VSUE

Lectures on STYLISTICS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE Presented by Tamara Ivanovna Leontieva Foreign Languages Center, Department of Intercultural Communication and Translation 2008

Lexical Stylistic Devices Metonymy, Epithet

Contextual and Transferred Meanings

Words in a context

acquire additional lexical meanings, not fixed in dictionaries. They are

contextual

meanings.

Transferred

meaning is the interrelation between dictionary and contextual meanings of a word (

SD

).

What are the bases for SD?

•

Metaphor

(similarity).

is based on

affinity

•

Metonymy proximity

is based on (or symbol-referent relations).

•

Irony

is based on

opposition .

Definition of Metonymy

Metonymy

is based on

association

between dictionary and contextual meanings.

NB!

In a metonymy

the objects

(phenomena) have

common grounds of existence in reality.

NB! Common grounds

E.g

.:

cup

and

tea

;

hand

and

worker

;

Rome

and Catholic

belief

;

big bucks

and

wealth

;

underwear

and

reputation

;

beard

and

elderly age

(respect or irony); the

White House

and

the USA

;

Downing Street, 10

and the

British Government

, etc.

Types of Relations in a Metonymy 1

• A specific thing for an abstract notion:

salad days

,

bottle

,

grave

.

• The container instead of the thing contained:

Red Riding Hood, hall

,

town

.

• The material for the thing made of it:

kid

,

bronze

and

clay

.

Types of Relations in a Metonymy 2

• Instrument for the action: a good

whip

(about a horseman),in Russian:

кулак

аргумент

.

не

• The relation of proximity: The round

game table

was boisterous and noisy.

• Result instead of the cause: He (рыба)

takes the death

гибельный крючок).

( глотает

Types of Relations in a Metonymy 3

• A characteristic trait instead of the person:

Blue suit

grinned, might even have winked.

• An abstract notion meaning a feeling or emotion instead of the person possessing it: «Trouble, sir?» replied

subservience

, as if at a loss to understand a sinister allusion.

Synecdoche

Synecdoche

is based on a particular kind of metonymic

relationship

which may be considered

quantitative:

• A part stands for the whole or the whole for the part: May I put

a word

in?

Wheels

(a car), staged

hand

, hired

hand

.

• An individual stands for a class: “… и ликовал

француз

”

.

Antonomasia

It is a lexical SD in which a proper name is used instead of a common noun or vice versa: He is the

Napoleon

of crime; Mr.

Murdstone

,

Scrooge

, a lady killer is

Don Juan

, a traitor may be referred to as

Brutus

.

Two types of antonomasia

Metaphoric

(based on similarity ): The

Gioconda smile

. Look at those

Romeo and Juliet

. He is a regular

Sher lock Holmes

.

Metonymic

(based on association): He has sold his

Vandykes

. I’ve just listened to

Mozart

. Do you like

Brahms

?

Carl Sandburg

Fog

The fog comes On little cat feet. It sits looking Over harbour and city On silent haunches And then moves on.

SILVER

Walter de la Mare Slowly, silently, now the moon Walks through the night in her silver shoon; This way, and that, she peers, and sees Silver fruit upon silver trees; One by one the casements catch Her beams beneath the silvery thatch; Couched in his kennel, like a log, With paws of silver sleeps the dog;

SILVER

Walter de la Mare From their shadowy coat the white breasts peep Of doves in a silver-feathered sleep; A harvest mouse goes scampering by, With silver claws and a silver eye; And moveless fish in the water gleam, By silver reeds in a silver stream.

EPITHET

An

epithet

is a

colorful attribute

which characterizes a person, thing or phenome -non.

Poetic epithet

: a

steel

will.

Simple adjective

: a

steel

knife.

Function:

to reveal the emotionally colored individual attitude of the author towards the object described.

The structure of epithets

1.

Metaphoric

epithet: The

ghost of a smile

appeared on Soames’ face.

2.

Phrase

epithet: She gave him her best go to-hell look, and backed away from the counter.

3.

Transferred

epithet:

unbreakfasted

morn ing, a

disapproving

finger,

silver-feathered

sleep. We heard the

loud musicians

play,etc.

Read the following:

1. Galperin I.R. STYLISTICS, pp.140-142.

2. Беспальчикова Е.В. Обучение анализу текста // ИЯШ, 2002. - №2. - С.52-55 (blue file in the Resource Center).

3. Ивашкин Н.П. и др. Практикум по стилистике… - С.6-13.

4. Казакова Т.А. Практические основы перевода. - СПб.: Союз, 2000. - С.259-265.

Do the following exercises:

1. ИЯШ, 2002, №2. - Pp.53-54 (27 sentences) 2. Ивашкин и др. Ex. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, pp.13 18.

Take your time!