Emotive meaning of the word

Translation of words
with emotive meaning

Emotive
meaning may be regarded as one of the objective semantic features
proper to words as linguistic units and should not be confused with
contextual emotive meaning that words may acquire in speech. Emotive
meaning varies in different word classes. In some
of them, for example, in interjections, the emotive element prevails
whereas in function words it is practically non-existent.

The
emotion meaning is based on connotations — positive, negative or
neutral. Russian is rich in emotive suffixes whose meaning is
rendered
by using additional lexical items (e.g. домишко
— small, wretched house) or different lexemes (cf.: дом
— house, домишко
-hovel).

Some
words may acquire a negative or positive connotation in different
contexts. The noun «glamour» and the adjective «glamorous»
may
illustrate this point. The following examples are from Somerset
Maugham: R. was captivated by the vulgar glamour and the shoddy
brilliance of the scene before him. P. Был
пленен
вульгарным
блеском
и
дешевой
роскошью
окружающего.

(As a matter of fact both
collocations «vulgar glamour» and «shoddy brilliance»
are synonymous):

…who
were attracted for the moment by the glamour of the dancer or the
blatant sensuality of the woman. — …которых
на
мгновение
привлек
романтический
ореол
танцовщицы
или
её
откровенная
чувственность.

Cf.:
the following example from a newspaper review:

Hirsh’s
Richard is not lacking in glamour. Facially he is a smiling fallen
angel (The Observer Review, 1973). Ричард
в исполнении Хирша не лишен обаяния. У
него лицо улыбающегося падшего ангела.

Sometimes
differences in usage or valency do not allow the use of the Russian
referential equivalent, and the translator is forced to resort
to a lexical
replacement
with the emotive meaning preserved.

In
the general strike, the fight against the depression, the antifascist
struggle, and the struggle against Hitlerism the British Communist
Party played a proud
role (The Labour Monthly, 1970).

Во
время всеобщей забастовки, в борьбе
против кризиса, в антифашистской борьбе
против Мосли и против гитлеризма
Коммунистическая
партия Великобритании играла выдающуюся
роль.

The
emotive meaning of some adjectives and adverbs is so strong that it
suppresses the referential meaning (I. R. Galperin. Stylistics.
M.,1971, p.60.) and they are used merely as intensifies. They are
rendered by Russian intensifies irrespective of their reference. i_

Even
judged by Tory standards, the level of the debate on the devaluation
of the pound yesterday was abysmally
low
(M.S., 1973).

Даже
с точки зрения консерваторов дебаты в
Палате общин по вопросу о девальвации
фунта происходили на чрезвычайно
/невероятно/
низком уровне.

The
emotive meaning often determines the translator’s choice. The English
word «endless» is neutral in its connotations, while the
Russian бесконечный
has negative connotations — boring or tiresome (бесконечные
разговоры).
Thus, in the translation of the phrase
«the endless resolutions received by the National Peace
Committee» the word «endless» should be translated by
Russian ad­jective
«бесчисленные»
or «многочисленные».
Многочисленные
резолюции,
полученные
Национальным
комитетом
защиты
мира.
The Russian word «озарила»
conveys positive connotations, e.g. «Ее
лицо
озарила
улыбка»,
where as its English referential equivalent
is evidently neutral. Horror dawned
in her face (Victoria Holt). A possible translation will be: Её
лицо
выразило
ужас.

Rendering of Stylistic
Meaning in Translation

Every
word is stylistically marked according to the layer of the vocabulary
it belongs to. Stylistically words can be subdivided into literary
and non-literary.
(See I. R. Galperin, op. cit. — p.63.) The stylistic function of the
different strata of the English vocabulary depends
not so much on the inner qualities of each of the groups as on their
interaction when opposed to one another.(l. R. Galperin, op. cit. —
p.68.) Care should be taken to render stylistic meaning

If
you don’t keep
your yap
shut«…»
(J.Salinger)
Если ты не заткнёшься /пер. Э.
Медниковой/
Then he really let
one go at me
(ibid.) — Тут
он
мне
врезал
по-настоящему.

It
would be an error to translate a neutral or a literary word by a
colloquial one. A mistake of this type occurs in the excellent
translation
of Henry Esmond by E. Kalashnikova:

«She
had recourse to the ultimo ratio of all women and burst into tears.»
— «Она
прибегла
к
ultimo ratio всех
женщин
и
ударилась
в
слёзы».

Translation of
Phraseological Units

Phraseological units may be
classified into three big groups:

phraseological fusions,
phraseological unities and phraseological collocations.

Phraseological
fusions are usually rendered by interpreting translation: to show the
white feather — быть
трусом;
to dine with Duke Humphry
— остаться
без
обеда.
Sometimes they have word-equivalents: red tape — волокита,
to pull one’s leg — одурачивать,
мистифицировать.

The
meaning of a phraseological fusion may often be rendered by a series
of alternative phrases, e.g. to go the whole hog -делать
что-либо
основательно,
доводить
до
конца,
не
останавливаться
на
полумерах,
идти
на
всё
(словарь
А.Кунина).

According
to the principles of their translation phraseological unities can be
divided into four groups;

1)
Phraseological
unities having Russian counterparts with the same meaning and
simailar images. They can often be traced to the same
prototype: biblical, mythological, etc.

All
that glitters is not gold. — He всё
золото,
что
блестит.

As
a man sows, so he shall reap. — Что
посеешь,
то
и
пожнёшь.

2)
Phraseological
unities having the same meaning but expressing it through
a_—different-
image.

То
buy
a
pig
in
a
poke.
— Купить кота в мешке.

Phraseological
units of the source-language sometimes have synonymous equivalents in
the target-language. The choice is open to
the translator and is often determined by the context.

Between
the
devil
and
the
deep
sea
— между двух огней, между молотом и
наковальней; в безвыходном положении.

In
the absence of a correlated phraseological unity the translator
resorts to interpreting translation.

A
skeleton
in
the
closet
(cupboard)
— Семейная тайна, неприятность, скрываемая
от посторонних.

Target-language
equivalents having a local colour should be avoided. «To carry
coals to Newcastle» should not be translated by the Russian —
ездить
в
Тулу
со
своим
самоваром.
In this case two solutions are possible: a) to preserve the image of
the English phraseological unity — ездить
в
Ньюкасл
со
своим
углём,
b) to resort to interpreting translation — заниматься
бесполезным
делом.

1. Phraseological
   unities having no equivalents in Russian are rendered by
   interpreting translation. Little
   pitches
   have
   long
   ears.
   — Дети
   лобят слушать разговоры взрослых.

2. Phraseological
   unities having word equivalents: shake a leg — отплясывать,
   hang fire-мешкать,медлить,задерживаться.

   Translation
   of Phraseological Collocations

Phraseological
collocations are motivated but they are made up of words possessing
specific lexical valency which accounts for a certain
degree of stability in such word groups.

They
may be translated by corresponding phraseological collocations of the
target-language: to take part — принимать
участие,
to throw a glance — бросить
взгляд.
They may be also translated by a word (to take part — участвовать)
or a free word group (to take one’s
temperature — измерить
температуру).

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Asked by: Patrick Graham V

Score: 4.5/5
(67 votes)

“Emotional expressions”, also called “emotives” are an effort by the speaker to offer an interpretation of something that is observable to no other actor.

What is emotive example?

Oftentimes, news headlines use emotive language to hook the audience. Here are a few examples. An innocent bystander was murdered in cold blood in Downtown Chicago. The words “innocent” and “murdered” and the phrase “in cold blood” are the uses of emotive language in this sentence.

What is the best definition of emotive?

adjective. characterized by or pertaining to emotion: the emotive and rational capacities of humankind. productive of or directed toward the emotions: Artistic distortion is often an emotive use of form.

What does emotive mean in writing?

Emotive language is the term used when certain word choices are made to evoke an emotional response in the reader. This kind of language often aims to persuade the reader or listener to share the writer or speaker’s point of view, using language to stimulate an emotional reaction.

What does it mean if someone is emotive?

Emotive is used with regard to something that makes you have intense feelings rather than just having intense feelings. For example, an emotive conversation will result in getting people’s emotions riled up, while an emotional conversation is one in which people go into it with a lot of intense feelings already.

28 related questions found

CHAPTER
I

INTRODUCTION

Some
people would like semantics to pursue study of meaning in a wider sense of ‘all
that is communicated by language’; others (among them most modern writers
within the framework of general linguistics) limit it in practice to the study
of logical or conceptual meaning. It needs no great insight to see that
semantics in the former, wider sense can lead us once again into the void from
which Bloomfield retreated with understandable misgivings- the description of
all that may be the object of human knowledge or belief. On the other hand, we
can, by carefully distinguishing types of meaning, show how they all fit into
the total composite effect of a linguistic communication, and show how method
of study appropriate to one type may not be appropriate to another.

A piece of
language conveys its dictionary meaning, connotations beyond the dictionary
meaning, information about the social context of language use, speaker’s
feelings and attitudes rubbing off of one meaning on the another meaning of the
same word when it has two meanings and meaning because of habit occurrence.

 Writer
makes this paper for several purposes, there are the purposes;

CHAPTER
II

DISCUSSION

The emotive
meaning of a term is the attitude or other emotional state that is
conventionally taken to be expressed by a straightforward use of it. Thus a
derogatory term conventionally expresses some kind of contempt or hostility to
some class of people. Terms like ‘firm’, ‘stubborn’, and ‘pig-headed’ apply to
more or less the same class of people for more or less the same reason, but
convey different appreciations. Other terms like ‘super!’ or ‘wow!’ have
nothing but an emotive function, but most terms with which we communicate
approval or disapproval have descriptive
aspects as well.

•
Example: “bureaucrat,” “government official,” and “public servant” designate
nearly the same thing but convey clearly different attitudes
(bureaucrat=negative; gov’t. official=neutral; public servant=positive). 
• Example: “terrorist,” “rebel,” and “freedom fighter”          
            The headline, “Diversity forums incite
discussion” (Sonoma State Star, 3/31/09) definitely feels different from “forums inspire discussions,” or “forums
prompt discussions,” even though they all have the same cognitive
meaning.
• Example: “censorship” sounds inherently bad, or wrong, whereas “editorial
review” sounds neutral (or at least less negative), and “filtering/screening”
is possibly positive, as in “screening obscene language from children’s
programming.”
• Example: “discriminating” sounds inherently wrong whereas “distinguishing”
sounds neutral and “scoring” or “sorting” or “grading” are possibly
positive.
• Example: “ghetto” has a negative emotive meaning, “economically deprived
area” sounds more neutral, and “economic development zone” sounds more
positive, or optimistic. 
• Example: I once saw a medical information sheet on the Body Mass Index (BMI)
stating that a BMI of 25 or less is considered a healthy weight, a BMI of 25-30
is overweight, and a BMI of 30 and above is obese. It then explained that
“Obesity is a medical term and is not derogatory or judgmental.” They are
saying that they are using the term only in the cognitive sense, not with any
emotive meaning.
• Emotive meaning is not necessarily bad. Typically, positive terms will be
applied to positive things and negative emotive terms will be applied to things
that are widely recognized to be negative. For example, “Footbinding in China
was first banned in 1912. But some continued binding their feet in secret. Some
of the last survivors of this barbaric practice are living in Liuyicun, a
village in Southern China’s Yunnan province.” (from NPR.org)            
            Emotive meaning can be a trick to pass off
controversial value judgments to an audience without any supporting reasons.
Thus, it helps to disguise “unsupported assertion.”  Emotive meaning can be a tool for insinuating
things about other people without explicitly stating an accusation or
supporting it.  Further,
highly emotional emotive meaning in your speaking/writing, without supporting
reasoning, leads to emotional manipulation.

Connotation refers to a meaning that is
implied by a word apart from the thing which it describes explicitly.
When these associations are widespread and become established by common usage,
a new denotation is recorded in dictionaries. A possible example of such change
would be vicious. Originally derived from vice, it meant
“extremely wicked”. In modern British usage it is commonly used to mean
“fierce”, as in the brown rat is a vicious animal.

Words carry cultural and emotional
associations or meanings in addition to their literal meanings or denotations.
For instance, “Wall Street” literally means a street situated in lower
Manhattan but connotatively it refers to “wealth” and “power”.

Words may have positive or negative
connotation that depends upon social, cultural and personal experiences of
individuals. For example, the words childish, childlike and youthful have the
same denotative but different connotative meanings. Childish and childlike have
a negative connotation as they refer to an immature behavior of a person.
Whereas, Youthful implies that a person is lively and energetic.

Below are a few examples of suggested meanings
of words shaped by cultural and emotional associations:

The denotative meaning of a word, while it
is the basic one, is not its only or whole meaning. Besides denoting or
concrete things, action or concept, a word may carry varios additional
overtones generally described as connotations. They are made up of different
components: those that express one’s attitude to the things spoken about (this
is called an emotive component of meaning) or those that indicate the sphere in
which the discourse takes place (this is called a stylistic reference of a
word).     

E.g. Father, dad, daddy, pop, old man — all have the same denotating meaning
(they are all synonyms), but they have different emotive meanings and stylistic
references.

These additional meanings or components of the general meanings may be part of
the words’ dictionary meaning, i.e. they may be present in a word taken
apartfrom the context.

       

At the same time, this additional meaning may be part of the word’s contextual
meaning. It may appear as a result of the word’s correlation with other words.

Connotation is one of the keys to the power of words. It’s especially evident,
patient in a literary text, when the most innocent-looking word can acquire the
most vivid connotations.

        

As it has been stated above, one of the components of a word’s meaning is its
emotive component. Emotive connotations are rendered by the emotional or
expressive counterpart of meaning. Emotive connotations of a word can directly
express or evoke:

1) Emotion (e.g.: daddy — father);

      
2) Evaluation (e.g.: clique — group);   
3) Intensity (e.g.: adore — love);         
4) Stylistic colouring (e.g.: slay — kill).           

The content of the emotional component of meaning varies considerably. The
range of emotions stretches from positive to negative: admiration, tenderness,
respect, scorn, irony, loathing.

The expressive counterpart of a meaning is optional and even if it’s present
its proportion with respect of logical counterpart may vary within wide limits.

The meaning of many words is subject to complex association originating in
context of which both the speaker and the listener are aware and which form
connotational component of meaning. In some words the realization of meaning is
accompanied by additional stylistic colouring revealing the speaker’s attitude
to the situation and his interlocutior.

         

It’s very important toremember that affective connotations of a word can be
within its semantic structure registered in its dictionary meaning or can be
imposed by the context.

        

E.g. Fabulous, stunning, smart, top-flight, terrific and the like have special emotive
meaning fixed in dictionaries.

           

E.g. He’s very rich.

     
He’s fabulously rich.  

Many words acquire an emotive meaning only in a definite context. In that case
we say that a word has a contextual emotive meaning.

 

So we can conclude that affective connotations of a word are peculiar to it
either on the pragmatic or syntagmatic level.

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3. INTERACTION OF LOGICAL AND EMOTIVE MEANINGS

The general notions concerning emotiveness have been set out in part I, § 6—»Meaning from a Stylistic Point of View» (p. 57). However, some additional information is necessary for a better understanding of how logical and emotive meanings interact.

It must be clearly understood that the logical and the emotive are built into our minds and they are present there in different degrees when we think of various phenomena of objective reality. The ratio of the two elements is reflected in the composition of verbal chains, i.e. in expres­sion. l

Different emotional elements may appear in the utterance depending on its character and pragmatic aspect.

The^ emotional elements of the language have a tendency to wear out ancTare constantly replaced by new ones (see examples on p. 101—the «word dramatic and others). Almost any word may acquire a greater or a lesser degree of emotiveness. This is due to the fact that, as B. Tomash-evskyhas it, «The word is not only understood, it,is also experienced.»2

There are words the function of which is to arouse emotion in the leader or listener. In such words smoiiy.eriess prevails over intellectuali-J^. There are also words in whidi the logical meaning is almost entirely ousted. However, these words express feelings which have passed through our mind and therefore they have acquired an intellectual embodiment. In other words, emotiveness in language is a category of our minds and, consequently, our feelings are expressed not directly but indirectly, that is, by passing through our minds. It is therefore natural that spme emo-‘Ще words have become the recognized symbols of emotions; the emo­tions are, as it were, not expressed directly but referred to. *

«The sensory stage of cognition of objective reality is not only the basis of abstract thinking, it also accompanies it, bringing the elements of sensory stimuli into the process of conceptual think­ing, and thus defining the sensory grounds of the concepts as well as the combination of sensory images and logical concepts in a single act of thinking.» a «

We shall try to distinguish between elements of language which have emotive meaning in their semantic structure and those which acquire this meaning in the context under the influence of a stylistic device or some other more expressive means in the utterance.

A greater or lesser volume of emotiveness may be distinguished in words which have emotive meaning in their semantic structure. The most highly emotive words are words charged with emotive meaning»T5tlT^» extent thatthe logical meaning can hardly be registered. These are fti-li^cJiQns and.jal.1 kinds of exclamations. Next com^ epithets, in which we

can observe a kirtd of parity between emotive and logical meaning. Thirdly come ej3it.het&jo!J^ in which the logical meaning prevails over the emotive but where the emotive is the;. result of the clash between the logical and illogical.

Interjections and Exclamatory Words

Interjections are words we use when we express our feelings ^strongly and which may be said to exist in language as coriyeritional symbols of human emotions/The role of interjections in creating emo­tive meanings has already been dealt with (see p. 67). It remains only to show how the logical and emotive meanings interact and to ascertain their general functions and spheres of application”

In traditional grammars the interjection is regarded as a part of speech, alongside other parts of speech, as the noun, adjective, verb, etc. But there is another view which regards the interjection not as a part of speech but as a sentence. There is much to uphold this view* Indeed, a word taken separately is deprived of any intonation which will suggest a complete idea, that is, a pronouncement; whereas a word-_ interjection will always manifest a definite attitude on the part of the speaker towards the problem and therefore have intonation. The pauses between words are very brief, sometimes hardly perceptible, where­as the pause between» the interjection and the words that follow is so long, so significant that it may be equalled to the pauses between sen­tences.

However, a closer investigation into the nature and functions of the interjection proves beyond doubt that the interjection is not a sentence; it is a word with strong emotive meaning. The pauses that frame inter­jections can be accounted for by the sudden transfer from the emotion-*** al to the logical or vice versa. Further, the definite intonation with whicli interjections are pronounced 4^Pe^ds on the sense of the preceding of*^ following sentence. Interj’ections have no sentence meaning if taken in^

dependently.

Let us take some examples of the use of interjections:

Oft, where are you going to, all you Big Steamers? (Kipling) The interjection oh by itself may express various feelings, such as regret, despair, dis^ppointpierit, sorrow, woe, surprise, astonish­ment, lamentation, entreaty and many others. Here it precedes a definite sentence and must be regarded as a part of it. It denotes the ar-«dent tone of the question. The Oh here may be regarded, to use the ter­minology of theory of information, as a signal indicating emotional ten­sion in the following utterance.

The same may be observed in the use of the interjection oh in the

following sentence from «A Christmas Carol» by Dickens: I

«Oft! but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grind-stone, Scrooge.»

The Oft here is’,a signaMndicating the strength of the emotions of

the author, which are further revealed in a number of devices, mostly

syntactical, like elliptical sentences, tautological subjects, etc. The tneaning of the interjection Oft in the sentence can again be pinned down only from the semantic analysis of the sentence following it and then it becomes clear that the emotion to be understood is one of disgust or scorn.

So interjections, as it were, radiate the emotional element over the whole of the utterance, provided, of course, that they precede it.

It is interesting to note in passing how often interjections are used by Shakespeare in his sonnets. Most of them serve as signals for the sestet which is the semantic or/and emotional counterpart to the octave,1 or example:

«0, carve not with thy horns …» (Sonnet 19)

«0, Let me, true in love, but…» (21)

«0, therefore, love be of thyself….» (22)

«0, let my books be, then, the…» (23)

«0, then vouchsafe me…» (32)

«0, absence, what a torment…» (39)

«0, no! thy love, though much…» (61)

«0, fearful meditation…» (65)

«0, if I say, you look…» (71)

«0, lest your true love…» (72)

«0, know, sweet love…» (76)

Mft, do not, when my heart…» (96)2

Interjections can be divided into p r i mar у and derivative. Primary interjections are generally devoid of any logical meaning. De­rivative interjections may retain a modicum of logical meaning, though this is always suppressed by the volume of emotive meaning. Oft! Ahl Bahl Poohl GosM Hushl Alasl are primary interjections, though some of them once had logical meaning. ‘Heavens!’, ‘good gracious!’, ‘dear me!’, ‘God!’, ‘Come on!’, ‘Look here!’, ‘dear!’, ‘by the Lord!’, ‘God knows!’, ‘Bless me!’, ‘Humbug!’ and many others of this kind are not interjec­tions as such; a better name for them would be exclamatory words and word-combinations generally used as interjections,’ r.e. their function is that of the interjection.

It must be noted here that some adjectives, nouns and adverbs can also take on the function of interjections—for example, such words as terrible!, awful!, great!’, wonderful!, splendid!’, fine!, man!, boy! With proper intonation and with an adequate pause such as follows an inter­jection, these words may acquire a strong emotional colouring and are equal in force to interjections. In that case we rrfay say that some adjec­tives and adverbs have acquired an additional grammatical meaning, that of the interjection.

Men-of-letters, most of whom possess an acute feeling for words, their meaning, sound, possibilities, potential energy, etc., are always aware °f the emotional charge of words in a context. An instance of such acute

2 It is interesting to note here that out of the four interjections used by Shakespeare jn his^sonnets (0, Ah, alack (alas), ay) the interjection 0 is used forty-eight times, Ah *ive times, alack — twice, and ay — twice.

awareness is the following excerpt from Somerset Maugham’s «The Ra­zor’s Edge» where in a conversation the word God is used in two differ­ent senses: first in its logical meaning and then with the grammatical meaning of the interjection:

«Perhaps he won’t. It’s a long arduous road he’s starting to trav­el, but it may be that at the end of it he’ll find what he’s seeking.» «What’s that?»

«Hasn’t it occurred to you? It seems to me that in what he said to you he indicated it pretty plainly. God.»

«God!» she cried. But it was an exclamation of incredulous surprise. Our use of the same word, but in such a different sense, had a comic effect, so that we were obliged to laugh. But Isabel immediately grew serious again and I felt in her whole attitude something like fear.

the change in the sense of the word god is indicated by a mark of exclamation, by the use of the word ‘cried’ and the words ‘exclamation of incredulous surprise’ which are ways of conveying in writing the sense carried in the spoken language by the intonation.

Interjections always attach a definite modal nuance to the utterance. But it is impossible to define exactly the shade of meaning contained in a given interjection, though the context may suggest one. Here are some of the meanings that can be expressed by interjections: joy, delight, admiration, approval, disbelief, astonishment, fright, regret, woe, dissatisfaction, ennui (boredom), sadness, blame, reproach, protest, horror, irony, sarcasm, meanness, self-assurance, despair, disgust and

many others.

Interesting attempts have been made to specify the emotions ex­pressed by some of the interjections. Here are a few lines from Byron’s «Don JuanJ which may serve as an illustration:

«All present life is but an interjection

An ‘Oh’ or ‘Ah’ of joy or misery, Or a ‘Ha! ha!’ or ‘Bah!’—a yawn or ‘Pooh!’ Of which perhaps the latter is most true.»

A strong impression is made by a* poem by M. Tsvetayeva “Молвь” in which three Russian interjections “ox”, “ax” and “эх” are subjected to a poetically exquisite subtle analysis from the point of view of the meanings these three interjections may express.

Interjections, like other words in the English vocabulary, bear fea­tures which mark them as bookish, neutral* or с о I I o q и i a I. Thus oft, aft, Baft and the like are neutral; a/as, egad (euphemism for “by GocP), Lo, Яаг1Гаге bookish * gosh, why, well are colloquial. But ais with other woTcTsTff any stratum of vocabulary, the border-line between the three groups is broad and flexible. Sometimes therefore a given in­terjection may be considered as bookish by one scholar and as neutral

by another, or colloquial by one and neutral by another. However, the difference between colloquial and bookish will always be clear enough. In evaluating the attitude of a writer to the things, ideas, events and phenomena he is dealing with, the ability of the reader to pin-point the emotional element becomes of paramount importance. It is sometimes hidden under seemingly impartial description or narrative, and only an insignificant lexical unit, or the syntactical design of an utterance, will reveal the author’s mood. But interjections, as has been said, are direct sigrialstlia^ charged, and insufficient attention on the part’ of the literary critic Tomcfuse 6! interjections will deprive him of a truer understanding of the writer’s aims.

1 The last two are somewhat archaic and used mostly in poetical language. Egad is also archaic.

The Epithet

From the strongest means of displaying the writer’s or speaker’s emotionaj. attitude to his communication, we now pass to a weaker but still forceful, means — the ep i th e t. .The epithet is subtle and del­icate in character. It is not so direct as the interjection. Some people ^even cbnsider tHaf it can create an atmosphere of objective evaluation, whereas it actually conveys the subjective attitude of the writer, show­ing that lie is partial in one way or another;

«»The epithet is a stylistic device based on the interplay of emotiv,e and logicaT meaning in an attributive word/phrase or even sentenc§ used to characterize an object and pointing out to the reader, and f re-quently imposing on him, some of the properties or features of the ob-ject with the aim of giving an individual perception and evaluation of these features or properties. The epithet is markedly subjective and evaluative. The logical attribute is purely objective, non-evaluating. It is descriptive and indicates an inherent or prominent feature of the thing or phenomenon in question.

Thus, in ‘green meadows’, ‘white snow’, ’round table’, ‘blue skies’, ‘pale complexion’, ‘lofty mountains’ and the like,- the adjectives are more logical attributes than epithets. They indicate those qualities of the objects which may be regarded as generally recognized. But in ‘wild wind’, ‘loud ocean’,, ‘remorseless dash of billows’, ‘formidable waves’, ‘Heart-burning smile’, the adjectives do not point to inherent qualities of the objects described. They are subjectively evaluative.

The epithet makes a strong impact on the reader, so much so, that he^imwittingly begins to see and evaluate things as the writer wants Turn io. Indeed, in such word-combinations as ‘destructive charms’, ‘glorious sight’, ‘encouraging smile’, the interrelation between logical and emotive meanings maj be said to manifest itself in different de­grees. The word destructive has retained its logical meaning to a consid­erable extent, -but at the same time an experienced reader cannot help perceiving the emotive meaning of the word which in this combination will signify ‘conquering, irresistible, dangerous’. The logical meaning of the word glorious in combination with the word sight has almost entirely faded out. Glorious is already fixed in dictionaries as a word

having an emotive meaning alongside its primary, logical meaning. As to the word encouraging (in the combination ‘encouraging smile’) it is half epithet and half logical attribute. In fact, it is sometimes difficult to draw a clear line of demarcation between eplffief and logt-«cal attribute. Iff some passages the logical attribute becomes so strongly | enveloped in the emotional aspect of the utterance that it begins to radiate emotiveness, though by nature it is logically descriptive. Take, for example, the adjectives green, white, blue, lofty (but somehow not round) in the combinations given above. In a suitable context they may all have a definite emotional impact on the reader. This is prob­ably explained by the fact that the quality most characteristic of the given object is attached to it, thus strengthening the quality.

Epithets may be classified from different standpoints: s e т a n-t i с and ‘»§t r и с t и r at. Semantically, epithets may be divided into wo groups: those associated with the noun following arid those

n a s s ° ° I a t e d w^h it.

Associated epithets are those which point to a feature which is es-describe: the idea expressed in the epithet is to

^gn^Qo^Jb^Jibjects they aescnoe: ше mea слр^оо^ *** „^ r…_,_ __

a cerfam extent jnfierent in the concept of the object. The associated epllhef’Immediately refers the mind to the concept in question due to some actual quality of the object it is attached to, for instance, ‘dark

-•forest1, ‘dreary midnight’, ‘careful attention’, ‘unwearying research’, ‘ifP»^ def at igable assiduity’, ‘fantastic terrors’, etc.

Unassociated epithets are attributes used to characterize the object by adding a feature not inherent inJL i.e. a feature which may be so unex­pected as to strike the reader by its novelty, as, for instance, ‘heart­burning smile’, ‘bootless cries’, ‘sullen earth’, ‘voiceless sands’, etc. The adjectives here do not indicate any property inherent in the objects in question. They impose, as it were, a property on them which is fitting only in the given circumstances. It may seem strange, unusual, or even

accidental. *••

In any combination of words it is very important to observe to what degree the components of the combination are linked. When they are so

• closely linked that the component parts become inseparable, we note that we are dealing with a set expression. When the link between the component parts is comparatively close, we say there is a stable word-^ combination, and when we can substitute any word of the same grammati» cal category for the one given, we note what is called a free combination

of words.

With regard to epithets, this-division becomes of paramount impor­tance, inasmuch as the epithet is-a powerful means for making the desired impact on the reader, and therefore its ties with the noun are generally contextual. However, there are combinations in which the ties between the attribute and the noun defined are very close, and the whole combina­tion is viewed as a linguistic whole. Combinations of this type appear as a result of the frequent use of certain definite epithets with definite nouns. They become stable word-combinations. Examples are: ‘bright face’, valuable connections’ ‘sweet smile’, ‘unearthly beauty’, ‘pitch dark­ness’, ‘thirsty deserts’,»‘deep feeling’, ‘classic example’, ‘powerful influ-

ence’, ‘sweet perfume’ and the like. The predictability of such epithets is very great.

Tfae functjjao of epithets of this kind remains basically the same: «to show the evaluating, su_bjejctiye attitude,of the writer towards the |tfiing»descnbed. ButTof this purpose the author does not create his own, ‘new, unexpected epithets; he uses ones that have become traditional, and may be termed «language epithets» as they JbeI6ng^6″Welanguage-as-a-system. Thus epithetsTfriay be liivided into language epithets and sp e e c^(Tptthets. Examples of speech epithets are: ‘slavish knees’, ‘sleepless bay.’

The process of strengthening the connection between the epithet and the nouaJtn^^^njetimes go^o far as to build a specific unit which does not lose its poeticITavour. Such epithets are calle,d,Xl^^ d and ^emosi^ ly used in ballads^ajni(ifpj[^ songs. Her of fixed epi­thets: ‘true love’, ‘dark forest’, ‘sweet Sir’, ‘green wood’, ‘good ship’, ‘brave cavaliersV •- — — …—…….,… ..____

Structurally, epithets can be viewed from the angle of a) composi­tion and b) distribution.

From the point of view of their compositional structure epithets may be divided into simple, с о т p о и n d, p h r a s e and sentence epithets. Simple epithets are ordinary adjectives. Examples have been given above. ‘Compound epithets are built like com­pound adjectives. Examples are: ‘heart-burning sigh’, ‘sylph-like figures’, ‘cloud-shapen giant’,

«…curly-headed good-for-nothing,

And mischief-making monkey from his birth.» (Byron)

The tendency to cram into one language unit as much information as possible has led to new compositional models for epithets which we shall call p h r as e e p i t h e t s. A phrase and even a whole sentence may become an epithet if the main formal requirement of the epithet is maintained, viz. its attributive use. But unlike simple and compound epithets, which may have pre- or post-position, phrase epithets are always placed before the nouns they refei to.

An interesting observation in this respect has been made by O. S. Akh-manova. «The syntactical combinations are, as it were, more explicit, descriptive, elaborate; the lexical are more of an indication, a hint or a clue to some previously communicated or generally known fact, as if one should say: ‘You know what I mean and all I have to do now is to point it out to you in this concise and familiar way’.» x

This inner semantic quality of the attributive relations in lexical combinations, as they are called by O. S. Akhmanova, is, perhaps, most striking in the phrase and sentence epithets. Here the ‘concise way’ is most effectively used.

Here are some examples of phrase epithets:

.. luAkhmanova 0. S. Lexical and Syntactical Collocations in Contemporary Eng­lish. Zeitschrift fur Anerli.stik unH Ampribinkttk» M 10КЯ Hpff T n 1Q

«It is this do-it-yourself, go-it-alone attitude that has thus far heldlJack real development of theTVliddle East’s river resources.» (N. Y. T. Magazine, 19 Oct., 1958.)

«Personally I detest her (Gioconda’s) smug, mystery-making, Qome-hither-but-go-away-again-because-butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-my-mouth expression.» (New Statesman and Nntion, Jan. 5, 1957)

«There is a sort of ‘Oh-what-a-wicked-world-this-is-and-how-

I-wish-I-could-do-something-to-make-it-better-and-nobler* expression

about Montmorency that has been known to bring the tears into

the eyes of pious old ladies and gentlemen.» (Jerome K. Jerome,

«Three Men in a Boat»)

«Freddie was standing in front of the fireplace with a ‘well-thafs-the-story-what-are-we-going-to-do-about-it* air that made him a focal point.» (Leslie Ford, «Siren in the NighT7)

An interesting structural detail of phrase and sentence epithets is that they are generally followed by the worus^expression, air, attitude and others which describe behaviour or facial expression. In other words, such epithets seem to transcribe into language symbols a communication usually» conveyed by non-linguistic means.

Another structural feature of such phrase epithets is that after the nouns they refer to, there often comes a subordinate attributive clause beginning with that. This attributive clause, as it were, serves the pur­pose of decoding the effect of the communication. It must be noted that phrase epithets are always hyphenated, thus pointing to the temporary structure of the compound word.

These two structural features have predetermined the functioning of phrase epithets. Practically any phrase .or, sentence which deals with the psychological state of a person may serve as an epithet. The phrases and sentences transformed into epithets lose their independence and as­sume a new quality which is revealed both in the intonation pattern (that of ш attribute) and graphically (by being hyphenated).

Another structural variety of the epithet is the оде which we shall term r eve r s e d. The reversed epithet is composed of two nouns linked 4ft an e/-phrase. The subjective, evaluating, emotional element is embod­ied not in the noun attribute but in the noun structurally described, for example: «the shadow of a smile»; «a devil of a job» (Maugham); «…he smiled brightly, neatly, efficiently, a military abbreviation of a smile» (Graham Green); «A devil of ,a sea rolls in that bay» (Byron); «A little Flying Dutchman of a cab» (Galsworthy); «a dog of a fellow» (Dickens); «her brute of a brother» (Galsworthy); «…a long nightshirt of a mackin­tosh…» (Cronin)

It will be observed that such epithets are metaphorical. The noun to be assessed is contained in the of-phrase and the noun it qualifies is».a»metaphor ^(shadow, devil, military abbreviation, Flying*Dutchman, ^2^jrThe grammatjcai aspect, viz. attributive relation between the members of the combination shows that the SD here la an epithet.

It has been acknowledged that it is sometimes difficult to draw a line of demarcation between attributive and predicative relations. Some at-

tributes carry so much information that they may justly be considered bearers of predicativeness. This is particularly true of the epithet, espe­cially genuine or speech epithets, which belong to language-in-action and not to language-as-a-system. These epithets are predicative in es­sence, though not in form.

On the other hand, some word-combinations where we have predic­ative relations convey so strongly the emotional assessment of the object spoken of, that in spite of their formal, structural design, the Predi^jyjss_c^ as epithets. Here are some examples:

‘Fools that they are’; ‘Wicked as he is.’ ;

The inverted position of the predicatives tools’ and ‘wicked’ as well as the intensifying 4hat they are’ and ‘as he is’ mark this border-line variety of epithet.

Some language epithets, in spite of opposition on the part of ortho­dox language purists, establish themselves in standard English as con­ventional symbols of assessment for a given period. To these belong words we have already spoken of like terrible, awful, massive, top, dramatic, mighty, crucial (see p. 66).

From the point of view of the dis^tji^ujj^n^^f the epithets in the sentence, the first model to b€^omTecToulTs thes t r i n g ofepi-the is. In his depiction of New York, O. Henry ^TvSTB^loTrowing sffing^ of epithets:

«Such was the background of the wonderful, cruel, enchanting, bewildering, fatal, great city;»

Other examples are: a plump, rosy-cheeked, wholesome apple-faced young woman (Dickens); «a well-matched, fairly-balanced give-and-take couple.» (Dickens)

As in any enumeration, the .string of epithets gives a many-sided depfttton of the object. 3ut in this many-sidedness there is always a suggestion of an ascending order of emotive elements. This can easily be observed in the intonation pattern of a string of epithets. There is generally an ascending scale which culminates in the last epithet; if the last epithet is a language epithet (great), or riot an epithet (young), the culminating point is the last genuine epithet. The culminating point in the above examples is at fatal, apple-faced, and give-and-take.

Another distributional model is the Јra n^s f e r r e d epithet. Transferred epithets are ordinary logical ^attributes generally describing the state of a human being, but made to refer to an inanimate object, for example: «sick chamber, sleepless pillow, restless pace, breathless eagerness, tinbreakfasted morning, merry hours, a disapproving finger, Isabel shrugged an indifferent shoulder.

As may be seen, it is the force contributed to the attribute by its position, and not by its meaning, that hallows it into an epithet. The main feature of the epithet, that of emotional assessment, is greatly diminished in this model; but it never quite vanishes. The meaning of the logical attributes injuch combinations acquires a definite emotional colouring.

Language epithets as part of the emotional word-stock of the lan­guage have a tendency to become obsolescent. That is the fate of many emotional elements in the language. They gradually lose their emotive charge and are replaced by new ones which, in their turn, will be re­placed by neologisms. Such was the fate of the language epithet good-na­tured. In the works of Henry Fielding this epithet appears very often, as, for example, *a good-natured hole’, ‘good-natured side’. The words vast and vastly were also used as epithets in the works of men-of-letters of the 18th century, as in ‘vast rains’, ‘vastly amused’.

The problem of the epithet is too large and too significant to be fully dealt with in a short chapter. Indeed, it may be regarded as the crucial problem in emotive language and epithets, correspondingly, among the stylistic devices of the language.

It remains only to say that thegpithet is a direct and straightforward way of showing the author’s attitude towards the things described, where­as other stylistic devices, even image-bearing ones, will reveal the aut­hor’s evaluation of the object only indirectly. That is probably why those authors who wish to show a seeming impartiality and objectivity in depicting their heroes and describing events use few epithets. Realistic authors use epithets much more sparingly, as statistical data have shown. Roughly speaking, Romanticism, on the other hand, may to some extent be characterized by its abundant use of epithets. In illustration we have taken at random a few lines from a stanza in Byron’s «Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage»:

The horrid crags, by toppling convent, crowned, The cork-trees hoar that clothe the shaggy steep,

The mountain-moss by scorching skies imbrown’d, The sunken glen, whose sunless shrubs must weep,

The orange tints that gild the greenest bough..8

Oxymoron

Oxymoron is a combination of two words (mostly an adjective and a noun or an adverb with an adjective) in which the meanings of the two clash, being opposite in sense, for example:

‘low skyscraper’, ‘sweet sorrow’, ‘nice rascal’, ‘pleasantly ugly face’, ‘horribiy ^ЪеаиШиГ, ‘a deafening silence’,

If the primary meaning of the qualifying word changes or weakens, the stylistic effect of oxymoronMs lost. This is the case with what were once oxymoronic combinations, for example, ‘awfully nice’, ‘awfully glad’, ‘terribly sorry’ and the like, where the words awfully and terribly have lost their primary logical meaning and are now used with emotive meaning only, as intensifiers. The essence of oxymoron consists in the capacity of the primary meaning of the adjective or adverb to resist for some time the overwhelming power of semantic change which words undergo in combination. The forcible combination of non-combinative words seems to develop what may be called a kind of centrifugal force which keeps them apart, in contrast to ordinary word-combinations where centripetal force is in action.

We have already pointed out that there are different ratios of emotive-logical relations in epithets. In some of them the logical meaning is hardly perceived, in others the two meanings co-exist. In oxymoron the logical meaning holds fast because there is no true word-combination, only the juxtaposition of two non-combinative words.

But still we may notice a peculiar change in the meaning of the quali­fying word. It assumes a new life in oxymoron, definitely indicative of the assessing tendency in the writer’s mind.

Let us take the following example from O. Henry’s story «The Duel» in which one of the heroes thus describes his attitude towards New York,

«I despise its very vastness and power. It has the poorest milli­onaires, the littlest great men, the haughtiest beggars, the plainest beauties, the lowest skyscrapers, the dolefulest pleasures of any town I ever saw,»

Even the superlative degree of the adjectives fails to extinguish the primary meaning of the adjectives: poor, little, haughty, etcs But by some inner law of word-combinations they also show the attitude of the speaker, reinforced, of course, by the preceding sentence: «I despise its very vast-ness and power.»

It will not come amiss to express this language phenomenon in terms of the theory of information, which states that though the general ten­dency of entropy is to enlarge, the encoding tendency in the language, which strives for an organized system of language symbols, reduces entropy. Perhaps, this is due to the organizing spirit of the language, i.e. the striving after a system (which in its very essence is an organized whole) that oxymoronic groups, if repeated frequently, lose their stylistic quality and gradually fall into the group of acknowledged word-combina­tions which consist of an intensifier and the concept intensified.

Oxymoron has one main structural model: a d j e с t i v e 4- n о и п. It is in this structural model that the resistance of the two component parts to fusion into one unit manifests itself most strongly. In the a d-v e r b + adjective model the change of meaning in the first elem­ent, the adverb, is more rapid, resistance to the unifying process not being so strong.

Sometimes the tendency to use oxymoron is the mark of certain lite­rary trends and tastes. There are poets in search of-new shades of meaning in existing words, who make a point of joining together words of contra­dictory meaning. «Two ordinary words may become almost new,» writes V. V. Vinogradov, «if they are joined for the first time or used in an unex­pected context.» l

Thus, ‘peopled desert’, ‘populous solitude’, ‘proud humility’ are oxymoronic.

Sometimes, however, the tendency to combine the uncombinative is revealed in structurally different forms, not in adjective-noun models. Gorki criticizes his own sentence: «I suffered then from the fanaticism of knowledge,» and called it «a blunder». He points out that the acquiring of knowledge is not blind as fanaticism is. The syntactic relations here are not oxymoronic. But combinations of this kind can be likened to oxymoron. The same can be said of the following lines from Byron’s «Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage»:

«Fair Greece! sad relic of departed Worth! Immortal, though no more, though fallen, great!»

Oxymoronic relations in the italicized part can scarcely be felt, but still the contrary signification is clearly perceived. Such structures may be looked upon as intermediate between oxymoron and antithesis (see p. 222).

4. INTERACTION OF LOGICAL AND NOMINAL MEANINGS

Antonomasia

We have already pointed out the peculiarities of nominal meaning. The interplay between the logical and nominal meanings of a word is call-ed antonomasia. As in other stylistic devices based on the inter-acttotr’t^-tettal^meaiilngs, the two kinds of meanings must be realized in the word simultaneously. If only one meaning is materialized in the context, there is no stylistic device, as in hooligan, boycott and other examples given earlier. Here are some examples of genuine antonomasia.

«Among the herd of journals which are published in the States, there are some, the reader scarcely need be told, of character and credit. From-personal intercourse with accomplished gentlemen connected with publications of this class, I have derived both pleasure and profit. But the name of these is Few, and of the other Legion, and the influence of the good is powerless to counteract the mortal poison of the bad. (Dickens)

The use of the word name made the author write the words ‘Few’, and ‘Legion’ with capital letters. It is very important to note that this device is mainly realized in, the written language, because generally capital letters are the only signals to denote tha presence of the stylistic device. The same can also be observed in the following example from Byron’s «Don Juan»:

«Society is now one polished horde,

Form’d of two mighty tribes, the Bores and Bored.»

In these two examples of the use of antonomasia the nominal meaning is hardly perceived, the logical meaning of the words few, legion, bores, bored being too strong. But there is another point that should be mention­ed. Most proper names are built on some law of analogy. Many of them end in -son (as Johnson) or -er (Fletcher). We easily recognize such words

as Smith, White, Brown, Green, Fowler and others as proper names. But such names as Miss BjM-Et/es (Carter Brown) or Scrooge or Mr. Zero may be called t о k en or telling names. They give;^jnfoЈj^ajtionit>oiithe reader about the bearer of the name. In this coniiectioiii^rTsTnre’reHrng’to recall the well-known remark by Karl Marx, who said that we do not know anything about a man if we only know that he is called Jacob. The nominal meaning is not intended to give any information about the per­son. It only serves the purpose of identification. Proper names, i.e. the words with nominal meaning, can etymologically, in the majority of cases, be traced to some quality, property or trait of a person, or to his occupation. But this etymological meaning may be forgotten and the word be understood as a proper name and nothing else. It is not so with antonomasia. Antonomasia is intended to point out the leading, most char­acteristic feature of a person or event, at ffie’same time pinning this leading trait as a proper name to the person or event concerned. In fact, antonomasia is afevivar of the initial stage in naming individuals.

Antonomasia may be likened to the epithet in essence if not in form. It categorizes the person and thus simultaneously indicates both the general and the particular.

Antonomasia is a much favoured device in the belles-lettres style. In an article «What’s in a name?», Mr. R. Davis says: «In deciding on names for his characters, an author has an unfair advantage over other parents. He knows so much better how his child will turn out. When Saul Bellow named Augie March, he had already conceived a hero restlessly on the move, marching ahead with august ideas of himself. Henry James saw in Adam Verver of «The Golden Bowl» a self-made American, sprung from the soil, full of verve and zest for life. In choosing names like ‘Murd-stone’, ‘Scrooge’, and ‘Gradgrind’, Dickens was being even more ob­vious.» l

In Russian literature this device is employed by many of our classic writers. It will suffice to mention such names as Vralman, Molchalin, Korobochka and Sobakevich to illustrate this efficient device for character­izing literary heroes, a device which is now falling out of use. These Rus­sian names are also coined on the analogy of generally acknowledged models for proper names, with endings in -man, -in, -vich.

An interesting literary device to emphasize token names is employed by Byron in his «Don Juan» where the name is followed or preceded by an explanatory remark, as in the following:

«Sir John Pottledeep, the mighty drinker.» «There was the sage Miss Reading.» «And the two fair co-heiresses Giltbedding» «There was Dick Dubious, the metaphysician,

Who loved philosophy and a good dinner; Angle, the soi-disant mathematician’,

Sir Henry Silvercup, the great race-winner»

The explanatory words, as it were, revive the logical meaning of the proper names, thus making more apparent the interplay of logical and nominal meanings.

The use of antonomasia is now not confined to the belles-lettres style. It is often found in publicistic style, that is, in magazine and news­paper articles, in essays and also in military language. The following are examples:

«I say this to our American friends. Mr. Facing-Both-Ways does not get very far in this world.» (The Times)

«I suspect that the Noes and Don’t Knows would far out­number the Yesses» (The Spectator)

So far we have dealt with a variety of antonomasia in which com­mon words with obvious logical meaning are given nominal meaning without losing their primary, basic significance. But antonomasia can ^Iso make a word which now has a basic nominal meaning acquire a ge-. neric signification, thus supplying the word with an additional logical meaning. The latter can only be deciphered if the events connected with a certain place mentioned or with a conspicuous feature of a person are well known. Thus, the word Dunkirk now means 4he evacuation of troops under heavy bombardment before it is too late’, Sedan means *a complete defeat’, Coventry—’the destruction of a city by air raids’, a quizling now means ‘a traitor who aids occupying enemy forces’.

The spelling of these words demonstrates the stages by which proper nouns acquire new, logical meanings: some of them are still spelt with capital letters (geographical names), others are already spelt with small letters showing that a new word with a primary logical meaning has al­ready come into existence.

This variety of antonomasia is not so widely used as a stylistic de­vice, most probably due to the nature of words with nominal meaning: they tell very Jittle or even nothing about the bearer of the name,