Open Library - an open library of educational information. Types of portable values
Words in a language can have one, two or more lexical meanings.
Words that have one lexical meaning , are called unambiguous or monosemic.
These words include:
1) various terms (not all): subject, electron;
2) various thematic groups:
a) names of plants (birch, poplar);
b) names of animals (minnow, jay);
c) names of people by occupation (doctor, livestock specialist, pilot).
However, most words in Russian are ambiguous. The development of polysemy of words is one of the active processes, due to which the vocabulary of the Russian literary language is replenished.
Word used in more than one meaning is called ambiguous or polysemic(from Greek poly - many, sema - sign).
For example: according to the dictionary of D.N. Ushakov's word easy
1. Light in weight (light foot);
2. Easy to learn, solutions (easy lesson);
3. Small, insignificant (light breeze);
4. Superficial, frivolous (light flirting);
5. Soft, accommodating (easy character);
6. Relaxed, graceful (light style);
7. Smooth, smooth, gliding (easy gait).
One of these meanings is primary, initial, and the others are secondary, resulting from the development of the primary meaning.
The primary value is usually the direct value.
Primary value - this is the basic meaning of the word, directly naming an object, action, property.
In its literal meaning, the word appears out of context. For example: forest “many trees growing over a large area”; in a figurative meaning: many “forest of hands”, without understanding anything “dark forest”, construction material"logging."
The figurative meaning is secondary. It arises on the basis of the similarity of objects in shape, color, nature of movement, based on association, etc.
There are two main types of figurative meaning of a word - metaphorical and metonymic. As a type of metonymy - synecdoche.
Let's look at each one separately.
Metaphorical transfer.
The essence of this transfer is that the name of an item is transferred to another item, based on the similarity of these items.
The similarities could be:
1. In form. For example, by the word “goatee” we call a person’s small beard - this direct meaning. In a figurative sense, we call the protrusions of keys a beard. Apple is a fruit, a smooth apple.
2. By color similarity. Gold is a precious metal yellow color, “the gold of her hair” is the color of her hair.
3. By similarity in size. The pole is a long thin pole, the pole is a long thin man.
4. By similarity of sounds. Drum - beat the drum, the rain drums.
5. Transfer by function: janitor - a person sweeping the yard, street; a device in a car that is used to clean glass.
Metaphors are general linguistic - a metaphorical meaning of a word that is widely used and known to all speakers: the head of a nail, the needle of a Christmas tree.
Individually - author's words are not characteristic of the common language. They are created by writers and poets and characterize his stylistic style. For example, a fire of red rowan, a birch tongue of a grove, a chintz of the sky (S. Yesenin). The river of life began to rumble (Leonov).
Metonymic transfer.
Its essence is that the name is transferable from one subject to another based on contiguity.
By contiguity is meant here spatial contiguity, proximity of an object, temporal contiguity, etc., i.e. objects named by the same word may be completely different, but they are nearby in space and time.
1. Transferring a name from a container to its contents: audience - a room for classes, the people in it; class - students (class listened), room; plate - dishes, contents in a plate (ate a bowl of soup).
2. Material - product made from it: crystal - a type of glass, a product made from it; gold - she has gold in her ears.
3. Action is the result of this action: jam - a cooking process, berries boiled in syrup.
5. Action - the object of this action: book publication - illustrated edition.
6. Action - a means or instrument of action: preparation of vegetables - preparation on the table.
7. Action - place of action: exit from the house - stand at the entrance.
8. Plant - the fruit of a plant: pear, plum.
9. Animal - fur or meat of an animal: chicken, mink, eggs.
10. An organ of the body is a disease of that body.: stomach - the stomach is in pain, the heart is playing naughty.
11. Scientist - his image: Ampere, Volt.
12. Locality - a product invented, manufactured there: Kashimir - a city in India, fabric; Boston is a city in England, fabric.
13. Time - events that took place at that time, year: the year was 1918, 1941.
As a result of metonymy, a number of common nouns appeared, formed from proper names: volt, ampere, ohm, boston, mackintosh.
Synecdoche.
This type of lexical transfer is based on following principle: the name is transferred from part to whole and vice versa.
For example, a “head” is a part of the body of a person or animal.
This name can be transferred to the entire person.
From part to whole. Headache - direct meaning.
Borya - bright head - figurative (synecdoche).
A herd of 20 heads.
The mouth is part of the face - the direct meaning.
“We have 5 mouths in our family” - figurative.
Car - any mechanism, passenger car.
From the whole Tool - any technical device (a tool for a piece of labor) - direct meaning; gun - portable.
Synecdoche like special kind transference is combined by many scientists with metonymy and is considered as its variety.
Some characteristic features person are often used to designate that person, to refer to him. This use of words for colloquial speech is especially typical: “I’m behind the little blue cap.” “Hey, beard, where are you going?”
Little Red Riding Hood is a classic example of synecdoche.
Vocabulary of the Russian language from the point of view of its origin.
Plan.
1. Original Russian vocabulary.
2. Borrowed vocabulary.
3. Old Church Slavonicisms, their characteristics and use in modern Russian.
East Slavic vocabulary - these are words that arose in the period from the 6th to the 15th centuries, common among the languages of the East Slavic group: Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian. These words are not found in other Slavic languages.
For example:
Quite (Russian) zovsim (Ukrainian) zusim (white);
Snowfall snowfall snowfall;
Dobrot dobriti dabrets.
The East Slavic layer represents a fairly diverse vocabulary, reflecting in all its diversity political, economic and cultural life Old Russian state.
During this period, many words appeared on the basis of common Slavic vocabulary:
Bullfinch (Russian);
Snow< снiгур (укр.);
Snyagir (white);
Complex numbers: eleven, forty, ninety;
Compound words: hook-nosed, today;
Suffix words - finch, blackberry, pantry.
4. Actually Russian vocabulary.
In the 14th century due to the collapse Kievan Rus The Old Russian language splits into Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. The Russian (Great Russian) nationality was formed.
Actually Russian vocabulary - these are words that arose from the formation of the Russian nationality and continue to arise to the present day.
The basis for the creation of Russian vocabulary itself were words and morphemes of original Russian origin. those. Common Slavic, East Slavic:
1. Almost all words with suffixes: chik/shchik, nik, - telstv, - lk, - ness mason, wallet, teacher, mower;
2. Many complex words: steamship, plane, steelprogress;
3. Words with the prefixes na, do, for and the suffix sya: look at, wake up, start talking;
4. Abbreviations: JSC - Joint-Stock Company, CJSC - closed joint stock company, LLC - company with limited liability, Private security company is a private security company.
Language is a multifaceted and multifunctional concept. Determining its essence requires careful consideration of many issues. For example, the structure of language and the relationship between the elements of its system, influence from external factors and functions in human society.
Defining figurative values
Already from junior classes In school, everyone knows that the same words can be used differently in speech. Direct (main, basic) meaning is one that is correlated with objective reality. It does not depend on the context or allegory. An example of this is the word “collapse”. In medicine it means a sharp and sudden drop in blood pressure, and in astronomy it means the rapid compression of stars under the influence of gravitational forces.
The figurative meaning of words is their second meaning. It arises when the name of a phenomenon is consciously transferred to another due to the similarity of their functions, characteristics, etc. For example, the same “collapse” received Examples concern public life. Thus, in a figurative sense, “collapse” means destruction, the collapse of the unification of people as a result of the onset of a systemic crisis.
Scientific definition
In linguistics, the figurative meaning of words is their secondary derivative, associated with the main meaning by metaphorical, metonymic dependence or any associative features. At the same time, it arises on the basis of logical, spatial, temporal and other correlations of concepts.
Application in speech
Words with a figurative meaning are used when naming those phenomena that are not the usual and permanent object of designation. They come close to other concepts through emerging associations that are obvious to speakers.
Words used figuratively can retain imagery. For example, dirty insinuations or dirty thoughts. Such figurative meanings are given in explanatory dictionaries. These words are different from the metaphors invented by writers.
However, in most cases, when a transfer of meaning occurs, the imagery is lost. An example of this is such expressions as the spout of a teapot and the elbow of a pipe, the passage of a clock and the tail of a carrot. In such cases, there is a fading of imagery in
Changing the essence of a concept
The figurative meaning of words can be assigned to any action, sign or object. As a result, it moves into the category of main or basic. For example, the spine of a book or a door handle.
Polysemy
The figurative meaning of words is often a phenomenon caused by their polysemy. In scientific language it is called “Polysemy”. Often one word has more than one stable meaning. In addition, people who use language often have a need to name a new phenomenon that does not yet have a lexical designation. In this case, they use words that are already familiar to them.
Questions of polysemy are, as a rule, questions of nomination. In other words, the movement of things with the existing identity of the word. However, not all scientists agree with this. Some of them do not allow more than one meaning for a word. There is another opinion. Many scientists support the idea that the figurative meaning of words is their lexical meaning, realized in various variants.
For example, we say “red tomato”. The adjective used here is the direct meaning. “Red” can also be said about a person. In this case, it means that he blushed or blushed. Thus, a figurative meaning can always be explained through a direct one. But linguistics cannot give an explanation. That's just the name of this color.
In polysemy, there is also the phenomenon of unequal meanings. For example, the word “flare up” can mean that an object suddenly caught fire, or that a person blushed with shame, or that a quarrel suddenly arose, etc. Some of these expressions are more common in the language. They immediately come to mind when this word is mentioned. Others are used only in special situations and special combinations.
There are semantic connections between some meanings of a word, which make understandable the phenomenon when various properties and objects are named the same.
Trails
The use of a word in a figurative meaning can be not only a stable fact of language. Such use is sometimes limited, fleeting and within the context of only one utterance. In this case, the goal of exaggeration and special expressiveness of what is said is achieved.
Thus, there is an unstable figurative meaning of the word. There are examples of this use in poetry and literature. For these genres, this is an effective artistic technique. For example, in Blok one can recall “the deserted eyes of the carriages” or “the dust swallowed the rain in pills.” What is the figurative meaning of the word in this case? This is evidence of his unlimited ability to explain new concepts.
The emergence of figurative meanings of words of a literary-stylistic type are tropes. In other words,
Metaphor
In philology, a number of different types of name transfer are distinguished. One of the most important among them is metaphor. With its help, the name of one phenomenon is transferred to another. Moreover, this is only possible if certain characteristics are similar. Similarity can be external (in color, size, character, shape and movements), as well as internal (in assessment, sensations and impressions). So, with the help of metaphor they talk about dark thoughts and a sour face, a calming storm and a cold reception. In this case, the thing is replaced, but the attribute of the concept remains unchanged.
The figurative meaning of words using metaphor occurs when various degrees similarities. An example of this is a duck (a device in medicine) and a tractor caterpillar. The transfer using similar forms is used here. The names given to a person can also carry a metaphorical meaning. For example, Hope, Love, Faith. Sometimes meanings are transferred based on similarity to sounds. So, the horn was called a siren.
Metonymy
This is also one of the most important types of title transfers. However, when using it, the similarities between internal and external signs. Here there is a contiguity of cause-and-effect relationships or, in other words, the contact of things in time or space.
The metonymic figurative meaning of words is a change not only of the subject, but also of the concept itself. When this phenomenon occurs, only the connections of neighboring links of the lexical chain can be explained.
The figurative meanings of words can be based on associations with the material from which the object is made. For example, earth (soil), table (food), etc.
Synecdoche
This concept means the transfer of any part to the whole. An example of this is the expression “a child follows his mother’s skirt”, “a hundred head of cattle”, etc.
Homonyms
This concept in philology means identical sounds of two or more different words. Homonymy is a sound coincidence of lexical units that are not semantically related to each other.
There are phonetic and grammatical homonyms. The first case concerns those words that are in the accusative or sound the same, but at the same time have a different composition of phonemes. For example, “twig” and “pond”. Grammatical homonyms arise in cases where both the phoneme and pronunciation of the words are the same, but the individual words are different. For example, the number “three” and the verb “three”. If the pronunciations of such words change, they will not be the same. For example, “rub”, “three”, etc.
Synonyms
This concept refers to words of the same part of speech, identical or similar in their lexical meaning. The origins of synonymy are foreign language and its own lexical meanings, general literary and dialect. Such figurative meanings of words also arise thanks to jargon (“to burst” - “to eat”).
Synonyms are divided into types. Among them:
- absolute, when the meanings of words completely coincide (“octopus” - “octopus”);
- conceptual, differing in shades of lexical meanings (“reflect” - “think”);
- stylistic, which have differences in stylistic coloring(“sleep” - “sleep”).
Antonyms
This concept refers to words that belong to the same part of speech, but have opposite concepts. This type of figurative meaning may have a difference in structure (“to take out” - “to bring in”) and different roots (“white” - “black”).
Antonymy is observed in those words that express the opposing orientation of characteristics, states, actions and properties. The purpose of their use is to convey contrasts. This technique is often used in poetic and
For journalistic style typical use polysemy words, in this case three types of phenomena are observed:
1. Using the word in a figurative meaning.
2. Development of ambiguity.
3. Metaphorization as a means of expression and expression of assessment.
Figurative meaning. The use of a neutral word or a special term in a figurative meaning gives the word a journalistic connotation, for example:
· a package of milk - a package of proposals/laws,
· quiet steps - practical steps,
· book format - negotiation format,
· traffic light signals - signals from places.
Development polysemy is a general linguistic process that is reflected and consolidated in the language mass media, moreover, in many cases this development originates in journalistic texts; it differs from transfer only in that the relationship between direct and figurative meanings is not obvious here. Let's look at examples:
In some cases, ambiguity is formed due to inaccurate use of the word, for example:
In other cases, polysemy develops under the influence foreign languages, For example:
Metaphorization is the use of words in figurative meanings in order to create a vivid image, express evaluation, and emotional attitude to the subject of speech; it is intended to influence the addressee of the speech.
The Soviet press was characterized by the use in figurative meanings of words related in the literal sense to military vocabulary:
· battle for the harvest, ideological armament, ideological sabotage,
· educational and creative training ground, pedagogical landing.
In modern speech, military lexemes are heard no less often:
· explosive situation, headquarters, raid, offensive, flank, attack, clip,
· force, maneuver, torpedo.
Comparison is actively used government structure with the building:
· corridors of power, wall of mistrust, national apartments(typical for 1989-1991), occupy a niche, social bloc, party building.
Since perestroika, comparison has entered into journalism social development with the movement of a train, ship:
· the reform locomotive is stalling/creeping/stuck/derailing,
· ship of reforms, captains of domestic business.
Metaphorical interpretation of words related to medicine is widely used. Most of them express strong negative emotions:
· paralysis of the economy, microbes of philistinism, disease of society, allergy to contacts with the press, bacilli of feudal morality, virus of decay, disease of sovereignization, malignant tumor of nationalism.
Some medical metaphors are related to treatment and drugs:
financial recovery, financial injections, shock therapy, industrial reanimation.
By decorating speech in form, metaphors often make it difficult to perceive the content, covering up demagoguery and putting pressure on the audience. When discussing economic and political topics, an excess of metaphors leads to the fact that logical reasoning is replaced by emotional argument; the addressee is influenced not by the strength of the arguments, but by the brightness, freshness, and catchiness of words. Excessive use of metaphors confuses the reader, and sometimes the author himself. It is especially inappropriate in parliamentary speech when discussing laws.
The overuse of metaphors leads to the fact that the expressiveness of the text is detrimental to its accuracy. This trend in journalism is reflected in the bookish and written speech of schoolchildren, who strive to make their essays more beautiful and in some cases use metaphors in such a way that the phrase becomes meaningless:
· “They stand in a row at the same level”;
· “It is impossible to pass by such a huge state as RUSSIA, with many victories and a glorious history”;
· “What made it possible to place them at the level of their enormous contribution to the development of Russian culture?”;
· “He laughs at the situations that surround him closely.”
In order for a metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche to hit the target, to be in place in the text, to be justified, you need to know the meaning of the word well and follow the “rules” of using it in a figurative meaning. Thus, authors of metaphors must remember that this figurative meaning speaks of the similarity of what is called with what is used to name. This means that the “correct” metaphor must contain a feature that is possessed by the object (concept) that gave its name to the signified.
Meanwhile, this rule is not always observed. And journalists are especially guilty of this. Often, an image used to metaphorically designate an object, phenomenon, etc., does not evoke associations with what is depicted, which means it remains unclear in what way the object, attribute, given phenomenon, etc. is similar. with the one whose “name” it is named. For example: “And the lot turned out in such a way that Tildum had to complete the ski bullfight” (Soviet sp. 1972. February 5). As you know, bullfighting is a bullfight, i.e. a battle in a large arena of foot and horse fighters with bulls driven to rage" (Dictionary foreign words. 7th ed. M., 1979). But what does such a fight have in common with a ski race? It's completely unclear. Apparently she liked the bullfight, she began to meet again and again, but did not become more precise: “On Saturday I came to the bullfight. That’s what they call the Avangard stadium in Voroshilovgrad, where they take anyone who wants to join the team.” Given this more than strange designation - bullfighting - a stadium (!), where the one who wants to play is a journalist " Komsomolskaya Pravda“did not express surprise at this oddity. Moreover, further he himself used this word: “All the masters of Voroshilovgrad football went through the bullfight.” But the title was “Bulgarian bullfight.” It was prefaced by the material about the World Cup in weightlifting in one Bulgarian city (Soviet society, 1987. September 11). And here one cannot see the similarity between the fight of bullfighters with a bull, which they, driving into rage with a red muleta, hit with a special spear (banderilla). motives for the figurative use of the word crossroads (its only traditional meaning is “the place where roads and streets intersect”) in the combinations “chess crossroads” (the most common), “football crossroads,” “autumn crossroads.” For some reason, this is how news is often called headlines in newspapers chess sport, and, as a rule, we are also talking about sports matches taking place in different countries, different cities.
Sometimes the discrepancy between the verbal (metaphorical) image and the depicted one is caused by the fact that their objective signs in the context contradict each other. For example: “Neither aluminum, nor concrete, nor plastics, not to mention timber, glass, paper and cardboard, have such a kaleidoscope the most important qualities, like steel" (Moscow Ave. 1967. November 17). Steel is a symbol of strength (it’s not without reason that a strong, unyielding person of great endurance is said to have a “character of steel”, “nerves of steel”). A kaleidoscope is a tube with mirror glasses inserted into it at an angle to each other and colored pieces of glass, pieces of colored paper, etc. placed between them, which are reflected in the mirrors and create various patterns that change even when the tube is slightly turned. Consequently, the kaleidoscope metaphor speaks of rapid change , instability, inconstancy of the composition of something, about the rapid change of something (cf. “kaleidoscope of faces”, “kaleidoscope of events”) and therefore cannot be justified in relation to the qualities and properties of steel. The widespread use in the newspaper contradicts the idea of a caravan metaphors of a caravan in relation to a sprawling group of competing racers (cyclists, skiers, biathletes, etc.), since the movement of the animals that make up the caravan is presented as quite slow (it was not for nothing that Pushkin wrote: “The caravan of noisy geese stretched to the south”). Therefore, examples like: “At the first stage, A. Petrov, a fast, brave and passionate athlete, started in our team at the first stage. He led the caravan of racers from the very first meters of the distance...”
There are frequent cases when the creators of metaphors consider it possible to neglect (for the sake of freshness, originality of the new name) essential feature the meaning on the basis of which the metaphor is created, building it on an insignificant feature. An example of such unjustified metaphors is the use of the words duet, trio, quartet in relation to two, three, four inanimate objects, not related to any general action and therefore unable to evoke the image of a single ensemble. It’s even worse when a duet, trio, quartet (etc.) are used in relation to two, three, four athletes or rival teams. Wed: “On the ice - a quartet [headline]. Having defeated the US team with a score of 2:1, the Soviet hockey players took first place in the round-robin tournament and reached the semi-finals of the Canada Cup... Other semi-finalists have also been determined. In addition to the USSR and US national teams, the fight will continue the Canadians, who won with a score of 7:2 against the Czechoslovak hockey players, as well as the Swedes" (Koms. pr. 1984. September 11). This is already an illustration of the case when the signs of the signified (competing athletes) contradict the signs of the signifier (a single ensemble acting in concert). The same mistake is made in the use of the trio metaphor in relation to chess players (who always fight for individual championship): “But now all the trio of laureates can be congratulated on completing the minimum program. They, along with A. Sokolov and Yu. Balashov who took the next places.. . received the right to join the fight for the title of world champions" (Og. 1985. No. 15) (the trio in the text are chess players who took 1st, 2nd and 3rd places). Journalists also love the symphony metaphor: “Hockey Symphony. Performed by a large quartet” (Izv. 1967. March 25); “And how masterfully, artistically at ease, he performed this most difficult chord of his small football symphony” (Soviet sp. 1972. March 10). But a symphony is a large piece of music for an orchestra, which cannot be performed by a quartet, much less a small symphony performed by one person. And one more “symphony”: “Having fed the crossbill, the caring head of the family sits on the top of the tree and let’s start the symphony winter forest..." (Moscow pr. 1988. February 11). What the traditional symphony has in common with the symphony “derived” (!) by the crossbill is that both here and there have sounds... A new metaphorical hobby is sown: "Lviv resident Larisa Savchenko, seeded third in the table, won against Barbara Gerken (USA)..." (Koms. pr. 1987. February 14); "Seeded first, Graf took 55 minutes for another success" (Koms . pr. 1989. April 11); “Minsk resident Natalya Zvereva, “seeded” number one, beat Commie McTregor from the USA in the first round of the international tournament...” (Koms. pr. 1989. Oct. 26) And here the motivation (the grain is “placed” in the soil - the name is placed in such and such a place on the board) is insignificant.
Similar failures can be found among good poets. Thus, the desire to show that in the wind, the sails bend in the direction opposite to the one from which the wind blows, led to the following: “And only in the song of the sunken sails does the memory of the forests still sigh” (Matthew). Sunken - sunken. Sunkenness is caused by debilitating illness or old age, and is associated with not quite normal thinness. That is, sunkenness is usually a sign of ill health, some exhaustion, and therefore physical weakness. The singing sails, stretched by the wind, are elastic; the ship, under wind-filled sails, moves energetically forward, which clearly contradicts the capabilities of an object characterized as having something “sunken”.
So far we have been talking about metaphors in which the idea of similarity is violated to one degree or another. We can also point out such cases when the metaphor remains incomprehensible to most readers (and therefore the similarity is unclear, the image is not perceived), since it represents the use of a non-popular word, especially a highly specialized or narrowly regional, local word, as well as a purely bookish or outdated word . Here are some examples from the novel by M.A. Sholokhov’s “Quiet Don”: “Again, touching his Siberian beard, the delegate of the 44th regiment was pulling...”; “The warmth, unusual for the beginning of spring, has spread”; “And in the north, behind the village, there is a saffron flood of sand, a stunted pine forest, valleys filled with pink water from the red clay soil.” In the famous song “Across the valleys and along the hills,” written to Parfenov’s verses, there is a verse in which originally there was a narrow-regional (at least at that time) word otava: “The glory of these days will not cease, it will never fade. cities". The people subsequently replaced the obscure metaphor of retava (the direct meaning of this word is “grass that grew in the same year in the place where it was mown”) with the generally understandable word “detachments.” And below are illustrations of the metaphorical use of purely bookish (apocalypse) and outdated (crinoline) words: “However, such a view more often looks for bloody dramas, violent deaths, tragic confrontations, in a word, a kind of apocalypse of the common American ancestry”; "The house was surrounded by crinoline verandas." It is unlikely that many readers will understand the title “Algorithm of Disasters” (Koms. pr. 1989. November 12).
Meaning the quality of non-traditional metaphorical, metonymic, etc. When using a word, you must remember that the image used usually contains an assessment or poeticizes the denoted. Therefore, the attitude towards the subject of speech, as it appears in the context, should not contradict the assessment or the feature that poetizes it, which contain words in a figurative meaning. From this point of view, the following metaphors are clearly unsuccessful: “The duet of “Agnessa” and “Wendy” (Koms. pr. 1968. September 12); “The next to be tested was the first-born bomb of the Livermore laboratory, created under the leadership of Edward Teller” (Sov. Ross. 1987. October 21).In the first example, the metaphor of a duet, designed to evaluate the coherence and harmony of the actions of two persons, in the text characterizes the appearance of two typhoons that caused a hurricane in the northeast of our country, which brought significant destruction, great material damage. In the second - the word firstborn, which names the first child born in the family (and the birth of the first-born is joy for the family), is used in relation to what nightmares of the 20th century are associated with. It is clear that both of these metaphors are absolutely inappropriate. And another example. Under the heading “Shells - through the city” The newspaper (Koms. pr. 1989. September 26) reported that not far from the city of Yurga, in a military unit, acetone caught fire in an ammunition depot.Shells began to explode and fly apart, and the blast wave also scattered unexploded shells. And further in the text; “Heavy blocks fell on the harvested fields, crashed into the gold of the forests, broke the walls and roofs of buildings...” and in this context, the metaphor used is inappropriate, which, with its poetic nature, seems to call for admiring nature when houses are collapsing around.
An error in using words in a figurative sense may also lie in the fact that metaphors, metonymies, and synecdoches that are “correct” in themselves end up in combinations that are unusual for them, i.e. the associative chain is disrupted. For example: “We immediately try to find in a person that grain of self-esteem on which we can rely” (Sov. Ross. 1989.24 Oct.). Something can “grow”, “break through”, “hatch”, “germinate” from the grain, but you cannot “rely” on the grain. “But by abandoning irony in the epilogue of the film and replacing it with pathos, the director directly testifies: if the molecule of the sixties has sunk into the soul of one person, and another, and ten more, then all is not lost” (Sov. Ek. 1986. No. 2 ). But years have no molecules, and molecules can neither “fall” nor “sink.” “...E. Davydova, who followed her onto the carpet, so harmoniously inserted such exciting chords into the music of fantastically complex movements that the judges unanimously settled on a score of 10 points!” (Pr. 1980. July 24). “I wrote chords into the music... movements...” “Chords” are not written in (during performance), they are “taken.” And if chords are inscribed “into the music,” then what did the music consist of before the “inscription”? It's like next usage, is a metaphorical mess. “The premiere of A. Arensky’s ballet “Egyptian Nights” generously fit into the suite of New Year’s gifts...” (Len. pr. 1989. January 13). And here are the “chords” that “fit”, but already into the “suite of gifts”. The number of examples could be increased, but it is obviously already clear that only deliberate emphasizing of logically incompatible words, with the aim of creating a comic effect, can be justified in the text. In the absence of such a task, such combinations are perceived as errors and indicate language deafness.
Finally, the figurative use of words may also be unsuccessful if ambiguity arises in the text, the possibility of ambiguous understanding, which was not intended by the author. For example: “Whom the ice smiled at” (Koms. pr. 1981. February 8). One of the traditional meanings of the word smile is `not to get to someone; will not come true. Therefore, the headline can be read like this: someone was unable to train, skate or perform on the ice. The author wanted to talk about those who performed successfully. Another example: “And when a comrade from the High School spoke at the round table, everything became clear to everyone” (Koms. pr. 1987. December 11). Of course, few people seriously imagine a comrade from the High School giving a speech on the table. But this meaning, thanks to its combination with the preposition “on,” still appears in the mind, causing an unnecessary smile for the author of the text. That’s why the title “Friendship-84 is finishing” (Project 1984. July 9) is not very successful, where, although there are quotation marks, as well as a number breaking up the combination of words, the words friendship and finishing are too close.
So, metaphors, metonymies, synecdoche are an inexhaustible source of vivid, emotional speech. But use polysemantic words, the creation of new metaphors requires writers to pay attention, respect for the word and tirelessly improve their speech culture.
Rakhmanova L.I., Suzdaltseva V.N. Modern Russian language. - M, 1997.
Language is a multifaceted and multifunctional concept. Determining its essence requires careful consideration of many issues. For example, the structure of language and the relationship between the elements of its system, influence from external factors and functions in human society.
Defining figurative values
Already in elementary school, everyone knows that the same words can be used in different ways in speech. Direct (main, basic) meaning is one that is correlated with objective reality. It does not depend on the context or allegory. An example of this is the word “collapse”. In medicine it means a sharp and sudden drop in blood pressure, and in astronomy it means the rapid compression of stars under the influence of gravitational forces.
The figurative meaning of words is their second meaning. It arises when the name of a phenomenon is consciously transferred to another due to the similarity of their functions, characteristics, etc. For example, the same “collapse” received a figurative meaning of the word. Examples relate to social life. Thus, in a figurative sense, “collapse” means destruction, the collapse of the unification of people as a result of the onset of a systemic crisis.
Scientific definition
In linguistics, the figurative meaning of words is their secondary derivative, associated with the main meaning by metaphorical, metonymic dependence or any associative features. At the same time, it arises on the basis of logical, spatial, temporal and other correlations of concepts.
Application in speech
Words with a figurative meaning are used when naming those phenomena that are not the usual and permanent object of designation. They come close to other concepts through emerging associations that are obvious to speakers.
Words used figuratively can retain imagery. For example, dirty insinuations or dirty thoughts. Such figurative meanings are given in explanatory dictionaries. These words are different from the metaphors invented by writers.
However, in most cases, when a transfer of meaning occurs, the imagery is lost. An example of this is such expressions as the spout of a teapot and the elbow of a pipe, the passage of a clock and the tail of a carrot. In such cases, there is a fading of imagery in the lexical meaning of words.
Changing the essence of a concept
The figurative meaning of words can be assigned to any action, sign or object. As a result, it moves into the category of main or basic. For example, the spine of a book or a door handle.
Polysemy
The figurative meaning of words is often a phenomenon caused by their polysemy. In scientific language it is called “Polysemy”. Often one word has more than one stable meaning. In addition, people who use language often have a need to name a new phenomenon that does not yet have a lexical designation. In this case, they use words that are already familiar to them.
Questions of polysemy are, as a rule, questions of nomination. In other words, the movement of things with the existing identity of the word. However, not all scientists agree with this. Some of them do not allow more than one meaning for a word. There is another opinion. Many scientists support the idea that the figurative meaning of words is their lexical meaning, realized in various variants.
For example, we say “red tomato”. The adjective used here is the direct meaning. “Red” can also be said about a person. In this case, it means that he blushed or blushed. Thus, a figurative meaning can always be explained through a direct one. But linguistics cannot give an explanation of why red is called red. That's just the name of this color.
In polysemy, there is also the phenomenon of unequal meanings. For example, the word “flare up” can mean that an object suddenly caught fire, or that a person blushed with shame, or that a quarrel suddenly arose, etc. Some of these expressions are more common in the language. They immediately come to mind when this word is mentioned. Others are used only in special situations and special combinations.
There are semantic connections between some meanings of a word, which make understandable the phenomenon when different properties and objects are called the same.
Trails
The use of a word in a figurative meaning can be not only a stable fact of language. Such use is sometimes limited, fleeting and within the context of only one utterance. In this case, the goal of exaggeration and special expressiveness of what is said is achieved.
Thus, there is an unstable figurative meaning of the word. There are examples of this use in poetry and literature. For these genres, this is an effective artistic technique. For example, in Blok one can recall “the deserted eyes of the carriages” or “the dust swallowed the rain in pills.” What is the figurative meaning of the word in this case? This is evidence of his unlimited ability to explain new concepts.
The emergence of figurative meanings of words of a literary-stylistic type are tropes. In other words, in figurative expressions.
Metaphor
In philology, a number of different types of name transfer are distinguished. One of the most important among them is metaphor. With its help, the name of one phenomenon is transferred to another. Moreover, this is only possible if certain characteristics are similar. Similarity can be external (in color, size, character, shape and movements), as well as internal (in assessment, sensations and impressions). So, with the help of metaphor they talk about dark thoughts and a sour face, a calming storm and a cold reception. In this case, the thing is replaced, but the attribute of the concept remains unchanged.
The figurative meaning of words with the help of metaphor occurs with varying degrees of similarity. An example of this is a duck (a device in medicine) and a tractor caterpillar. The transfer using similar forms is used here. The names given to a person can also carry a metaphorical meaning. For example, Hope, Love, Faith. Sometimes meanings are transferred based on similarity to sounds. So, the horn was called a siren.
Metonymy
This is also one of the most important types of title transfers. However, when using it, the similarities of internal and external characteristics are not applied. Here there is a contiguity of cause-and-effect relationships or, in other words, the contact of things in time or space.
The metonymic figurative meaning of words is a change not only of the subject, but also of the concept itself. When this phenomenon occurs, only the connections of neighboring links of the lexical chain can be explained.
The figurative meanings of words can be based on associations with the material from which the object is made. For example, earth (soil), table (food), etc.
Synecdoche
This concept means the transfer of any part to the whole. An example of this is the expression “a child follows his mother’s skirt”, “a hundred head of cattle”, etc.
Homonyms
This concept in philology means identical sounds of two or more different words. Homonymy is a sound coincidence of lexical units that are not semantically related to each other.
There are phonetic and grammatical homonyms. The first case concerns those words that are in the accusative or nominative case, sound the same, but at the same time have a different composition of phonemes. For example, “twig” and “pond”. Grammatical homonyms arise in cases where both the phoneme and pronunciation of the words are the same, but the individual forms of the words are different. For example, the number “three” and the verb “three”. If the pronunciations of such words change, they will not be the same. For example, “rub”, “three”, etc.
Synonyms
This concept refers to words of the same part of speech, identical or similar in their lexical meaning. The origins of synonymy are foreign language and its own lexical meanings, general literary and dialect. Such figurative meanings of words also arise thanks to jargon (“to burst” - “to eat”).
Synonyms are divided into types. Among them:
- absolute, when the meanings of words completely coincide (“octopus” - “octopus”);
- conceptual, differing in shades of lexical meanings (“reflect” - “think”);
- stylistic, which have differences in stylistic coloring (“sleep” - “sleep”).
Antonyms
This concept refers to words that belong to the same part of speech, but have opposite concepts. This type of figurative meaning may have a difference in structure (“to take out” - “to bring in”) and different roots (“white” - “black”).
Antonymy is observed in those words that express the opposing orientation of characteristics, states, actions and properties. The purpose of their use is to convey contrasts. This technique is often used in poetic and oratory speech.
19. Direct and figurative meanings of the word.
Direct meaning of the word - this is its main lexical meaning. It is directly directed to the designated object, phenomenon, action, sign, immediately evokes an idea of them and is least dependent on the context. Words most often appear in their literal meaning.
figurative meaning of the word - this is its secondary meaning, which arose on the basis of the direct one.
Toy, -i, f. 1. A thing used for playing. Kids toys. 2. transfer One who blindly acts according to someone else's will is 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 polysemy of the word is formed. Depending on the basis on which sign the transfer of meaning occurs, there are three main types of transfer of meaning: 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 a ship (by location); chocolate bar - chocolate tan (by color); bird wing - airplane 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 contiguity:
water boils - the kettle boils; porcelain dish - tasty dish; native gold - Scythian gold, etc.
Synecdoche (from the Greek synekdoche - co-implication) is the transfer of the name of the whole to its part and vice versa:
thick currant - ripe currant; a beautiful mouth - 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 is known, 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 (icy) key.
Morphological homonymy is the homonymy of individual grammatical forms for the same word: three is a numeral and the imperative form of the verb to rub.
These are homophones, or phonetic homonyms, - words and forms of different meanings that sound the same, although they are spelled differently. flu - mushroom,
Homonyms also include homographs - words that have the same spelling but differ in stress: castle - castle
21. Stylistic use of synonyms.
Synonyms are words that denote the same concept, therefore, identical or similar in meaning.
Synonyms that have the same meaning, but differ in stylistic coloring. Among them, two groups are distinguished: a) synonyms belonging to different functional styles: live (neutral interstyle) - live (official business style); b) synonyms belonging to the same functional style, but having different emotional and expressive shades. smart (with a positive coloring) - brainy, big-headed (roughly familiar coloring).
semantic-stylistic. They differ both in meaning and stylistic coloring. For example: wander, wander, hang around, stagger.
Synonyms perform various functions in speech.
Synonyms are used in speech to clarify thoughts: He seemed a little lost, as if he was afraid (I. S. Turgenev).
Synonyms are used to contrast concepts, which sharply highlights their differences, especially strongly emphasizing the second synonym: He actually did not walk, but dragged along without lifting his feet from the ground
One of essential functions synonyms - a substitution function that allows you to avoid repeating words.
Synonyms are used to construct a special stylistic figure
Stringing synonyms can, if handled ineptly, indicate the author’s stylistic helplessness.
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 makes it possible to make some function words redundant. “I know he will come” and “I know he will come.” The second example is syntactically redundant. It's not a mistake.
Positively, pleonasm can be used to prevent information loss (to be heard and remembered).
Also, pleonasm can serve as a means of stylistic design of a statement and a technique of poetic speech.
Pleonasm should be distinguished from tautology - repetition of unambiguous or the same words (which can be a special stylistic device).
Synonymy creates wide selection opportunities lexical means, but searching for the exact word costs the author a lot of work. Sometimes it is not easy to determine exactly how synonyms differ, what semantic or emotional-expressive shades they express. And it is not at all easy to choose from a multitude of words the only correct, necessary one.
Single-valued and polysemous words (examples)
The number of words in the Russian language is simply amazing: modern vocabulary consists of more than 500 thousand units. Single-valued and polysemantic words enrich it even more. If we consider that most words have several meanings, this further expands the verbal horizons of speech.
This article talks about single-valued and polysemous words, examples of such words are given below . But first, a little theory.
Definition
Single-valued and polysemous words are distinguished according to how many lexical meanings they have. All words that are independent parts speech.
If you explain in simple words, then this is the meaning that people put into the word. Words can denote objects, personalities, phenomena, processes, signs and, in general, the entirety of thoughts and thinking.
To remember how to define single and ambiguous words, the rules are not too complicated.
A word that has only one lexical meaning is called unambiguous (monosemic). If there are two or more meanings, then such a word is polysemic (polysemic). 
Single meaning words
Basically, words that name people according to different characteristics (doctor, professor, technologist, relative, widow, nephew, Muscovite), animals (bison, rabbit, crocodile, bullfinch, thrush, whale, dolphin), plants (pine, rowan, mint, oats, chamomile, peony, mallow), specific objects (bag, screwdriver, hammer, fence, bell, window sill), days and months (Friday, Sunday, September, December), most relative adjectives (urban, maple, sea, five-story) and numerals (eight, ten, one hundred). Also, the terms are unambiguous words (molecule, gravity, cosine, verb, liter, kilometer, photosynthesis, hypotenuse).
Ambiguous words
Since a word can be unambiguous and polysemantic, the meaning of the word, accordingly, can be one or several. But, as already noted, most words in Russian have several meanings. The ability of a word to have different meanings is called polysemy.
For example, the word “press” has 7 meanings:
Every day we use both single-meaning and ambiguous words in our speech, sometimes without even realizing how many meanings a particular word has. The word “go” (26 meanings) holds the palm in terms of the number of meanings in the Russian language.
The connection between the meanings of a polysemic word (metaphor and metonymy)
As a rule, a polysemantic word has one primary meaning, and the others are derivatives. The main meaning often appears first in a dictionary entry. For example, the main meaning of the word “head” is “part of the body”, and “leader”, “mind”, “main part”, “beginning” are secondary and derivative. But all these meanings, one way or another, are united by one common feature. In this case, such a sign is “the main part of something” (body, enterprise, composition).
Sometimes a word can have several basic meanings. For example, the word "rude" has two initial values- “brutal” (“rough response”) and “raw” (“rough surface”).
Typically, all meanings of a polysemantic word are related to each other either by similarity (metaphor) or by contiguity (metonymy). Metaphor is the transfer of a name from one object to another. The basis of metaphorical transfer is an unnamed similarity, but it exists only in the minds of people. Often main role a sign of similarity plays here appearance. For example, the word “branch” has two meanings, the second of which was formed through metaphorical transfer:
- Tree shoot.
- A railway line that runs away from the main track.
Metonymy emphasizes the connection that actually exists. For example, the audience is:
- A room intended for listening to lectures.
- The lecturers themselves.
Another example of metonymy: kitchen is:
How did polysemy arise?
If we return to the origins of the formation of the lexical composition of speech, then then there was no such thing as single-valued and polysemantic words. At the beginning, all lexemes were monosemic (they had only one meaning and named only one concept). But over time, new concepts arose, new objects were created, for which they did not always come up with new words, but selected some from among the existing ones, because they observed similarities between them. This is how polysemy appeared.
Polysemy and homonymy
After this article, it is not difficult to distinguish between unambiguous and ambiguous words. But how not to confuse polysemantic words and homonyms (words that are written and pronounced the same, but have different meanings)? What is the difference between them? For polysemantic words, all meanings are somehow related to each other, but there is no connection between homonyms. For example, the meanings of the words "peace" ("tranquility") and "peace" (" Earth") have nothing in common. More examples of homonyms: "bow" ("weapon") and "bow" ("plant"), "mine" ("facial expression") and "mine" ("explosive device"), " bar" (entertainment establishment) and "bar" ("unit of atmospheric pressure"). 
So, if you deepen your knowledge different meanings already known words, this will significantly expand lexicon, and will increase your intellectual level.
Give examples of words with figurative meanings
Olga
Thus, the word table is used in several figurative meanings: 1. A piece of special equipment or a part of a cold-form machine (operating table, raise the machine table); 2. Meals, food (rent a room with a table); 3. A department in an institution in charge of a special range of cases (help desk).
The word black has the following figurative meanings: 1. Dark, as opposed to something lighter, called white (black bread); 2. Has taken on a dark color, darkened (black from tanning); 3. In the old days: Kurnoy (black hut); 4. Gloomy, desolate, heavy (black thoughts); 5. Criminal, malicious (black treason); 6. Not the main one, the auxiliary one (the back door in the house); 7. Physically difficult and unskilled (menial work).
The word boil has the following figurative meanings:
1. Manifest to a strong degree (work is in full swing); 2. Manifest something with force, to a strong degree (boil with indignation); 3. Move randomly (the river was boiling with fish).
Vadim Andronov
Portable (indirect) meanings of words are those meanings that arise as a result of the conscious transfer of a name from one phenomenon of reality to another on the basis of similarity, commonality of their characteristics, functions, etc.
Thus, the word TABLE is used in several figurative meanings:
1. A piece of special equipment or a part of a cold-formed machine (operating table, raise the machine table);
2. Meals, food (rent a room with a table);
3. A department in an institution in charge of a special range of cases (help desk).
The word BLACK has the following figurative meanings:
1. Dark, as opposed to something lighter called white (brown bread);
2. Has taken on a dark color, darkened (black from tanning);
3. In the old days: Kurnoy (black hut);
4. Gloomy, desolate, heavy (black thoughts);
5. Criminal, malicious (black treason);
6. Not the main one, the auxiliary one (the back door in the house);
7. Physically difficult and unskilled (menial work).
The word BOIL has the following figurative meanings:
1. Manifest to a strong degree (work is in full swing);
2. Manifest something with force, to a strong degree (boil with indignation);
3. Move randomly (the river was boiling with fish).
As we see, when transferring meaning, words are used to name phenomena that do not serve as a constant, usual object of designation, but are brought closer to another concept by various associations that are obvious to speakers.
Figurative meanings can retain imagery (black thoughts, black betrayal). However, these figurative meanings are fixed in the language; they are given in dictionaries when interpreting words. This is how figurative meanings differ from metaphors that are created by writers.
In most cases, when transferring meanings, imagery is lost. For example: a pipe bend, a teapot spout, a carrot tail, a clock ticking. In such cases, they speak of extinct imagery in the lexical meaning of the word.
The transfer of names occurs on the basis of similarities in something between objects, characteristics, and actions. The figurative meaning of a word can be attached to an object (sign, action) and become its direct meaning: the spout of a teapot, a door handle, a table leg, the spine of a book, etc.
What is the literal and figurative meaning of the word?
First, let's find out what the “lexical meaning of a word” is.
All objects and phenomena of the surrounding world have their own names. The correlation of a reality phenomenon with a certain set of sounds, that is, a word, is the lexical meaning of the word. In turn, the lexical meaning of a word can be direct and figurative. The direct meaning of a word is the direct relationship of the word with the object of reality. For example, the word "table" denotes a piece of furniture consisting of a rectangular (round or oval) horizontal board on high supports (legs). This word also has figurative meanings that arise as a result of transferring the name from one object to another on the basis of any similarity between them. The word “table” can mean a diet prescribed by a doctor, for example, table No. 9. The word “table” means “inquiry desk,” that is, an institution that provides information on various issues, or “address desk.”
It's best to explain with examples. You can come up with plenty of such examples yourself.
Echidna: direct meaning - animal (I think Australian). A figurative meaning is a disapproving statement about a person because of certain (“snide”) properties of his character.
Hammer: direct meaning - a tool for driving nails. Figurative - approvingly about a person: well done!
Madhouse: direct meaning - hospital. Portable - chaos, confusion, turmoil, etc.
Balagan: theater (literally) and figuratively - something “lowly artistic,” as Zoshchenko would say.