What is the difference between a schoolmaster and an engine-driver?
(One trains the mind and the other minds the train.)
What is the difference between a teacher and a driver?
(One guides our minds, the other knows how to drive a train).
Interjection (interjection [ˌɪntə(r)ˈdʒekʃ(ə)n]) is a word that serves to express feelings, sensations, mental states, etc., but does not name them.
O! Oh! Ah! ABOUT! Oh! Oh! Oh!
Aha! (Aha!)
Pooh! Ugh! Ugh! ugh!
Gosh! Damn it! Oh shit!
Hush! Quiet! Shh! Tsits!
Fine! Fine!
Yah! Yah?
Gracious Me! Gracious! Fathers!
Christ! Jesus! Jesus Christ! Good gracious! Goodness gracious! Good heavens! Oh my god! (Lord! My God!
Cliché/Stamp (cliche [ˈkliːʃeɪ]) is an expression that has become banal and hackneyed.
Live and learn. Live and learn.
Proverbs and sayings [ˈprɒvɜː(r)bz ændˈseɪɪŋz]).
A shut mouth catches no flies. Even a fly cannot fly into a closed mouth.
Idiom/Set expression (idiom [ˈɪdiəm] / set phrase) is a phrase whose meaning is not determined by the meaning of its constituent words taken individually. Due to the fact that the idiom cannot be translated literally (the meaning is lost), difficulties in translation and understanding often arise. On the other hand, such phraseological units give the language a bright emotional coloring.
No matter
Cloud up Frown
1.1 Lexical expressive means
By expressive means of language we understand such morphological, syntactic and word-formation forms of language that serve to emotionally or logically enhance speech. These forms of language have been worked out by social practice, understood from the point of view of their functional purpose and recorded in grammars and dictionaries. Their use is gradually being normalized. Rules for using such expressive means of language are developed.
According to the classification of I.R. Halperin's means of expression and stylistic devices are divided into 3 large groups: phonetic, lexical and syntactic.
Lexical expressive means and stylistic devices are in turn divided into 3 subsections, interacting with the semantic nature of the word, but representing different criteria for choosing means and different semantic processes.
A) means are based on the interaction of dictionary and contextual meanings:
Metaphor is a hidden comparison made by applying the name of one object to another and thus revealing some important feature of the second, based on association by similarity (A mighty Fortress is our God).
A metaphor expressed in one way is called simple. An expanded, or extended, metaphor consists of several metaphorically used words that create a single image, i.e. from a series of interconnected and complementary simple metaphors that enhance the motivation of the image. The function of expanded metaphors is the vagueness and nebulosity of the created image in order to revive imagery that has already faded or is beginning to fade, as well as a way to accurately reflect reality in artistic terms.
Metaphors can also be speech and language. A speech metaphor (stylistic device) is original, fresh, is usually a way of accurately reflecting reality in an artistic way and always gives some evaluative moment to the statement. Linguistic metaphor (an expressive means of language), petrified with erased imagery, acquires a tinge of cliché (the ray of hope, floods of tears, storm of indignation, flight of fancy, gleam of mirth, shadow of a smile). Their use is common.
Metaphor can be plot/compositional; it is implemented at the level of the entire text. George Updike's novel uses the myth of the centaur Chiron to depict the life of a small-town American teacher, Caldwell. The parallel with the centaur elevates the image of a humble schoolteacher to a symbol of humanity, kindness and nobility.
A national metaphor is characteristic of a certain nation: the English word “bear”, in addition to the literal meaning of “bear,” also has a slang meaning of “policeman.” Here it would be appropriate to remember that in the mythology of Germanic tribes, the bear is a symbol of order.
Traditional metaphors are metaphors that are generally accepted in any period or in any literary movement. Thus, English poets, describing the appearance of beauties, widely used such traditional, constant metaphorical epithets as pearly teeth, coral lips, ivory neck, hair of golden wire;
Metonymy is a trope based on association by contiguity. It consists in the fact that instead of the name of one object, the name of another is used, connected with the first by a constant internal or external connection (wealth for rich people). This connection can be between an object and the material from which it is made; between a place and the people who are in it; between the process and its result; between action and instrument, etc. The features of metonymy in comparison with metaphor are that metonymy, creating an image, preserves it when deciphering the image, while in metaphor, deciphering the image actually destroys, destroys this image. Metonymy is usually used in the same way as metaphor, for the purpose of figuratively depicting the facts of reality, creating sensual, visually more tangible ideas about the described phenomenon, and adds expressiveness. It can simultaneously reveal the author’s subjective and evaluative attitude towards the phenomenon being described.
Metonymy can be national/usual (crown-royal power, sword-symbol of war, plough-world labor), linguistic/dead - common nouns turn into proper ones (mackintosh, sandwich) and speech - “until the very grave I could not forget her face” - of death.
Irony is the expression of ridicule by using a word in a meaning exactly opposite to its basic meaning, and with exactly opposite connotations, feigned praise, which in reality means blame, these two meanings are actually mutually exclusive. Irony does not necessarily cause laughter; on the contrary, feelings of irritation, dissatisfaction, and regret can also be expressed. The main function of irony is to evoke a humorous attitude towards the reported facts and phenomena. The true meaning is veiled by the literal or contradicts it. Irony is based on contrast. (It must be delightful to find oneself in a foreign country without a penny in the pocket.)
B) words are based on the interaction of initial and derived meanings:
Polysemy (polysemy) - the presence of more than one meaning in a language;
Zeugma is a figure of linguistic comedy. It syntactically combines two semantically incompatible members of the sentence. Most often, the supporting element of such a construction acts simultaneously as an element of a phraseological phrase and as an element of a free phrase (He lost his hat and his temper);
A pun is a figure of speech when two meanings of the same word or two similar-sounding words are used in the same context. The meaning of this phenomenon is to create a comic effect or as a rhyme (I'll beat you - hit the roll).
C) the group compares means based on the opposition of logical and emotional meanings:
Interjections are characterized by expressiveness. They express the speaker’s feelings through corresponding concepts and are expressive means of language. Their function is emotional emphasis.
Exclamatory words - pronouns, adverbs, expressively coloring statements;
An epithet is an expressive means based on highlighting a quality, a sign of the phenomenon being described, which is formalized in the form of attributive words or phrases that characterize this phenomenon from the point of view of individual perception of this phenomenon. An epithet is always subjective, it always has an emotional meaning or emotional connotation. The emotional meaning in an epithet can accompany the subject-logical meaning, or exist as the only meaning in the word. The epithet is considered by many researchers as the main means of establishing an individual, subjective-evaluative attitude towards the phenomenon being described. Through the epithet, the desired reaction to the statement on the part of the reader is achieved. In English, as in other languages, the frequent use of epithets with specific qualifiers creates stable combinations. Such combinations are gradually becoming phraseological, i.e. turn into phraseological units. Epithets seem to be assigned to certain words. The main stylistic function is to reveal the author’s individual evaluative attitude to the subject of thought, introducing expressiveness.
Epithets can also be divided into linguistic (constant) (green wood, salt tears, true love), speech (the smiling sun, the frowning cloud, the sleepless pillow), epithets with inversion (this devil of a woman instead of this devilish woman) ;
Oxymoron or oxymoron is a trope consisting of combining two words of contrasting meaning (usually containing antonymous semes), revealing the inconsistency of what is being described. It is based on semantic incompatibility: “low skyscraper”, “sweet sorrow”, “nice rascal”, “pleasantly ugly face”, “horribly beautiful”.
D) the group is based on the interaction of logical and nominal values:
Antonomasia (renaming) is one of the special cases of metonymy, which is based on the relationship between the place where an event occurred and the event itself, a person known for some act, activity and the act, activity itself.
Antonomasia is also divided into linguistic and speech. Antonomasia is the transformation of a proper name into a common noun (Don Juan), or the transformation of a word that reveals the essence of a character into the character’s own name, He is a Sheilock. (stingy), or replacing one's own name with a name associated with a given type of event or object.
The second subsection is based on the interaction between two lexical meanings simultaneously implemented in the context:
Comparison - two concepts, usually belonging to different classes of phenomena, are compared with each other according to any one of the features, and this comparison receives formal expression in the form of words such as: as, such as, as if, like, seem, etc. ;
A periphrasis redefines a concept, acting as a synonymous phrase in relation to a previously existing word - the designation of a given concept; in the form of a free phrase or a whole sentence, it replaces the name of the corresponding object or phenomenon.
An original paraphrase usually highlights one of the features of phenomena, which seems characteristic and essential in a given particular case. This highlighting of a new feature of the phenomenon being described simultaneously shows the author’s subjective attitude to what is being described. Traditional periphrases are those that are understandable even without the appropriate context, i.e., for disclosure, the meaning of which does not require explanatory text.
Speech paraphrases are used differently in different styles of speech and have various stylistic functions.
One of the functions of periphrasis, which has given this stylistic device a bad reputation, is the function of imparting sublimity and solemn elation to speech.
Periphrases can be divided into logical and figurative. Logical periphrases are those that, while highlighting some feature of an object, defining a concept in a new way, are not based on any image (the instruments of destruction). The basis of figurative periphrasis is metaphor or metonymy.
Its stylistic functions: figurative characteristics in meta-speech (jealousy - green eyed monster); pathos of speech, elation (the victory lord); creating a comic effect (scissors - the fatal).
Euphemisms are words and expressions that are used instead of words and expressions synonymous with them. These are words and phrases that appear in the language to denote concepts that already have names, but are considered for some reason unpleasant, rude, indecent or low. They are in the vocabulary of the language and are synonyms of words that previously denoted these concepts.
Functions of euphemisms: softening negative assessment; evasive, veiled expression of an unpleasant concept (I am thinking an unmentionable thing about your mother. (I.Shaw)); expressing irony and creating a comic effect (an old lady - a lady with doubtful age); political correctness (mentally retarded - a person with learning disabilities);
Hyperbole is an artistic technique of exaggeration, and such an exaggeration that, from the point of view of the real possibilities of realizing a thought, seems doubtful or simply incredible.
It is based on a metaphor (The man was like the Rock of Gibraltar.) Hyperboles are:
Erased/usual: (haven"t seen for ages, told you 40 times) (expressive); 2) speech: (writing desk was a size of a tennis court);
Meiosis (understatement) - there is an understatement of what is actually large (The wind is rather strong. She wore a pink hat, the size of a button.) This is a manifestation of restraint, politeness, which is very typical for the British.
Litota - (a type of meiosis) - affirmation through the denial of the opposite idea (not bad - very good. Her face was not unpretty.);
Allegory is the expression of an abstract idea in a detailed artistic image with the development of the situation and plot;
Personification (a subtype of allegory) is called a trope, which consists of transferring human properties to abstract concepts and inanimate objects, which is manifested in the valency characteristic of nouns - names of persons. This means that words used in this way can be replaced by the pronouns he and she, used in the possessive case and combined with verbs of speech, thinking, desire and other designations of actions and states characteristic of people. Sometimes the personification is marked with a capital letter.
The third subsection compares stable combinations of words in their interaction with the context:
Cliché - a standard stable figure of speech with frequent reproducibility (corrected to believe);
Proverbs are a combination of words that expresses a complete proposition;
Sayings are a combination of words that expresses a concept, i.e., has only a nominative function;
A maxim is the same proverb, but created not by the people, but by some individual representative of them - a writer, a thinker;
Quotes - exact reproduction of a segment of any text;
Disorder of set phrases.
The selection of expressive means of the English language has not yet been sufficiently carried out, and the analysis of these means is far from complete. There is still a lot of uncertainty here, since selection and analysis criteria have not yet been established.
1.2 Stylistic devices
A stylistic device is understood as a method of intentionally and consciously strengthening any typical structural or semantic feature of a linguistic unit, enhancing its expressiveness, achieving generalization and typification, and thus becoming a generative model.
The stylistic device, first of all, is highlighted and thereby contrasted with the expressive means by conscious literary processing of the linguistic fact.
A stylistic device, being a generalization, typification, condensation of means that objectively exist in a language, is not a naturalistic reproduction of these means, but transforms them qualitatively.
The essence of a stylistic device cannot be a deviation from commonly used norms, since in this case the stylistic device would actually be opposed to a linguistic norm. In fact, stylistic devices use the norm of the language, but in the process of using it they take on the most characteristic features of this norm.
In accordance with the linguistic nature and functions of the expressive means of language and stylistic devices of I.R. Halperin divides them into several groups.
A) Stylistic use of various types of lexical meanings:
1) Stylistic devices based on the interaction of dictionary and contextual subject-logical meanings:
a) relationships based on similarity of characteristics (metaphor),
b) relations by contiguity of concepts (metonymy),
c) relationships based on the direct and reverse meaning of the word (irony);
2) Stylistic devices based on the interaction of subject-logical and denominative meanings: antonomasia and its varieties;
3) Stylistic devices based on the interaction of subject-logical and emotional meanings: epithet, oxymoron, interjections, hyperbole;
4) stylistic devices based on the interaction of basic and derivative subject-logical meanings: zeugma, phraseological fusion.
B) Stylistic techniques for describing phenomena and objects: periphrases, euphemisms, comparison.
C) Stylistic use of phraseological units: sayings, proverbs, allusions, maxims, quotes.
Lexical expressive means are means that function in language to emotionally intensify an utterance,
are used to enhance the expressiveness of the statement; they are not associated with figurative meanings of the word. Such forms of language serve to enhance speech emotionally or logically. They have been worked out by social practice, understood from the point of view of their functional purpose and recorded in grammars and dictionaries. Their use is gradually being normalized. Rules for using such expressive means of language are developed.
Expressive means have a greater degree of predictability compared to stylistic devices.
Stylistics studies expressive means from the point of view of their use in different styles of speech, multifunctionality, and potential use as a stylistic device.
A stylistic device is the purposeful use of linguistic phenomena, including expressive means; it is limited to one level of language. Being a generalization, typification, condensation of means that objectively exist in language, it is not a naturalistic reproduction of these means, but transforms them qualitatively.
Such a stylistic phenomenon is the property of the individual artistic style of the author, the creative use of the way of naming phenomena inherent in the language.
This is a way of organizing a statement that enhances its expressiveness.
Based on the typification of the expressive means of language, stylistic devices are created.
All stylistic devices belong to expressive means, but not all expressive means are stylistic devices.
According to the classification of I.R. Galperin's lexical expressive means and stylistic devices are in turn divided into 3 subsections, interacting with the semantic nature of the word, but presenting different criteria for choosing means and different semantic processes.
The first subsection has 4 groups:
A) the means are based on the interaction of dictionary and contextual meanings: metaphor, metonymy, irony;
B) words are based on the interaction of initial and derivative meanings: polysemy, zeugma, pun;
C) the group compares means based on the opposition of logical and emotional meanings: interjections; exclamation words, epithet, oxymoron or oxymoron;
E) the group is based on the interaction of logical and nominal values: antonomasia.
The second subsection is based on the interaction between two lexical meanings, simultaneously implemented in the context: comparison, periphrasis, euphemisms, meiosis, litotes, allegory, personification.
The third subsection compares stable combinations of words in their interaction with the context: cliches, proverbs, sayings, maxims, quotes, allusions, disorder of stable phrases.