STYLISTIC SEMASIOLOGY .

Figures of co-occurrence
OUTLINE

1. General characteristics and

classification of figures of co-
occurrence.
2. Figures of identity: simile.
3. Figures of inequality: climax,
anticlimax; pun, zeugma.
4. Figures of contrast: antithesis,
oxymoron.
 Figures of Co-occurence

Figures of co-occurrence are types of linear

arrangement of meanings in texts.
These meanings can be identical, or different, or
opposite.
 Figures of co-occurrence

Figures of Figures of Figures of

identity inequality contrast

simile anticlima pun

climax x zeugma oxymoron anithesis
Figures of identity
Simile is an explicit statement of affinity,
likeness, similarity of two objects, belonging to
two different classes.

Emily is as beautiful as a flower. Jane is like a

fairy.
Низько в небі стримить, як золотий серп,
пізній місяць… Через його спотикаються
хмаринки, прудкі й ворухливі, як рибки.
He is as beautiful as a weather-cock.

TENOR GROUND VEHICLE

man (he) appearance weather-cock

(beautiful)
Simile is a structure consisting of two
components: tenor and vehicle which are
united by formal markers: as, as ...as, like, as
though, as if, such as.

There was no moon, a clear dark, like some

velvety garment, was wrapped around the
trees, whose thinned branches, resembling
plumes, stirred in the still, warm air.
 Children! Breakfast is just as good as any
other meal and I won’t have you gobbling like
wolves.

Гули хрущі та літали, як кулі.

Такий я ніжний, такий тривожний

Мов осінняя земля.
implied simile (to resemble, to remind, to seem, to
have a look of etc.)

With the quickness of a cat, Samuel climbed up the

tree.
The ball appeared to the batter to be a slow planet
looming towards the earth (B. Malamud)
 simile≠ logical comparison

He was a big man, as big as Simon, but with

sandy hair and blue eyes (D.Garett).
 simile vs metaphor
In metaphor two unlike objects are identified on
the grounds of possessing one common
characteristic.
She is a rose. (fresh, beautiful, attractive)
In simile two unlike objects are compared on the
grounds of similarity of some quality.
She is as fresh as a rose.
 Simile and metaphor are different in their
linguistic nature:

 metaphor aims at identifying the objects ║simile

aims at finding some point of resemblance by
keeping the objects apart;
She is a rose. She is as fresh as a rose.
 metaphor only implies the feature which serves as
the ground for comparison ║ simile indicates this
feature, so it is semantically more definite.
A simile refers to only one characteristic that two
things have in common, while a metaphor is
not limited in the number of resemblances it
may indicate.

This man is a pig.

This man eats like a pig.
 Trite similes:

 as sure as death
 as sure as eggs is eggs
 as sure as fate
 as proud as a peacock
Figures of inequality
 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.

I am sorry, I am so sorry, I am extremely

sorry!
• When I started the third verse the members
began to laugh; in an instant the laughter
spread; the ambassadors, the strangers in the
Distinguished Strangers’ gallery, the ladies in
the Ladies” Gallery, the reporters, they shook,
they bellowed, they held their sides, they rolled
in their seats; everyone was overcome with
laughter except the minister on the Front Bench
immediately behind me (W.S. Maugham).
 climax

Logical Emotive
(three-step (two-step
construction) construction)

No tree, no shrub, no blade of grass He was so helpless,

that was not owned. so very helpless.
Anticlimax presents a structure in which every
successive word, phrase, or sentence is
emotionally or logically less strong than the
preceding one.
He was inconsolable – for an afternoon
(J. Galsworthy)

Women have a wonderful instinct about things.

They can discover everything except the
obvious (O. Wilde)
Pun is a play on words based on homonymous and
polysemanrtic words to create a sense of surprise.

Visitor to a little boy:

-Is your mother engaged?
-Engaged? She is already married!!!

Хай їй грець, тій Греції!

 You fit into me
(Margaret Atwood)

you fit into me

like a hook into an eye

a fish hook
an open eye
violation of listener’s expectations
There comes a period in every man’s life, but she
is just a semicolon in his (B.Evans)

Йде сніг.
З моїм дівчам під руку.
Назустріч - я.
Сніг падає (В. Слапчук).
Zeugma is the blending together of two or more
semantically incompatible word groups, having
an identical lexical item, into a single
construction in which this item is used only
once.
 She took her breakfast and her bath.

He took his hat and his leave (Ch.Dickens)

Monsieur Ratignolle brought himself and his wife’s
excuses (K.Chopin).

Delia was to become familiar and then contemptuous

with Music, so that when she saw the orchestra
seats and boxes unsold she could have sore throat
and lobster in a private dining-room and refuse to
go on the stage (O’Henry).
Figures of contrast (opposition)
Antithesis is the expression of opposing or
contrasting ideas laid out in a parallel structure.
If we don’t know who gains by his death we do
know who loses by it.

Mrs. Nork had a large home and a small husband.

It is safer to be married to the man you can be
happy with than to the man you cannot be happy
without.
 Syntactic structures that express
the meaning of antithesis
---a single extended sentence;
---- a composite sentence;
----a paragraph or even chain of paragraphs.

The main lexical means of antithesis formation

are antonyms: (heaven-hell, sky-earth, light
dark etc.)
AGE AND YOUTH

Crabbed Age and Youth

Cannot live together:
Youth if full of pleasure,
Age is full of care;
Youth like summer morn,
Age like winter weather;
Youth like summer brave,
Age like winter bare.
Youth is full of sport,
Age’s breath is short;
Youth is nimble, Age is lame;
Youth is hot and bold
Age is weak and cold;
Youth is wild and Age is tame.
Youth, I do adore thee!
(by W. Shakespeare)
А далі пішли інші дні, зі своїми клопотами,
турбаціями, зі своїми тінями й просвітками,
зі щирим словом і дрібнотою доносів на
тому ж папері, в який можна вписати
незрівнянний образ і жало гадюки.
Oxymoron is a combination of opposite
meanings which exclude each other (deafening
silence, wise folly, crowded loneliness,
unanswerable reply).
Безпощадний блиск твоєї вроди лагідно в
душі моїй сія (Д.Павличко)

Взимку сонце крізь плач сміється.

І від солодких слів буває гірко.
Холодним жаром запалало серце.
 Structural patterns of oxymoron
Adj+N --- (epithet) hot snow
Adv+Adj----pleasantly ugly
V+Adv----to cry silently
Or
Silence was louder than thunder (J.Updike)
Sara was a menace and a tonic, my best enemy;
Rosy was a disease, my worst friend (J.Cary)
 Trite oxymorons
pretty bad, awfully nice, terribly good.

Original oxymorons:
Oh brawling love! Oh loving hate! Oh heavy
lightness! Serious vanity! Feather of lead, bright
smoke, cold fire, sick health! (W. Shakespeare).
The touch of his lips was like a pleasing sting to
her hand (K.Chopin).
Mертві душі (М.Гоголь)
Прекрасні катастрофи (Ю.Смолич)
Жорстоке милосердя (Ю.Мушкетик)
Сад нетанучих скульптур (Л.Костенко)
THANK YOU!
Define the stylistic device used in the following
example “Her face was lean and strong and
her eyes were as clear as water”:
a) allusion
b) personification
c) simile
d) metaphor
e) comparison
What stylistic device is used in the sentence
“Their bitter-sweet union did not last long”:

a) antithesis
b) epithet
c) metaphor
d) oxymoron
e) simile
Define the stylistic device underlined in the
following example: He reminded James, as he
said afterwards, of a hungry cat.
(Galsworthy)
a) implied simile
b) explicit simile
c) epithet
d) allusion
e) hyperbole