Euphemism

The variety of periphrasis is called a euphemism. It's a word or phrase used to replace an unpleasant word or expression by a conventionally more acceptable one [to die - to pass away - to expire - to be no more]. Thus, a euphemism is a synonym with mild effect. Sometimes this effect is called a "white-washing device". Linguistic pecularity of euphemism is in the following: every euphemism must call up a definite synonym in the mind and the synonym must follow a euphemism like a shadow [to possess a wild imagination - to tell stories in the proper context - to lie]. Such synonyms can be freshly invented. The euphemisms are expressive means of the language and are to bve found in all book dictionaries. They can be regarded as stylistic devices as they refer the mind to the concept directly, not through the medium of another word. We distinguish several groups og euphemisms according to the sphere of application: religious, moral, medical, parlimentary. The life of euphemism is short. Very soon they become closely associated with the referent and give way to a newly coined word or word combination. Political euphemisms are really understatements. Their aim is to mislead publicopinion and to express what is unpleasant in a more delicate maner. Sometimes disagreeable parts are even distorted with the help of euphemisms. Geniune euphemism must call up the word it stands for and it is always the result of some deliberate clash between the two synonyms [a woman of a certain type - a slut]. Periphrasis and euphemism were characteristic of certain literature trendes and even produced a term "periphrastic style". It soon gave rise to a more straightforward way of describing things.

Hyperbole

Hyperbole is a stylistic device with a function of intencifying one certain property of an object described. It can be defined as a deliberate overstatement or exaggeration of a feeling or feature essential to the object (unlike periphrasis). In extreme form this exaggeration is carried to an illogical degree, sometimes a kind of absurdum [He was so tall, that I wasn't sure, if he had a face]. Like many stylistic devices hyperbole may lose its quality as a stylistic device through frequent repetition and become a unit of the language as a system, reproduced in speech in an unaltered form [scared to death, I'll give the world to see him]. Hyperbole differs from mere exaggeration in that it is intended to be understood as exaggeration. A Russian linguist Potebnya states "Hyperbole is the result of any kind of intoxication by emotion which prevents a person from seeing things in true dimension; and the reader is not carried away by the emotion of the writer, hyperbole becomes a mere exaggeration." Thus, hyperbole is a device which sharpens the reader's ability to make a logical assessment of the utterance. This is achieved by the awakening the idea of feeling, where the thought takes the upper hand, though, not to the detriment of feeling.

Use of set expressions

A set expression is a very wide notion, which covers such notions as phraseological units, idioms and phrasal verbs. Set expressions can be divided into two groups: logical and figurative. The last ones have figurative basis. Phraseological units are charcterised by the stability of a form. They are regarded as set expressions ready for use as cliches.

Phraseological units are expressive means, while they are frequently employed and have no originality. They have emotive meaning as a rule [to drop like a hot potato = to stop].

Features of phraseological units:

• stability of form

• the presume of figurative base

• emotive colouring

• belonging to the oral variety of the language

There're two tendencies in the language studies concerned with the problem of word.

1. analytical - seeks to disserver one component from another

2. synthetic - integrate the parts of a combination to a stable unit

They are treated differently in the lexicology and stylistics. In lexicology the parts of a stable lexical unit may be separated to make a sceintific investigation of the character of the combination and to analyse the component. In stylistics we analyse the components to get some communicative effect sought by the writer. And here we come to the cliche.

A cliche is generally defined as an expression that has become hackneyed and trite. This division lacks one point: a cliche strives after originality whereas it has lost the esthetic generating power it once had. There's always a contradiction between what is aimed at and what is attained [rosy dreams of use, ripe = old age]. Definition from dictionaries show that cliche is a derogatory term and it's necessary to avoid everything that may be called by that name. The thing is that most of the widely recorded word combinations adopted in the language are unjustly classified as cliches. Cliches are unregistered in dictionaries. Phraseological units are, and they occur in different styles (belles-lettres, newspaper, official documents). Cliche can be part and parcel of other stylistic devices (sustained metaphor, complex figurative images).