On an English Figure of SpeechTransferred Epithet 英语修辞格：移就.doc

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1、英语修辞格：移就摘要 英语移就修辞格是由转移修饰语和中心词构成的。它是一种超常规搭配的修辞方法。这种超常规搭配看似有违常理，实际上有其自身的生成规则。本文试从移就修辞格的生成理据、表现形式、类型和深层语义关系等几方面来对其做一详细的论述。关键词 移就；生成理据；表现形式；类型；深层语义关系On an English Figure of Speech: Transferred EpithetAbstract: Transferred epithet is composed of the transferred epithet and its modified word. It is a rhet

2、orical device of supernormal collocation. It seems to disobey the common generating rules of sentences. However it has its own rules to generate. This paper deals with this figure of speech in terms of generating motivation, types, deep structure relation and rhetorical effects.Key words: Transferre

3、d epithet; Generating motivation; Expressional forms Types; Deep semantic relationsOutlineI. IntroductionII. The Generating Motivation of Transferred Epithet.1. The use of transferred epithet relies on the deep structure of the sentence.2. There are close relation between the transferred word and th

4、e modified word.3. It is suitable for the new context.4. It is accordance with the cooperative Principle.III. Several Expressional Forms of Transferred Epithet.1. Adjectives.2. Present Participles3. Past Participles4. Prepositional Phrases.5. Nouns.IV. Types of Transferred Epithet.1. The epithet is

5、transferred from a person to a thing or idea.2. The epithet is transferred from a thing A to another thing B.3. The epithet is transferred from a thing to a person.V. The Different Semantic Relations Between the Transferred Epithet and the Modified Word 1. Coordinate or Parallel relation2. Causal re

6、lation3. Disjunctive relationVI. Conclusion I. IntroductionTransferred Epithet is also called Hypallage. The word “Hypallage” is derived from Greek and it means “interchange, exchange.” J. A. Cuddon defines “Hypallage” in his A Dictionary of Literary Terms as “Also known as transferred epithet. A fi

7、gure of speech in which the epithet is transferred from the appropriate noun to modify another to which it does not really belong.” (Cuddon. 1979:315) The definition of transferred epithet provided by Feng Cuihua in his book English Rhetorical Options-A Handbook of English Rhetorical Devices is “as

8、its name implies, a figure of speech. where an epithet (an adjective or descriptive phrase) is transferred from the noun it should rightly modify to another to which it does not really belong. Generally, the epithet is transferred from a person to a thing or idea. For instance, when we say spent sle

9、epless nights on a project, the word sleepless is a transferred epithet, for nights cannot sleep. We really mean to say we did not sleep for many nights while working on the project.” (冯翠华. 1995:220) R.A.Lanham gives us the definition of transferred epithet in his A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms as “

10、a change in the relation of words by which a word, instead of agreeing with case it logically qualifies, it made to agree grammatically with another case.” (Lanham. 1991:86) It means that “transferred epithet” is a change of the relation between words. The modifier and the modified is concord gramma

11、tically but not logically. For example, “the condemned cell”, “a winning football season” “condemned” and “winning football” represent the actions men receive and act but now they modify “cell” and “season” which are inanimate. They are illogical and unreasonable, but they exist indeed and can be co

12、mprehended. Why?II. The Generating Motivation of Transferred Epithet in English Transferred epithet belongs to rhetorical devices of supernormal collocation. It seems to disobey the common generating rules of sentences. However, it has its own rules to generate.1. Transferred epithet relies on the d

13、eep structure of the sentence.In English if words construct a structure according to the rules of grammar and natural logical ideation, they can generate meaning. In order to heighten effect, to create atmosphere and to make the expression more artistically, we always use English unconventionally. T

14、herefore, there are many kinds of figures of speech, such as, irony, hyperbole, paradox, transferred epithet etc. The transferred epithet makes the expression seems to be illogical in surface, but it achieves the effect making the expression more vivid and artistic. Transferred epithet is composed o

15、f a transferred epithet (the modifier) and its noun (the modified), which is a linguistic deviation phenomenon of collocations in English rhetorical devices. It is illogical and unreasonable in surface structure but reasonable and just in deep structure. The use of transferred epithet relies on the

16、deep structure of the sentence. American linguist Noam Chomsky suggested that “we should make a distinction between two levels of structure: Deep and Surface structure. Deep structure may be defined as the abstract representation of the syntactic properties, ie. the underlying level of structural re

17、lation between its different constituents, such as the relation between the underlying subject and its verb, or a verb and its object. In contrast, the latter is the final stage in the syntactic derivation of a construction, which closely corresponds to the structural organization of construction pe

18、ople actually produce and receive.” (胡壮麟.2001:132) We can shift the epithet to modify the noun to which it does not really belong because the inner meaning is acceptable in the deep structure. For example, “The old man lay all night on his sleepless bed.” The conventional expression of this sentence

19、 should be “The old man lay sleeplessly all night on his bed.” The two sentences are acceptable because the deep structure of both the two sentences consist of the same several parts. “The man is old.” “The man lay all night on the bed.” “The man lay sleeplessly all night”. Since the deep structure

20、expresses that the old man lay sleeplessly all night on his bed, although in the surface structure, the word “sleepless” is unconventionally transferred before the word “bed “it can express the same meaning, and make the sentence more vivid and artistic.2. There is a close relation between the trans

21、ferred epithet and the modified word. Take the following sentence as an example. “He crashed down a protesting chair.” We know that a chair cannot protest. “Protest” as a context exists in the mind of the speaker and the listener and it is the sound we can associate, ie. the creaking sound of the ch

22、air since “he” crashed down it. There is close relation between “protesting” and “chair”.Transferred epithet is actually a figure of speech based on Contiguity ie. Transferred epithet belongs to Association by Contiguity. 3. Transferred epithet is suitable for the new context.Any rhetoric devices ar

23、e used to express an idea more exactly and vivid. But we cannot measure the rhetorical effect of a rhetoric device without the context. The ultimate reason of the existence of transferred epithet is that it is suitable for the new context. For example:1 After several arid years. Europeans conceive t

24、he design of a very large jet aircraft for carrying passengers on short flights; commonly referred to as the Airbus.2 The personal path that led Torke to dance is emblematic of the more general flight of composers from the arid intellectualism of the recent past.3 Arid architectures such as the cut-

25、rate skyscrapers and dreary box-like housing smothered the human-spirit.The literal meaning of the word “arid” is extremely dry and it is always collected with “land”, which means extremely dry lend which cannot produce many crops. In the three sentences it is used to modify different nouns, and gen

26、erate different meaning because it is suitable for the new contexts respectively. In the Example 1 “arid” means that in the several years before Europeans conceive the design of a very large jet for carrying passengers on short flights the technical research didnt produce anything new. In Example 2,

27、 it means that since it is the personal path that led Torke to dance that is emblematic of the more general flight of composers from the insipid intellectualism of the recent past. In the new context, the author uses arid to modify intellectualism, we can easily associate the intellectual music that

28、 is as dry as dust. In Example 3, “arid” is used to modify the architectures such as the cut-rate skyscrapers and dreary box-like housing which smothered the human spirit. Obviously, in the new context, arid means dreary.4. Transferred epithet is in accordance with the cooperative PrincipleThe Oxfor

29、d philosopher Herbert Paul Grice brought forward the Cooperative Principle which says that “ make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which to occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged (Grice. 1975:45) To specify the

30、cooperative Principle further, Grice introduced four categories of maxims as follows:Quantity: 1. Make your contribution as informative as is required.2. Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.Quality: Try to make your contribution one that is true.1. Do not say what you bel

31、ieve to be false.2. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.Relation: Be relevantManner: Be perspicuous.1. Avoid obscurity of expression2. Avoid ambiguity 3. Be brief4. Be orderly” (胡壮麟. 2001：253)Transferred epithet fits the maxims of the Cooperative Principle. For example: “The boat bl

32、ew a long mournful whistle into the mist”. This is a sentence quoted from the novel Eveline. The protagonist Eveline has no free when she works and when she comes home she has to live with her atrocious father. Finally she has her lover and gets the chance to escape the miserable life with him. But

33、just at the moment before the ship starts off she loses all her courage. When the ship blew the whistle, the ship takes away her lover, and the whistle takes away her happiness. So the whistle is extremely sad to her. The author uses “mournful” to modify the whistle, which can express the actual moo

34、d of Eveline. It accords with the maxims of the Cooperative Principle.III. There are several expressional forms of transferred epithet.1. Adjectives are used as the transferred epithet.For example: purposeless days hesitant English 2. Present participles are used as the transferred epithet.For examp

35、le: a winning football season exchange smiling words.3. Past participles are used as the transferred epithet.For example: a surprised silence an awed hush4. Prepositional phrases are used as the transferred epithet.For example: The Grapes of wrath a cry of displeasure5. Nouns are transferred to modi

36、fy nounsFor example: blood money a loneliness industry IV. The different types of transferred epithet 1. The epithet is transferred from a person to a thing or an idea.1.1 The epithet is transferred from modifying a person to a concrete thing or an abstract thing, idea. For example:4 The indefatigab

37、le bell now sounded for the fourth time: the classed were marshaled and matched into another room to breakfast: how glad I was to behold a prospect of getting something to eat! ( Charlotte Bronte ,Jane Eyre )5 And an old man driven by the TradesTo a sleepy corner ( Thomas Stearn Eliot, Gerotion )In

38、Example 4 and 5 , the transferred epithets are transferred from persons to concrete things. 6 I took dinner usually at the Yale Club-for some reason it was the gloomiest event of my day-and then I went upstairs to the library and studied investments and securities for a conscientious hour. ( Scott F

39、itzgerald, The Great Gatsby )7 The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd winds slowly oer the lea, The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the word to darkness and to me. ( Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard ).In Example 6 and 7 the epithets are transf

40、erred from persons to abstract idea:1.2. The epithet is transferred from a person to a part of the body. The following are some examples:8 “My dear Gerald,” said Miss Ley, putting up an admonishing forefinger”, women are by nature spiteful and intolerant; when you find one who exercise charity, it p

41、roves that she wants it very badly herself.”( William Somerest Maugham, Mrs. Graddock )9 And the first tenor singing of the passionate throat of a young collier, who has since drunk himself to death.( David Herbert Lawrence, Tortoise Shout )10 “Dont worry, son, well show them a few tricks”, Darrow h

42、ad whispered throwing a reassuring arm round my shoulder as we were waiting for the court to open. ( John Scopes, The Tried That Rocked the World )1.3 The epithet is transferred from a person to his own action or emotion, so that it can have his spirit. The following sentences are some examples:11 T

43、hen they crept to the door and took a trembling peep. They saw a weed-grown, floorless room, unplastered, an ancient fireplace, vacant windows, a ruinous staircase; and here, there, and everywhere hung ragged and abandoned cobwebs.( Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer )12 He lives by honest lab

44、or.13 Where but to think is to be full of sorrow.And leaden-eyed despairs, Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes, Or new love pine at them beyond tomorrow. ( John Keats, Ode to a Nightingale )2. The epithet is transferred from a thing A to anything B.2.1 The epithet is transferred from a concre

45、te thing to another concrete thing or an abstract thing or idea. For example:14 Darrow walked slowly round the baking court. ( John Scopes, The Trial That Rocked the World )15 To have discarded, as I believe, all usual frailties, to have become incapable of envy, ambition, malice, the desire to scor

46、e off my neighbor, to enjoy this purification even as I enjoy the clean voluptuousness of the warm breeze on my skin and the cool support of the water.( Victoria Mary Sackvillewest, No Signposts in the Sea )16 Gray peace pervaded the wilderness-ringed Argentia Bay in Newfoundland, where the American

47、 ships anchored to await the arrival of Winston Churchill. Haze and mist blended all into gray: gray water, gray sky, gray air, gray hills with a tint of green. ( Herman Wouk, The Winds of War )17 Indeed, there are moments today-amid out-law litter, tax cheating, illicit and motorized anarchy-when i

48、t seems as though the scofflaw represents the wave of the future. 2.2 The epithet is transferred is transferred from an abstract thing or idea to a concrete thing. Take the following sentences as example:18 Mark Twain honed and experimented with his new writing muscles, but he had to leave the city for a while because of some scathing columns he wrote. ( Noel Grove, Mark Twain-Mirror of American ) 19 The sky turned to a tender palette of pink and blue. 3. The epithet is transferred from a thing to a person.For example: