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Lexical stylistic devices by Mind Map: Lexical stylistic devices

1. based on contrast

1.1. Zeugma

1.1.1. the use of a word in the same grammatical but different semantic relations to two adjacent words in the context, literal and transferred

1.1.1.1. e.g. Dora, plunging at once into privileged intimacy and into the middle of the room (B.Shaw)

1.2. The Pun

1.2.1. A Pun (from the Latin punctus, past participle of pungere, «to prick.») is also a SD based on contrast as well as on the interaction of two well-known meanings of a word or phrase.

1.2.1.1. e.g. The importance of Being Earnest (O. Wilde). Meanings: seriously-minded and a male’s name.

1.3. Oxymoron

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

1.3.1.1. e.g. sweet sorrow, horribly beautiful, a deafening silence.

1.4. Irony

1.4.1. is a stylistic device which is also based on the opposition of dictionary and contextual meanings.

1.4.1.1. e.g. It must be delightful to find oneself in a foreign country without a penny in one’s pocket.

2. based on proximity

2.1. Periphrasis

2.1.1. is a figure of speech where the meaning of a word or phrase is indirectly expressed through several or many words

2.1.1.1. or example: «scissors» = «a thing you use to cut other things»

2.2. Euphemism

2.2.1. is an expression intended by the speaker to be less offensive, disturbing, or troubling the listener than the word or phrase it replaces, or in the case of doublespeak to make it less troublesome for the speaker.

2.2.1.1. e.g. Passed away instead of died. Dearly departed instead of died.

2.3. Hyperbole

2.3.1. is a figure of speech in which statements are exaggerated or extravagant.

2.3.1.1. e.g. «I could eat a horse». «She is one hundred feet tall».

2.4. Understatement (Litotes)

2.4.1. is the reverse of exaggeration

2.4.1.1. e.g.:"She has a brain the size of a pinhead

3. based on similarity of objects

3.1. Simile

3.1.1. figure of speech in which the subject is compared to another subject

3.1.1.1. E.g. She was like a celebrated chewing-gum. The taste lingered. (Wodehouse)

3.2. Metaphor

3.2.1. Metaphor (from French via Latin from Greek metaphora «transference») is transference of some quality from one object to another.

3.2.1.1. e.g he fell through a trapdoor of depression (Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories)

3.2.1.2. according to their degree of novelty

3.2.1.2.1. genuine

3.2.1.2.2. trite

3.2.1.3. according to their structure

3.2.1.3.1. simple

3.2.1.3.2. sustained

3.3. Metonymy

3.3.1. In metonymy we observe a different type of relation between the dictionary and contextual meaning, based not on identification, but on contiguity (nearness) of objects or phenomena.

3.3.1.1. e.g. the word crown may stand for king or queen.

3.4. Antonomasia

3.4.1. the substitution of any epithet or phrase with a proper name. It is the interplay between the logical and nominal meanings of a word; the reverse process is also sometimes called antonomasia.

3.4.1.1. e.g. «The Bard» for William Shakespeare; «Old Blue Eyes» for Frank Sinatra; «The Scottish play» for Macbeth; «a Cicero» for an orator

3.5. Epithet

3.5.1. is a stylistic device based on the interplay of emotive and logical meaning in an attributive word, phrase or even a sentence used to characterize an object and pointing out to the reader and frequently imposing on him, some of the properties or features of the object with the aim of giving the author’s individual perception and evaluation

3.5.1.1. E.g. in green meadows, white snow, high mountains we deal with logical attributes. They indicate those qualities of the objects which are generally recognized. But in mild wind, heartburning smile the adjectives are purely evaluative, i.e. they are epithets. The epithet makes a strong impression upon the reader and the latter begins to see and think of things as the writer wants him to.

3.5.1.2. simple

3.5.1.3. compound

3.5.1.4. phrase epithets.