Violation of phraseological units

restoring the literal original <meaning> of the word, which lost some of its semantic independence and strength in a phraseological unit or cliché. (A.V.K.)

e.g. Little John was born with a silver spoon in his mouth which was rather curly and large. (Galsworthy)

e.g. After a while and a cake he crept nervously to the door of the parlour. (A.Tolkien)

See: <cluster SDs>

Nonsense of non-sequence

joining two semantically disconnected clauses into one sentence (A.V.K.)

e.g. Emperor Nero played the fiddle, so they burnt Rome. (Y.Esar)

See: <cluster SDs>

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Irony

ирония

- is a <stylistic device> in which the contextual <evaluative meaning> of a word is directly opposite to its <dictionary meaning>

- is the <foregrounding> not of the logical but of the <evaluative meaning>;

- is the contradiction between the said and implied;

- is subdivided into <verbal irony> and <sustained irony>;

The context is arranged so that the qualifying word in irony reverses the direction of the evaluation, and the word positively charged is understood as a negative qualification and (much-much rarer) vice versa. The context varies from the minimal – a word combination to the context of a whole book.

e.g. The lift held two people and rose slowly, groaning with diffidence. (I.Murdoch)

e.g. Apart from splits based on politics, racial, religious and ethic backgrounds and specific personality differences, we’re just one cohesive team. (D.Uhnak)

Source: <V.A.K.>

e.g. It must be delightful to find oneself in a foreign country without a penny in one’s pocket.

See: <lexical SDs>

Verbal irony

a type of <irony> when it is possible to indicate the exact word whose <contextual meaning> diametrically opposes its <dictionary meaning>, in whose meaning we can trace the contradiction between the said and implied

e.g. She turned with the sweet smile of an alligator. (J.Steinbeck)

e.g. With all the expressiveness of a stone Welsh stared at him another twenty seconds apparently hoping to See him gag. (R.Chandler)

e.g. She’s a charming middle-aged lady with a face like a bucket of mud and if she has washed her hair since Coolridge’s second term, I’ll eat my spare tire, rim and all. (R.Chandler)

e.g. Last time it was a nice, simple, European-style war. (I.Shaw)

Source: <V.A.K.>

Ant.: <sustained irony>

See: <lexical SDs>

Sustained irony

a) a type of <irony>, intuitively feeling the reversal of the evaluation, formed by the contradiction of the speaker’s (writer’s) considerations and the generally accepted moral and ethical codes;

b) a number of statements, the whole of the text, in whose meaning we can trace the contradiction between the said and implied.

e.g. Many examples are supplied by D.Defoe, J.Swift of by such twentieth c. writers as S.Lewis, K.Vonnegut, E.Waugh and others.

e.g. When the war broke out she took down the signed photograph of the Kaiser and, with some solemnity, hung it in the men-servants’ lavatory; it was her one combative action. (E.Waugh)

Source: <V.A.K.>

Ant.: <verbal irony>

See: <lexical SDs>

Antonomasia

антономасИя

type 1: a lexical SD in which a proper name is used instead of a common noun, i.e. a lexical SD in which the <nominal meaning> of a proper name is suppressed by its <logical meaning> or the logical meaning acquires the new – nominal – component

e.g. He took little satisfaction in telling each Mary \[=any female\], shortly after she arrived, something ... (Th. Dreiser)

e.g. ”Your fur and his Caddy are a perfect match”. I respect history: “Don’t you know that Detroit was founded by Sir Antoine de la Mothe Caddilac, French fur trader”. (J.O’Hara)

type 2: (vice versa) a common noun serves as an individualising name

e.g. There are three doctors in an illness like yours. I don’t mean only my self, my partner and the radiologist who does your X-rays, the three I’m referring to are Dr. Rest, Dr. Diet and Dr. Fresh Air. (D. Cusack)

type 3: “speaking names” whose origin from common nouns is still clearly perceived

e.g. The next speaker was a tall gloomy man. Sir Something Somebody. (Priestley)

e.g. Miss Languish – Мисс Томней, Mr. Backbite – М-р Клевентаун, Mr. Credulous – М-р Доверч, Mr. Snake – М-р Гад (Sheridan)

e.g. Lord Chatterino – Лорд Балаболо, John Jaw – Джон Брех, Island Leap-High - Остров Высокопрыгия (F.Cooper)

e.g. Mr. What’s-his-name, Mr. Owl Eyes, Colonel Slidebottom, Lady Teazle, Mr. Surface, Miss Tomboy, Miss Sarcastic, Miss Sneerface, Lady Bracknell

Source: <V.A.K.>, 55

••

- особое использование собственных имён: переход собственных имён в нарицательные (Дон Жуан), или превращение слова, раскрывающего суть характера, в собственное имя персонажа, как в комедиях Р.Шеридана, или замена собственного имени названием связанного с данным лицом события или предмета.

Source: <I.V.A.>

See: <lexical SDs>

Epithet

эпитет

<foregrounding> the <emotive meaning> of the word to suppress its <denotational meaning>

- is the most widely used lexical SD;

- expresses characteristics of an object, both existing and imaginary;

- semantically there should be differentiated two main groups:

- <affective epithet>s

- <figurative epithet>s

- <transferred epithet>s;

- structurally there should be differentiated: single epithets, pair epithets, chains or strings, two-step structures, inverted constructions, phrase-attributes

-<chains of epithets> or <strings of epithets>

-<phrase-epithets>

- <inverted epithets> or <reversed epithets>

Source: <V.A.K.>, 58

••

a <stylistic device> based on the interplay of emotive and <logical meaning> in an attributive word, phrase or even sentence, used to characterise and object and pointing out to the reader, and frequently imposing on him, some of the properties or features of the object with the aim of giving an individual perception and evaluation of these features or properties

e.g. ”wild wind”, “loud ocean”, “remorseless dash of billows”, “formidable waves”, “heart-burning smile”; “destructive charms”, “glorious sight”, “encouraging smile”

Source: <I.R.G.>

••

1) экспрессивная оценочная характеристика какого-либо явления, лица или предмета, иногда, но необязательно, образная;

2) лексико-синтаксический <троп>, отличается необязательно переносным характером выражающего его слова и обязательным наличием в нём эмотивных или экспрессивных или других коннотаций, благодаря которым выражается отношения автора к предмету

Различают:

- постоянные эпитеты (conventional/standing epithet): lady gay, fair lady, fair England, salt seas, salt tears, true love;

a) тавтологические эпитеты: soft pillow, green wood;

b) оценочные эпитеты: bonny boy, bonnie young page, bonnie ship, bonnie isle; false steward, proud porter;

c) описательные эпитеты: silk napkin, silver cups, long tables;

- эпитеты частного характера выделяют в предметах и явлениях те качества, которые имею значение для данного мышления и не образуют постоянных пар

А.Н.Веселовский семантически делит эпитеты на:

a) тавтологические эпитеты – семантически согласованные эпитеты, подчёркивающие какое-нибудь основное свойство необходимое определяемого: fair sun, the sable night, wide sea, т.е. повторяющие в своём составе сему, обозначающую неотъемлемое свойство

b) пояснительные эпитеты указывают на какую-нибудь важную черту определяемого, не обязательно присущую всему классу предметов, к которым он принадлежит, т.е. действительно характеризующую именного его: a grand Style, unvalued jewels, vast and trunkless legs of stone

c) метафорические эпитеты – эпитет с обязательной двуплановостью, указанием сходства и несходства, семантическим рассогласованием, нарушением отмеченности:

[m3]- анимистические, когда неодушевлённому предмету приписывается свойство живого существа: and angry sky, the howling storm;

[m3]- антропоморфные, приписывающие человеческие свойства и действия животному или предмету: : laughing valleys, surly sullen bells;

Source: <I.V.A.>

e.g. Her umbrella blocked the sun’s rays but nothing blocked the heat - the sort of raw, wild heat that crushes you with its energy. (St.Lord – The Chapel)

See: <lexical SDs>

Strings of epithets

Chains of epithets

цепочки эпитетов

present a group of homogeneous attributes varying in number from three up to sometimes twenty and even more

e.g. You’re a scolding, unjust, abusive, aggravating, bad old creature. (Dickens)

e.g. He’s a proud, haughty, consequential, turned-nosed peacock. (Dickens)

e.g. And then in a nice, old-fashioned, lady-like, maiden-lady way, she blushed. (A.Christie)

e.g. And the eyes watchful, waiting, perceiving, indifferent. (T.S.Eliot)

See: <epithet>

Syn.: strings of epithets, chains of epithets

Phrase-epithets

фразовые эпитеты, голофрaзисы

окказиональное функционирование словосочетания или предложения как цельнооформленного образования, графически, интонационно и синтаксически уподобленного слову (I.V.A.)

e.g. I-am-not-that-kind-of girl look; Shoots’em-down type; To produce facts in a Would-you-believe-it kind of way (I.V.A)

e.g. ”the sunshine-in-the-breakfast-room smell” (J. Baldwin)

e.g. ”a move-if-you-dare expression”(J. Greenwood)

e.g. There was none of the Old-fashioned Five-Four-Three-Two-One-Zero business, so tough on the human nervous system. (A. Clarke)

See: <epithet>

Inverted epithets

Reversed epithets

[p]colloq.[/p]

инвертированные эпитеты

based on the contradiction between the logical and the syntactical: logically defining becomes syntactically defined and vice versa. The article with the second noun will help in doubtful cases

e.g. ”this devil of a woman” instead of “this devilish woman”, “the giant man” (a gigantic man); “the prude of a woman” (a prudish woman), “the toy of a girl” (a small, toylike girl), “the kitten of a woman” (a kittenlike woman)

e.g. She was a faded white rabbit of a woman. (A.Cronin)

e.g. a doll of a wife (the wife is like a doll), an angel of a girl (the girls is an angel), a hell of a mess, a devil of a sea, a dwarf of a fellow, a horse of a girl, a fool of a policeman, a hook of a nose, a vow of a hat, a jewel of a film (I.V.A.)

e.g. a two-legged ski-rocket of a kid, a forty-pound skunk of a freckled wild cat (I.V.A.)

See: <epithet>

Syn.: inverted epithets, reversed epithets

Conventional epithet

Standing epithet

постоянный эпитет

See: <epithet>

Syn.: conventional epithet, standing epithet

Affective epithet

serves to convey the emotional evaluation of the object by the speaker (V.A.K.)

e.g. “gorgeous”, “nasty”, “magnificent”, “atrocious”

See: <figurative epithet> or <transferred epithet>, <epithet>, <lexical SDs>

Figurative epithet

Transferred epithet

an <epithet> that is formed of <metaphor>, <metonymy>, <simile>, expressed by adjectives (V.A.K.)

e.g. ”the smiling sun”, “the frowning cloud”, “the sleepless pillow”, “the tobacco-stained smile”, a “ghost-like face”, “a dreamlike experience”, “triumphant look”

See: <affective epithet>, <epithet>, <lexical SDs>

Syn.: figurative epithet, transferred epithet

Hyperbole

гипербола

a <stylistic device> in which emphasis is achieved through deliberate exaggeration

It does not signify the actual state of affairs in reality, but presents the latter through the emotionally coloured perception and rendering of the speaker.

e.g. My vegetable love should grow faster than empires. (A. Marvell)

e.g. The man was like the Rock of Gibraltar.

e.g. Calpurnia was all angles and bones.

e.g. I was scared to death when he entered the room. (J.D.Salinger)

Source: <V.A.K.>

••

a deliberate overstatement or exaggeration of a feature essential (unlike <periphrasis>) to the object or phenomenon

- is a device which sharpens the reader’s ability to make a logical assessment of the utterance

e.g. He was so tall that I was not sure he had a face. (O.Henry)

Source: <I.R.G.>

••

заведомое преувеличение, повышающее экспрессивность высказывания и сообщающее ему эмфатичность (I.V.A.)

Ant.: <understatement>

See: <lexical SDs>

Understatement

преуменьшение

a <stylistic device> in which emphasis is achieved through intentional underestimation (underrating)

e.g. ”The wind is rather strong” instead of “There’s a gale blowing outside”

••

is dealt with when the size, shape, dimensions, characteristic features of the object are intentionally underrated

It does not signify the actual state of affairs in reality, but presents the latter through the emotionally coloured perception and rendering of the speaker.

e.g. She wore a pink hat, the size of a button. (J.Reed)

e.g. About a very small man in the Navy: this new sailor stood five feet nothing in sea boots. (Th. Pynchon)

Source: <V.A.K.>

Ant.: <hyperbole>

See: <lexical SDs>

Oxymoron

оксюморон

a combination of two semantically contradictory notions, that help to emphasise contradictory qualities simultaneously existing in the described phenomenon as a dialectical unity (V.A.K.)

e.g. ”low skyscraper”, “sweet sorrow”, “nice rascal”, “pleasantly ugly face”, “horribly beautiful”, “a deafening silence from Whitehall” (The Morning Star)

e.g. ”The Beauty of the Dead”, “to shout mutely”, “to cry silently”, “the street damaged by improvements” (O.Henry), “silence was louder than thunder” (J.Updike)

e.g. O brawling love! O loving hate! O heavy lightness! Serious vanity! Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick heath! (W.Shakespeare)

e.g. You have two beautiful bad examples for parents. (Sc.Fitzgerald)

••

a combination of two words (mostly an adjective and a noun or an adverb with an adjective) in which the meanings of the two clash, being opposite in sense (I.R.G.)

••

<троп>, состоящий в соединении двух контрастных по значению слов (обычно содержащих антонимичные семы), раскрывающий противоречивость описываемого.(I.V.A.)

e.g. And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true. (A.Tennyson)

e.g. He had a face like a plateful of mortal sins. (B.Behan)

See: <lexical SDs>

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Syntactical level

include <syntactical stylistic devices>, <repetition>, <sentence structure>, <types of connection>, arrangement of sentence members, <completeness of sentence structure>

The most conspicuous places in the sentence are considered to be the first and the last: the first place because the full force of the stress can be felt at the beginning of an utterance and the last place because there is a pause after it. (I.R.G.)

See: <phono-graphical level>, <morphological level>, <lexical level>, <Stylistics>