How to find out the figurative meaning of a word. Direct and figurative meaning of the word examples

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".

Replacement explained common features in meaning, resemblance. 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 literally, 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).

The main means of giving imagery to a word is its use in a figurative sense. The game of direct and figurative meaning generates both aesthetic and expressive effects artistic text, makes this text figurative and expressive.

On the basis of the nominative (naming) function of the word and its connection with the subject in the process of cognition of reality, direct (basic, main, primary, initial) and figurative (derivative, secondary, indirect) meanings are distinguished.

In the derived meaning, the main, direct meaning and the new, indirect meaning, which appeared as a result of the transfer of the name from one object to another, are combined, coexist. If the word in direct meaning directly (directly) indicates a particular object, action, property, etc., naming them, then the words in portable meaning, the object is no longer called directly, but through certain comparisons and associations that arise in the minds of native speakers.

AIR– 1) ‘adj. To air (air jet)’;

2) ‘light, weightless ( airy dress)’.

The appearance of figurative meanings in a word makes it possible to save the lexical means of the language without expanding indefinitely. vocabulary to designate new phenomena, concepts. In the presence of some common features between two objects, the name from one, already known, is transferred to another object, newly created, invented or known, which did not have a name before:

DIM- 1) ‘opaque, cloudy ( dull glass)’;

2) ‘matte, not shiny ( dull polish, dull hair)’;

3) ‘weak, not bright ( dim light, dim color)’;

4) ‘lifeless, inexpressive ( dull look, dull style)’.

D.N. Shmelev believes that the direct, basic meaning is one that is not determined by the context (the most paradigmatically conditioned and the least syntagmatically conditioned):

ROAD– 1) ‘way of communication, a strip of land intended for movement’;

2) ‘journey, trip’;

3) ‘route’;

4) ‘means achievement of a. goals'.

All secondary, figurative meanings depend on the context, on compatibility with other words: to pack(‘trip’), direct road to success, road to Moscow.

Historically, the relationship between direct, primary and figurative, secondary meaning may change. So, in the modern Russian language, the primary meanings for the words devour(‘eat, eat’), dense('dormant'), vale('valley'). Word thirst in our time, it has the main direct meaning ‘need to drink’ and figurative ‘strong, passionate desire’, but Old Russian texts indicate the primacy of the second, more abstract meaning, since the adjective is often used next to it water.

Value transfer paths

The transfer of meanings can be carried out in two main ways: metaphorical and metonymic.

Metaphor- this is the transfer of names according to the similarity of signs, concepts (metaphor - unexpressed comparison): pin stars; what crest won't you comb your head?

Signs of metaphorical transfer:

  1. by color similarity gold leaves);
  2. similarity of form ( ring boulevards);
  3. by the similarity of the location of the object ( nose boats, sleeve rivers);
  4. by similarity of actions ( rain drumming, wrinkles furrow face);
  5. by the similarity of sensations, emotional associations ( gold character, velvet voice);
  6. by similarity of functions ( electric candle in the lamp turn off/ignite light, wipers in car).

This classification is rather conditional. Proof - transfer on several grounds: leg chair(form, place); ladle excavator(function, form).

There are other classifications as well. For example, prof. Galina Al-dr. Cherkasova considers metaphorical transfer in connection with the category of animateness / inanimateness:

  1. the action of an inanimate object is transferred to another inanimate object ( fireplace– ‘room stove’ and ‘electric heater’; wing- ‘birds’, ‘aircraft blade, mills’, ‘side extension’);
  2. animate - also on an animate object, but of a different group ( bear, snake);
  3. inanimate - to animate ( she blossomed );
  4. animate to inanimate ( escort- 'patrol ship').

The main tendencies of metaphorical transfer: figurative meanings appear in words that are socially significant in given time. During the years of the Great Patriotic War household words were used as metaphors to define military concepts: comb through forest, get into boiler . Subsequently, on the contrary, military terms were transferred to other concepts: front works, take on armament . Sports vocabulary gives a lot of figurative meanings: finish, start, move. With the development of astronautics, metaphors appeared finest hour, space velocity, dock. Currently big number metaphors associated with the computer sphere: mouse, archive, maternal pay etc.

There are models of metaphorical transfer in the language: certain groups of words form certain metaphors.

  • professional characteristics of a person artist, craftsman, philosopher, shoemaker, clown, chemist);
  • disease-related names ulcer, plague, cholera, delirium);
  • names of natural phenomena when they are transferred to human life ( spring life, hail tears);
  • names of household items rag, mattress etc.);
  • transferring the names of animal actions to humans ( bark, mumble).

Metonymy(Greek ‘renaming’) is such a name transfer, which is based on the adjacency of the features of two or more concepts: paper– ‘document’.

Types of metonymic transfer:

  1. transfer by spatial adjacency ( audience- 'People', Class– ‘children’): (a) transferring the name of the containing to the content ( all village came out city worried, all embankment ate plate, read Pushkin ); (b) the name of the material from which the object is made is transferred to the object ( To go to silks, V gold; V scarlet And gold dressed forests; dancing gold );
  2. adjacency transfer O d – transfer of the name of the action to the result ( dictation, composition, cookies, jam, embroidery);
  3. synecdoche(a) transferring the name of a part of the whole to the whole ( one hundred goals livestock; behind him eye Yes eye needed; he is seven mouths feeds; he is mine right hand; heart heart the message) - often found in proverbs; (b) whole to part ( jasmine– ‘bush’ and ‘flowers’; plum- 'tree' and 'fruit'.

This classification does not cover the whole variety of metonymic transfers that exist in the language.

Sometimes when transferring, grammatical features of the word are used, for example, plural. number: workers hands, rest on south, To go to silks . It is believed that the basis of metonymic transfer is nouns.

In addition to common language portable values, in language fiction observed and portable use words that are characteristic of the work of a particular writer and are one of the means of artistic representation. For example, in L. Tolstoy: fair And Kind sky("War and Peace"); at A.P. Chekhov: crumbly ("The Last Mohican") cozy lady(“From the Memoirs of an Idealist”), faded aunties("Hopeless"); in the works of K.G. Paustovsky: shy sky("Mikhailovskaya grove"), sleepy dawn("The Third Date") molten noon("The Romantics") sleepy day("Marine habit"), white-blooded bulb("The Book of Wanderings"); V. Nabokov: overcast tense day("Protection of Luzhin"), etc.

Like metaphor, metonymy can be individual-author's - contextual, i.e. conditioned by the contextual use of the word, it does not exist outside the given context: "You're so stupid, brother!" - said reproachfully handset (E. Meek); redheads trousers sigh and think(A.P. Chekhov); Short fur coats, sheepskin coats crowded...(M. Sholokhov).

Such figurative meanings, as a rule, are not reflected in dictionary interpretations. The dictionaries reflect only regular, productive, generally accepted transfers fixed by language practice, which continue to arise, playing a large role in enriching the vocabulary of the language.

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 different meanings which sound the same but are spelled 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 do some official 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.

Synopsis of the Russian language lesson in grade 6

(teacher: Nesvat L.N., teacher of Russian language and literature, MKOU OOSH s.

Ershovka, Vyatskopolyansky district, Kirov region)

TOPIC OF THE LESSON:

direct and figurative meaning words.

Goals: 1)

Introduce students to direct and figurative lexical meaning words

2)

To form the ability to find words with a figurative meaning in the text,

4)

Develop spelling and punctuation skills.

During the classes:

Motivation.

1) Teacher's word:

Friends, before announcing the topic of today's lesson, I want to ask you a question,

associated with literature, do you know who Ilya Muromets is?

(National hero, hero of many epics)

In one of the epics about Ilya Muromets there are these words: “The word is like an apple: from one

green on the side, ruddy on the other, you know how to turn it, girl .. "

Think about the meaning of this sentence: The word, when viewed from different angles,

miscellaneous - “green on one side”, “ruddy on the other”. And most importantly: "You know how, girl

turn over”, i.e. know how to master the word, since a word can have more than one meaning

It turns out a word other than his own direct meaning, may have another

portable. Here is the topic of the lesson: "Direct and figurative meaning of the word"

(notebook entry).

2) Board writing:

iron nails, iron health.

Teacher's explanation: In the phrase iron nails, the adjective means

What is the meaning of the word green? (Unripe,

unripe)

11)

Information on the use of words with a figurative meaning in artistic

works. (Information from the textbook).

vocabulary work: personification, metaphor

13) Run exercise 339

Teacher:

Words with a figurative meaning make bright, expressive not only

poetic speech, but also prose.

15) Let's turn to exercise 342.

a) Reading the text.

b) Determining the style of speech, type of speech.

c) Definition of the title of the text.

d) Dictionary work: azure, coral, sapphire.

16) Writing text, spelling explanation.

: I hope you can determine the direct and figurative meaning of the word. A

when you were very young, you probably didn’t understand a lot. Famous


children's writer K.I. Chukovsky recorded several sayings of kids who did not know

Reading by roles of the following statements and explanation of the words used in

figurative meaning:

I will not go to school, - said the fifth grader Seryozha. - There on exams

cut.

b) - Here snow will fall in winter, frost will strike

-And then I won't go outside.

- Why?

- And so that the frosts do not hit me.

V) The boy is asked about his sister

- What does your sister Irinka go to bed with the roosters?

She does not lie down with roosters - they peck: she lies alone in her bed.

Mom washed the shirt and asked Petya to hang it up to dry in the sun.

Petya left, but soon returned with a shirt.

Why didn't you hang it up to dry?

- I don't got to the sun, - answered Petya.

19)

Teacher:

Children, did you hear funny stories. No less cheerful, I think

it will seem to you ex. 340.

20) Exercise: In each pair of sentences, indicate the words used in direct

figurative meaning.

The wind in the chimney howls and whistles. The dog howls.

The tired day turned to night. The tired boy bowed his head to

mother's shoulder.

Dad came home from work. The long-awaited day of departure has finally arrived.

The hostess warmed up the water. A cheerful song warmed us on the way.

21) Let's summarize the lesson.

a) How is a figurative meaning different from a direct one?

b) Why are words with a figurative meaning used in speech?

) Homework:

Theoretical information on pages 132-133, exercise 338



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