Zeugma (зевгма, каламбур)

This is a stylistic device that plays upon two different meanings of the word — the direct and the figurative meanings, thus creating a pun (игра слов). The effect comes from the use of a word in the same formal (grammatical) relations, but in different semantic relations with the surrounding words in the phrase or sentence, due to the simultaneous realization (in one text) of the literal and figurative meaning of a word. It happens so because in some cases polysemantic verbs, that have practically unlimited lexical valency and can be combined with nouns of most varying semantic groups, are deliberately used with two or more homogeneous members, which are not connected semantically.

A leopard changes his spots, as often as he goes from one spot to another (spot = 1. пятно; 2. место).

Dora plunged at once into privileged intimacy and into the middle of the room. (Shaw) She possessed two false teeth and a sympathetic heart. (O. Henry) She dropped a tear and her pocket handkerchief. (Dickens) At noon Mrs. Turpin would get out of bed and humor, put on kimono, airs, and water to boil for coffee. (O. Henry)

The title of O. Wilde's comedy The importance of being Earnest plays upon the fact that the word earnest (= serious) and the male name Ernest sound in the same way: one of the female characters in the play wished to marry a man with the name of Ernest, as it seemed to her to guarantee his serious intentions.

A similar effect may result from the decomposition of a set-phrase, when the direct and figurative meanings of the words within the set-phrase are realized at the same time:

May's mother always stood on her gentility, and Dot's mother never stood on anything but her active little feet. (Dickens)

‘When Bishop Berkley said: 'there is no matter' And proved it — it was no matter what he said'. (Byron)

One of the characters of L. Carroll’s book 'Alice in Wonderland' is called Mock Turtle (Фальшивая черепаха); this name has been coined from the phrase "mock turtle soup" (суп из телятины, дословно— «как бы черепаший суп »).

One more example of zeugma (or decomposition of a set-phrase) is represented in the humorous story about two duelists who fired at each other and both missed, so when one of the seconds said, after the duel, 'Now, please, shake your hands!', the other answered 'There is no need for that. Their hands must have been shaking since morning'.

When the number of homogeneous members, semantically disconnected, but attached to the same verb, increases, we deal with semantically false chains, which are thus a variation of zeugma. As a rule, it is the last member of the chain that falls out of the thematic group defeating our expectancy and producing humorous effect. The following case from S. Leacock may serve an example: "A Governess wanted. Must possess knowledge of Romanian, Russian, Italian, Spanish, German, Music and Mining Engineering."

Exercise II. Analyse various cases of play on words, indicate which type is used, how it is created, what effect it adds to the utterance:

1. After a while and a cake he crept nervously to the door of the parlour. (A.T.)

2. There are two things I look for in a man. A sympathetic charac­ter and full lips. (I.Sh.)

3. Dorothy, at my statement, had clapped her hand over her mouth to hold down laughter and chewing gum. (Jn.B.)

4. Babbitt respected bigness in anything: in mountains, jewels, muscles, wealth or words. (S.L.)

5. Men, pals, red plush seats, white marble tables, waiters in white aprons. Miss Moss walked through them all. (M.)

6.My mother was wearing her best grey dress and gold brooch and a faint pink flush under each cheek bone. (W.G1.)

7.Hooper laughed and said to Brody, "Do you mind if I give Ellen something?"

"What do you mean?" Brody said. He thought to himself, give her what? A kiss? A box of chocolates? A punch in the nose? " (P.B.)

ASSIGNMENTS FOR SELF-CONTROL

• What is included into the group of SDs known as "play on words"?

• Which ones of them are the most frequently used?

• What levels of language hierarchy are involved into their formation?

• Describe the difference between zeugma and a semantically false chains

• What is the basic effect achieved by the play on words?

Irony

Irony, like the stylistic device of zeugma, is based on the simultaneous realization of two opposite meanings: the permanent, "direct" meaning (the dictionary meaning) of words and their contextual (covert, implied) meaning. Usually the direct meaning in such cases expresses a positive evaluation of the situation, while the context contains the opposite, negative evaluation:

How delightful — to find yourself in a foreign country without a penny in your pocket!

Aren 't you a hero — running away from a mouse!

I like a parliamentary debate,

Particularly when it is not too late. (Byron)

The Holy Alliance (Russia, Prussia, Austria) was minded to stretch the arm of its Christian charity across the Atlantic and put republicanism down in the western hemisphere as well as in its own. (Goldwin Smith).

I do not consult physicians, for I hope to die without their help. (W. Temple).

In irony subjectivity lies in the evaluation of the phenomenon named. The essence of this SD consists in the foregrounding not of the logical 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 qualification 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 alligator,"—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 which contextual meaning diametrically 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 contradic­tion 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 or by such XX-th century writers as S. Lewis, K. Vonnegut, E. Waugh and others.

Exercise III. 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. 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.)

2. The lift held two people and rose slowly, groaning with diffi­dence. (I.M.)

3. 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.)

4. 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.)

5. With all the expressiveness of a stone Welsh stared at him another twenty seconds apparently hoping to see him gag. (R.Ch.)

6. "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.)

7. 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 chancel in his practice which is a mark of respectability, he never takes any pleasure, which is another mark of respectability, he is re-1 served and serious which is another mark of respectability. His digestion is impaired which is highly respectable. (D.)

8. 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. (Morning Star)

9. Apart from splits based on politics, racial, religious and ethnic backgrounds and specific personality differences, we're just one cohesive team. (D.U.)

10. 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.)

11. Sonny Grosso was a worrier who looked for and frequently man­ aged to find, the dark side of most situations. (P.M.)

12. Bookcases covering one wall boasted a half-shelf of literature. (T.C.)

13. 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.)

ASSIGNMENTS FOR SELF-CONTROL

• What is irony, what lexical meaning is employed in its formation?

• What types of irony do you know? What is the length of the context needed for the realization of each of them?

• What are the most frequently observed mechanisms of irony formation? Can you explain the role of the repetition in creating irony?

• Can you name English or American writers known for their ingenuity

and versatility in the use of irony?