It’s the coffin they carry you off in.”

Let us illustrate the use of pun by one more example – a famous extract from

“Alice in Wonderland ” where the Mock Turtle tells Alice about the school she went to and the subjects she took there:

“I couldn’t afford to learn it, “ said the Mock Turtle with a sigh. “I only took a regular course”.

“What was that?” inquired Alice.

“Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with,” the Mock Turtle replied; “and then the different branches of Arithmetic –Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.”

“What else did you learn?” asked Alice.

“Well, there was Mystery,” the Mock Turtle replied, counting off the subjects on his flappers –“Mystery, ancient and modern, with Seaography; then Drawling – the Drawling master was an old conger-eel, that used to come once a week: he taught us Drawling, Stretching and Fainting in coils”.

Cf.: Reeling and Writhing = reading and writing

Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision = addition, subtraction, multiplication and division

Mystery = history

Seaography = geography

Drawling = drawing

Stretching =sketching

Fainting in coils = painting in oils

More examples of pun (used in jokes and riddles):

e.g. - What is the difference between a school-master and an engine-driver?

- One trains the mind and the other minds the train.

e.g. - Waiter, what is it?

- It’s bean soup.

• No matter, what it’s been. What is it now?

e.g. He left her a comfortable fortune and a daughter.

e.g. - Have you seen a horse-fly here?

- No, but I’ve seen a cow jumping over the fence.

e.g. - Can February march?

- No, but April may.

Lexical Stylistic Devices: Interaction of Logical and Emotive Meanings

Some elements of a language have emotive meaning in their structure (semantic structure). Others acquire this meaning in a context under the influence of a stylistic device or other expressive means in the utterance.

The most highly emotive words (charged with emotive meaning to such an extent that their logical meaning can hardly be registered) are interjections and exclamations. Next come epithets in which we can observe a kind of parity [p riti] (равенство, аналогия, соответствие) between emotive and logical meaning.

Epithet

The epithet is a SD based on the interplay of emotive and logical meaning in an attributive or adverbial word, phrase or sentence. It is used to characterize an object with the aim of giving an individual perception and evaluation of its features and properties. The epithet is markedly subjective and evaluative. (Cf: the logical attribute is purely objective). Epithets do not point to inherent [in’hi r nt] qualities of the object described.

Cf.: logical attributes and epithets in the following table:

green meadows	wild wind
pale complexion	loud ocean
lofty mountains	heart-burning smile

The epithet makes a strong impact on the reader so that he begins to see things as the writer wants him to.

Epithets can be classified semantically and structurally. Structurally epithets can be:

1. simple or word epithets i.e. expressed by any notional part of speech;

2) compound epithets

e.g. cat-like smile, hunger-driven prisoners, etc.

3) two-step epithets (supplied with an intensifier). Their structure is adv. + adj.

e.g. extraordinarily cruel

4) phrase epithets and sentence epithets

e.g. What I dislike is “do-it-yourself” attitude.

Those innocent ‘I -don’t-know-what-you-are-talking- about’ eyes;

5) syntactical epithets, expressed by a noun + an of-phrase

They are based on the illogical syntactical relations of the modifier and the modified word

e.g. a doll of a wife

a dumpling of a boy

a devil of a job

Such epithets are always metaphorical.

Semantically, epithets can be divided into:

1. associated

e.g. a cold reception, a sweet smile, a brilliant career, a fatigued brain

The idea expressed in an associated epithet is to a certain degree inherent

[in’hi r nt] to the concept of the object.

2. unassociated

e.g. majestic anger

sullen time / CF: sullen earth

voiceless sands

Unassociated epithets characterize the object by adding a feature which is not inherent to it and which strikes us by its unexpectedness. Unassociated epithets are genuine SDs.

Another category of epithets - transferred epithets denote human qualities, which are used in reference to inanimate objects or abstract notions:

e.g. logical attributes transferred epithets

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- sick man sick room

sleepless girl sleepless pillow

merry people merry hours

disapproving man disapproving finger