4. Interaction of Logical and Nominative Meanings

Antonomasia. It is the result of the interaction between the logical and nominal meanings of a word: “The next speaker was a tall gloomy man. Sir Something Somebody”. There are two types of antonomasia:

1) when the proper name of a person, who is famous for some reasons, is put for a person having the same feature: “Her husband is an Othello”.

2) when a common noun is used instead of a proper name: “I agree with you, Mr. Logic”; My Dear Simplicity.

II. Intensification of a Feature of a Thing or Phenomenon

Simile. The intensification of some feature of the concept is realized in a device called simile. Similes set one object against another regardless of the fact that they may be completely alien to each other. Simile gives rise to a new understanding of the object.

Similes have formal elements in their structure – connective words such as like, as, such as, as if, seem. For example: “He stood immovable like a rock in a torrent”, “His muscles are hard as rock”.

Simile should not be confused with simple (logical, ordinary) comparison. Structurally identical, consisting of the tenor, the vehicle, and the uniting formal element, they are semantically different: objects belonging to the same class are linked in a simple comparison, while in a simile we deal with the likening of objects belonging to two different classes. So, she is like her mother is a simple comparison, used to state an evident fact. She is like a rose is a simile used for purposes of expressive evaluation, emotive explanation, highly individual description.

Periphrasis is a roundabout way of speaking used to name some object or phenomenon. In such cases a longer phrase is used instead of a shorter one. Some periphrases are traditional: the fair sex (women); my better half (my wife), the gentleman of the long robe (a lawyer).

Periphrases are divided into:

1) logical – based on inherent properties of a thing or an object described: instrument of destruction (pistol), the most pardonable of human weaknesses (love);

2) figurative – based on imagery (metaphor, metonymy): to tie the knot (to get married); the punctual servant of all work (the sun).

Euphemism is used to avoid naming some unpleasant things, or taboo things: to pass away – to die. A euphemism is a SD in which an inoffensive word or word-combination is substituted for an unpleasant or harsh one. For example: poor – economically disadvantaged; wicked – kindness impaired; old – chronologically gifted.

Hyperbole is deliberate overstatement or exaggeration, the aim of which is to intensify one of the features of the object in question to such a degree as to show its utter absurdity: “Her family is one aunt about a thousand years old”. Like many SDs, hyperbole may lose its quality as a SD through frequent repetition and become a unit of the language as a system, reproduced in speech in its unaltered from. Here there are some examples: a thousand pardons, scared to death, immensely obliged.

Hyperbole is a device which sharpens the reader’s ability to make a logical assessment of the utterance. This is achieved, as in case with other devices, by awakening the dichotomy of thought and feeling where thought takes the upper hand though not to the detriment of feeling.