Assignments for Self-Control
1. What lexical meanings of a word can you name?
Which of them, in most cases, is the most important one?
2. What SDs are based on the use of the logical (deno-
tational) meaning of a word?
3. What is a contextual meaning? How is it used in a SD?
4. What is the difference between the original and the
hackneyed SDs?
5. What is a metaphor? What are its semantic, morpholog-
ical, syntactical, structural, functional peculiarities?
6. What is a metonymy? Give a detailed description of
the device.
7. What is included into a group of SDs known as
"play on words"? Which ones of them are the most fre-
quently used? What levels of language hierarchy are involved
into their formation?
8. Describe the difference between pun and zeugma,
zeugma and a semantically false chain, semantically false
chain and nonsense of non-sequence.
9. What meanings of a word participate in the violation
of a phraseological unit?
10. What is the basic effect achieved by the play on
words?
11. Find examples of each of the discussed stylistic devices
in your home reading.
12. Try and find peculiarities in the individual use of
various SDs by different authors known to you from your
courses of literature, interpretation of the text, home reading.
In all previously discussed lexical SDs we dealt with various transformations of the logical (denotational) meaning of words, which participated in the creation of metaphors, metonymies, puns, zeugmas, etc. Each of the SDs added expressiveness and originality to the nomination of the object. Evaluation of the named concept was often present too, but it was an optional characteristic, not inherent in any of these SDs. Their subjectivity relies on the new and fresh look at the object mentioned, which shows the latter from a new and unexpected side. In irony, which is our next item of consideration, subjectivity lies in the evaluation of
the phenomenon named. The essence of this SD consists in the foregrounding not of thelogical but of the evaluative meaning. The context is arranged so that the qualifying word in irony reverses the direction of the evaluation, and the word positively charged is understood as a negative qualifi-cation and (much-much rarer) vice versa. Irony thus is a stylistic device in which the contextual evaluative meaning of a word is directly opposite to its dictionary meaning. So, like all other SDs irony does not exist outside the context, which varies from the minimal - a word combination, as in J. Steinbeck's "She turned with the sweet smile of an alli-gator,"- to the context of a whole book, as in Ch. Dickens, where one of the remarks of Mr. Micawber, known for his complex, highly bookish and elaborate style of speaking about the most trivial things, is introduced by the author's words "...Mr. Micawber said in his usual plain manner".
In both examples the words "sweet" and "plain" reverse their positive meaning into the negative one due to the context, micro- in the first, macro- in the second case.
In the stylistic device of irony it is always possible to indicate the exact word whose contextual meaning diametric-ally opposes its dictionary meaning. This is why this type of irony is called verbal irony. There are very many cases, though, which we regard as irony, intuitively feeling the reversal of the evaluation, but unable to put our finger on the exact word in whose meaning we can trace the contra-diction between the said and the implied. The effect of irony in such cases is created by a number of statements, by the whole of the text. This type of irony is called sustained, and it is formed by the contradiction of the speaker's (writer's) considerations and the generally accepted moral and ethical codes. Many examples of sustained irony are supplied by D. Defoe, J. Swift, by such contemporary writers as S. Lewis, K. Vonnegut, E. Waugh and others.
Exercise IV. In the following excerpts you will find mainly examples of verbal irony. Explain what conditions made the realization of the opposite evaluation possible. Pay attention to the part of speech which is used in irony, also its syntactical function:
1. The book was entitled Murder at Milbury Manor and was a whodunit of the more abstruse type, in which everything turns on whether a certain character, by catching the three-forty-three train at Hilbury and changing into the four-sixteen at Milbury, could have reached Silbury by five-twenty-seven, which would have given him just time to disguise himself
and be sticking knives into people at Bilbury by six-thirty-eight.'' (P. G. W.)
2. When the war broke out she took down the signed photograph of the Kaiser and, with some solemnity, hung it in the men-servants' lavatory; it was her one combative action. (E. W.)
3. "I had a plot, a scheme, a little quiet piece of enjoyment afoot, of which the very cream and essence was that this old man and grandchild should be as poor as frozen rats," and Mr. Brass revealed the whole story, making himself out to be rather a saintlike holy character. (D.)
4. The lift held two people and rose slowly, groaning with diffidence. (I. M.)
5. England has been in a dreadful state for some weeks. Lord Coodle would go out, Sir Thomas Doodle wouldn't come in, and there being nobody in Great Britain (to speak of) except Coodle and Doodle, there has been no Govern-ment (D.)
6. From her earliest infancy Gertrude was brought up by her aunt. Her aunt had carefully instructed her to Christian principles. She had also taught her Mohammedanism, to make sure. (L.)
7. "She's a charming middle-aged lady with a face like a bucket of mud and if she has washed her hair since Coolidge's second term, I'll eat my spare tire, rim and all." (R. Ch.)
8. With all the expressiveness of a stone Welsh stared at him another twenty seconds apparently hoping to see him gag. (R. Ch.)
9. "Well. It's shaping up into a lovely evening, isn't it?"
"Great," he said.
"And if I may say so, you're doing everything to make it harder, you little sweet." (D. P.)
10. Mr. Vholes is a very respectable man. He has not a large business, but he is a very respectable man. He is allowed by the greater attorneys to be a most respectable man. He never misses a chance in his practice which is a mark of respectability, he never takes any pleasure, which is another mark of respectability, he is reserved and serious which is another mark of respectability. His digestion is impaired which is highly respectable. (D.)
11. Several months ago a magazine named Playboy which concentrates editorially on girls, books, girls, art, girls, music, fashion, girls and girls, published an article about old-time science-fiction. (M. St.)
12. Apart from splits based on politics, racial, religious and ethnic backgrounds and specific personality differences, we're just one cohesive team. (D. U.)
13. A local busybody, unable to contain her curiosity any longer, asked an expectant mother point-blank whether she was going to have a baby. "Oh, goodness, no," the young woman said pleasantly. "I'm just carrying this for a friend." (P. G. W.)
14. Sonny Grosso was a worrier who looked for and frequently managed to find, the dark side of most situations. (P. M.)
15. Bookcases covering one wall boasted a half-shelf of literature. (T. C.)
16. I had been admitted as a partner in the firm of Andrews and Bishop, and throughout 1927 and 1928 I enriched myself and the firm at the rate of perhaps forty dollars a month. (Jn. B.)
17. Last time it was a nice, simple, European-style war. (I. Sh.)
18. He could walk and run, was full of exact knowledge about God, and entertained no doubt concerning the special partiality of a minor deity called Jesus towards himself. (A. B.)
19. But every Englishman is born with a certain miraculous power that makes him master of the world. As the great champion of freedom and national independence he conquers and annexes half the world and calls it Colonization. (B. Sh.)
20. All this blood and fire business tonight was probably part of the graft to get the Socialists chucked out and leave honest business men safe to make their fortunes out of murder. (L. Ch.)
Assignments for Self-Control
1. What is irony, what lexical meaning is employed in its formation?
2. What types of irony do you know? What is the length of the context needed for the realization of each of them?
3. What are the most frequently observed mechanisms of irony formation? Can you explain the role of the repetition in creating irony?
4. Can you name English, American or Russian writers known for their ingenuity and versatility in the use of irony?
5. Find cases of irony in books you read both for work and pleasure.
Antonomasia isa lexical SD in which a proper name is used instead of a common noun or vice versa, i.e. a SD, in which the nominal meaning of a proper name is suppressed by its logical meaning or the logical meaning acquires the new-nominal-component. Logical meaning, as you know, serves to denote concepts and thus to classify individual objects into groups (classes). Nominal meaning has no classifying power for it applies to one single individual object with the aim not of classifying it as just another of a number of objects constituting a definite group, but, on the contrary, with the aim of singling it out of the group of similar objects, of individualizing one particular object. Indeed, the word "Mary" does not indicate whether the denoted object refers to the class of women, girls, boats, cats, etc., for it singles out without denotational classification. But in Th. Dreiser we read: "He took little satisfaction in telling each Mary, shortly after she arrived, something... ." The attribute "each", used with the name, turns it into a common noun denoting any woman. Here we deal with a case of anto- nomasia of the first type.
Another type of antonomasia we meet when a common noun serves as an individualizing name, as in D. Cusack: "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."
Still another type of antonomasia is presented by the so-called "speaking names" - names whose origin from common nouns is still clearly perceived. So, in such popular English surnames as Mr. Smith or Mr. Brown the etymology can be restored but no speaker of English today has it in his mind that the first one used to mean occupation and the second one - color. While such names from Sheridan's School for Scandal as Lady Teazle or Mr. Surface immediately raise associations with certain human qualities due to the denota-tional meaning of the words "to tease" and "surface". The double role of the speaking names, both to name and to qualify, is sometimes preserved in translation. Cf. the list of names from another of Sheridan's plays, The Rivals: Miss Languish — Мисс Томнэй; Mr. Backbite —М-р Клеветаун; Mr. Credulous — М-р Доверч; Mr. Snake —М-р Гад, etc. Or from F. Cooper: Lord Chatterino — Лорд Балаболо; John Jaw — Джон Брех; Island Leap-High - Остров Высокопрыгия.
Antonomasia is created mainly by nouns, more seldom by attributive combinations (as in "Dr. Fresh Air") or phrases
(as in "Mr. What's-his name"). Common nouns used in the second type of antonomasia are in most cases abstract, though there are instances of concrete ones being used too.
Exercise V. Analyse the following cases of antonomasia. State the type of meaning employed and implied; indicate what additional information is created by the use of antonomasia; pay attention to the morphological and semantic characteristics of common nouns used as proper names:
1. "You cheat, you no-good cheat - you tricked our son. Took our son with a scheming trick, Miss Tomboy, Miss Sarcastic, Miss Sneerface." (Ph. R.)
2. A stout middle-aged man, with enormous owl-eyed spectacles, was sitting... on the edge of a great table. I turned to him.
"Don't ask me," said Mr. Owl Eyes washing his hands of the whole matter. (Sc. F.)
3. To attend major sports event most parents have arrived. A Colonel Sidebotham was standing next to Prendergast, firmly holding the tape with "FINISH". "Capital," said Mr. Prendergast, and dropping his end of the tape, he sauntered to the Colonel. "I can see you are a fine judge of the race, sir. So was I once. So's Grimes. A capital fellow, Grimes; a bounder, you know, but a capital fellow. Bounders can be capital fellows; don't you agree, Colonel Slidebottom... I wish you'd stop pulling at my arm, Pennyfeather. Colonel Shybottom and I are just having a most interesting conver- sation." (E. W.)
4. I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I know);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
I send them over land and sea,
I send them east and west;
But after they have worked for me
I give them all a rest.
I let them rest from nine till five,
For I am busy then,
As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,
For they are hungry men.
But different folk have different views.
I know a person small –
She keeps ten million serving-men,
Who get no rest at all.
She sends 'em abroad on her own affairs,
From the second she opens her eyes-
One million Hows, two million Wheres,
And seven million Whys. (R. K.)
5. "Her mother is perfectly unbearable. Never met such a Gorgon."
"I don't really know what a Gorgon is like, but I am quite sure, that Lady Bracknell is one. In any case, she is a monster without being a myth." (O. W.)
6. Our secretary is Esther D'Eath. Her name is pronounced by vulgar relatives as Dearth, some of us pronounce it Deeth. (S. Ch.)