PARADIGMATIC SEMASIOLOGY and SYNTAGMATIC SEMASIOLOGY Outline of

PARADIGMATIC SEMASIOLOGY and SYNTAGMATIC SEMASIOLOGY

Outline of Part One 1. Semasiology. Two Points to be Considered. 2. Differentiation between Stylistic Semasiology and Other Levelforming Discipline. 3. Classification of Tropes. 4. Figures of Quantity. 5. Figures of Quality.

Paradigmatic Semasiology (or more exact onomasiology) is the science of naming. Paradigmatic Onomasiology treats various problems of choice of how to name the situation, what features of the object should be labelled and by what means. When treating question of Semasiology one must take into account the following considerations: 1. Linguistic units do not have immediate and stable connections with objects and situations of reality. They correlate in our minds with general ideas and events. Words and phrases do not denote concrete objects and situations, they denote classes of objects. E. g. books – may be thin-thick, small-big, interesting-not interesting We neglect these differences when call every constituent of this class “a book”, thus performing the act of generalization 2. Since there is no constant connection between words, phrases etc. and the surrounding world, it is only natural that one and the same object maybe called differently by different speakers in different situations. E. g. man – young gentleman – our neighbour – bloody blind bat – darling Instead of the word “man” a speaker is free to choose any other denomination that suits his purpose best

Paradigmatic Semasiology is different from other branches of Stylistics. Semasiology pays little attention to differentiation of levels. Semantically identical phenomena may occur in morphemes, words, phrases, sentences. E. g. –less, without, devoid of, which does not possess (the idea of absence) The aim of level-forming disciplines (phonetics, morphology, lexicology, syntax) is to separate stylistically significant units from stylistically neutral ones to find out to what sublanguage the former belongs. In opposition to them Semasiology deals with re-naming, transfer of names with whatever brings about a radical change in the substance of the text.

A trope is a linguistic unit with two senses both felt by language users. E. g. On hearing ‘Oh, you’re pig!’ the listener is aware of the traditional original meaning of the word (“domestic animal’) and its actual reference which imparts an additional sense to the word (an untidy or greedy person, rude man) We shall call tropes figures of replacement: the language user avoids the usual name of the object and replaces it with another. Figures of replacement are divided into figures of quantity and figures of quality. The former consists of two opposite varieties: overstatement (hyperbole) and understatement (meiosis). The latter comprises three types of re-naming: – transfer based on contiguity – a real connection between two objects: the object of nomination and the object whose name is used. The corresponding term is metonymy. – transfer by similarity between two objects – metaphor. – transfer by contrast – the two objects are diametrically opposed. It is irony.

Figures of replacement Figures of quantity Figures of quality • hyperbole Haven’t seen you for ages. One after another those people lay down on the ground to laugh and one of them died • metonymy I collect old China (material & products). I’m fond of Dickens (books and author). synecdoche …hands wanted = workers wanted… periphrasis a thriller = two pages of blood-curling narrative • meiosis A New-Yorker owner of a big firm talks condescendingly to the buyer: - What d’you think of our town? - You’ve got good water but Cactus city is better lit up. - We’ve got a few lights on Broadway, don’t you think? • metaphor …seeds of evil, flight of imagination… This is a day of your golden opportunity. Don’t let it turn to brass. allusion He crossed Rubicon personification Then Night, like some great loving mother, gently lays her hand on our fevered heads… antonomasia Brutus = traitor Don Juan = lady’s man allegory make hay while the sun shines (do not miss an opportunity) • litotes not without his assistance… a chiseled ruddy face completed the not-unhandsome picture… • irony A fine friend you are!

Outline of Part Two 1. Types of semantic relationships 2. Figures of identity (simile, quasi-identity, synonymous replacers) 3. Figures of inequality (synonymous specifiers, climax, anti-climax, pun, zeugma, tautology pretended, tautology disguised) 4. Figures of contrast (oxymoron, antithesis)

The most general types of semantic relationships can be reduced to three. Meanings can be either identical or different or else opposite. Identical meanings. Linguistic units co-occurring in the text either have the same meaning, or are used as names of the same object, thing, phenomenon, process, property. Different meanings. The correlative linguistic units in the text are perceived as denoting different objects, processes. Opposite meanings. Two correlative units are semantically polar. The meaning of one of them is incompatible with the meaning of the second: the one excludes the other. The three types of semantic interrelations are matched by three group of figures; figures of identity, figures of inequality, figures of contrast. Let us have a more detailed consideration.

Figures of co-occurence Figures of Identity Simile My heart is like a singing bird Figures of Inequality Figures of Contrast Clarifier / Synonymous specifier Oxymoron Joe was a mild, good-natured, sweet. She looked her horrid best. tempered, easy-going, foolish dear fellow. …full of nothing… …there is nobody at the room… Quasi-identity The machine sitting at that door was no longer a man: it was a busy New York broker. Climax / Gradation What difference if it raigned hailed, blew, snowes, cycloned! Synonymous replacer He brought home memberless prizes. He told his mother countless stories every night about his school companions. Anticlimax / Back Gradation The explosion completely destroyed a church, two houses and a flower pot. Pun He said that he is a page, but he is just a paragraph. (M. Twain) Zeugma She possessed two false teeth and a sympathetic heart. Tautology For East is East, and West is West. Antithesis His fees were high, his lessons were light. …black and white…