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CLASSIFICATION OF STYLISTIC DEVICES.THE NATURE TYPES AND
FUNCTIONC OF LEXICAL STYLISTIC DEVICES: METAPHOR,
METONYMY
Scientific supervisor: Gʻofurova Sarvaraxon
Student: Rasuljonova Irodaxon Andijan State Institute of Foreign Languages
Annotation
The most essential feature of the word is that it expresses the concept of a word or
a phenomena through its form and meanings. There are 3 types of lexical meanings:
Logical meaning (dictionary); Nominative meaning; Emotive meaning.
Key words : Metaphor, Metonymy, Irony, Epithet, Oxymoron, Hyperbole,
Antonomasia, Zeugma, Pun, Simile, Gradation, Antithesis, Represented, Speech, One
member, Alliteration, sentence, Onomatopoei, Ellipsis, Detachment.
The most essential feature of the word is that it expresses the concept of a word or
a phenomena through its form and meanings. There are 3 types of lexical meanings:
•
Logical meaning (dictionary);
•
Nominative meaning;
•
Emotive meaning.
Logical meaning is an expression of the concept of the given thing or phenomenon.
One word is capable to have more than one meaning and this capacity is called
polysemy. All the meanings of a word form its semantic structure. Within the semantic
structure of a polysemantic word we differentiate primary logical meaning and
secondary logical meaning. Logical meanings are further divided into: 1) independent
logical meaning; 2) dependent logical meaning. Dependent logical meaning can be
understood only in a context. This meaning is called contextual.
Emotive meaning serves to express one‘s individual attitude to the thing or idea. In
English there are certain words which have only emotive meaning. They are: Alas, By
god, goodness, fine, beautiful, nasty, awful etc [1].
The third type of meaning is called nominal meaning. There is a great difference
between common nouns and proper nouns. Common nouns not only name the thing
but signify them. Proper nouns only name things or human beings. Sometimes common
nouns can become proper nouns. Sometimes the reverse process takes place. (smith -
Mr Smith; hooligan). Nominal meaning is frequently used by writers as a special
stylistic device, which is based on a peculiar interplay of two meanings: logical and
nominal Thus, Lexical Stylistic Devices are based on a peculiar use or interaction of
lexical meanings within a word or word combination. The interplay of the primary
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dictionary meaning and a meaning which is imposed on the word by a micro-context
may be traced along different lines. One line is when the author identifies two objects
which have nothing in common, but he subjectively sees a function, or a property, or a
feature, or a quality that may make the reader perceive these two objects as identical.
Another line when the author finds it possible to substitute one object for another
on the grounds that there is some kind of interrelation between the two corresponding
objects. The first case is the mechanism of creation of metaphors, the second –
metonymies [2].
Metaphor. Metaphor is a relation between the dictionary and contextual meanings
based on resemblance of two objects, ideas, actions: e.g.; She is a fox.
The word «fox» denoting one object is transferred to another /she/ in order to
indicate a resemblance between them, their common feature is «cunning». The
metaphor is based on a common features of two objects. The common feature is never
mentioned. In other words, in metaphor we are given A and C and the problem is to see
B - a common feature. The reader has to come to it by himself. It is important .to
remember that the metaphor does not identify, the two notions are brought together on
the basis of only one feature, other features being quite different. Metaphor can be
expressed by all the parts of speech: nouns, adjectives,verbs e.g. 1. She is a machine
in her husband's house. (noun) Money burns a hole in my pocket. (verb). People are
afraid of themselves nowadays. They have forgotten the highest of all duties, the duty
that one owes to oneself. Of course they are charitable. They feed the hungry, and clothe
the beggar. But their own souls starve, and are nake (adjective). Metaphors expressed
by one word are called simple. There are metaphors which are expressed by several
words, a group of words. We call it metaphorical periphrasis .e.g. Oh let me, true in
love, but truly write, And then believe me, my love is as fair As any mother child,
though not so bright. As those gold candles fixed in heaven's air.
/Shakespeare
W./ When likeness is observed between inaminate objects and human qualities we
speak of personification. e.g. The face of London was now strangely altered. So,
personification is a variety of metaphor. e.g. A car came one way, a bus advanced with
calm assurance from another. Shelley's poem «The Cloud» is built on Personification.
e.g. I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers From the seas and the streams. I bear
light shade for the leaves when laid In the noonday dreams From my wings are shaken
the dews that waken, The sweet buds every one. When rocked to rest on their mother's
breast, As she danced about the sun I wield the flail of the lashing hail And whiten the
green plains under And then again I dissolve in rain. And laugh as I pass in thunder [3].
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Metaphors like all stylistic devices can be classified according to their degree of
unexpectedness. Thus, the metaphors which are absolutely unexpected are called
genuine metaphors or individual metaphors /original, fresh/. The genuine metaphor
aims at expressing speaker's or writer's feelings, and at impressing the hearer or reader
in a definite way. Those metaphors which are called trite(traditional, hackneyed) are
commonly used in speech and therefore are sometimes even fixed in dictionaries - a
ray of hope, floods of tears, a storm of indignation, a flight of fancy, a shadow of a
smile. Trite metaphors are not stylistic devices. They are considered to be expressive
means of the language, which also serve the purpose of expressiveness. The metaphor
is one the most powerful means of creating images. This is its main stylistic function.
Sometimes metaphors express not only one image, but several of them. Such
metaphors are called prolonged metaphors or sustained, or developed. e.g. The one
charm of the past is that it is the past. But women never know when the curtain has
fallen. They always want a sixth act, and as soon as the interest of the play is entirely
over they propose to continue it. If they were allowed their own way, every comedy
would have a tragic ending, and every tragedy would culminate in a farce.
Metonymy. Metonymy is a stylistic device which is like metaphor based on
interaction of logical and contextual meanings. But it is based on a different from
metaphor type of relations, a relation based not on comparison, but on associations,
contiguity Metonymy, like all stylistic devices can be genuine and trite. Trite
metonymy belongs to expressive means of the language. They are not stylistic devices.
They are widely used in speech and therefore are sometimes even fixed in dictionaries.
Due to trite metonymies new meanings appear in the language. Thus the word «crown»
may stand for a «king» or «queen»; «cup» or «glass» for the drink it contains. e.g. the
press - the personnel connected with publishing establishment; a hand - a worker; the
cradle - infancy . These are trite metonymies: Genuine metonymy is a SD. It reveals a
quite unexpected substitution of one word for another, of one concept for another. e.g.
Then they came in. Two of them a man with long fair moustache and silent dark man...
Definitely, the moustache and I had nothing in common, / D.Lessing /. In this example
man's facial appearance-«the moustache stands for the man himself. Many attempts
have been made to pinpoint the types of relations which genuine metonymy is based
on. Among them the following are most common: I. A concrete thing is used instead of
an abstract notion. In this case the thing becomes a symbol of the notion:
He supported his family by the pen.
The pen is stronger than the sword.
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What the head had left undone could not do the heart may have been doing silently.
Wherefore feed, and clothe and save, From the cradle to the grave /from early
childhood to death /. /W.Shakespeare/ Those ungrateful drones who would Drain your
sweat - nay, drink your blood./ Shelley / II. The container instead of the thing contained:
the hall applauded: the kettle boils. Tell him our home cries out for him The relation of
proximity as in: The round game table was boisterous and happy.
The next type of relation reveals the relation between the whole and apart. This
type of metonymy is called synecdoche. In this case a part is used for the whole, or the
individual for a definite one, or singular for plural. e.g. Return to her? No rather abjure
all roofs and choose... To be a comrade with the wolf and owl... Here the word «roofs»
stands for «houses» or a place to live in, or a «shelter». «Wolf «for «wolves» or even
for «wild beasts», owl for «owls» or rather for «birds» in the woods. Other examples:
She has no roof over her head. You 've got a nice fox on you
The sign for the thing signified: The messenger was not long in returning followed
by a pair of heavy boots that came bumping along the passage. / Dickens / The one in
brown suit gaped at her. Blue suit grinned, might even have winked But big nose in the
grey suit still stared - and he had small angry eyes and did not even smile. A relation
between a thing and the material out of which it is made. e.g. The steel shines to defend.
Never in her life had she worn any gold. Here «gold» stands for rings, bracelets, and
other adornments made of gold [4].
The instrument which the doer uses in performing the action instead of the action
or the doer himself. As the sword is the worst argument that can be used, so should it
be the last. / Byron/ Give every man thine ear and few thy voice./ Shakespeare / His
pen knows no compromise. Author for his work. e.g. I read Shakespeare. He reads
Byron.
Metonymy is expressed by nouns or substantives numerals. e.g. She was a pale and
fresh eighteen, The man looked a rather old forty-five. The function of the metonymy
here is to indicate that the speaker knows nothing of the man in question, moreover
there is a definite implication that this is the first time the speaker has seen him.
References
1. Galperin I.R. ―Stylistics‖ M., 1977
2. Kukharenko V.A. ―A book of practice in stylistics‖ M., 1986
3. Арнольд И.В. «Стилистика современного английского языка» М., 1990
4. Бобохонова Л.Т. «Инглиз тили стилистикаси» Тошкент, «Укитувчи» 1995
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