Our language is holistic and logical correct system. His smallest unit is the sound, the smallest significant unit- morpheme. Words are made up of morphemes, which are considered the main language unit. They can be considered from the point of view of their sound, as well as from the point of view of structure, as or as members of a sentence.

Each of the named language units corresponds to a certain linguistic layer, tier. A sound is a unit of phonetics, a morpheme is a unit of morphemics, a word is a unit of vocabulary, parts of speech are units of morphology, and sentences are units of syntax. Morphology and syntax together make up grammar.

At the level of vocabulary, tropes are distinguished - special turns of speech, giving it special expressiveness. Similar means at the level of syntax are figures of speech. As you can see, everything in the language system is interconnected and interdependent.

Lexical means

Let us dwell on the most striking language means. Let's start with the lexical level of the language, which - we recall - is based on words and their lexical meanings.

Synonyms

Synonyms are words of the same part of speech that are close in their lexical meanings. For example, beautiful - lovely.

Some words or combinations of words acquire a close meaning only in a certain context, in a certain language environment. it contextual synonyms.

Consider the sentence: Day was august, sultry, painfully boring" . The words august , sultry, painfully boring are not synonyms. However, in this context, when describing a summer day, they acquire a similar meaning, acting as contextual synonyms.

Antonyms

Antonyms are words of one part of speech with the opposite lexical meaning: high - low, high - low, giant - dwarf.

Like synonyms, antonyms can be contextual, that is, to acquire the opposite meaning in a certain context. The words wolf and sheep, for example, out of context are not antonyms. However, in the play by A.N. Ostrovsky "Wolves and Sheep" two types of people are depicted - people-"predators" ("wolves") and their victims ("sheep"). It turns out that in the title of the work the words wolves and sheep, acquiring the opposite meaning, become contextual antonyms.

Dialectisms

Dialectisms are words that are used only in certain localities. For example, in southern regions Russia beet has a different name beetroot. In some areas, the wolf is called a biryuk. Veksha(squirrel), hut(house), towel(towel) - all these are dialectisms. AT literary works dialectisms are used most often to create local color.

Neologisms

Neologisms are new words that have recently come into the language: smartphone, browser, multimedia etc.

obsolete words

In linguistics, words that have gone out of active use are considered obsolete. obsolete words are divided into two groups - archaisms and historicisms.

Archaisms- These are obsolete names of objects that exist to this day. Other names, for example, used to have eyes and a mouth. They were named accordingly. eyes and mouth.

historicisms- words that have fallen into disuse due to the disappearance of the concepts and phenomena they designate. Oprichnina, corvee, boyar, chain mail- objects and phenomena called by such words, in modern life No, which means that these are historic words.

Phraseologisms

Phraseologisms are adjoining lexical linguistic means - stable combinations of words reproduced equally by all native speakers. Like snow fell on your head, play spillikins, neither fish nor meat, work carelessly, turn up your nose, turn your head ... What kind of phraseological units are not in the Russian language and what aspects of life they do not characterize!

trails

Tropes are turns of speech based on a game with the meaning of a word and giving speech a special expressiveness. Consider the most popular trails.

Metaphor

Metaphor - the transfer of properties from one object to another on the basis of any similarity, the use of a word in a figurative sense. Metaphor is sometimes called hidden comparison- and not by accident. Consider examples.

Cheeks are burning. The word is used figuratively are burning. Cheeks seem to burn - that's what a hidden comparison is like.

Sunset bonfire. The word is used figuratively bonfire. The sunset is compared to a fire, but it is compared hiddenly. This is a metaphor.

Expanded metaphor

With the help of a metaphor, a detailed image is often created - in this case, not one word, but several, acts in a figurative sense. Such a metaphor is called expanded.

Here is an example, the lines of Vladimir Soloukhin:

"Earth - cosmic body, and we are astronauts making a very long flight around the Sun, together with the Sun through the infinite Universe.”

The first metaphor Earth is a cosmic body- gives birth to the second - we, people are astronauts.

As a result, a whole detailed image is created - astronauts make a long flight around the sun on the ship-Earth.

Epithet

Epithet– colorful artistic definition. Of course, epithets are most often adjectives. Moreover, adjectives are colorful, emotionally evaluative. For example, in the phrase golden ring word golden is not an epithet usual definition characterizing the material from which the ring is made. But in the phrase golden hair, golden soul - golden, golden- epithets.

However, other cases are also possible. Sometimes a noun acts as an epithet. For example, frost-voivode. Governor in this case application - that is, a kind of definition, which means it may well be an epithet.

Often epithets are emotional, colorful adverbs, for example, fun in the phrase merrily walks.

Permanent epithets

Permanent epithets are found in folklore, oral folk art. Remember: in folk songs, fairy tales, epics, well done is always kind, the girl is red, the wolf is gray, and the earth is damp. All these are constant epithets.

Comparison

Assimilation of one object or phenomenon to another. Most often it is expressed comparative turnovers with unions as, as, exactly, as if or comparative clauses. But there are other forms of comparison. For example, comparative adjective and adverb or the so-called creative comparison. Consider examples.

Time flies, like a bird(comparative turnover).

Brother is older than me(comparative turnover).

I younger brother(comparative degree of the adjective young).

meanders snake. (creative comparisons).

personification

endowment inanimate objects or phenomena by the properties and qualities of the living: the sun is laughing, spring has come.

Metonymy

Metonymy is the replacement of one concept by another on the basis of contiguity. What does it mean? Surely in the lessons of geometry you studied adjacent corners- angles that have one common side. Concepts can also be related, for example, school and students.

Consider examples:

School went out on Saturday.

Kisses plate ate.

The essence of metonymy in the first example is that instead of the word pupils the word is used shko la. In the second example, we use the word plate instead of the name of what is on the plate ( soup, porridge or something similar), that is, we use metonymy.

Synecdoche

Synecdoche is similar to metonymy and is considered a variation of it. This trope also consists in replacement - but in a replacement necessarily quantitative. Most often plural is replaced by a single one and vice versa.

Consider examples of synecdoche.

"From here we will threaten to the Swede… "- thinks Tsar Peter in the poem by A.S. Pushkin" Bronze Horseman". Of course, I didn't mean just one. Swede, a Swedes- that is singular used instead of plural.

And here is a line from Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin": “We all look at the Napoleons”. It is known that french emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was alone. The poet uses synecdoche - he uses the plural instead of the singular.

Hyperbola

Hyperbole is an extreme exaggeration. "In a hundred and forty suns the sunset burned", - writes V. Mayakovsky. And Gogolevsky had trousers "as wide as the Black Sea."

Litotes

Litota is a trope, the opposite of hyperbole, an overstatement: a boy with a finger, a man with a fingernail.

Irony

Irony is called hidden mockery. At the same time, we put into our words a meaning that is directly opposite to the true one. "From off, smart, you wander your head", - such a question in Krylov's fable is addressed to the Donkey, which is considered the embodiment of stupidity.

paraphrase

We have already considered paths based on the replacement of concepts. At metonymy one word is replaced by another according to the adjacency of concepts, with synecdoche the singular is replaced by the plural or vice versa.

Paraphrase is also a substitution - a word is replaced by several words, a whole descriptive phrase. For example, instead of the word "animals" we say or write "our smaller brothers." Instead of the word "lion" - the king of beasts.

Syntactic means

The syntactic means are language tools that is associated with a sentence or phrase. Syntactic means sometimes called grammatical, since syntax, along with morphology, is part of grammar. Let's dwell on some syntactic means.

Homogeneous members of a sentence

These are sentence members that answer the same question, refer to one word, are one member of the sentence, and, in addition, are pronounced with a special enumeration intonation.

grew in the garden roses, chamomile,bells . — This sentence is complicated by homogeneous subjects.

Introductory words

These are words that more often express an attitude to what is being reported, indicate the source of the message or the way the thought is framed. Let's analyze the examples.

Luckily, snow.

Unfortunately, snow.

Maybe, snow.

According to a friend, snow.

So, snow.

The above sentences convey the same information. (snow), but it is expressed with different feelings (fortunately, unfortunately) with uncertainty (maybe), indicating the source of the message (according to a friend) and way of thinking (so).

Dialog

A conversation between two or more people. Let us recall, as an example, a dialogue from a poem by Korney Chukovsky:

— Who is speaking?
- Elephant.
- Where?
- From a camel...

Question-answer form of presentation

This is the construction of the text in the form of questions and answers to them. "What's wrong with piercing gaze? - the author asks at the same time. And he answers himself: “And everything is bad!”

Separate members of the sentence

Secondary members of a sentence, which are distinguished by commas (or dashes) in writing, and by pauses in speech.

The pilot talks about his adventures, smiling at the audience (offer with separate circumstance, expressed by adverbial turnover).

The children went out into the field illuminated by the sun (a sentence with a separate circumstance, expressed by participial turnover).

Without a brother his first listener and admirer, he would hardly have achieved such results.(offer with a separate common application).

Nobody, except for her sister didn't know about it(offer with a separate addition).

I will come early at six o'clock in the morning (a sentence with a separate clarifying circumstance of time).

Figures of speech

At the level of syntax, special constructions are distinguished that give expressiveness to speech. They are called figures of speech stylistic figures. These are antithesis, gradation, inversion, parcellation, anaphora, epiphora, rhetorical question, rhetorical appeal, etc. Consider some of the stylistic figures.

Antithesis

In Russian, antithesis is called opposition. As an example of it, we can cite the proverb: “Learning is light, and ignorance is darkness.”

Inversion

Inversion - reverse order words. As you know, each of the members of the proposal has its "legitimate" place, its position. Thus, the subject must come before the predicate, and the definition must come before the word being defined. Certain positions are assigned to the circumstance and addition. When the order of words in a sentence is violated, we can talk about inversion.

Using inversion, writers and poets achieve the desired sound of the phrase. Remember the poem "Sail". Without the inversion, his first lines would sound like this: "A lonely sail turns white in blue fog seas". The poet used inversion and the lines sounded amazing:

White sail lonely

In the mist of the blue sea...

gradation

Gradation - the arrangement of words (usually being homogeneous members, in ascending or descending order). Consider examples: "It optical illusion, hallucination, mirage« (a hallucination is more than an optical illusion, and a mirage is more than an optical illusion). Gradation is both ascending and descending.

Parceling

Sometimes, to enhance expressiveness, the boundaries of the sentence are deliberately violated, that is, parceling is used. It consists in fragmenting the phrase, in which incomplete sentences(that is, such constructions, the meaning of which is unclear out of context). An example of parceling can be considered a newspaper headline: “The process has begun. Back" ("The process went back" - this is how the phrase looked before crushing).

Antonyms are used as a bright expressive means in artistic speech. The writer sees life in contrasts, and this testifies not to inconsistency, but to the integrity of his perception of reality.

The main stylistic function of antonyms is to be lexical means expressions of antithesis. Antithesis as stylistic device widespread in popular poetry, for example in proverbs: Learning is light, and ignorance is darkness; Softly spread, but hard to sleep. Classic examples use of antithesis gives Russian fiction: You are rich, I am very poor. You are a prose writer, I am a poet. You are blush, like a poppy color, I, like death, are both skinny and pale (P.); Goodbye, unwashed Russia, a country of slaves, a country of masters, And you, blue uniforms, and you, to them devoted people(L.); I see sad eyes, I hear cheerful speech (A.K.T.).

The antithesis is simple (single-term) - The strong are always to blame (Kr.) And complex (polynomial) - And we hate, and we love by chance, Without sacrificing anything to either malice or love, And some kind of secret cold reigns when fire boils in the blood (L.). a complex antithesis should involve several antonymous pairs.

The reference to antonyms reflects important features outlook and style of the writer. M.Yu. Lermontov, striving for expressiveness, aphoristic refinement of speech, often introduced antonyms into the text in the process of auto-editing, preferring contrasting words to neutral ones. For example: - As for me, I am convinced of only one thing ... - said Dr. [Werner], - (...) that sooner or later, one fine morning, I will die. - I'm richer than you. - I said [Pechorin]: - besides this, I have another conviction - precisely that I had the misfortune to be born one ugly evening. AT draft autograph Lermontov, this opposition did not yet have such sharpness: one of the elements of the antithesis fell out there - Pechorin repeated Werner's epithet one fine evening.

Antonyms contribute to the disclosure of the contradictory essence of objects, phenomena [You are poor, you are abundant, you are powerful, you are powerless, Mother Russia (N.); Now serious, now amusing, no matter what, in the rain, in the snow - he goes, a saint and a sinner, a Russian miracle man (Tvard.)].

Publicists often turn to the antithesis (There are no intermediate tones, pale colors in the war, everything is brought to the end - great and despicable, black and white. - Eren.). The use of antonyms gives journalistic speech bright expression. So, A.N. Tolstoy wrote during the Great Patriotic War: Our land has swallowed up a lot of rapists who attacked it. Empires rose and fell in the west. From the great they became small, from the rich to beggars. Our homeland expanded and grew stronger, and no enemy force could shake it.

Opposition enhances the emotionality of speech. It is no coincidence that antonymy underlies many aphorisms [The darker the night, the brighter than a star(Mike.); Houses are new, but prejudices are old (Gr.); I'm sad because you're having fun (L.); That heart will not learn to love, which is tired of hating (N.); How few roads have been traveled, how many mistakes have been made (Ec.); Your doors are wide open, and your soul is locked up (High); But almost at the edge of the coffin // I believe: the time will come - // The power of meanness and malice // The spirit of goodness will overcome (Past.)].

Many titles of works are built on the principle of antithesis [“War and Peace” (L.T.); "Days and Nights", "The Living and the Dead" (Sim.)]. Especially often antonymy is used in the headlines of newspapers and journal articles[“Chemistry good and evil”, “Income and expenses”, “A dead system does not hear living people”, “Retro and modern are nearby”, “Seeing tragic and cheerful”, “Geography is different, biographies are similar”, “Poverty with wealth ”, “Maxi-passion for futsal”].

The antithesis is opposed to the reception, which consists in denying the contrasting features of the object: A gentleman was sitting in the britzka, not handsome, but not bad-looking, not too fat, not too thin, one cannot say that he was old, but not so that he was too young ( G.). Such a stringing of antonyms by negation emphasizes the mediocrity of what is described, the lack of bright qualities, well-defined signs. Such use of antonyms makes it possible to indicate not such concepts that do not have in the language exact definition, for example: If a friend suddenly turned out to be neither a friend nor an enemy, but so ... (High).

A strong expression is created by the use of one of the members of the antonymic pair with negation: Who will you become - I will not guess. The world has not grown old - it has become younger: in the expanses of the Motherland there are many big and small things everywhere (Vik.). Such a combination of antonyms enhances, emphasizes the meaning of one of them, used without negation; speech redundancy at the same time, it performs a redundant function - it serves as a means of updating the concept to which the author wants to turn Special attention: The demon in me is alive, not dead (Tsv.); I did not come to quarrel, but to put up; I am not your enemy, but your friend. Writers use this stylistic device to convey shades colloquial speech with an emphatic intonation characteristic of her, for example, in Chekhov: Pull the snag up, kind person… How you? Up, not down!

The phenomenon of antonymy underlies the oxymoron (from Gr. oxýmoron - witty-silly) - a bright stylistic device figurative speech, consisting in the creation of a new concept by combining words that are contrasting in meaning. The combination of antonyms in " pure form” is rare in an oxymoron [“The Beginning of the End” (article title), “Bad good man"(movie title), In the midst of a period of stagnation ... (from the gas.)]. In most cases, words that have opposite meanings are combined as definitive and definitive ["Large little things", "Expensive cheapness", "Inconvenient amenities" (headlines)] (noun and adjective), so they cannot be considered antonyms in exact meaning term (antonyms must belong to the same part of speech).

Bright oxymorons were created by Russian poets [I love the lush nature of wilting (P.); Oh, how painfully happy I am with you (P.); But I soon comprehended the mystery of their ugly beauty (L.); The wretched luxury of the dress (N.); FROM impudent modesty looks into the eyes (Bl.); Look, it's fun for her to be sad, so elegantly naked (Ahm.); - Mother! Your son is very sick! (Lighthouse.); The time has come for the omniscient ignorant (Vys.)]. An oxymoron is often found in the titles of works of art [“Living Powers” ​​(T.), “Optimistic Tragedy” (Vishn.)], in the headings of articles (“Complex simplicity”, “Cold is the season hot”, “Awakened silence”, “Loud whisper of a joke”, “Unofficial about official”, “Retreat forward”).

Stylistic functions antonyms are not limited to the expression of context, opposition. Antonyms help writers to show the completeness of the coverage of phenomena [And it's too late to wish, everything has passed: both happiness and sorrow (Vl. Solovyov); Before him, the crowd fled, Fact and fiction divulged (P.)], the breadth of time boundaries [The troops march day and night, They become unbearable (P.)]. The use of antonyms in this stylistic function sometimes leads to the stringing of antonymic pairs (Palette of colors human characters has no boundaries. There are people good and evil, brave and cowardly, smart and narrow-minded, beautiful and ugly, healthy and sick, cheerful and gloomy, old and young, direct and secretive, frank and cunning. - LF.).

Some antonymic pairs appear in speech as a lexical unity, acquiring a phraseological character: both old and young, both, sooner or later. Their use brings artistic speech colloquial intonations: We will not go too far, so we will break through, We will be alive - we will not die, The time will come, we will return back. What we have given, we will return everything (Tward.).

Comparison of antonyms can reflect the alternation of actions, the change of phenomena observed in life [At 7 o'clock a human tide, at 17 o'clock - ebb (Mayak.); Let's make up. And we'll quarrel. And you will fall asleep again. We'll put our insomnia in a solid white night(R.)], indicate a quick change of actions (A clear lightning flashed in the distance, flashed and went out ... - Bl.).

When antonyms collide, speech often acquires an ironic coloration; humorous writers often use comic antitheses [The furthest point the globe close to something, and the closest to something is far away (K.P.); An unripe pineapple is always worse for a just person than a ripe currant (K.P.)].

Puns are built on antonyms: Where is the beginning of the end with which the beginning ends? (K.P.) It was so late that it was already early (Solzh.). In such cases, the play on words arises due to the use of polysemantic words, which act as antonyms not in all meanings (cf.: Young was no longer young. - I. and P.).

A special stylistic device is the use of one of the antonyms, while the meaning should have used the other. For example: - Where, smart, are you wandering your head? (Cr.). The word smart is said in mockery in relation to the Donkey. And the reader understands that behind this definition is its antonym - stupid. The use of the word in opposite meaning called antiphrasis. Antiphrasis is often found in texts permeated with the author's irony, for example, in N.V. Gogol: Two respectable men, the honor and decoration of Mirgorod, quarreled among themselves; ... Then the process went on with extraordinary speed, which courts are usually so famous for.

A sharp satirical effect is created by the antonymic replacement of one of the components in set phrases: "Bureau of malicious services", "Debt by payment is black" (titles of feuilletons). In such combinations, the “illogicality” of the statement is especially noteworthy, since the linguistic form of the phraseological unit dictates the use of a word that is opposite in meaning.

studying stylistic use antonyms in artistic speech, it should be borne in mind that their expressive possibilities are realized not only in direct opposition, but also in the case when any member of the antonymic pair is absent in the text. Due to their stable connections, antonyms are perceived in speech against the background of their "countermembers". For example, reading the description of Pugachev's appearance in " Captain's daughter» A.S. Pushkin, we note the special expressiveness of words that have antonymic pairs: His face is swarthy, but clean, his eyes are sharp and his gaze is intimidating; the beard and hair on the head are black; its growth is average or less; Although broad in the shoulders, it is very thin in the lower back - the reader mentally distinguishes each of the highlighted words from a possible antonym. This is where the systemic connections of words in the vocabulary are manifested.

Golub I.B. Stylistics of the Russian language - M., 1997

Is language. What is its wealth, strength, beauty and expressiveness?

As you know, the artist's splendor of the spiritual and material world transferred to the canvas through color, paint and lines. The musician displays the harmony of the surrounding world with sounds. The sculptor uses plaster, clay or stone to create his masterpieces. The possibilities of the language used by writers and poets are endless. Its use allows you to convey the sound, and colors, and volumes. Psychological depths are also available to him.

The hallmark of fiction is its ability to draw with words. At the same time, poets and writers use special expressions, turns of speech, epithets, metaphors and other techniques. All these are figurative and expressive means of language. They are extremely important. In a rich language, there are various figurative and expressive means. The table, which contains the names and meanings of such special techniques, can give a visual representation of the beauty and power of Russian speech.

Vocabulary

If expressive means visual arts- these are paints, colors and lines, then in literature they, first of all, include the word. This is the main one, which is the most noticeable element. The expressiveness of speech, first of all, is associated with the word. vocabulary Russian language is huge. It allows you to easily name any specific object, its actions and signs. At the same time, various shades of meaning can be expressed and the assessment of the speaker about the subject of speech is shown.

Words are the main figurative and expressive means. Various examples can be given. So, a master can be called a craftsman or a virtuoso, an expert or an artist, an ace or a specialist.

Polysemy

The use of words can be not only in their direct meaning. The main linguistic element of the language is often used in a figurative sense. For example, the direct lexical meaning of the word "howl" means "a long cry certain types animals."

The secondary or figurative meaning of the word is given by its application in a slightly different perspective. For example, the howl of the wind. In figurative meanings, the names of animals are often used. So, a stowaway is called a hare, and a coward is called a hare. If a person is clumsy, then he is compared with an elephant or a bear, if cunning, then with a fox, and if stupid, then with a ram.

Many words have an ability that makes them usable in different values. This property is called polysemy (polysemy). For writers, such words are sources of vivid and very emotional liveliness of speech. In works, a multi-valued element can be repeatedly repeated, but at the same time appear in different meanings. For example, the word "gold". If you use it in literally, then you can describe jewelry made of precious metal. However, the versatility of meanings allows you to apply the word to a description of a color or designation of the value of an object. It is worth saying that, due to the fact that various are used in a figurative sense, this technique creates imagery. In this case, these expressions and words are called tropes.

Homonyms

The figurative and expressive means of the Russian language are not limited only by the ambiguity of words. There is also certain group homonyms. These include words that are similar in sound and at the same time have different lexical meanings. For example, the word "key" can mean "spring" or "master key".

Homonyms are figurative and expressive means of the Russian language, which are divided into different types. Among them are homographs, homophones and homoforms. All of them serve as rich sources of expressiveness of speech. These are a striking means of sound play.

Puns

The figurative and expressive means of the Russian language can be used to create a humorous orientation. Most often sound similarity various words or their ambiguity finds use in puns. For example: it was snowing and two girls.

Synonyms

Figurative and expressive means of speech can be strengthened through the use of synonyms. Such linguistic elements include words that denote one concept. At the same time, synonyms differ from each other stylistic coloring or semantic connotations. The role of visual and expressive means lies in the creation of beauty and expressiveness of speech. A person who does not own the synonymous richness of the language cannot build a figurative and bright phrase. The poverty of vocabulary often leads to the fact that the same words are repeated in speech, and tautologies also arise.

The Russian language has a huge arsenal, including expressive means, compositions and techniques. It is simply unthinkable to describe the existing palette of colors of live speech, as well as its multicoloredness. To do this, in addition to definitions, it will be necessary to transfer into the mind of the listener the whole rainbow of experiences and feelings that cover the narrator.

For example, a horse. You can call her a horse, a nag, a mare, a pegasus, etc. Everything will depend on the assessment of her merits and attitude towards her (ironic, serious or playful). The word "money" has many synonyms. You can say: lemons and grandmas, banknotes and pieces.

Visual and expressive means must be in the arsenal of a person. At the same time, it is necessary to master the art that allows you to freely play with synonyms. Any cultural individual should know when to say "dog" and when "dog", etc.

Synonym types

Words denoting the same concept are divided into four groups. The first of these includes full synonyms. For example: spelling - spelling, linguistics - linguistics.

The second group includes semantic synonyms. For example: sparkle, radiance, brilliance (the style is the same, but the shades are different).

The third group includes the stylistic type of synonyms. For example: muzzle, face, mug, muzzle, snout.

And the last group is semantic-stylistic synonyms. These words have different sphere use. For example, agreement, condition, agreement, pact, contract.

Synonyms are figurative and expressive means of the Russian language, which are used in speech to avoid repetition, and sometimes for opposition. At the same time, they allow you to subtly distinguish existing shades. For example: he does not sit, but sits.

Antonyms

These include words that have opposite lexical meanings. These figurative and expressive means of language are one and the same part of speech. For example, hate - love, dry - wet. However, in the Russian language there are also such words for which it is impossible to find an antonym.

The presence of oppositions allows you to make speech bright and expressive. At the same time, her emotionality sharply increases.

Metaphors

In the Russian language, figurative and expressive means are distinguished, which are used in a figurative sense on the basis of their similarity. For example, the writer can compare the snow that lay on the branches of trees with a fluffy white sheepskin coat.

The history of the emergence of metaphor began in ancient times, when a person explained the phenomena of the world around him that were incomprehensible to him, referring to his own experiences and feelings. He compared the sun to a living being, saying that it rises in the morning and moves across the sky during the day. The dawn for ancient people flared up. Even though there was no flame. The stars looked from the sky like someone's eyes. In other words, a person transferred the properties known to him to many inanimate objects. Now we call it a metaphor. Translated from Greek, this concept means "transfer". These figurative means languages ​​arise through creative imagination person. For example, a piece of paper, green youth, a winding road, cover your tracks, crawl.

The way of thinking with the help of metaphors has been developed and improved over a considerable period of time. historical period. It exists at the present time, firmly entering our speech. Sometimes we do not even notice how often we use figurative and expressive means called metaphors. Numerous expressions and words that indicate a certain similarity with some object or phenomenon have already somewhat lost their original freshness at the present time. This came from their long and constant use.

Examples of the most familiar metaphors are such expressions as the wings of a mill, swallow an insult, a sour smile, saw teeth, etc.

The formation of metaphors occurs according to the principle of personification. These visual means of language are closest to comparisons. Portable values words and expressions repeated many times become cliches, losing their freshness and attractiveness. The masters of the word know this, creating many new metaphors. At the same time, they skillfully use the richness of our language. In literary works, you can find such expressions as fog beads, the smell of happiness, etc.

AT artistic creativity metamorphic images are also used. For example: the withered bush of my head.

Metaphors are figurative and expressive means that affect a person's imagination and make him experience the feelings invested by the author in his work.

personification

This is one of the oldest trails. Its essence lies in giving inanimate object actions or qualities human. Personification is one of the varieties of metaphor. It arose on the basis of religious beliefs, occupying great place in folklore and mythology. It is in these works that the phenomena of everyday life and nature are endowed with an ability to feel and think that is not inherent in them, as well as the gift of speech. Sometimes personification is applied to zoological characters of epics, fairy tales and legends.

What figurative and expressive means is used in the phrase: "The waves of the surf caress the strip of the coast"? Of course, this is a personification.

Metonymy

This figurative and expressive means of language includes words used in a figurative sense. It's based on adjacency. In metonymy, an object or phenomenon is denoted with the help of other concepts. However, at the same time, connections or signs that bring these phenomena together are inevitably preserved. For example, when we hear a song about an accordion that wanders alone along the street, we understand that a person is walking with it.

The use of metonymy involves the use of the name of one object, replacing the name of another. However, the relationship between them may be different. So, instead of the name of the object, the material from which it is made can be named (he ate on gold). The relationship can be between containing and content. For example: eat another plate. The instrument may be called the action itself. For example: a poet's pen, breathing revenge. Metonymy implies a relationship between the work itself and its author. Example: read Pushkin. Metonymy can also be called the transfer of the name of an organ to its disease. For example: the head has passed. Sometimes, when we say "shelter" or "hearth", we mean "home". It is also metonymy. Such a figurative and expressive means can denote something whole through its certain part. If a sign on the door prohibits unauthorized persons from entering the room, then this applies to the whole person.

Epithet

Along with metaphor, very often in works of art You can find another type of visual and expressive means. It's about about the epithet. This means of speech is figurative element, which has a special expressiveness and conveys the feelings of the author to the subject he depicts. Usually, an epithet is an adjective that is used in a figurative sense. For example: black melancholy, cheerful wind, bright talent. Not every definition can be classified as an epithet. Thus, the expression "iron nerves" carries a certain semantic and emotional load. However, this does not apply to the phrase "iron bed".

Sometimes the epithet is expressed by a noun (wind-tramp), an adverb (to look eagerly), a participle, a verb, or a numeral. In folklore, there are certain stable combinations of words. For example, a beautiful girl, and also good fellow etc. All of them are epithets.

Hyperbola

Among the figurative and expressive elements of the language, there are artistic exaggerations. They are called hyperbole. Such means are resorted to in cases where the reader or listener wants to make a very strong impression. This technique is typical for works created by oral folk art. This indicates the existence of a hyperbola in ancient times. For example, in fairy tales and epics, a hero rides on his horse below the clouds, above the forest, and his whistle is able to bend mighty trees to the ground. In such works, everything grows to an impressive size, which indicates admiration for the power of the people. Hyperbole makes a strong impression on listeners. It is still in use today. Often in our speech we say that the sea is knee-deep or that the whole city already knows some news.

Litotes

If we carefully study the figurative means of the language, a table listing them will surely acquaint us with artistic understatement. This trope is complete opposite hyperbole. An example is the little man with a fingernail, known to all of us from children's fairy tales, as well as a boy with a finger.

paraphrase

It includes a trope in which the name of a phenomenon, person or object is replaced by its hallmark. Paraphrasing enhances the figurativeness of speech. For example, a lion can be called the king of animals, and England - Foggy Albion. The emergence of individual paraphrases is associated with a kind of taboo (a ban on pronouncing someone's name). So, hunters have a belief that in order to avoid encounters with a bear, you cannot pronounce the name of this animal aloud. That is why the phrase "master of the taiga" arose.

Comparison

Among the figurative and expressive means of the language, there is a special technique based on a comparison of two phenomena. At the same time, it allows explaining one phenomenon through another. Most often, this expressive means of the language takes the form of enriched conjunctions that, as if, exactly, as if and how. For example: how ripe apples sitting on a branch bullfinches.

The transfer of the comparison can be done by other means. For example, the noun in instrumental with a verb. For example: the sunset lay like a crimson fire. For comparison, a combination of a noun with comparative form adjective - the truth is more expensive than gold.

Anaphora

As a figurative and expressive means of language, the repetition of certain phrases or words located at the beginning of sentences of which the statement consists is often used. For example, each line of a poem may begin with the verb "I swear", "I love", etc.

Allegory

A very common trope is allegory. It is used when it is inappropriate to call a spade a spade. It is then that they resort to various allegories, omissions and allusions. In other words, to the Aesopian language. The allegory is very characteristic of fairy tales and fables, in which natural phenomena, objects and animals are endowed with human properties. For example, cunning is symbolized by a snake, and cunning is symbolized by a fox.

Irony

This is one of the paths that are certain form denial. Expressions or words that are used in ironic statements have a double meaning. At the same time, the truth lies not in the direct meaning of phrases, but in their opposite sense. For example, when referring to a donkey, its smart head is indicated.

Inversion

This is a figurative-expressive means, suggesting the arrangement of words not in the order in which it is established by the rules of grammar. Often, inversion finds use in agitated and emotional speech. Example: short summer nights.

Antonyms are used as a bright expressive means in artistic speech. The writer sees life in contrasts, and this testifies not to inconsistency, but to the integrity of his perception of reality.

The main stylistic function of antonyms is to be a lexical means of expressing antithesis. Antithesis as a stylistic device is widespread in folk poetry, for example, in proverbs: Learning is light, and ignorance is darkness. Classical examples of the use of antithesis are given by Russian fiction: I see sad eyes, I hear cheerful speech.

The antithesis can be simple (single-term) (The strong one is always to blame) and complex (polynomial) (And we hate and we love by chance, Without sacrificing anything to either anger or love).

Antonyms contribute to the disclosure of the contradictory essence of objects, phenomena. You are poor, you are rich, you are powerful, you are powerless, Mother Russia.

Publicists often turn to the antithesis. The use of antonyms gives journalistic speech a vivid expression.

Opposition enhances the emotionality of speech. It is no coincidence that antonymy underlies many aphorisms. The darker the night, the brighter the stars.

Many titles of works are built on the principle of antithesis. "War and Peace". Especially often antonymy is used in the headlines of newspaper and magazine articles “Poverty with wealth”.

The antithesis is opposed to the reception, which consists in denying the contrasting features of the object: In the britzka sat a gentleman, not handsome, but not bad-looking, not too fat, not too thin, one cannot say that he was old, but not so much that he was too young. Such a stringing of antonyms by negation emphasizes the mediocrity of what is described, the lack of bright qualities, clearly expressed signs. Such use of antonyms makes it possible to point out such concepts that do not have an exact definition in the language. If a friend suddenly turned out to be neither a friend nor an enemy, but just like that…

A strong expression is created by the use of one of the members of the antonymic pair with negation: The world has not grown old - it has become younger. Such a combination of antonyms enhances the meaning of one of them, used without negation; At the same time, speech redundancy performs a stylistic function - it serves as a means of updating the concept to which the author wants to pay special attention.

I am not your enemy, but your friend.

The phenomenon of antonymy underlies oxymoron - a bright stylistic device of figurative speech, which consists in creating a new concept by combining words that are contrasting in meaning. The combination of antonyms in a "pure form" in an oxymoron is rare. "Beginning of the End", "Bad Good Man". In most cases, words that have the opposite meaning are combined as defined and defining, so they cannot be considered antonyms in the exact meaning of the term.

The stylistic functions of antonyms are not limited to the expression of context, opposition. Antonyms help writers to show the completeness of the coverage of phenomena [gone: both happiness and sorrow], the breadth of time boundaries [The troops go day and night].

Some antonymic pairs appear in speech as a lexical unity, acquiring a phraseological character: both old and young, sooner or later. Their use introduces colloquial intonations into artistic speech.

The comparison of antonyms can reflect the alternation of actions, the change of phenomena observed in life [Let's make peace. And we'll quarrel. And you will fall asleep again. We will add up our insomnia into a solid white night], indicating a quick change of actions (A clear lightning flashed in the distance, flared up and went out ...).

Puns are built on antonyms. It was so late that it was already early. In such cases, the play on words arises due to the use of polysemantic words that act as antonyms not in all meanings. Young was no longer young.

A special stylistic device is the use of one of the antonyms, while the meaning should have used the other. The use of a word in the opposite sense is called antiphrasis. Antiphrasis is often found in texts permeated with the author's irony, for example, in N.V. Gogol: Two respectable men, the honor and decoration of Mirgorod, quarreled among themselves.

A sharp satirical effect is created by the antonymic replacement of one of the components in stable phrases: "Debt is black in payment." In such combinations, the “illogicality” of the statement is especially noteworthy, since the linguistic form of the phraseological unit dictates the use of a word that is opposite in meaning.

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13. Stylistic functions of antonyms

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