Lecture 9

Stylistic Semasiology
Stylistic Devices of the Semasiology
Epithet as a major “Stylistic Hybrid”
Some scholars believe that epithet may be defined as a generating centre of the whole
system of tropes since any trope can be transformed into an epithet,
- his chest is like a barrel (simile) —► his barrel chest (an epithet based on a simile);
What is an epithet?
-It is a hybrid.
-It is a SD based on the interaction of logical and emotive meanings of the word, which
expresses the individual, evaluative, emotionally coloured attitude of the author towards
the object/person described by emphasizing a certain property or feature.
 Not all attributes are epithets since they are non-evaluative and quite objective:
a golden ring (a ring made of gold) - a logical attribute;
golden hair - a metaphorical epithet.
Epithets are metaphorical and metonymic epithets since they are tropes based on name-
transference.
Classification of epithets by A. Veselovsky
 tautological epithets ( the blue sky )
 descriptive/characterizing epithets ( a grand style)
 metaphorical epithets (the weeping sky)
 synaesthetic epithets [sense perception] (warm colours).
Classification of epithets by I. Galperin
 Associated epithets are those pointing to a feature which is essential to the object,
inherent in its concept: e.g. a dark forest; close attention.
 Unassociated epithets add a feature not inherent in the concept; they may be unexpected
and strike the reader by its novelty: e.g. a heart-burning smile.
Classification of epithets by V. Kukharenko
 Affective epithets convey the speaker’s emotional evaluation of the object described: e.g.
an extraordinary talent, a magnificent day.
 Figurative epithets are tropes, formed of
 metaphors (e.g. the smiling sun),
 metonymies (e.g. the sleepless pillow)
 similes, expressed by adjectives (e.g. the ghost-like face).
Classification of epithets Structurally
 simple (e.g. silvery laugh)
 compound (e.g. an apple-faced woman)
 hyphenated (also called phrase, or sentence epithets) (e.g. the sunshine-in-the-room
smell).
[mostly used with such words as expression, air, attitude, look, etc. (e.g. She gave
Mrs. Silburn a you-know-how-men-are look. (J.Salinger))
 two-step (e.g. an unnaturally mild afternoon):
Classification of epithets from the point of view of their distribution
Epithets may be used
 in pairs and in chains.
a masked and muffled man (the pair epithets are often alliterated)
In the cold, gray, street-washing, milk-delivering early morning /.../.

 Figures of Identity are characterized by the combination in context of close or

synonymous units referring to the same object or phenomenon.
 Simile (Latin “ similes” = alike) is an imaginative comparison (also called literary
comparison).
 It consists in an explicit likening of one object (the tenor) to another object (the vehicle)
on the basis of some common feature/characteristic (the ground).
 The common scheme is “A is like B ”
 (cf.: the general metaphoric scheme is “A is B” ).
 Simile the ground
The ground is either mentioned
 explicitly (e.g. She is as pretty as a doll), or
 implicitly, left for the recipient to guess (e.g. She is like a doll)
The connectives may be expressed by:
1. the link words “as”, “like”, “as .. as”, “ not so... as” (”like” being the most frequent
one): My heart was striking my side like a desperate animal
2. various comparative constructions, including comparative clauses (with “as if”, “as
though”, etc.), compound words, conjunction-like phrases (e.g. ...(in) the way, .. a form
of, etc.): I felt as if I was in a monstrous spider’s web.
3. lexical means - the verbs “to resemble”, “to remind one of’, “to suggest”, “to seem”,
“to look” and some verbal phrases (“to bear a resemblance to”, “to have a look of’,
etc.). Such similes are sometimes called “disguised”.
e.g. He reminded Julia of an old dog lying in the sun.
Trite Similes
 have lost their expressiveness and become hackneyed.
 They are usually used in literature to characterize the personage’s speech.
 These are “idioms of comparison”: as bold as a lion; as deaf as a post;
 Synonyms-substitutors - words which are used for naming the already mentioned
subject, phenomenon, action and which give additional characteristics of the given
subject in any other aspect.
e.g. There, on the table, lay a number of parcels. In a flush he realized that they were
presents
Synonyms-verifiers - words which are used in order to give a full description of the
subject because each synonym expresses an additional meaning.
e.g. Finally I wrote my grandmother about it. Her answer came quick and sharp
Figures (Relations) Of Inequality
 Figures of Inequality are based on the relations between meanings of words and word-
combinations which differ in their emotive or logical importance.
Climax or gradation is a structure in which every successive word, phrase, or sentence
is emotionally stronger or logically more important than the preceding one. The first
element is the weakest and the subsequent elements gradually rise in strength
 Anticlimax is a structure in which every successive word, phrase, or sentence is
emotionally or logically less strong than the preceding one.
 Pun (play upon words) is a stylistic device based on the interaction of two well-known
meanings of a word or phrase.
e.g. There comes a period in every man's life, but she is just a semicolon in his.
1. Play on the words may be based on polysemy and homonymy:
e.g. Visitor, to a little boy: Is your mother engaged?Engaged? She is already married
Play on words may be based upon similarity of pronunciation:
e.g. John said to Pete at dinner: "Carry on". But Pete never ate carrion.
Pun is often used for satirical and humorous purposes. Many jokes are based on puns
 Zeugma (Gk ‘to join, to combine’) is based on grammatical analogy and semantic
incompatibility: one meaning is usually literal and the other-figurative.
e.g. Time and her aunt moved slowly (J. Austen).
Zeugma combines syntactical and lexical characteristics.
Syntactically, it is based on similar structures; semantically it comprises different meanings.
Zeugma is mainly a means of creating a humorous effect.
Figures (Relations) Of Inequality
 Figures of opposition are characterised by the combination in context of two or more words
or word-groups with opposite meanings.
 These meanings are either objectively opposite or are interpreted as such by the speaker.
 Antithesis is the expression of opposing or contrasting ideas laid out in a parallel structure, for
example: She had her husband, a terrible joy, and a terrifying burden
 Oxymoron (Gk ‘witty, foolish’) is also a combination of opposite meanings which exclude
each other. deafening silence, wise folly.
 As soon as an oxymoron gets into circulation, it loses its stylistic value, becoming trite:
awfully nice, awfully glad, terribly sorry, terribly good
 where the words awfully and terribly have lost their primary meaning and are used as
intensifiers.
 Original oxymorons are created by the authors to make the utterance emotionally charged,
vivid, and fresh, as in: Oh brawling love! Oh loving hate! Oh heavy lightness!