Many Russian words have both direct and figurative meanings. About what this phenomenon is, how to define a word in a figurative sense and how this transfer occurs, we will talk in our article.
On the direct and figurative meaning of the word
Even from the elementary grades of school, we know that words in the Russian language have a direct meaning, that is, the main one, directly related to some object or phenomenon. For example, for the noun " output" it is "an opening in a wall or fence through which one can leave an enclosed space" (Another output hid behind a secret door into the courtyard).
But besides the direct, there is also a figurative meaning of the word. Examples of such meanings for one lexical unit are often numerous. So, in the same word " output" this:
1) a way to get rid of the problem (Finally, we came up with a decent output from the situation)
2) the number of products produced (As a result output details turned out to be slightly lower than expected);
3) appearance on stage ( Output the protagonist was greeted with a standing ovation);
4) outcrop of rocks (In this place output limestone made the rocks almost white).
What affects the transfer of the meaning of the word
Depending on which feature can be associated with the transfer of the name of one object to another, linguists distinguish three types of it:
- Metaphor (transfer is associated with the similarity of features of different objects).
- Metonymy (based on the adjacency of objects).
- Synecdoche (transfer of a general meaning to its part).
The figurative meaning of the word by the similarity of functions is also considered separately.
Now let's take a closer look at each of these types.
What is a metaphor
As mentioned above, a metaphor is a transfer of meaning based on the similarity of features. For example, if the objects are similar in shape (the dome of the building - the dome of the sky) or in color (gold decoration - the golden sun).
Metaphor also implies the similarity of other meanings:
- by function ( a heart human is the main organ a heart cities - the main area);
- by the nature of the sound ( grumbles old lady - grumbles kettle on the stove);
- by location ( tail animal - tail trains);
- on other grounds ( green I am youth - not mature; deep longing - it is difficult to get out of it; silk hair - smooth; soft look is pleasant).
The figurative meaning of a word in the case of a metaphor can also be based on the animation of inanimate objects, and vice versa. For example: whisper of leaves, gentle warmth, nerves of steel, an empty look, etc.
Metaphorical rethinking is also frequent, based on the convergence of objects according to seemingly different signs: a gray mouse - a gray fog - a gray day - gray thoughts; sharp knife - sharp mind - sharp eye - sharp corners (dangerous events) in life.
Metonymy
Another trope using words used in a figurative sense, - this is metonymy. It is possible under the condition of contiguity of concepts. For example, moving the name of the room ( Class) to the group of children in it ( Class rose to meet the teacher) is a metonymy. The same happens when transferring the name of an action to its result (to do baking bread - fresh bakery) or properties on their owner (to have bass- a talented aria sang bass).
According to the same principles, the author's name is transferred to his works ( Gogol- staged in the theater Gogol; Bach- listen Bach) or the name of the container to the contents ( plate- he already two plates ate). Adjacency (proximity) is also tracked when transferring the name of the material to a product made from it ( silk- she in silks walked) or tools on a person working with him ( braid- seen here braid walked).
Metonymy is an important way of the word-formation process
With the help of metonymy, any word in a figurative sense acquires more and more new semantic loads. So, for example, the word " node" even in ancient times it turned out by transferring the meaning "a rectangular piece of matter into which some objects are tied" (take with you node). And today, in dictionaries, other meanings have been added to it, which appeared through metonymy:
- the place where the lines of roads or rivers intersect, converge;
- part of the mechanism, consisting of tightly interacting parts;
- an important place where something is concentrated.
Thus, as you can see, the new figurative meaning of words, which arose with the help of metonymy, serves the development of vocabulary. By the way, this also saves speech efforts, as it makes it possible to replace the whole descriptive construction with just one word. For example: "early Chekhov" instead of "Chekhov in the early period of his work" or " audience” instead of “people sitting in the room and listening to the lecturer.”
One of the varieties of metonymy in linguistics is the synecdoche.
What is synecdoche
Words in a figurative sense, examples of which were given earlier, acquired a new semantic load due to some similarity or closeness of concepts. A synecdoche is a way of pointing to an object through the mention of its characteristic detail or distinctive feature. That is, as mentioned above, this is the transfer of the general meaning of the word to its part.
Here are some of the most common types of this trail.
How and when to use synecdoche
Synecdoche always depends on the context or situation, and in order to understand which words are used in a figurative sense, the author must first describe the hero or his environment. For example, it is difficult to determine from a sentence taken out of context who is being referred to: “ Beard blew smoke from a clay pipe. But from the previous story, everything becomes clear: "Next to the look of an experienced sailor, a man with a thick beard sat."
Thus, the synecdoche can be called an anaphoric trope oriented towards subtext. The designation of an object by its characteristic detail is used in colloquial speech and in literary texts to make them grotesque or humorous.
Figurative meaning of the word: examples of transfer by similarity of functions
Some linguists separately consider the transfer of meaning, under which the condition that phenomena have the same functions is satisfied. For example, a janitor is a person who cleans the yard, and a janitor in a car is a window cleaning device.
The word "counter" also has a new meaning, which was used in the sense of "a person who counts something." Now the counter is also a device.
Depending on which words in a figurative sense arise as a result of the named process, their associative connection with the original sense may disappear altogether with time.
How sometimes the transfer process affects the main meaning of the word
As already mentioned, as figurative meanings develop, a word can expand its semantic load. For example, the noun " the foundation” meant only: “a longitudinal thread running along the fabric”. But as a result of the transfer, this meaning expanded and was added to it: “the main part, the essence of something”, as well as “part of a word without an ending”.
Yes, the emerging figurative meaning of polysemantic words leads to an increase in their expressive properties and contributes to the development of the language as a whole, but it is interesting that in this case some meanings of the word become obsolete and are put out of use. For example, the word " nature' has several meanings:
- Nature ( Nature beckons me with its purity).
- Human temperament (passionate nature).
- Natural conditions, environment (figure from nature).
- Replacing money with goods or products (pay off in kind).
But the first of the listed meanings, with which, by the way, this word was borrowed from the French language, is already outdated, in dictionaries it is marked “outdated.” The rest, developed with the help of transference on its basis, are actively functioning in our time.
How words are used in a figurative sense: examples
Words in a figurative sense are often used as a means of expression in fiction, the media, and also in advertising. In the latter case, the method of deliberately colliding different meanings of one word in the subtext is very popular. So, about mineral water advertising says: "Source of cheerfulness." The same technique is visible in the slogan for shoe cream: "Brilliant protection."
The authors of works of art, in order to give them brightness and imagery, use not only the already known figurative meaning of words, but also create their own versions of metaphors. For example, Blok's “silence blooms” or Yesenin's “birch Russia”, which has become very popular over time.
There are also words in which the transfer of meaning has become “dry”, “erased”. As a rule, we use such words not to convey an attitude to something, but to name an action or object (go to the goal, the bow of the boat, the back of a chair, etc.). In lexicology, they are called nominative metaphors, and in dictionaries, by the way, they are not designated as a figurative meaning.
Incorrect use of words in a figurative sense
In order for words in the literal and figurative sense to always appear in the text in their places and be justified, it is necessary to follow the rules for their use.
It should be remembered that the use of a metaphor requires the presence of similarities in the features of the object of the name and in the meaning of the word applied to it. Meanwhile, this is not always observed, and the image used as a metaphor sometimes does not evoke the necessary associations and remains unclear. For example, a journalist, speaking of a ski race, calls it a "ski bullfight" or, reporting on inanimate objects, designates their number as a duet, trio, or quartet.
Such a pursuit of "beautifulness" leads to the opposite result, forcing the reader to be perplexed, and sometimes even laugh, as in the case when it was said about Tolstoy's portrait: "Tolstoy hung in the office by the window."
Lesson No. 20 Russian language Grade 5 date________________
Lesson topic: Direct and figurative meaning of the word
Lesson Objectives: 1. Repeat what has been learned on the topic “Vocabulary.
To teach to distinguish between the direct and figurative meaning of a word, to use words in a figurative meaning in speech.
2. To develop the creative activity of students.
Enrich the vocabulary of the language, improve the grammatical structure of students' speech. Improve learning skills.
3. Raise a conscious need for knowledge, love for the Russian language.
Lesson type: A lesson in consolidating and applying new knowledge in practice.
Equipment: scheme, tables
During the classes
I. Organizational moment. Formulation of the problem.
II.Checking homework:
Issue. exercise 97.
III. Updating students' knowledge.
Terminological dictation.
The science that studies the vocabulary of a language is called ... (lexicology)
The vocabulary of the language is called ... (lexicon)
What the word means is called ... (lexical meaning)
A word that has one lexical meaning is called ... (single-valued)
A word that has two or more meanings is called ... (multi-valued)
The dictionary by which the lexical meaning of a word is determined is called ... (explanatory dictionary)
IV. Assimilation of new material.
1. - Guys, let's write down the terms "direct", "figurative meaning". Today we will find out what these words mean.
table
Golden ringblack paint
iron nail
stone building
Golden autumn
Black thoughts
Iron will
stone heart
Why is there a transfer of the name from one subject to another?
(The transfer of the name from one subject to another occurs if they have any similarity).
What does the word "golden" mean?
straight: made of gold,
portable: similar to the color of gold.
VI. Primary knowledge check.
The task.Find the "extra" word.
1. The clock is running, it is raining, it is snowing, a person is walking.
2. Silver ring, gold bracelet, bronze medal, bronze tan.
V. Fixing the topic.
1. Exerc. 93 Text work.
A) students reading the poem "Autumn"
B) answer the questions:
-What pictures of late autumn does the poet draw?
-What feeling does the picture of late autumn evoke in the poet?
c) vocabulary work:
enveloped - that's it
shivering from the cold - suyktan kaltyrap
withered - solgan
leafless - without lies
2. Task 1:
Schematic on the board.
Task for students: to complete the construction of the scheme.
The schema should look like this:
Distribute phrases in two columns according to the scheme:
Heavy suitcase, light hand, iron discipline, iron nail, Olympic Games, heavy character, cold wind.
3. Task 2. Multi-level task.
First level.Write down, separate the words into two groups .
The sea sleeps, the children sleep, the wolf howls, the wind howls, the dust flies, the bird flies.
Second level.Explain spelling, underline the basics of sentences and indicate in what meaning verbs are used (direct or figurative).
The rain fell asleep. From the sun, the vanity of the wind rose, the trees ruffled, the grasses and shrubs murmured. And even the rain itself rose to its feet again, awakened by the tickling warmth, and gathered its body into clouds.
Third level. 4.Sort words by meaning:
4. Task 3.Form new phrases by replacing the main word in the data so that the dependent would be used in a figurative sense.
1 row
iron nail - (iron health)
ruddy girl - (ruddy apple)
2 row
Curly baby -( curly birch)
Sweet pie - (sweet life)
3 row
Stone house - (stone heart)
Warm tea - (warm look)
5. Work on the card.
semantic map.
WordsExamples
unambiguous
polysemantic
literally
in a figurative sense
It is raining
Tram
Needle
The student is coming
VII. Summing up the lesson.
1. The vocabulary of the language is studied by science:
A) phonetics
B) syntax
B) lexicology
2. The word is used in a figurative sense in both phrases:
A) stone heart, build a bridge
B) the heat of the sun, a stone building
C) golden words, make plans
3. In which row are the words polysemantic:
A) star, artificial, stone;
B) single, blinds, jockey;
C) rocky, caftan, composer
4. Word in a figurative sense:
A) a horse is walking
B) a cow is coming
B) the clock is ticking
5. Specify a single word:
A) school desk B) ruler C) sea
VIII. Homework.
1. Issue. ex.108 p.47
2. Grades for students.
Each word has a basic lexical meaning.
For example, desk- this is a school table, green- color of grass or foliage, eat- it means to eat.
The meaning of the word is called direct if the sound of a word accurately indicates an object, action or sign.
Sometimes the sound of one word is transferred to another object, action or feature based on similarity. The word has a new lexical meaning, which is called portable .
Consider examples of direct and figurative meanings of words. If a person says a word sea, he and his interlocutors have an image of a large body of water with salt water.
This is the direct meaning of the word sea. And in combinations sea of lights, sea of people, sea of books we see the figurative meaning of the word sea, which means a lot of something or someone.
Gold coins, earrings, goblet are items made of gold.
This is the direct meaning of the word gold. The phrases have a figurative meaning: golden hair- hair with a brilliant yellow tint, skillful fingers- so they say about the ability to do something well, golden a heart- so they say about a person who does good.
Word heavy has a direct meaning - to have a significant mass. For example, heavy load, box, briefcase.
The following phrases have a figurative meaning: heavy task- complex, which is not easy to solve; hard day- a hard day that requires effort; hard look- gloomy, severe.
girl jumping And temperature fluctuates.
In the first case - direct value, in the second - figurative (rapid change in temperature).
boy running- direct meaning. Time is running out- portable.
Frost bound the river- figurative meaning - means that the water in the river is frozen.
House wall- direct meaning. Heavy rain is: rain wall. This is a portable meaning.
Read the poem:
What is that wonder?
The sun is shining, the rain is falling
By the river is big beautiful
The rainbow bridge rises.
If the sun shines bright
The rain is pouring mischievously,
So this rain, children,
called mushroom!
Mushroom rain- figurative meaning.
As we already know, words with multiple meanings are polysemantic.
A figurative meaning is one of the meanings of a polysemantic word.
It is possible to determine in what meaning a word is used only from the context, i.e. in a sentence. For example:
Candles were burning on the table. direct meaning.
His eyes burned with happiness. Figurative meaning.
You can turn to the explanatory dictionary for help. The first is always given the direct meaning of the word, and then the figurative.
Consider an example:
Cold -
1. having a low temperature. Wash hands with cold water. A cold wind was blowing from the north.
2. Translated. About clothes. Cold coat.
3. Translated. About color. Cold shades of the picture.
4. Translated. About emotions. Cold look. Cold meeting.
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The direct meaning of the word is its main lexical meaning. It is directly directed to the designated object, phenomenon, action, sign, immediately causes an idea of them and is least dependent on the context. Words often appear in the direct meaning.
The figurative meaning of the word - this is its secondary meaning, which arose on the basis of the direct one.
Toy, -and, well. 1. A thing that serves for the game. Kids toys. 2. trans. One who blindly acts according to someone else's will, an obedient instrument of someone else's will (disapproved). To be a toy in someone's hands.
The essence of the transfer of meaning is that the meaning is transferred to another object, another phenomenon, and then one word is used as the name of several objects at the same time. In this way, the ambiguity of the word is formed. Depending on the basis of which sign the meaning is transferred, there are three main types of meaning transfer: metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche.
Metaphor (from the Greek metaphora - transfer) is the transfer of a name by similarity:
ripe apple - eyeball (in shape); the nose of a person - the bow of the ship (according to the location); chocolate bar - chocolate tan (by color); bird wing - aircraft wing (by function); the dog howled - the wind howled (according to the nature of the sound); and etc.
Metonymy (from the Greek metonymia - renaming) is the transfer of a name from one object to another based on their adjacency:
water boils - the kettle boils; a porcelain dish is a tasty dish; native gold - Scythian gold, etc.
Synecdoche (from the Greek synekdoche - connotation) is the transfer of the name of the whole to its part and vice versa:
dense currant - ripe currant; a beautiful mouth is an extra mouth (about an extra person in the family); big head - smart head, etc.
20. Stylistic use of homonyms.
Homonyms are words that sound the same but have different meanings. As you know, within homonymy, lexical and morphological homonyms are distinguished. Lexical homonyms belong to the same part of speech and coincide in all their forms. For example: a key (from a lock) and a (cold) key.
Morphological homonymy is the homonymy of separate grammatical forms of the same word: three is a numeral and a form of the imperative mood of the verb to rub.
These are homophones, or phonetic homonyms, - words and forms of different meanings that sound the same, although they are written differently. flu - mushroom,
Homonymy also includes homographs - words that coincide in spelling, but differ in emphasis: castle - castle
21. Stylistic use of synonyms.
Synonyms - words denoting the same concept, therefore, identical or close in meaning.
Synonyms that have the same meaning but differ in stylistic coloring. Among them, two groups are distinguished: a) synonyms belonging to various functional styles: live (neutral interstyle) - live (official business style); b) synonyms belonging to the same functional style, but having different emotional and expressive shades. sensible (with positive coloring) - brainy, big-headed (rough-familiar coloring).
semantic-stylistic. They differ both in meaning and in stylistic coloring. For example: wander, wander, wander, stagger.
Synonyms perform various functions in speech.
Synonyms are used in speech to clarify thoughts: He seemed to be a little lost, as if srobel (I. S. Turgenev).
Synonyms are used to oppose concepts, which sharply highlights their difference, emphasizing the second synonym especially strongly: He actually did not walk, but dragged along without lifting his feet from the ground
One of the most important functions of synonyms is the replacement function, which allows you to avoid the repetition of words.
Synonyms are used to build a special stylistic figure
The stringing of synonyms may, if handled ineptly, testify to the stylistic helplessness of the author.
Inappropriate use of synonyms gives rise to a stylistic error - pleonasm ("memorable souvenir").
Two types of pleonasms: syntactic and semantic.
Syntactic appears when the grammar of the language allows you to make some auxiliary words redundant. "I know he will come" and "I know he will come." The second example is syntactically redundant. It's not a mistake.
On a positive note, pleonasm can be used to prevent loss of information (to be heard and remembered).
Also, pleonasm can serve as a means of stylistic design of an utterance and a method of poetic speech.
Pleonasm should be distinguished from tautology - the repetition of unambiguous or the same words (which can be a special stylistic device).
Synonymy creates ample opportunities for the selection of lexical means, but the search for the exact word costs the author a lot of work. Sometimes it is not easy to determine how exactly synonyms differ, what semantic or emotionally expressive shades they express. And it is not at all easy to choose the only correct, necessary one from a multitude of words.
Content
The word can be in both direct and figurative meaning. Such words are called polysemantic.
The direct meaning of the word
In order to directly designate an object, its action or the attribute that it possesses, the direct meaning of the word is used. Such lexical units do not raise doubts about the designation and do not change the semantic load or emotional coloring of the text. Examples:
There is a table in the middle of the room with textbooks on it.
The hare jumps along the edge of the forest among trees and bushes.
The sun's rays reflected in the window, creating glare.
Many words are used in speech only in their direct meaning: with eun, apartment, sun, sad, famous.
The direct meaning of the word is its main lexical meaning.
The emergence of the figurative meaning of the word
The main lexical meaning can serve as a basis for the formation of other secondary meanings. Such values are called figurative meanings and give it a completely different meaning. The basis for using the word in a different sense is the similarity of one object with another, their signs or actions.
For example, when using the word " gold» in the phrase « Golden ring”, the meaning of the adjective is clear, denoting a precious metal that determines the cost and value of an item.
In another example - golden hands", word " gold» acquires a figurative meaning, since it is used in a figurative lexical meaning and denotes "skillful", "active", "indispensable".
The replacement is explained by common features in meaning, external similarity. In this example, both direct and figurative meanings can be used as a synonym " precious". This justifies the ambiguity. Words that can be used not only in the literal sense are called ambiguous. Examples:
- soft carpet - soft character - soft light;
- iron door - iron will - iron discipline.
Examples of words in a figurative sense
- the heart muscle is the friend of the heart;
- earthworm - bookworm;
- hit with a stick - thunder struck;
- door handle - ballpoint pen;
- red language - English;
- an idea was born - a daughter was born;
- wave crest - hair comb;
- artistic brush - hand;
- the column of the building is a column of demonstrators;
- the sleeve of the garment is the sleeve of the river.
The figurative meaning allows you to add emotionality, figurativeness to artistic speech. Thanks to him, tropes are formed - the ambiguous use of words in fiction (litote, metonymy, comparison, epithet, metaphor).
