PARADIGMATIC SEMACIOLOGY

STUDIES STYLISTIC DEVICES BASED ON SHIFT (TRANSFER) OF MEANING. Subdivided into two basic groups: FIGURES OF QUANTITY and FIGURES OF QUALITY.

In figures of quantity the transfer is purely quantitative, we simply exaggerate or underestimate smth:

"I am frightened":: "I am scared to death" (exaggeration); "I am a bit uneasy" (underestimation). It is cold here :: It's freezing here :: It's kind of cool here. She is smart :: She is a genious :: She is not a fool. These devices are called figures of quantity^

 

In figures of quantity the figurative name and the traditional (non-figurative) name of the referent belong to the same semantic sphere: "He weighed about a ton" (was very heavy) or "Some old lady around a hundred years old was sitting at the type-writer" (very old).

In figures of quality the transfer is qualitative, i.e. the figurative and the traditional names of the referent belong to different semantic spheres. E.g. the traditional referent of the words "fox" or “bear” are wild animals, and the situational referents may be people of certain behavior - sly, heavy and clumsy. Swine – dirty|clean.

More examples: "to boil" - "to be angry, furious"; "sweet" -"pleasant, nice", etc.

 

FIGURES OF QUANTITY

Based on the most primitive type of replacement. Include HYPERBOLE and MEIOSIS (understatement). Both are based on an obvious disproportion of the real extent (size, amount) of the thing described and what is said about it. For instance, instead of saying "good" the speaker says "magnificent" or "capital" (exag.), or, on the contrary "tolerable", "decent" (underest.)

 

HYPERBOLE

A deliberate exaggeration of the real degree of quality, quantity or emotional intensity. It is the distortion of reality for the purpose of visualization or strengthening of the emotional effect.

Russian: сто лет тебя не видел, море цветов, умереть со скуки.

English: "I beg a thousand pardons!", "I was bored to death", "to sleep like a rock", etc.

These hyperboles are trite - being frequently used they lost their expressiveness. Stylistic (genuine) hyperboles are always individual creations.

Cf. in Russian: «Земля там так плодородна, что, кажется, посади оглоблю и вырастет тарантас».

In English: "She had a nose which was about two inches too long".

In both cases H. was used to achieve humorous effect.

The most common function og hyperbole is emphasis:

“The rain was thick: fish could have swam through the air”

 

H. is widely used in everyday colloquial speech in which feelings are not generally restrained. But at the same time it is an expressive literary device:

1. - I don't know any of my relations. Are they many?

- Tons. (Galsworthy)

2. Lady Macbeth: "Here is the smell of blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand".

Hamlet: "I loved Ophelia, forty thousand of brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up my sum".

In the last two examples Hyperbole serves to create a tone of solemnity, of tragedy. (a specific feature of Shakespearian style)

 

UNDERSTATEMENT

Is the opposite of H. Consists in weakening, reducing the real qualities of the object of speech:

"a few shillings" - about a considerable sum of money;

"I'm rather tired" - if one is exhausted;

"I'm a bit late" – if you come in the middle of the class.

 

I have a little present for you, she said and gave him a sack bulging with sovereigns

 

 

Understatement should not be mixed with certain varieties of H. When the referent is really small or insignificant and the speaker strengthens or emphasizes its smallness or insignificance, we deal with H. not U: She was a woman of pocket-size. She wore a hat the size of a button.

Understatement takes place when some thing normal or considerable is underevaluated.

 

Identify H or U

(a) "He’ll come in a second!" (H)

(b) "The performance was good. I kind of liked it" (U)

(c) "She was a woman of pocket-size" (H)

(d) "She could sort of scare you a bit" (U)

(e) - Marlow, we are waiting you in the office.

- Right now?

- Or sooner. (H)

(f) - Seen lots of murders, Poirot?

- One or two, said Poirot modestly. (U)

 

The psychological essence of U. is more complicated than that of H.: the hearer is expected to understand the intentional modesty (restraint, reserve) of the speaker, the discrepancy between what the speaker says about the object and what he or she really thinks about it.

A specific variety of understatement which consists in expressing an idea by means of complete or partial negation of the opposite idea is called LITOTES.

E.g. "He is no coward" (brave).

"She was dressed not without taste" (with great taste)

 

DOUBLE NEGATION IS A VARIETY OF LITOTES: "He said not without scorn", "Soames was not unlike a bulldog", etc.

 

In imaginative prose U. and L. may be used for various purposes:

(1) to convey the personage's modesty, reserve, dislike for emotional display:

"She was sort of cute, the blond one" (Salinger). I wouldn’t say no to a cut of tea.

(2) for character-drawing, e.g.: Galsworthy makes use of L. in order to emphasize the Forsytean reserve:

"Oh! And is she pretty?

Old Jolyon was too much of a Forsyte to praise anything freely, especially anything for which he had a genuine admiration...

"Not bad-looking".

(3) to achieve humorous effect;

O'Henry in "The Cop and the Anthem" describing Soapy - a homeless beggar - uses L. to create humorous connotations: "His ambitions were not of the highest". "He reeled off down the road, not unassisted by a vigorous shove from Anstley".

 

FIGURES OF QUALITY

Here the traditional and figurative names of the referent differ radically, they belong to different semantic spheres:

"peach" - about a girl;

“lion” – about a man

In traditional stylistics figures of quality are called tropes. Sometimes quantitative figures are also treated as tropes. A TROPE is any stylistically relevant transfer of a name.

 

We must distinguish 3 types of transfer:

- by contiguity (based upon real connection between the two notions): "He earned his leaving by his pen", The plans of Kremlin, Washington decided etc.

- by similarity (based on likeness of the two objects, real connection lacking completely): "His eyes were cold", "They greeted us warmly" - resemblance is imaginary, not real: we mean not temperature, but manner, appearance etc.

- by contrast (the use of words and expressions in the opposite meaning): "A fine friend you are!" (about a person who betrayed you), “Very clever” (if someone has acted stupidly)

 

Examples from Russian:

1) Не мигая слезятся от ветра безнадежные карие вишни

2) Слух обо мне пойдет по всей Руси великой

И назовет меня всяк сущий в ней язык

И гордый внук славян

И финн, и ныне дикий тунгус

И друг степей калмык.

3) В саду горит костер рябины красной

4) Страна березового ситца

5) И я провел безумный год

У шлейфа черного

 

 

METONYMY

А figure of replacement, a figure of quality. Transfer by continuity. M. is applying the name of an object to another object in some way connected with the first. E.g.:

"the gallery applauded" (the spectators);

"from cradle to grave" (from birth till death);

"to earn one's bread" (living).

The expressive force of metonymy is in its vividness and brevity.

 

There are two different kinds of metonymy: stereotyped (trite) and genuine (stylistic).

 

TRITE M. belongs to everyday stock of words and expressions and is dealt with in lexicology. Such metonymies do not impart any special expressive force to the narration:

"The kettle is boiling" (water);

"Washington decided..." (US administration), etc.

 

Set phrases like "to win lady's heart" may also be treated as trite metonymies, as being frequently used they have lost part of their expressiveness.

 

STYLISTIC (GENUINE) M. is a deliberate choice of an unusual name for a thing described. For instance, when HEMINGWAY IN “The Old Man and the Sea” says that the fish "desperately takes the death", instead of saying that it snaps the at the dangerous fishing-hook", he creates a new metonymy.

 

She took off her painful shoes

She gave a lipsticky smile

The surgically interesting products of the war in North Africa (seriously wounded soldiers).

 

TYPES OF METONYMIC TRANSFER:

- source of action instead of the action:

"Give every man thine ear and few thy voice" (Sh); He has found a sympathetic female ear somewhere and pours out his troubles

 

- the name of the instrument - the action performed by it:

"to earn one's living by one's pen";

 

- consequence instead of the cause: The fish desperately takes the death

(death - fishing hook);

 

- characteristic feature instead of the object itself:

"Blue suit grinned... But big nose in the grey suit still stared" (Priestly).

 

- symbol instead of the thing symbolized:

(a) To win lady’s heart

(b) "Scepter and crown must tumble down

And in the dust be equal made

With the poor crooked

Scythe and spade" (Shelly)

(c) part instead of the whole or vice versa (SYNECDOCHE):

"The small boy in buttons (uniform) carried the package (Hem); "There was a woodenleg in the line" (Drizer).

 

Symbolic book-titles: "The Moon and the Sixpence", "The Red and the Black", "Swang song" (the last action before death).

 

 

METAPHOR

 

Transfer of the name of an object to another object on the basis of similarity, likeness; there is no real connection between them (it exists only in the speaker's mind):

"The winter of life" (old age - Burns);

"The eye of heaven" (sun - Shakespeare);

 

TRITE: "a wave of anger", "to burn with desire".

FRESH (a product of the author's creative imagination): "The machine sitting at the desk was no longer a man. It was a busy New-York broker... " (O'Henry).

Instead of saying that the man was devoid of human feelings the writer calls him "a machine".

The clock has struck. Time was bleeding away

He felt the smell of coffee imprisoned in the can

After the rain, the earth will shout with grass

Romeo preparing to die at the feet of dead Juliet calls her lips "The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss

A dateless bargain to engrossing death"

 

Book-titles: "The Path of Thunder", "The Citadel", “ The Swan Song”, "Горячий снег", "Как закалялась сталь”.

The property of a thing which we make the basis of transfer may be of any kind: colour, form, character of motion, value etc -anything that might cause resemblance:

F. Bacon about books: "Some books are to be tasted, others swallowed, and some have to be chewed and digested"

 

Stylistic purposes of metaphor are numerous. It can be used

- to present an abstract notion as a concrete thing with vigour and vividness: "Take away love and life is a tomb".

- to create psychological portraits:

Driser metaphorically refers to Carry as "That little soldier of fortune" or "a half-equipped little knight". He also calls Druet "that old butterfly".

 

M. can be SIMPLE (has no bearing on the context) - consists of a word, phrase or sentence (see examples above).

 

PROLONGED - the central image is supported by two or more peripheral images. Thus Drizer describes Chicago as "a giant magnet drawing to itself from all quarters the hopeful and hopeless".

 

PERSONIFICATION - a variety of M. Attributing human properties to lifeless objects (things, thoughts, actions, intentions). In poetry and fiction P. is used to impart the dynamic force to the description or to reproduce the particular mood by which the events described are coloured.

E.g. "Mother Nature always blushes before disrobing"

"Love,free as air,

At sight of human ties

Spread his light wings

And in a moment flies".

Formal signals of P. are:

- the use of personal "he", "she": "The Night gently lays her hand on our fevered head...";

- direct address: "O, tender Night, scarf up the tender eye of the pitiful day";

- capitalised writing.

 

IRONY

Replacing a name by its opposite. Transfer based on opposition, contrast of two notions: "Very clever, aren't you?" (about someone who behaves in a foolish way).

Aims:

- critical evaluation of the thing described, creating connotations of mockery:

Dickens describing the inhuman conditions in a workhouse says: (Englishman): As the great champion of freedom and national independence, he conquers and annexes half the world and calls it colonization.

- humorous effect: He had a sweet smile of an alligator.

 

A peculiar case of irony is observed when coarse, rude words are used approvingly (blame stands for praise): "Clever bastard!', "Tough son-of-a-bitch!".

Irony as a trope should not be mixed with ironical colouring of the narration (when the author's attitude to the situation or to his characters is ironical, sarcastic or humorous: O'Henry about Soapy, or W. Thackeray in "Vanity Faif".

“She had an aunt who carefully instructed her to Christian principles. She so taught her Mohammedanism -- to make sure”.

 

Book-title; "The Quiet American".

 

Irony: polysemantic term

Trope or stylistic coloring (author’s attitude):

1) The bookshelf boasted half a dozen а books.

2) She was a charming old lady with a face like a bucket of mud and if she had washed her face since Coolige’s second term, I’ll eat my spare tire, rim and all.

3) She carefully instructed her to Christian principles and also taught her Mohammedanism – to make sure.

 

PERIPHRASIS

It is a description of an object used instead of its name. In a way related to metonymy though not necessarily a trope. May be non-figurative (the greatest Russian poet of the 19th century) and figurative (солнце русской поэзии). When figurative, it is a trope -- can be metaphoric, metonymic and ironic (the eye of heaven; his dream from Blackwood, the brains of our group - about the cleverest student; our most punctual – a students who is always late). Hospitals were full of surgically interesting products of the African war.

 

E.g. “Ladies and worser halves, dinner is ready”;

And then to the waiter he betrayed the fact that the minutest coin and himself were strangers" (O'H).

 

Перифразы в конвергенции с другими тропами:

1) I am not exactly five years old (litotes, = grown up, old enough);

2) He is a real Newton (metaphor, = very clever);

3) Keep everybody out except ceses that can’t walk (metonymy, = badly wounded);

4) All this culture stuff is very fine… but it’s not going to earn you the price of a sausage outside this door (hyperbole, =unprofitable);

5) He is biting the furniture (metaphor, = very excited);

6) The train goes at a snail’s speed (hyperbole, = slowly).

 

 

ALLEGORY

Is a variety of metaphor or metonymy. It is a description of a thingunder the name of another thing. Can be metaphoric and metonymic. Metonymic usually has symbolic nature: broken chains (allegory for freedom); a white dove (for peace).

 

Metaphoric is based on similarity of two things described (found in proverbs): "All is not gold that glitters"; "Still waters run deep" - beneath a quiet manner there may be great passion, knowledge or ability.

 

 

ANTONOMASIA

The use of a proper name instead of a common noun.

Metaphoric A. (when the name of some historical person or literary personage is used to describe another person possessing the same qualities:

"Every Caesar (a strong and powerful person) has his Brutus (a friend that betrays him).

Othello (a jelous husband);

Don Juan (an immoral individual);

Waterloo (a complete and crushing defeat).

He was the Rafael of music

He was the napoleon of Crime

Metonymic A. – Bought/sold all his Van Dijks; boycott, China, lynch etc.

 

REVERSED A. - the so called speaking names (Lady Teezle, Beccy Sharp, Mr. Pneumonia, Dr. Diet, Mr. Mumble, Mr. Long Nose).

 

ALLUSION

An indirect reference (by a word or a phrase) to a historical, literary, mythological fact made in the cause of speaking or writing. Is usually metaphoric: to cut the Gornien knot, to cross the Rubicon. In convergence with Antonomasia and metaphor: She is a real Gorgon.

 

EPITHET

Expressive attribute or adverbial modifier. E.g. She has big eyes (logical attribute). She had enormous eyes (hyperbolic epithet).

Can be figurative and non-figurative. Figurative epithets are tropes. Can be metaphoric (sleepy, dreamy trees), metonymic (a tobacco-stained smile, lipsticky smile, painful shoes), hyperbolic (huge bag).

Inverted epithets (sparrow of a woman, mountain of a man, ghost of a smile). When a structurally dependent element of a phrase is its semantic center.

Phrase epithets are made up of several words written through a hyphen: She gave an I-don’t-know-what-you-mean look. She pushed it back with a tired end-of-the-day gesture.