LEXICO-SEMANTIC STYLISTIC DEVICES

meanings.
Interaction of direct and transferred meanings. Tropes.
Simile: definition and structural

peculiarities.
Metaphor. Definitions and semantic peculiarities. Metaphor and simile. Simple and extended metaphors. Trite and genuine metaphors.

actualizes a concept through a certain form and expresses emotions

and evaluation.
A polysemantic word is represented by a system of lexico-semantic variants (LSVs) which constitute its SEMANTIC STRUCTURE.
LEXICAL MEANING is an actualization of a concept, emotion or evaluation by means of a language system.
The lexical meaning of each LSV forms a complex unity.

to reality
Connotative meaning relates
us to conditions and
participants of communication
emotive;
evaluative;

components
expressive;
stylistic
These components are optional.

Wow! Oh!... – interjections don’t possess denotative

meaning.
I love you, honey!
Evaluative component (a word conveys a positive or negative evaluation, approval or disapproval)
E.g. FIRM [positive]
OBSTINATE [disapproval] not easily influenced
PIG-HEADED [negative+expressive]
E.g. ШПИОН (-) – РАЗВЕДЧИК (+)

it denotes)
E.g. Life was not made merely to be slaved

away
(D.H. Lawrence)
to slave – usual expressive connotation
Stylistic component (a word is typical of certain spheres of communication and functional styles)
E.g. BLITHE (poetic), METHINKS (archaic), NARK (jargon), GRUB (slang)

the opposition of

Direct meaning and Figurative meaning
(nominative) (transferred)

WIND, MOUNTAIN
It was a cold fall

and the wind came down from the mountains (E. Hemingway)
FIGURATIVE MEANING describes or characterizes an object by establishing its relationship with other objects, and creates an image.
E.g. Then, turning to my love, I said,
“The dead are dancing with the dead,
The dust is whirling with the dust.” (O. Wilde)

of meaning, which results in creating an image.
That means a

word acquires a figurative meaning or additional connotations in a particular context, which co-exist with the direct meaning.
E.g. “What would your novel be about?”
“Tropes and metaphors.”
“What are tropes when they’re at home?”
“All the things I can’t tell straight” (J. Fowles Daniel Martin).

meaning we can single out the following tropes:
Simile*;
Metaphor (+personification; +antonomasia);
Metonymy;
Synechdoche;
Allegory*;
Epithet*
*

- Some scholars don’t include these in the category of tropes.

classes of things and creating an artistic image as a

result.
Comparison implies likeness between two objects belonging to one class. It doesn’t result in vivid imagery.
E.g. He looks like his father/mother/grandpa (comparison)
He looks like a ghost/a devil/a prisoner who has just been released/ a prisoner who is to serve a life sentence…(simile)

prepositions
E.g. I feel as if I’ve been too well spun

in a game of blindman’s buff (J. Fowles The Magus).
That absolutely normal silence. A silence like a scream
(J. Fowles Daniel Martin).
suffixes (-like, -wise)
E.g. Everything that was happening had a dream-like quality.
Special verbs (resemble, remind of, seem, look like…) and other expressions
E.g. Everything is a kind of screen if one wishes it so. An excuse for not understanding (J. Fowles Daniel Martin)

A is LIKE

B
LIFE IS A DREAM A is ____B
Arnold: Metaphor is a hidden simile which consists in applying the name of one object to another object.
Skrebnev: Metaphor denotes expressive renaming on the basis of similarity of two objects: the real object of speech and the one whose name is actually used.
Galperin: Metaphor is a relation between the dictionary and contextual logical meanings based on the affinity or similarity of certain properties or features of the two corresponding concepts.

and metaphor are originally based on likeness/similarity/analogy, and define metaphor

as a compressed simile with formal elements (LIKE, AS IF, etc) omitted.
BUT! There exist differences:
Simile is always marked formally. Metaphor – never.
Simile keeps two objects apart.
Metaphor aims at complete identification and is more expressive and categorical. It provides a sort of stereoscopic/double vision.
E.g. He is like a demon.
He is a demon.

a more essential change of meaning.
In fact,

it CREATES likeness/similarity/analogy between two concepts.
That is why metaphor is said to possess cognitive value.
It is a powerful tool used to create new meanings in language.
E.g. TO GRASP/TO SEE/TO GET = TO UNDERSTAND
E.g. All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts…(W. Shakespear As you like it)

components of a metaphor:
Tenor [тема метафоры] – the concept denoted

by metaphor (CONTENT);
Vehicle [«оболочка», образное средство] – the image used to denote the concept (FORM);
The Ground [основание для сравнения] – the property that helps us see the analogy between two concepts
E.g. For peace comes dropping slow, dropping from the veils of the morning (W.B. Yeats)

You can’t put out my flame.
Sometime too

hot the eye of heaven shines (W. Shakespeare)
Simple metaphors can be expressed by:
nouns;
verbs (The dust danced and was golden – O. Wilde);
adjectives (The human tide is rolling westward – Dickens);
adverbs (The leaves fell sorrowfully).

simple metaphors creating one image and is actualized on the

level of a sentence, several sentences, paragraph, chapter…
E.g. Mr Dombey’s cup of satisfaction was so full at this moment that he felt he could afford a drop or two of its contents, even to sprinkle on the dust in the by-path of his little daughter .
(Dickens)
E.g. In a cavern under is fettered the thunder,
It struggles and howls at fits (P. B. Shelly Cloud)

and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And

one man in his time plays many parts…
(W. Shakespear As you like it)
E.g. Мгновеньями он виден, чаще скрыт.
За нашей жизнью пристально следит.
Бог – нашей дремой коротает вечность –
Сам сочиняет, ставит и – глядит…
(Омар Хайям Рубаи)

то ночь. А пешки? Мы с тобой.
Подвигают, притиснут и –

побили.
И в темный ящик сунут на покой.
(Омар Хайям Рубаи)

GENUINE
HACKNEYED ORIGINAL
“READY-MADE” INDIVIDUAL
(стертые) (индивидуальные)

fixed in dictionaries. They belong to language-as-a-system.
E.g. leg of a

table, mouth of a river, needle’s eye, bottle’s neck
E.g. a ray of hope, floods of tears, seeds of evil, a flight of imagination, to burn with desire
Trite metaphors can be revived in texts
E.g. Mr Pickwick bottled up (=kept in check) his vengeance and corked it down (Dickens)

certain context and require more mental effort to be deciphered.
They

belong to speech, language-in-action.
V. V. Vinogradov: “A metaphor imposes on the reader a subjective view of the object or phenomenon and its semantic ties”
E.g. England is a dying animal in a Zoo (J. Fowles Daniel Martin)