XIII Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2021

The intensification of some one feature of the concept in question is realized in a device called simile. To use a simile is to characterize one object by bringing it into contact with another object belonging to an entirely different class of things. Simile excludes all the properties of the two objects except one which is made.

The properties of an object may be viewed from different angles, for example, its state, actions, manners, etc. Accordingly, similes may be based on adjective-attributes, adverb-modifiers, verb-predicates, etc. Similes have formal elements in their structure: connective words such as like, as, such as, as if, seem. Similes may suggest analogies in the character of actions performed.

Periphrasis

Periphrasis is a device which, according to Webster’s dictionary, denotes the use of a longer phrasing in place of a possible shorter and planar form of expression. It is also called circumlocution due to the round-about or indirect way used to name a familiar object or phenomenon. Viewed from the angle of its linguistic nature, periphrasis represents the renaming of an object and as such may be considered along with a more general group of word designations replacing the direct names of their denotata.

As a SD, periphrasis aims at pointing to one of the seemingly insignificant or barely noticeable features or properties of the given object, and intensifies this property by naming the object by the property. Periphrasis makes the reader perceive the new appellation against the background of the one existing in the language code and the twofold simultaneous perception secures the stylistic effect. The essence of the device is that it is decipherable only in context. In some cases periphrasis is regarded as a demerit and should have no place in good, precise writing. This kind of periphrasis is generally called circumlocution.

Stylistic periphrasis can also be divided into logical and figurative. Logical periphrasis is based on one of the inherent properties or perhaps a passing feature of the object described, as in instruments of destruction

Euphemism

Euphemism is a word or phrase used to replace an unpleasant word or expression by a conventionally more acceptable one, for example, the word «to die» has bred the following euphemisms: to pass away, to expire, to be no more, to depart, to join the majority, to be gone, and the more facetious ones: to kick the bucket, to give up the ghost, to go west. So euphemisms are synonyms which aim at producing a deliberately mild effect.

Euphemism is sometimes figuratively called “a whitewashing device”. Euphemisms may be divided into several groups according to their spheres of application. The most recognized are the following: 1) religious, 2) moral, 3) medical and 4) parliamentary.

Hyperbole

Another SD which also has the function of intensifying one certain property the object described is hyperbole. Hyperbole differs from mere exaggeration in that it is intended to be understood as an exaggeration.

Hyperbole is a device which sharpens the reader’s ability to make a logical assessment of the utterance. This is achieved, as is the 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.

The Cliché

A cliche is generally defined as an expression that has become hackneyed and trite. This definition lacks one point that should be emphasized; that is, a cliche strives after originality, whereas it has lost the aesthetic generating power it once had. There is always a contradiction between what is aimed at and what is actually attained.

Definitions taken from various dictionaries show that cliche is a derogatory term and it is therefore necessary to avoid anything that may be called by that name. But the fact is that most of the widely recognized word-combinations which have been adopted by the language are unjustly classified as cliches. The aversion for cliches has gone so far that most of the lexical units based on simile are branded as cliches.

Epigrams

An epigram is a stylistic device akin to a proverb, the only difference being that epigrams are coined by individuals whose names we know, while proverbs are the coinage of the people.

Epigrams are terse, witty, pointed statements, showing the ingenious turn of mind of the originator. They always have a literary-bookish air about them that distinguishes them from proverbs.

Epigrams possess a great degree of independence and therefore, if taken out of the context, will retain the wholeness of the idea they express. They have a generalized function and are self-sufficient. The most characteristic feature of an epigram is that the sentence gets accepted as a word-combination and often becomes part of the language as a whole.

Quotations

A quotation is a repetition of a phrase or statement from a book, speech and the like used by way of authority, illustration, proof or as a basis for further speculation on the matter in hand.

A quotation is the exact reproduction of an actual utterance made by a certain author. The work containing the utterance quoted must have been published or at least spoken in public; for quotations are echoes of somebody else's words.

A quotation is always set against the other sentences in the text by its greater volume of sense and significance. This singles it out, particularly if it is frequently repeated, as any utterance worth committing to memory generally is. The stylistic value of a quotation lies mainly in the fact that it comprises two meanings: the primary meaning, the one which it has in its original surroundings, and the applicative meaning, i.e. the one which it acquires in the new context.

Quotations are used as a stylistic device, as is seen from these examples, with the aim of expanding the meaning of the sentence quoted and setting two meanings one against the other, thus modifying the original meaning. In this quality they are used mostly in the belles-lettres style. Quotations used in other styles of speech allow no modifications of meaning, unless actual distortion of form and meaning is the aim of the quoter.

Allusions

An allusion is an indirect reference, by word or phrase, to a historical, literary, mythological, biblical fact or to a fact of everyday life made in the course of speaking or writing. The use of allusion presupposes knowledge of the fact, thing or person alluded to on the part of the reader or listener. As a rule no indication of the source is given. This is one of the notable differences between quotation and allusion. Another difference is of a structural nature: a quotation must repeat the exact wording of the original even though the meaning may be modified by the new context; an allusion is only a mention of a.word or phrase which may be regarded as the key-word of the utterance.

Decomposition of Set Phrases

Linguistic fusions are set phrases, the meaning of which is understood only from the combination as a Whole, as to pull a person's leg or to have something at one's fingertips. The meaning of the whole cannot be derived from the meanings of the component parts. The stylistic device of decomposition of fused set -phrases consists in reviving the independent meanings which make up the component parts of the fusion.

List of references:

Galperin I.R. English Stylistics. Moscow: USSR, 2014. 333 p.

Gurevich V.V. English Stylistics. Moscow: Flinta: Nauka, 2008 p.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylistic_device

https://infopedia.su/2xb63c.html

https://studopedia.ru/15_73633_Stylistic-devices-and-expressive-means.html

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