4.1.4. Tropes Based on the Interaction of Logical and Nominal Meanings

Antonomasiais based on the interplay of the logical and nominal meanings of the word, which 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; here the nominal meaning of a Proper name is suppressed by its logical meaning or the logical meaning acquires a new nominal component.

E.g.He is anApollo. /a proper name/

E.g.I don't want just any man for a husband, it must be Mr. Right. /a common noun/

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. Snake; Inspector Blunt.

4.2. Intensification of a Certain Feature of a Thing or Phenomenon

Simileis a SD based on a deliberate comparison of two objects, belonging to two different classes. This trope is easy to recognize because of theform words, used to connect the compared objects: ‘like’, ‘as though’, ’as if’, ‘as…as’, ‘such as’, ‘seem’, etc.

Simile is used for the purpose of expressive evaluation, emotive explanation and highly individual description.

E.g.He stood immovable like a rock.

Periphrasisis a SD based on the usage of a round-about form of expression instead of a simpler one. There are two types of periphrasis:figurative(metaphoric or metonymic) andlogical(the whole phrase is synonymous with the word meant)

E.g.the cap and gown /student/; my better half /my wife/; a gentleman of the long robe /a lawyer/

Euphemismis a variety of periphrasis. It is a word or phrase used to replace an unpleasant word or expression by a conventionally more acceptable one. For instance, instead of the word ‘to die’ people prefer to say:to pass away, to expire, to be no more, to depart, to join the majority, to be gone, etc. Euphemisms aim at producing a deliberately mild effect.

Euphemisms may be divided into several groups according to their sphere of application: 1) religious, 2) moral, 3) medical, 4) parliamentary.

The life of euphemisms is short, because they very soon become closely associated with the object they represent, and give way to new words.

Hyperboleis a deliberate exaggeration of a feature essential to the object or phenomenon. It is characteristic of every day speech, used as a signal of roused emotions.

E.g.He had wine enoughto wash an elephant.

There are words, which are used in Hyperbole oftener than others: ‘all’, ‘every’, ‘everybody’, a million’, ‘a thousand’, ‘ever’, ‘never’, etc.

E.g.I told him thishundreds of times!

Understatementis a trope aimed at deliberate belittling

E.g.He hadreddishhair

4.3. Peculiar Use of Set Expressions

A clichéis an expression that has become hackneyed and trite.

Proverbs and Sayingsare facts of language. They are brief statements showing in a condensed form the accumulated life experience of the community and serving as conventional practical symbols for abstract ideas They are collected in special dictionaries.

E.g.Out of sight, out of mind.

An epigramis a SD similar to a proverb; but they are made by individuals whose names we know, while proverbs are invented by people in general.

E.g.A thing of beauty is a joy forever. (Keats)

A quotationis an exact repetition of a phrase or statement from a book, speech, and the like used by way of illustration. By repeating a passage in a new environment we attach more importance to the utterance. Quotations are usually marked off in the text by inverted commas (‘…’), dashes (-) oritalics.

An allusionis an indirect reference, by word or phrase, to a historical, literary, mythological, biblical fact or to a fact of everyday life made in the course of speaking or writing. It differs from quotation, because it does not need to repeat the exact wording of the original. An allusion is only a mention of a word or phrase that may be regarded as the key word whose meaning is broadened into a general concept.

E.g.Where is the road now, and its merry incidents of life!.. Old honest, pimple-nosed coachmen? […] Isold Welleralive or dead? (Thackeray) /here the allusion is made to the coachman, Old Mr. Weller, the father of Dickens’s famous character, Sam Weller/

Decomposition of Set phrases deals with linguistic fusions (i.e. set phrases whose meaning is understood only from the combination as a whole.E.g. to pull a person’s leg= to make a joke at him). The SD of decomposition of fused set phrases consists in reviving the independent meanings, which make up the component parts of the fusion.

E.g.I don’t mean to say that I know of my own knowledge, what there is particularlydead about a door-nail. (Dickens) /here we see decomposition of the phrase ‘as dead as a door-nail’/