45. General characteristics of figures of combination as stylistic devices of semasiology.

Figures of combination are semasiological stylistic devices, stylistically relevant semantic means of combining lexical, syntactical and other units belonging to the same or different language levels.

Meanings of the words combined may be identical, different or opposite. This:

1. figures of identity are formed when identical meanings are used within the utterance: e.g. My life is like a game/ a road;

2. figures of opposition are based on semantically contrasting units: e.g. Evil is kindness;

3. figures of inequality are formed when different meanings of the words are combined: e.g. The dairymaid is a girl who ought to know butter.

46. Classification of figures of figures of combination.

Figures of combination are semasiological stylistic devices, stylistically relevant semantic means of combining lexical syntactical and other units belonging to same or different language levels.

Meanings of the words combined may be identical, different or opposite. These are:

1. figures of identity are formed when identical meanings are used within the utterance.

E.g. My life is like a game.

2. figures of opposition are formed, based on semantically contrasting units.

E.g. evil is kindness.

3. figures of inequality are formed when different meanings of the words are combined.

E.g. the dairymaid (молочниця) is a girl who ought to know butter.

Figures of identity	Figures of opposition	Figures of inequality
Simile Synonyms-substitutes Synonyms-specifiers	Antithesis Oxymoron	Climax Anticlimax Pun Zeugma

Figures of combination.

47. Figures of identity (equivalence): simile, synonyms-substitutes and synonyms-specifiers.

Simile expresses likeness between different objects (Kukharenko); a partial identification of two objects belonging to different spheres or bringing together some of their qualities (Marakhovsky).

An implied simile is used when formal markers of comparison are substituted by notional words or semi-notional words (resemble, seem, remind): A girl resembled a rose.

Trite simile – without any stylistic value.

Simile can be classified into four groups according to the nature of “terrium comparazionis” (ground for comparison):

1. of quality: e.g. A woman moved like a fountain troubled.

2. of action: e.g. The clocks in the office jumped about like sailors during the storm.

3. of relation: e.g. Her anger dispersed before his humor like a foam before breeze.

4. of analogy

Simile may be expressed by means of the following structural variants:

1. Conjunctions as or like

2. Adverbial clauses of comparison (as, as if, as though)

3. Adjectives in the comparative degree

4. Adverbial word=combinations containing prepositional attributes: With the quickness of a cat, Samuel climbed up the tree.

According to the structure:

In a simple simile the vehicle is expressed briefly and directly.

In a sustained simile the likeness is not only expressed but further developed into a vivid micropicture.

Simile and metaphor are different in their linguistic nature.

1. M. aims at identifying the object while S. aims at finding some point of resemblance.

2. M. implies the feature that serves as a ground for comparison while S. indicates the feature.

Synonyms-substitutes – are words used to denote an object or action, supplementing new additional details, which helps to avoid monotonous repetition: e.g. The little boy was crying; it was the child’s usual time to go to bed but no one played attention to the kid.

They are characterized by contextual similarity giving rise to emotive-evaluative meaning. That’s why some synonyms can be treated as such only in context and regarded as situational synonyms. E.g. She told his name to the trees. She whispered it to the flowers. She breezed it to the birds.

Synonyms-specifiers – are used to characterize different aspects of the same referent, to describe the object in a thorough, profound and detailed way; the speaker composes a chain of synonymic words of the same syntactic function. E.g. It’s weak and silly of me, I’m sick and tired of your noise.

Their function is to intensify the emotional value of the utterance.