Of Different Types of Lexical Meanings

METAPHOR is a trope, which means transference of some quality from one object to another.

There are three types of transference in metaphor:

1. Transference of the name of one object to another

E.g. …he said, blasting the ball into the wintry skeleton of the rose bushes. /Tony Parson Man and Boy / (= the rose bushes were leafless because of winter time) [44]

E.g. Horrified, she stared down into the darkness, waiting for the ocean of beetles to close over her. /Dean Koontz Whispers / (= there were a great deal of beetles around her) [40]

2. Transference of the name of the action

E.g. “I wish you’d let go of me, Myra. Your hands are positively running with sweat.” /Stephen King Needful Things / (= her hands were very sweaty) [31]

E.g. The minutes snailed by. /J. Rowling Harry Porter and The Chamber of Secrets / (= time went very slowly) [48]

3. Transference of the typical features of one thing to another

E.g. Hooked to Fig’s belt was a radio – his ever-present electronic IV bottle. /Dean Koontz False Memory / (= the radio was an indispensable part of fig’s life) [37]

Personification is a kind of metaphor which provides a thing or phenomenon with features typical of a human being.

E.g. The ocean roared and pushed him close to shore. /John Lutz Blood Fire / [43]

Metaphors, like all stylistic devices, can be classified according to their degree of unexpectedness. Thus, metaphors which are absolutely unexpected (quite unpredictable) are called genuine (or poetic); while those which are commonly used in speech and therefore fixed in dictionaries, are called trite (or dead) [4, p.141].

Trite metaphors are sometimes filled with new vigour. This is done by supplying the central image created by the metaphor with additional words, bearing some reference to the main word. Such metaphors are called sustained ( or prolonged / extended)[4, p.142; 5, p.53]. Thus one should distinguish between a simple (or elementary) and a sustained metaphors.

E.g. Mr. Pickwick bottled up his vengeance and corked it down. /Ch. Dickens Pickwick Papers / [4]

The verb to bottle up is explained in dictionaries as follows: “to keep in check”, “to conceal, to restrain”. The metaphor in the word can hardly be felt, but it is revived by the direct meaning of the verb to cork down/.

E.g. Joshua hadn’t plunged into full retirement yet, but he sat on the edge of it a lot, dangling his legs in a big pool of leisure time that he wished he had found and used his wife Cora was still alive. /Dean Koontz Whispers / [40]

The principal metaphor may be called the central image of the sustained metaphor and the other words that bear reference to the central image – contributory images. Thus in the example given the word retirement is the central image, while its contributory images are hadn’t plunged, sat on the edge of it and pool of leisure time.

Metaphor is usually expressed by verbs, nouns, adverbs, etc.

METONYMY is a trope based not on identification, but on some kind of association connecting the two concepts, which these two meanings represent.

There are several types of association in metonymy:

1. The name of the container stands for the name of the thing contained:

E.g. She was the only Asian girl in the house. There were a few black women in here but mostly the girls were blondes, either by birth or bottle. /Tony Parson Man and Boy / (of hair bleach) [44]

2. The name of the material stands for the name of the thing made of it:

E.g. Clown paintings and Rodeo Drive oils of rainy Paris street scenes said all talent should not be encouraged. /J. Kellerman The Clinic / (pictures executed in oil) [25]

3. The name of the creator stands for the name of the thing made by him (also called “metonymic antonomasia”):

E.g. I couldn’t be sure, but I thought it was a Modigliani, a portrait of a girl’s face. /James Herbert Others / (a picture made by this painter) [23]

4. The name of the symbol stands for the name of the thing symbolized:

E.g. Then Cruvic saw the press and said something to the uniforms. /Jonathan Kellerman The Clinic / (the policemen) [25]

E.g. As the cops held the microphones at bay, Cruvic jogged, head down, to his car. /Jonathan Kellerman The Clinic / (the journalists) [25]

5. The name of the instrument stands for the name of the action it performs:

E.g. Well, Mr. Weller, you’re a good whip and can do what you like with your horses. /Ch. Dickens Pickwick Papers / [4]

6. The name of the concrete thing stands for the name of an abstract notion:

E.g. This particular mayor was invested with chain almost immediately. /A. Bennett The Heroism of Thomas Chadwick / (he was elected Mayor) [1]

E.g. “I needed a hug too.”

“You did?”

“Everyone could use a teddy bear now and then.”

/Dean Koontz The Servants of Twilight / (everyone needs sympathy and comforting) [38]

7. The name of the part stands for the whole, and vice versa (also called “synecdoche”):

E.g. The compassionate eyes seemed to watch me as I crossed the room. /James Herbert Others / (a person watched him) [23]

E.g. A small shudder, a little wince of obvious pain were all it took to still curious tongues. /Vera Cowie Face Value / (people who gossiped about her) [13]

8. The quality of a person/ an object stands for the person himself/object itself:

E.g. Inside was a waiting room full of perfect-body hopefuls of both sexes, fantasizing about fame and fortune. /Jonathan Kellerman The Clinic / (actors who were hopeful to be given a part in the film) [25]

Metonymy is usually expressed by nouns. It differs from metaphor in the way it is decoded. In metaphor one image excludes the other, while in metonymy it does not; moreover, there is an objectively existing relationship between the object named and the object implied. [5, p. 54]

IRONY is a stylistic device based on the simultaneous realization of two logical meanings – dictionary and contextual, which stand in opposition to each other.

E.g. It must be delightful to find oneself in a foreign country without a penny in one’s pocket. [4]

The word delightful acquires the meaning quite the opposite to its primary dictionary meaning, i.e. “ unpleasant ”, “ not delightful ”. The word containing irony is strongly marked by intonation.

Irony must not be confused with humour, although they have very much in common. Humour always causes laughter. What is funny must come as a sudden clash of the positive and the negative. In this respect irony is similar to humour, but irony is used to express a feeling of irritation, displeasure, pity, regret, etc. [4, p.147]

Cf.: E.g. At Breakfast Christine asked her son: “How about cereal and peanut butter toast? … Or I could put one of your old shoes in the microwave and cook it up nice and tender for you. How about that? Nothing is quite as tasty as an old shoe for breakfast. Mmmmmmm! Really sticks to your ribs! ” /Dean Koontz The Servants of Twilight / (humour) [38]

E.g. “Isn’t she a gem?”

“A miracle worker,” Lou said. “It’s a miracle when she works.” /Dean Koontz The Vision / (irony) [39]

Bitter socially or politically aimed irony is called sarcasm.

E.g. “Well,” I said, “isn’t the husband always the first suspect? Though stabbing her out on the street doesn’t sound typical.”

“True.” He rubbed his eyes. “ Braining her in the bedroom would have been more marita l. ” /Jonathan Kellerman The Clinic / [25]

ZEUGMA is the use of a word in the same grammatical but different semantic relations to two adjacent words in the context. The two meanings of the word are realized in the context without the repetition of this word. It is often used in poetry and emotive prose. [4, p.150]

E.g. Just then, a door on the second landing opened, and a face poked out wearing horn-rimmed glasse s and a very annoyed expression. /J.K. Rowling Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire / [49]

E.g. Когда она звонит кому-либо по телефону, я тут же выхожу из комнаты и из себя.

PUN is another stylistic device based on the interaction of two well-known meanings of а word or phrase. It aims at a humourous effect and is used in jokes, riddles, etc. It has much in common with zeugma, but it differs from it in its structure. Zeugma is the realization of the verb which refers to different subjects or objects, while pun is more independent. [4, p.151] It can, for example, be based on:

1. The play upon words with the same spelling and sounding, but different meaning

E.g. Army doctor: «Do you have any physical defects?»

In ductee; «Yes, no guts.» [6]

2. The play upon homophones (sound alike, but different in spelling and meaning)

E.g. «The storm caused a whole lot of damage»

«A hole lot of what?» [6]

3. The play upon mix of phrase and their word-components

E.g. There are only two political groups after the election, the appointed and the disappointed.

E.g. Father: «Are there half-fares for children?»

Conductor: «Yes, under fourteen.»

Father: «That's all right. I have only five.» [6]

THE EPITHET is a stylistic device based on the interplay of logical and emotive meanings in an attributive word, phrase or even sentence used to characterize an object (both existing and imaginary) [4; p. 157]. It aims at individual perception and evaluation, imposing on the reader the subjective attitude of the writer/speaker to the thing described. Epithets may be classified semantically and structurally.

Semantically, epithets are divided into:

· Associated (those which point to a feature which essential to the object they describe, i.e the idea expressed by the epithet is inherent in the concept of the object)

E.g. dark forest; careful attention; fantastic terrors.

· Unassociated (they are used to characterize the object by adding a feature not inherent in it).

E.g. A heart-burning smile; sullen earth; voiceless sands [4]

Structurally, epithets are divided into [4]:

· Single:

E.g. He just stared at her with those gas flame-blue eyes. /Dean Koontz Cold Fire /

(of a very bright blue colour) [34]

· Two-step (i.e. adverb + adjective):

E.g. a stone cold dead trail /James Herbert Others / [23]

· Phrase (i.e. a group of hyphonated words):

E.g. Jim looked at me with a what-can-you-do? grin. /T. Parson Man and Boy / [44]

· Reversed (or inverted) epithets (i.e. presented by of- phrases):

E.g. the melancholy mask of a bloodhound /Dean Koontz Whispers / [40]

E.g. a big bruiser of a man /James Herbert Others / [23]

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

E.g. low skyscrapers; sweet sorrow; a pleasantly ugl y face. [4]

Oxymoron helps to emphasize contradictory qualities as a unity in the described phenomenon. [4, p.162]

E.g. The flight engineer was paging through a manual, a look of quiet desperation on his face. /Dean Koontz Cold Fire / [34]

ANTONOMASIA helps to single out one definite object out of a whole class of similar objects. It is a trope in which a Proper name is used instead of a Common noun or vice versa. [5, p.54] Here the nominal meaning of a Proper name is hardly perceived, because its logical meaning is too strong or the logical meaning is suppressed by the nominal component. [4, 164]

E.g. “Thank you, Mr. Dismas,” she said in a breathless, Marilyn Monroe way. /James Herbert Others / (a proper name) [23]

E.g. “Listen to you, Mr. Amateur Magician, sounding like a Puritan. I love it!” /Stephen King Needful Things / (a common noun) [31]

Antonomasia stresses the most characteristic feature of a person. It is also represented by ‘speaking names’, whose origin from common nouns is clearly perceived:

E.g. Mr. Right /from the film Witches of Eastwick /; Charles Surface /R.B. Sheridan School for Scandal /

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