This powerpoint shows lexical stylistic devices as explained by IR.R. Galperin. some exmaple are taken form the net the others were created by the author of this powerpoint..

1. Lexical Stylistic Devices and
Expressive Means

2. DIFFERENT TYPES OF WORD AND
MEANING
• There are:
• Content words: refer to the word and our
linguistics relationship with it. They serve to
name things express relations, perceptions,
states, and actions
• Functional words: work within language and
how they operate in relationship with other
words to order the utterance in speech or
discourse.

3. DIFFERENT TYPES OF WORD AND
MEANING
• There are:
• Content words: book, building, panther,
lawyer, stupid, georgeous, depressed,
enthusiastically, connect, study, bring, die.
• Functional words: and, or, above, below,
notwithstanding, however, will, should .

4. Classification
There are 3 main groups:
1. Interaction of word meanings: enrich,
affect or change the whole or part of a
message or text
2. Intensification of a feature or
phenomenon: it highlights or emphasizes
a certain aspect of the thing referred to.
3. Special use of set expressions: distortions
or changes in elements of idiomatic
expressions, phrases or texts.

5. Types of meaning
▪ Primary: main meaning in dictionaries.
▪ Derivatives: secondary or acquired
meanings in dictionaries.
▪ Contextual: a meaning a word is given or
acquires when used. It depends on the
communicative situation and/or the variety
of language where it is used.

6. Types of meaning, examples
Primary: the word table is according to
the merriam webster dictionary is a) “a
piece of furniture that has a flat top and one or
more legs. b): a piece of furniture with a flat
surface that is designed to be used for a
particular purpose” we are dining at the table.

7. Types of meaning, examples cont.
▪ Derivatives: systematic arrangement of
data. ex. the table shows the employees’
salaries from lowest to highest.
▪ Contextual: (a group o people in a
conference room) this table has to decide
right now at this very moment if we go on
strike or accept the Company’s decision to
reduce the paid holidays.

8. Types of context
• Context of culture: the social, economical or
cultural conventions or history or the discourse or
text
• Context of utterance: situation within which
discourse is conducted, for example, physical
surrounding or space or setting; the people
participating, the channel or means used, aural,
visual, electronic, written; the time,
• Context of Reference: the topic (fields of domain)
or subject or theme.

9. Interaction of meanings
There are four subdivisions depending on the
interactions of:
1. Primary and Contextual meanings
2. Primary and Derivative meanings
3. Logical and Emotive meanings
4. Logical and Nominal meanings

10. Primary and Contextual
To this group belong:
• Metaphor: identification between two
entities that have or seem to have nothing
in common.
• Metonymy (synecdoche): substitution or
reference o own thing by mentioning
another associated or partially related to it
logically.

11. Primary and Contextual
To this group belong:
• Metaphor: a) Life´s but a walking shadow ,
a poor player. b) Duke players came out
with volcanoes’ eyes, spitting fire like mad
dragons on the run. the iron lions roared
all the way on Malecon avenue.
• Metonymy (synecdoche): a) those hot
pants are gonna give a heart attack. b) my
thirst can be quenched with just one glass
of your precious wine.

12. • Irony: speaking of a group of politicians trying
to pass a given law: i guess I’m in the wrong
room. someone must have led my to the first-
graders (mentally-disabled , retarded) room
instead of the Dominican Republic Senate.

13. Primary and Derivative
Zeugma: when a word determines or operatives
grammatically onto two other words phrases; one of
them has a literal meaning and the other has a
figurative or metaphorical one. Ex: at gun point
they made Johnny pick up the piece of chicken from
the muddy ground. Then, at the order of the gunner,
he ate the dirty chicken wing and his heart out/ he
swallowed the dirty chicken wings and his pride.
(swallow the chicken wing-literal meaning/ swallow
one’s pride-figurative meaning)

14. PUNS
• Pun: we activate or play with two meaning of
a word or words simultaneously. We based
this on emphasizing the different meanings of
a word (polysemy) or on the same spelling
and pronunciation of two words or the same
sound of two different words (homonymy).
• examples: Can you please watch my watch ?
it’s a gift from my late grandpa.
• write that right!! I don’t want them to
misunderstand it.

15. BASIS of PUNS

16. Logical and Emotive
• Interjections: words that express our emotional
reactions towards something. They can be
primary ( sounds/words with no logical meaning)
ex.: wow!! or derivative (words that mean
something, but are used to expressed our
emotions ex.: what the hell!!! Goddamn!!!. The
emotional charge or meaning is predominant.
• Epithet: attributive word (mainly adjectives) that
are used to determine or describe something that
by nature or logic belong to other category.That
furious red of the fiery rose just kills me.

17. Logical and emotive
• Oxymoron: two words of opposing meaning
combine grammatically.
• adj+noun: the impatient patients looked at
the nurses in fear; Mr. Grenoble was the most
visionary blind men in history. tender rocks
populate that beach.
• adverb+adjective: he looked distressfully
meditative; he moved his expressively silent
eyes from side to side as if trying to find
something queer.

18. Logical and emotive
• Oxymoron:
• adv+verb: they calmly ran through the
backstreet.

19. Logical and Nominal
• Antonomasia: using a proper noun as
common or vice versa. ex: Asia speaks not
only chinese but several of the many
languages in Asia. of all the lilies I´ve seen, You
are the Lily that smells the finest.

20. Intensification of a Feature
• Simile: comparing two things that belong to
different nature or domain.
• Hyperbole: an exaggeration made deliberately
• Periphrasis: using more words than needed to
express something. Don’t confuse with
paraphrasing or using different words to express
the same ideas.
• Euphemism: using more word than needed to
deliberately avoid using an offensive, vulgar, word
or expression.

21. Intensification of a Feature
Simile: she looked at me with eyes like a moonless
night.
• Hyperbole: she blink ten thousand times in
astonishment.
• Periphrasis: they ate at a red flat round surface of
wood placed horizontally with four sticks vertically
stuck to it.
• Euphemism: she is a terrific fan of a sport of
pronouncing words that hate what we call truth . That
poppy of a nymphomaniac female canine broke in my
house, borrowed my car keys without my permission
and went for an eternal ride I don’t know where. (the
son of a bitch broke into my house and stole my car.)

22. Special use of set expressions
(idiomatic expressions or sayings etc.)
• Among these we have:
• Proverbs or sayings: birds of a feather flock together.
No pain; no gain.
• Epigrams:
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto
you. (The Bible).”
“We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal;
that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable rights;
that among these are Life, Liberty
and the pursuit of Happiness.”
—Thomas Jefferson, with Benjamin Franklin

23. (idiomatic expressions or sayings etc.)
• Epigrams:
"There is no 'I' in team“. Dean Smith, the
legendary coach of the North Carolina
Tarheels.
"But coach, there is an 'I' in win.” Michael
Jordan, freshman player of the above-
mentioned team.

24. • Quotation: is based on the repetition of
another person's written or speech words, in
order to illustrate, sustain or prove what you
say. It relies on the expertise or knowledgeable
reputation of the persons quoted or cited. It is
usually brief as epigrams or proverbs, but
different from them in that a quotation can
make use of charts or other kinds of
reproducible materials.

25. • Quotation: everybody in this world is equal.
We breathe, eat, drink, have children, die. As
the great British playwright once put it “all the
world’s a stage and we are merely players.”
Quotations must always be placed within
quotation marks (“ ”).

26. • Allusion: when a reference is made to a
historical, person, fact, place or situation.
Example: the three glorious fathers of the
great island of the tainos where the visionary
Italian Mariner stepped a European foot for
the first time are prominent examples of
Leaders who not only offer their gratuitous
efforts and intelligence for the sake of liberty,
but also are ready to render the precious and
invaluable sacred gift of their life for cause of
freedom.

27. • Allusion: In the previous examples the first
underlined phrase makes allusion to Duarte,
Sanchez and Mella. While the second one
makes allusion to Santo Domingo or
Dominican Republic (the great island of the
tainos). The third one makes reference or
alludes to Christopher Columbus (the
visionary Italian mariner) arguably recognized
as the “discoverer” of the American
Continent.

28. Deconstruction of set expressions happens
when we revive or emphasize the meanings of
individual words that are part of an idiomatic
expression, proverbs or saying. The expression
has both its meaning as a set or expression and
as individual words.
Twice upon a time there was a boy who died
And lived happily ever after,
but that's another chapter

29. Deconstruction of set expressions in the
example above the classical beginning of many
stories “once upon a time” is punned, changed
or distorted by the use of “twice”. Here the
numerical meaning of the word once is
enhanced and its meaning and psychological
suggestive power as a long period of time is put
on second place.