FIGURE
Scheme (syntax, e.g. parison)
Trope (semantics)
(word-meaning, e.g. metaphor)
(discourse sense or mode, e.g. irony
Page 5
1.4 Today:
Figures of speech refer to all kinds of striking or unusual configurations of words or phrases. They involve the variation of any unit of the language system: graphic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic. Figures of speech are very common and our everyday usage is naturally figurative, or at least figurative by preference. For example: (1) The news is a dagger to his heart. (2) Give us this day our daily bread. (3) The pen is mightier than the sword. (4) Unhappiness always hits you when you are unprepared.
Page 13
• a great help to memory. • catches the attention of the audience and makes the idea impressed deeply on the audience and thus easier for them to remember. • Appropriately used, it can achieve intended goal. • Used to excess, it can be laughable and harmful to the conveyance of thought. • well suited to poetry, but often an obstruction to clear prose. In prose, it should be used sparingly.
Page 3
1. What is a figure of speech
1.1 In classical rhetoric:
The figure of speech was termed “trope”(修辞 比喻). Tropes have ” 修辞,比喻 修辞 比喻 to do with the way words are made to mean other than what they would normally imply, involving the deviation from its ordinary and literal meaning. They are ways of making language figurative.Tropes include metaphor,irony,and synecdoche.
Page 14
Assonance
• “late and make”, • “fish and chips” • “a deep green stream”. • Assonance(叠韵/半谐音) is the repetition or resemblance of vowel sounds in the stressed syllables of a sequence of words, preceded and followed by different consonants.
Page 12
Alliteration Function
• d. in proverbs: • A gloved cat catches no mice. • Death pays all debts. • e. in tongue twisters: • Peter piper picked a peck of pickled pepper. • f. in advertisements and slogans: • Workers of the world, unite!
Page 4
1.3 According to Walter Nash:
The “figure” is the superordinate term (上义词 , applicable to any 上义词) 上义词 rhetorical device. He divided it into “figures of syntax” and “figures of semantics” which was further divided into “word semantics” and “discourse semantics”.
Page 6
2 Why are figures of speech used
Figures of speech aim at increasing vividness of language. They are used to embellish, emphasize or clarify expressions, to make the language more colorful, more forceful, or more explicit, and thus making communication more efficient and more effective. For example: (1) a. Stars twinkle like diamonds in the sky. b. Stars shine brightly in the sky. (2) a. Imperialism is a paper tiger. b. Imperialism appears to be strong but inwardly it is weak. (3) a. The experiment ended in failure again. It was a blow between the eyes to them. b. The experiment ended in failure again. It was a sudden shock to them.
Page 9
Phonetic Figures of Speech
• • • • • 1 Alliteration 2 Assonance 3 Consonance 4 Onomatopoeia 5 Pun
Page 10
Alliteration
• safe and sound, bigger and better, might and main, sweet smell of success • Alliteration(双声/头韵): the repetition of initial consonant in two or more words, derived from Latin, meaning “repeating and playing upon the same letter”.
Page 11
Alliteration Function
• Function : for sound rhyme, musical effect and significant emphasis. • • • • • • • • • • Uses: a. in poetry: The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed free; … b. in prose: They are fight for their hearth and home. c. in newspaper headings: Bread not Bombs Better Active Today than radioactive tomorrow
Page 8
3. The classification of figures of speech
In the lecture, we introduce Figures of Speech as follows: Phonetic Figures Of Speech Syntactic Figures Of Speech Figures Of Speech Semantic Figures Of Speech Logical Figures Of Speech
1.2 In the sixteenth century:
The term “figure of speech” was the synonym of “scheme”. Schemes comprised the figures that arranged words into schematized patterns of foregrounded regularity of form, syntactic or phonetic.
Page 7
2. Use figures of speech in a right way
Figures of speech add vigor and emphasis to language, but we cannot depend on much on them. Figures of speech are aids to, not ends of, writing and speaking. They should be appropriately used. If used casually or excessively, almost any of them will probably seem affected, dull, awkward, or mechanical.