Lexical SD

1. Metaphor

1.1. Metaphor is a stylistic device consisting in the transference of names based on the associated likeness between two objects, when two different phenomena or actions are simultaneously brought to mind by the imposition of some or all of the inherent properties of one object on the other which by nature is deprived of these properties.

1.2. The expressiveness of the metaphor depends on the simultaneous implicit presence of both objects - the one which is actually meant and the one that supplies its own "legal" name. The wider is the gap between the associated objects the more striking and unexpected, the more expressive is the metaphor

1.3. It is incorrect to define metaphors as compressed similies. The metaphor aims at identifying the objects, while the simile aims at finding some points of resemblance, keeping the objects apart. These two stylistic devices are different in their linguistic nature.

2. Epithet

2.1. Epithet is a stylistic device based on the interplay of emotive and logical meaning in an attributive word, phrase or even sentence used to characterize an object from the subjective point of view.

2.2. Its basic feature is its emotiveness and subjectivity: the characteristic attached to the object or quality is always chosen by the speaker himself.

2.3. From the semantic point of view epithets can be divided into affective (associated) and figurative (transferred, unassociated).

2.4. Affective epithets are those which point to a feature which is essential to the object they describe, the idea expressed in the epithet being inherent in the concept of the object.Figurative epithets are formed on the basis of metaphors, metonymies and similes expressed by adjectives.

3. Antonomasia

3.1. This is a lexical stylistic device in which a proper name is used instead of a common noun or vice versa.

3.2. When a common noun is employed instead of a proper name, antonomasia is intended to point out the leading, most characteristic feature of a person or event, at the same time pinning this leading trait as a proper name to the person concerned.

4. Irony

4.1. This is a stylistic device based on the simultaneous realization of two logical meanings, dictionaiy and contextual.

4.2. In this stylistic device it is always possible to indicate the exact word whose contextual meaning is quite opposite to its dictionary meaning. That is why this type of irony is called verbal irony.

4.3. But in many cases we may feel the ironic effect, but we cannot identify the exact word in whose meaning we can see the contradiction between the said and the implied. The effect of irony in such cases is created by a number of statements, by the whole of the text. This type of irony is called sustained

4.4. irony does not always create a humorous effect. It may express irritation, displeasure, pity or regret, as in the sentence "How clever of you!".

5. Metonymy

5.1. 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.

5.2. Genuine metonymy reveals quite an unexpected substitution of one word for another, or one concept for another, on the ground of some strong impression produced by a chance feature of the thing

6. Hyperbole and understatement

6.1. Hyperbola is a stylistic figure of explicit and deliberate exaggeration, in order to enhance expressiveness and emphasize the said thought.

6.2. hyperbole it is necessary that both the speaker and the listener should be aware of the deliberate quality of the exaggeration.

6.3. When the characteristic features of an object are intentionally underrated, we deal with the SD opposite to hyperbole - understatement.

7. Oxymoron

7.1. This is a combination of two words in which the meanings of the two clash, because they are opposite in sense, e.g. sweet sorrow, nice rascal, horribly beautiful.

7.2. Each oxymoron is a combination of two semantically contradictory notions that help to emphasize contradictory qualities as a dialectical unity simultaneously existing in the described phenomenon. One of the two members of the oxymoron points out the feature which is universally recognized, while the other shows a purely subjective individual perception of the object.

7.3. Oxymoron may have the structural model Adj.+Noun, e.g. loving hate, cold fire, etc. Here the subjective part of the oxymoron is embodied in the attribute-epithet. In this structural model the resistance of the two component parts to fusion manifests itself most strongly. Another model is Adv.+Adj. Here the change of meaning in the first element is more rapid, and the resistance to the unifying process is not so strong.

8. Zeugma and pun

8.1. ZEUGMA is the use of a word in the same grammatical but different semantic relation being, on the one hand, literal, and on the other, transferred.

8.2. stylistic device based on the interaction of two well-known meanings of a word or phrase is called PUN.

8.3. Pun can emerge as a result of misinterpretation of one speaker's utterance by the other.

8.4. The main function of pun is to create a humorous effect.