Classification of Epithets

From the point of view of their compositional structure epithets may be divided into:

1) simple (adjectives, nouns, participles): e.g. He looked at them in animal panic.

2) compound: e.g. apple - faced man;

3) sentence and phrase epithets: e.g. It is his do - it - yourself attitude.

4) reversed epithets - composed of 2 nouns linked by an ofphrase: e.g. "a shadow of a smile";

Semantically according to I. Galperin.

1) associated with the noun following it, pointing to a feature which is essential to the objects they describe: dark forest; careful attention.

2) unassociated with the noun, epithets that add a feature which is unexpected and which strikes the reader: smiling sun, voiceless sounds.

Oxymoron is a combination of two words in which the meaning is opposite in sense.

e. g. speaking silence, cold fire, living death.

Close to oxymoron is paradox - a statement that is absurd on the surface. e.g. War is peace. The worse - the better.

Trite oxymoron. e.g. Awfully beautiful.

If the primary meaning of qualifying word changes the stylistic effect of oxymoron is lost. In oxymoron the logical meaning holds fast because there is no true word combination.

4. Interaction of Logical and Nominative Meaning

Antonomasia. It is the result of interaction between logical and nominal meaning of a word.

1) When the proper name of a person, who is famous for some reasons, is put for a person having the same feature.

e.g. Her husband is an Othello.

2) A common noun is used instead of a proper name, e. g. I agree with you Mr. Logic, e.g. My Dear Simplicity.

XI. Intensification of a Feature

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. The simile gives rise to a new understanding of the object. The properties of an object maybe viewed from different angles, f. e. its state, its actions, manners 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.

Periphrasis - is a round - about way of speaking used to name some object or phenomenon. Longer-phrase is used instead of a shorter one. Some periphrasis are traditional.

e. g. The fair sex.

My better half.

Periphrasis are divided into:

1. Logical - based on inherent properties of a thing.

e. g. Instrument of destruction, the object of administration.

2. Figurative - based on imagery: metaphor, metonymy

e. g. To tie a knot - to get married; in disgrace of fortune - bad luck.

Euphemism is used to avoid some unpleasant things, or taboo things.

e. g. To pass away - to die.

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. 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:

e. g. 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.

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