The Epithet

Interjections and Exclamatory Words

Interjections are words we use when we express our feelings strongly and which may be said to exist in language as conventional symbols of human emotions.

Interjections can be divided into primary and derivative. Primary interjection are- generally devoid of any logical meaning. Oh! Ah! Bah! Pooh! Gosh! Hush! Alas! are primary interjections, though some of them once had logical meaning. 'Heavens!', 'good gracious!', 'God!', 'Come on!', 'Look here!' and many others of this kind are not interjections as such; a better name for them would be exclamatory words generally used as interjections, i.e. their function is that of the interjection.

It must be noted that some adjectives and adverbs can also take on the function of interjections - for example, such words as terrible!, awful!, great!, wonderful!, fine! and the like.

Interjections like other words in the English vocabulary bear features which mark them as bookish, neutral or colloquial. Thus oh, ah, Bah, and the like are neutral; alas, egad, Lo, Hark are bookish; gosh, why, well are colloquial.

The 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 and pointing out to the reader, and frequently imposing on him, some of the properties of features of the object with the aim of giving an individual perception and evaluation of these features and properties. The epithet is markedly subjective and evaluative. The logical attribute is purely objective, non-evaluating. Thus in green meadows, white snow, round table, blue skies and the like, the adjectives are more logical attributes than epithets. But in wild wind, loud ocean, heart-burning smile, the adjectives do not point to inherent qualities of the objects described. They are subjectively evaluative.

The epithet makes a strong impact on the reader, so much so, that the reader unwittingly begins to see and evaluate things as the writer wants him to.

Epithets may be classified from different standpoints: semantic and structural. Semantically, epithets may be divided into two groups: those associated with the noun following and those unassociated with it.

Associated epithets are those which point to a feature which is essential to the objects they describe: the idea expressed in the epithet is to a certain extent inherent in the concept of the object. The associated epithet immediately refers the mind to the concept in question due to some actual quality of the object it is attached to, for instance 'dark forest', 'careful attention', 'fantastic terrors', etc.

Unassociated epithet are attributes used to characterize the object by adding a feature not inherent in it, i.e., a feature which may be so unexpected as to strike the reader by its novelty, as for instance, 'heart-burning smile', 'voiceless sands', etc. It may seem strange, unusual, or even accidental.

The process of strengthening the connection between the epithet and the noun may sometimes go so far as to build a specific unit which does not lose its poetic flavour. Such epithets are called fixed and are mostly used in ballads and folk songs: 'true love', 'darк forest', 'green wood', 'good ship'.

Structurally, epithets can be viewed from the angle of a) composition and b) distribution.

From the point of view of their compositional structure epithets may be divided into simple, compound and phrase epithets. Simple epithets are ordinary adjectives. Compound epithets are built like compound adjectives: 'heart-burning sigh', ' cloud-shapen giant', 'mischief-making monkey'.

The tendency to cram into one language unit as much information as possible has led to new compositional models for epithets which are called phrase epithets. A phrase and even a whole sentence may become an epithet if the main formal requirement of the epithet is maintained - its attributive use. But unlike simple and compound epithets, which may have pre- or post-position, phrase epithets are always placed before the nouns they refer to. For example:

"It is this do-it-yourself, go-it-alone attitude that has thus far held back real development of the Middle East's river resources."

"Personally I detest her smug, mystery-making, come-hither-but-go-away-again-because-butter-wouldn 't-melt-in-my-mouth expression."

Another structural variety of the epithet is composed of two nouns linked in an o/-phrase: 'a devil of a job', ' the shadow of a smile'.

From the point of view of the distribution of the epithets in the sentence, the first model to be pointed out is the string of epithets. For example:

"Such was the background of the wonderful, cruel, enchanting, bewildering, fatal, great city."

Another distributional model is the transferred epithet. Transferred epithets are ordinary logical attributes generally describing the state of a human being, but made to refer to an inanimate object, for example: sick chamber, sleepless pillow, restless pace, unbreakfasted morning.

Oxymoron

Oxymoron is a combination of two words (mostly an adjective and a noun or an adverb with an adjective) in which the meanings of the two clash, being opposite in sense, for example:

How skyscraper', 'sweet sorrow', 'pleasantly ugly face', 'horribly beautiful'.

e) Interaction of logical and nominal meanings: Antonomasia

The interplay between logical and nominal meanings of a word is called antonomasia. Here is an example of genuine antonomasia.

"Society is now one polished horde,

Form'd of two mighty tribes, the Bores and Bored."

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 or event concerned. Antonomasia is a much favoured device in the belles-lettres style.

In Russian literature this device is employed by many of classic writers. It will suffice to mention such names as Molchalin, Korobochka and Sobakevich to illustrate this efficient device for characterizing literary heroes.

The use of antonomasia is now not confined to the belles-lettres style. It is often found in publicistic style, that is in magazine and newspaper articles, in essays and also in military language.

3. Intensification of a certain feature of a thing or phenomenon:

In the third group of stylistic devices we find that one of the qualities of the object in question is made to sound essential.

Simile

The intensification of some feature of the concept in question is realized in a device called simile. 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 or difference. 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. Comparison takes into consideration all the properties of the two objects, stressing the one that is compared. Simile excludes all the properties of the two objects except one which is made common to them. For example, 'The boy seems to be as clever as his mother' is ordinary comparison. 'Boy' and 'mother' belong to the same class of objects - human being - and only one quality is being stressed to find the resemblance. But in the sentence: "Maidens, like moths, are ever caught by glare," (Byron), we have a simile. "Maidens' and 'moth' belong to heterogeneous classes of objects and Byron has found the concept 'moth' to indicate one of the secondary features of the concept 'maiden', i.e., to be easily lured. Of the two concepts brought together in the simile - one characterized {maidens), and the other

characterizing (moth) - the feature intensified will be more inherent in the latter than in the former.

The properties of an object may be viewed from different angles, for example, its state, its actions, manner, 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.

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