22. Lexical and lexical-syntactic expressive means and stylistic devices (epithet, oxymoron, simile).

Oxymoron (оксюморон) is a combination of two words (mostly an adjective and a noun or an adverb and an adjective) in which the meanings of the two clash, being opposite in sense and incompatible. The essence of oxymoron consists in the capacity of the primary meaning of the first element to resist the power of semantic change which words undergo in combination.

E.g. horribly beautiful, sweet sorrow, proud humility

Simile (стилистическое сравнение) is an imaginative comparison. There is usually a vivid image. This is an explicit statement of partial identity (likeness) of two objects. It is often based on metaphor. Ordinary comparison and simile must not be confused. Comparison means weighing two objects belonging to one class of things with the purpose of establishing the degree of their sameness. Simile characterizes an object by bringing it into contact with another object of an absolutely different kind. It excludes all the properties of the two objects except one, which is made common to them. Similes set one object against another in spite of the fact that they may be completely alien to each other. Similes have formal elements in their structure. They are mostly comparative conjunctions, prepositions and verbs: like, as, such as, as if, seem.

E.g. The Montana sunset lay between two mountains like a gigantic bruise from which dark arteries spread themselves over a poisoned sky [F.S. Fitzgerald].

Similes may contain no special connector expressing comparison.

E.g. She climbed with the quickness of a cat.

Similes can be also trite and become phraseological units, e.g. to fly like a bird, stubborn as a mule.

Epithet (эпитет) is a stylistic device based on the interplay of emotive and logical meaning in an attributive word, phrase or sentence. Epithets create images and are used to characterize an object and point out to the reader some of its properties. They reveal the emotionally coloured attitude of the author as well as their individual perception and evaluation of these properties.

Epithets are classified according to their semantics and structure. Semantically they are divided into associated and unassociated with the noun that follows them. Associated epithets point to some feature, essential to the object, e.g. dreary midnight. Unassociated epithets are used to characterize the object by adding some unexpected feature., e.g. voiceless sands.  

Epithets can be trite or fixed and speech or occasional.

Fixed epithets are language and traditional. They are often used in ballads, tales etc.

E.g. true love, green wood

Speech epithets are new and often unexpected, created for a concrete case.

 Epithets can be metaphorical and non-metaphorical. Metaphorical epithets are very expressive.

E.g. At the enchanted metropolitan twilight I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes….[ F.S. Fitzgerald].

Non-metaphorical epithets characterize color, scent etc.

E.g. We walked through a high hallway into a bright rosy-coloured space, fragilely bound into the house by French windows at either end ….[F.S. Fitzgerald].

Structurally epithets are divided into simple, compound, phrase and sentence epithets. Simple and compound epithets are normally correspondingly simple and compound adjectives. Phrase and sentence epithets are those which have the structure of a sentence or part of a sentence., e.g. a you-are-wonderful type of woman.

There are so-called reversed epithets, which are usually metaphors.

E.g. A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end out the other like pale flags, twisting them up toward the frosted wedding-cake of the ceiling…[ F.S. Fitzgerald].

From the point of view of distribution we also speak about strings of epithets and transferred epithets.

A string of epithets is a chain of several epithets used to characterize one noun. Its purpose is to give a many-sided characterization of the object.

 E.g. It's A wonderful, cruel, enchanting bewildering, fatal, great city(O.Henry).

Transferred epithets are logical attributes, which are generally used to describe states of human beings, but in this concrete case referred to an inanimate object, e.g. a sleepless pillow, a sick chamber.

23. Lexical and lexical-syntactic expressive means and stylistic devices (periphrasis, euphemism, hyperbole, litotes).

Periphrasis (перифраз) is the renaming of an object by a phrase that emphasizes some particular feature of the object. Usually a longer phrase is used instead of a shorter one. This phenomenon is based on the effect of circumlocution. It has a cognitive function as it deepens our knowledge of the phenomenon described. It is decipherable only in the context. Like with many other devices there can be language and speech periphrasis. Some traditional phrases are fixed in dictionaries, e.g. cap and gown (students), my better half (wife), worse than death (disgrace). It can be logical and figurative. Logical periphrasis  is based on some inherent properties of the object,  e.g. instruments of destruction (pistols); figurative periphrasis is based either on metaphor or metonymy: to tie the knot (to marry). Periphrasis can have a poetic or humorous effect.

Euphemism (эвфемизм) is a word or phrase used to replace an unpleasant or undesirable word by a more acceptable or favorable one, e.g. to pass away (to die), the place of no return (Hell).

E.g. His tongue is now a stringless instrument (meaning «he died») [W. Shakespeare].

Euphemistic expressions can have the structure of a sentence.

E.g. China is a country where you often get different accounts of the same thing.(a country where people are used to telling lies)

Hyperbole (гипербола) is a stylistic device aimed at intensification of meaning. It is a deliberate overstatement or exaggeration of a feature essential to the object or phenomenon. In its extreme form this exaggeration may be carried to an illogical degree. It sharpens the reader's ability to make a logical assessment of the utterance.

E.g. He was so tall that I was not sure he had a face [O. Henry].

E.g. I've told you a million times not to exaggerate.

Litotes (литота, преуменьшение) is a stylistic device, which consists of a peculiar use of negative constructions in the positive meaning. The negation serves to establish a positive feature in a person or thing. However, this positive feature seems to be diminished in quality in comparison with a synonymous expression making a straightforward assertion of the positive feature.

E.g. You are not an uneducated person [I. Murdoch].

E.g. He is no coward.

E.g. There are not a few people who think so.

Litotes also called understatement is considered to be a typical feature of everyday communication, which makes utterances more polite and tentative.