Lexical expressive means

and stylistic devices

 PLAN
1. The notion of ‘trope’.
2. Classification of lexical expressive means and stylistic devices.
3. Figures of substitution.
4. Figures of combination.
Tropes are lexical expressive means in which a word or
word combination is used figuratively.
They are based on the transference of meaning and create
rhetorical images.
The image is a tenor – vehicle relationship. The similar
features between two different notions are called the ground.
E.g.: Beauty is but flower.
 Classification of lexical EMs and SDs
All lexical stylistic devices may be classified into (L.P.Yefimov):
1. figures of substitution
a) figures of quantity
b) figures of quality
2. figures of combination
a) figures of identity
b) figures of contrast
c) figures of inequality
 HYPERBOLE
Hyperbole is a stylistic device in which emphasis is
achieved through deliberate exaggeration, relies on the
foregrounding of the emotive meaning.

He was so tall that I wasn’t sure that he had a face.

I’ve been on the road longer than asphalt.
The coffee shop smell was strong enough to build a garage on.
 MEIOSIS
Meiosis (understatement) is a stylistic device in which the
size, shape, dimensions, characteristic features of the object
are not overrated, but intentionally underrated.

I am rather annoyed.
Mary can do the job in a second.
The guy is so disgusting! He is a real microbe.
 LITOTES
Litotes is a specific variant of meiosis. It is a combination of
the negative particle “not” and a word with negative
meaning or a negative prefix.

She was not unhappy with him.

He was not brainless.
It is not a stupid answer.
 METAPHOR
Metaphor is the transference of names based on the
associated likeness between two objects.
Metaphors are subdivided into:
a) genuine (fresh, original) and trite (stale, hackneyed);
b) nominational, cognitive and imaginative;
c) simple (elementary) and prolonged (sustained).
 Examples of metaphors
 Trite metaphors: the leg of the table, the sunrise, floods of tears;
 original metaphors: Some books are to be tasted, others swallowed, and
some few to be chewed and digested;
 nominational metaphors: the arm of the chair, the foot of the hill;
 cognitive metaphors: One more day has died; The shore was drowning
in the fog;
 imaginative metaphors: Patricia’s eyes were pools of still water; If
there is enough rain, the land will shout with grass;
 Examples of metaphors
 simple metaphors: The leaves were falling sorrowfully; A good
book is the best of friends;
 sustained metaphors: The average New Yorker is caught in a
Machine. He whirls along, he is dizzy, he is helpless. If he resists, the
Machine will mangle him. If he does not resist, it will daze him first
with its glittering reiterations, so that when the mangling comes he is
past knowing
 PERSONIFICATION
If a metaphor involves likeness between inanimate and
animate objects, i.e. when the speaker ascribes human
behaviour, thoughts and actions to inanimate objects, we
deal with personification.
The face of London, the pain of the ocean;
Lie is a strange creature and a very mean one.
 ANTONOMASIA
Antonomasia, as a variety of metaphor, is a lexical stylistic
device in which a proper name is used instead of a common
noun or vice versa.
There are three doctors in an illness like yours. I don’t mean only myself, my
partner and the radiologist who does your X-rays, the three I’m referring to are
Dr. Rest, Dr. Diet and Dr. Fresh Air.
Credulous – М-р Доверч; Snake – М-р Гад, Lord Chatterino – Лорд Балаболо;
John Jaw – Джон Брех.
 EPITHET
The epithet is a stylistic device based on the interplay of
emotive and logical meaning in an attributive word, phrase
or even sentence.
Epithets may be subdivided into:
◦ associated and unassociated epithets;
◦ simple, compound, phrase and sentence epithets.

There is a sort of ‘Oh-what-a-wicked-world-this-is-and-how-I-wish-I-could-

do-something-to-make-it-better-and-nobler’ expression about Montmorency
that has been known to bring the tears into the eyes of pious old ladies and
gentleman.
 METONYMY
Metonymy is based on contiguity (nearness) of objects or
phenomena. Transference of names in metonymy proceeds from
the fact that two objects (phenomena) have common grounds of
existence in reality.
The man was so hungry that he ate two plates.
Two Raphaels hung on the wall. The hall applauded.
The pen is mightier than the sword.
Across the country we went like the wind, followed by a couple of black cars full of
moustaches.
 SYNECDOCHE
Synecdoche as a variety of metonymy is a transference of
meaning from one phenomenon to the other through the
quantitative relationship between them.

He went through perfumed conversation.

England beat Australia at cricket.
He was a shy man, unable to look me in the eye.
 IRONY
Irony is a stylistic device in which the contextual evaluative
meaning of a word is directly opposite to its dictionary
meaning (designed to achieve a derisive effect).

It must be delightful to find oneself in a foreign country without a penny in one’s

pocket.
She turned with a sweet smile of an alligator.
Figures of combination comprise:

1. figures of identity (simile, synonyms);

2. figures of contrast (oxymoron, antithesis);
3. figures of inequality (climax, anticlimax, zeugma, pun).
 SIMILE
Simile is a stylistic device characterizing one object by
bringing it into contact with another object belonging to an
entirely different class of things.
Paula is like a fairy.
Viola behaves as if she were a child.
Roy behaved worse than a cut-throat.
With the quickness of a cat, Sam climbed up the tree.
She had a strange resemblance to a captive bird.
 OXYMORON
Oxymoron is a combination of two semantically
contradictory notions, that help to emphasize contradictory
qualities simultaneously existing in the described
phenomenon as a dialectal unity.
Loving hate, cold fire, sick health,
to shout mutely, the street damaged by improvements,
silence was louder than thunder
 ANTITHESIS
Antithesis is a confrontation of at least two separate phrases
semantically opposite. It stands close to oxymoron.

The age of wisdom, the age of foolishness – antithesis,

wise foolishness – oxymoron
 CLIMAX
Climax (gradation) consists in arranging the utterance so
that each subsequent component of it increases significance,
importance or emotional tension of narration.

There was the boom, then instantly the shriek and burst.
There were hundreds of houses, thousands of stairs, innumerable
kitchens.
 ANTICLIMAX
Anticlimax consists in arranging the utterance so that each
subsequent component of it decreases significance,
importance or emotional tension of narration.

If John’s eyes fill with tears, you may have no doubt: he has been
eating raw onions.
Yes, I came face to face with a lion once. To make things worse, I was
alone and weaponless. First, I tried to hypnotize him looking straight
into his eyeballs. But it was useless. He kept on crawling towards me.
Then I thought of plunging my arm down his throat, grabbing him by
the tail from the inside and turning him inside out, but it seemed too
dangerous. And he kept on creeping towards me, growing in
anticipation. I had to think fast. Meanwhile, the situation got more
and more monotonous with every coming second. And you know how
I escaped the situation. When I became bored enough with the lion’s
muzzle, I just left him and went to the other cages.
 PUN
Pun is a stylistic device based on the interaction of two
well-known meanings of a word or phrase.
“Are you engaged?” asked the porter.
“What business is that of your?” asked the man. “If you take the trouble to read
the papers, you will see that I am engaged to Lucy Popham.”
“The importance of being Earnest”
 ZEUGMA
Zeugma – the use of a word in the same grammatical but
different semantic relations to two adjacent words in the
context, the semantic relations being, on the one hand,
literal, and on the other hand, transferred.
I am not planning anything. I am not a planner, I am a liver. – Well,
then I am a pancrease.
He took his hat and his leave.
Йшов дощ, і два студенти.
 RECOMMENDED LITERATURE
1. Giovanell M., Mason J. The Language of Literature. An Introduction to Stylistics. Cambridge University Press, 2018.
2. Gnanasekaran D. Stylistics of Poetry. Notion Press, 2018.
3. Hashim A. M. Key questions about stylistics. A beginner’s perspective. GRIN Verlag, 2017.
4. Norgaard Nina, Busse Beatrix, Montoro Rocio. Key Terms in Stylistics. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2010.
5. Simpson Paul. Stylistics. A resource book for students. London and New York: Routledge, 2004.
6. Verdonk Peter. Stylistics. Oxford University Press, 2003.

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11. Skrebnev Y.M. Fundamentals of English Stylistics / Y.M. Skrebnev .– M.: Astrel, 2000.