Metaphor is a transfer of the name of an object to another object on the basis of similarity, likeness, affinity of the two objects. T the same time there is no real connection between them, as in the case with metonymy. The stylistic function of metaphor is not a mere nomination of the thing in question but rather its expressive characterization. Ex: “The machine sitting at the desk was no longer a man; it was busy New York broker…” (O. Henry).

There are 3 types of transfer:

1) Transfer of the name of one object to another. Ex: Life’s a walking shadow, poor player. Death is a ruthless mouer.

Metaphor is expressed by nouns.

2) Transfer of the model of action: Ex: Time was bleeding away.

Metaphor is expressed by verbs.

3) Transfer of typical characteristics. Ex: The smiling sun; the singing wind.

Metaphor is expressed by adjectives.

Metaphor has no formal limitations: it can be a word, a phrase, any part of a sentence, or a sentence as a whole. Metaphors are either simple or complex. A simple, elementary metpho is tht which has no being on the context: it is a word, a phrase, sentence. A complex metaphor is elaborated in a series of images logically connected with one another producing a general description of a character, scene, etc.

This device is known for usage in literature, especially in poetry, where with few words, emotions and associations from one context are associated with objects and entities in a different context.

Metaphor is used to make our speech brighter, more vivid, used in rhetoric, poetic diction.

The metaphor, according to I. A. Richards in The Philosophy of Rhetoric (1936), consists of:

- the tenor (the subject to which attributes are ascribed. О чем говорим)

- the vehicle (the subject from which the attributes are borrowed; what the first classed is compared to)

- the ground (characteristic shared by these two classes)

Ex: John is a pig.

Tenor: John belongs to the class of human being – expressed explicity

Vehicle: pig belongs to the class of animals – explicit.

Ex: All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances; — (William Shakespeare)

This well-known quotation is a good example of a metaphor. In this example, "the world" is compared to a stage, the aim being to describe the world by taking well-known attributes from the stage. In this case, the world is the tenor and the stage is the vehicle. "Men and women" are a secondary tenor and "players" is the vehicle for this secondary tenor.

Domains: 1) source (tenor) domain; 2) target (vehicle) domain.

Metaphor creates similarity.

The metaphor is sometimes further analyzed in terms of the ground and the tension. The ground consists of the similarities between the tenor and the vehicle. The tension of the metaphor consists of the dissimilarities between the tenor and the vehicle. In the above example, the ground begins to be elucidated (объяснять) from the third line: "They all have their exits and entrances". It is an example of an extended metaphor.

Types of metaphor:

An extended metaphor, sets up a principal subject with several subsidiary subjects or comparisons. An epic or Homeric simile is an extended metaphor containing details about the vehicle that are not, in fact, necessary for the metaphoric purpose. This can be extended to humorous lengths, for instance: "This is a crisis. A large crisis. In fact, if you've got a moment, it's a twelve-story crisis with a magnificent entrance hall, carpeting throughout, 24-hour porterage and an enormous sign on the roof saying 'This Is a Large Crisis.'" (Black Adder)

A mixed metaphor is one that leaps from one identification to a second identification that is inconsistent with the first one. Example: "He stepped up to the plate and grabbed the bull by the horns," where two commonly used metaphoric grounds for highlighting the concept of "taking action" are confused to create a nonsensical image.

A dead metaphor is one in which the sense of a transferred image is not present. Example: "to grasp a concept" or "to gather you've understood." Both of these phrases use a physical action as a metaphor for understanding (itself a metaphor), but in none of these cases do most speakers of English actually visualize the physical action. Dead metaphors, by definition, normally go unnoticed.

A synechdochic metaphor is one in which a small part of something is chosen to represent the whole so as to highlight certain elements of the whole. For example "a pair of ragged claws" represents a crab in Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Describing the crab in this way gives it the attributes of sharpness and savagery normally associated with claws.

Other types of metaphor have been identified as well, though the nomenclatures are not as universally accepted:

An active metaphor is one which by contrast to a dead metaphor, is not part of daily language and is noticeable as a metaphor. Example: "You are my sun."

An absolute or paralogical metaphor (sometimes called an anti-metaphor) is one in which there is no discernible point of resemblance between the idea and the image. Example: "The couch is the autobahn of the living room."

An experiential or learning metaphor is an experience that allows one to learn about more than just that experience. Examples: Board-breaking is used in seminars as a metaphor for breaking through emotional boundaries.

A complex metaphor is one which mounts one identification on another. Example: "That throws some light on the question." Throwing light is a metaphor and there is no actual light.

A compound or loose metaphor is one that catches the mind with several points of similarity. Example: "He has the wild stag's foot." This phrase suggests grace and speed as well as daring.

An implicit metaphor is one in which the tenor is not specified but implied. Example: "Shut your trap!" Here, the mouth of the listener is the unspecified tenor.

A submerged metaphor is one in which the vehicle is implied, or indicated by one aspect. Example: "my winged thought". Here, the audience must supply the image of the bird.

A simple or tight metaphor is one in which there is but one point of resemblance between the tenor and the vehicle. Example: "Cool it". In this example, the vehicle, "cool", is a temperature and nothing else, so the tenor, "it", can only be grounded to the vehicle by one attribute.

A root metaphor is the underlying worldview that shapes an individual's understanding of a situation. Examples would be understanding health as a mechanical process, or seeing life as the natural expression of an "ideal" form. A root metaphor is different from the previous types of metaphor in that it is not necessarily an explicit device in language, but a fundamental, often unconscious, assumption.

A conceptual metaphor is an underlying association that is systematic in both language and thought. For example: the key to solving the Riddle of the Sphinx: "What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs at midday, and three in evening? — A man." Similar to root metaphors, conceptual metaphors are not only expressed in words, but are also habitual modes of thinking underlying many related metaphoric expressions.

An implied or unstated metaphor is a metaphor not explicitly stated or obvious that compares two things by using adjectives that commonly describe one thing, but are used to describe another comparing the two.

An example: "Golden baked skin", comparing bakery goods to skin.

The category of metaphor can be further considered to contain the following specialized subsets:

allegory: An extended metaphor in which a story is told to illustrate an important attribute of the subject

catachresis: A mixed metaphor (sometimes used by design and sometimes a rhetorical fault)

parable: An extended metaphor told as an anecdote to illustrate or teach a moral lesson.

Personification is a particular case of metaphor. It consists in attributing life and mind to inanimate things. Besides the actual objects of nature abstractions of the mind, such as life, death, truth, wisdom, love, evil etc re frequently personified. Thus, personification is ascribing human properties to lifeless objects.

Personification is an important device used to depict the perception of the outer world by the lyrical hero.

In most cases P is indicated by some formal signals. It is the use of personal pronouns “he” or “she” with reference to lifeless things. P is often achieved by the direct address. Another formal signal of P is capitalized writing of the word which expresses a personified notion.

Antonomasia. Metaphorical A is the use of the name of a historical, literary, mythological or biblical personage applied to a person whose characteristic features resemble those of the well-known original.

11. Figures of quality: metonymy and synecdoche, periphrasis and euphemism.

Figures of quality, called “tropes” in traditional stylistics, are based on transfer of names.

We must distinguish 3 types of transfer:

1) transfer of contiguity (is based upon some real connection between the two notions: that which is named and one the name of which is taken for the purpose);

2) transfer of similarity (is based on similarity, likeness of the two objects, real connection lacking completely);

3) transfer of contrast (is the use of words and expressions which the opposite meanings – opposite to those meant).

The transfer of contiguity forms the metonymic group of tropes; the transfer by similarity forms the metaphoric group; the transfer by contrast is irony.

Metonymy is a trope consisting in the transfer of the name of one object to another based on the base of contiguity.

Ex: the result for the cause or vice versa. Grey hair should be respected.

M is applying the name of an object in some way connected with the first.

Ways of relations between classes:

1) the symbol for the thing it signifies.

Ex. Scepter and crown must tumble down.

2) the characteristic feature for its bearer (черта человека)

Ex. The bonnet and the fair bear flooted northwards.

3) the instrument for the action

Ex. To hand, to elbow, to boot

4) the container for the thin contained and vs

Ex. The wood sings.

5) an abstract notion for a complete or vs

Ex. The education demonstrated in the streets.

6) the material for the thing made of

Ex. Sleel feel on the franches.

7) the name of the creator for the creation

Ex. Xeras

M: original – genuine or trite

A few commonly used examples of metonymy are:

"The Crown" for the British monarchy.

"The press" for the news media.

"A dish" for a course (in dining).

"The White House" for the President of the United States and his administration.

Synecdoche is a variety of metonymy. It consists in using the name of a part to denote the whole, or vice versa. Ex: “To be a comrade with a wolf and owl…”. In this example “wolf” and “owl” stand for wild beasts and birds in general.

Ex: hands needed = workers

1) when the singular is used for the part

Ex: A student should attend lecture.

2) when the name of the genues is used instead of the name of the specious.

Ex: Stop touching this poor animal

3) the plural of disapprobation

Ex: Stop reading books when I’m talking to you.

Save your breath = you needn’t talking (metonymy) (связаны дыхание и произнесение звуков) + ironic effect.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

Synecdoche, where a specific part of something is taken to refer to the whole, is usually understood as a specific kind of metonymy. Sometimes, however, people make an absolute distinction between a metonymy and a synecdoche, treating metonymy as different from rather than inclusive of synecdoche.

When the distinction is made, it is the following: when A is used to refer to B, it is a synecdoche if A is a part of B and a metonymy if A is commonly associated with B but not a part of it.

Thus, "The White House said" would be a metonymy for the president and his staff, because the White House (A) is not part of the president or his staff (B) but is closely associated with them. On the other hand, asking for "All hands on deck" is a synecdoche because hands (A) are actually a part of the people (B) to whom they refer.

Those who argue that synecdoche is a class of metonymy might point out that "hands" (A) are a metonym for workers (B) since hands are closely associated with the work the people do as well as a part of the people. That is, hands are associated with work through a metonymy at the same time as being associated with the people through synecdoche.

Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which:

a term denoting a part of something is used to refer to the whole thing, or

a term denoting a thing (a "whole") is used to refer to part of it, or

a term denoting a specific class of thing (a "species") is used to refer to a larger, more general class (a "genus"), or

a term denoting a general class of thing (genus) is used to refer to a smaller, more specific class (species), or

a term denoting a material is used to refer to an object composed of that material.

The use of synecdoche is a common way to emphasize an important aspect of a fictional character; for example, a character might be consistently described by a single body part, such as the eyes, which come to represent the character.

Examples where a part of something is used to refer to the whole:

"The hired hands [workers] are not doing their jobs."

"His parents bought him a new set of wheels [car]."

Examples where the whole of something is used to refer to a part of it:

"Use your head [brain] to figure it out."

"Michigan [the government of Michigan] just passed a law addressing this problem."

Examples where a species (specific kind) is used to refer to its genus (more general kind):

"The cutthroats [assassins] there will as soon shoot a man as look at him."

"Could you pass me a Kleenex [facial tissue]?"

Examples where a genus is used to refer to a species:

"No creature [person] would believe that story."

Examples where the material an object is made of is used to refer to the object itself:

"Those are some nice threads [clothes]."

"Would you like paper or plastic [paper or plastic bags]?"

Periphrasis is in a way related to metonymy. It is a description of an object instead of its name. Ex: “Delia was studying under Rosenstock – you know his repute as a distrurber of the piano keys” (instead of “a pianist”).

It is a figure of speech where the meaning of a word or phrase is indirectly expressed through several or many words.

In linguistics, periphrasis is a device by which a grammatical concept is expressed by a phrase or standard idiom, instead of being shown by inflection, derivation or the use of non-content words. The pattern of the phrase is called a periphrastic construction. For example, the English future mood is periphrastic: it is shown by a verb turned into an auxiliary (will) followed by the base form of the main verb. The so-called compound tenses and all the modal expressions in English, as well as the passive voice, are periphrastic too.

In a general sense, circumlocution and periphrasis mean describing a word with other words, for example: "scissors" = "a thing you use to cut other things". Circumlocution also means replacing a word with another (or others), often in order to sound more polite, to avoid a rude term or to be ironic.

Euphemism is the substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener; or in the case of doublespeak, to make it less troublesome for the speaker. It also may be a substitution of a description of something or someone rather than the name, to avoid revealing secret, holy, or sacred names to the uninitiated, or to obscure the identity of the subject of a conversation from potential eavesdroppers. Some euphemisms are intended to be funny.