Introduction

The richness and diversity of the vocabulary of the Russian language is noted not only by specialists - learned linguists, but also by writers and poets. One of the factors of the richness of our language is the ambiguity of most words. This allows you to use them not in one specific context, but in several, sometimes completely different ones.

The meanings of polysemantic words can be direct and figurative. Figurative meanings are involved in creating vivid figurative texts. They make the literary language richer and richer.

Purpose of the work: to find examples of the use of words with direct and figurative meanings in the text of M. Sholokhov "Quiet Flows the Don".

Work tasks:

• Determine which values ​​are considered direct and which are figurative;
• · Find examples of words with direct and figurative meanings in the text of M. Sholokhov "Quiet Flows the Don".

The work consists of two chapters. The first chapter presents theoretical information on the problem of direct and figurative meanings of words. The second chapter is a list of examples illustrating words used in the literal sense and figuratively.

Direct and figurative meaning of words in Russian

Words in Russian have two types of meanings: basic, direct meaning, and non-basic, figurative.

The direct meaning of the word is “a direct connection between the sound complex and the concept, a direct nomination” Modern Russian Literary Language / Ed. P. Lekanta - M .: Higher. school, 1988. - S. 9-11 ..

The figurative meaning is secondary, it arises on the basis of associative links between concepts. The presence of similarity in objects is a prerequisite for the fact that the name of one object begins to be used to name another object; thus, a new, figurative meaning of the word arises.

The use of words in a figurative sense is a generally recognized method of expressiveness of speech. The main varieties of figurative meaning are the techniques of metaphor and metonymy.

A metaphor is “the transfer of a name from one object to another based on some similarity of their features” Rosenthal D.E., Golub I.B., Telenkova M.A. Modern Russian language. - M.: International Relations, 1995. - 560 p..

The similarity of objects that receive the same name can manifest itself in different ways: they can be similar in shape (ring 1 on the hand - ring 2 of smoke); by color (gold medallion - golden curls); by function (fireplace - room stove and fireplace - electric appliance for space heating).

The similarity in the arrangement of two objects in relation to something (the tail of an animal - the tail of a comet), in their assessment (clear day - clear style), in the impression they make (black veil - black thoughts) also often serves as the basis for naming different phenomena. Rapprochement is also possible on other grounds: green strawberries - green youth (a unifying feature is immaturity); fast running - quick mind (common feature - intensity); mountains stretch - days stretch (associative connection - length in time and space).

Metaphorization of meanings often occurs as a result of the transfer of qualities, properties, actions of inanimate objects to animate ones: iron nerves, golden hands, an empty head, and vice versa: gentle rays, the roar of a waterfall, the voice of a stream.

It often happens that the main, original meaning of the word is metaphorically rethought on the basis of the convergence of objects according to various signs: a gray-haired old man - a gray-haired antiquity - a gray-haired fog; black veil - black 2 thoughts - black ingratitude - black Saturday - black box (on the plane).

Metaphors that expand the polysemanticism of words are fundamentally different from poetic, individual author's metaphors. The former are linguistic in nature, they are frequent, reproducible, anonymous. The linguistic metaphors that served as the source of the word's new meaning are mostly unfigurative, which is why they are called "dry", "dead": a pipe elbow, a boat's bow, a train's tail. But there can be such transfers of meaning, in which the imagery is partially preserved: a blooming girl, a steel will. However, the expressiveness of such metaphors is much inferior to the expression of individual poetic images.

Dry metaphors that give rise to new meanings of words are used in any style of speech (scientific: eyeball, word root; official business: point of sale, alarm signal); language figurative metaphors gravitate toward expressive speech, their use in an official business style is excluded; individual author's metaphors are the property of artistic speech, they are created by masters of the word.

Metonymy is "the transfer of a name from one object to another on the basis of their adjacency."

So, the transfer of the name of the material to the product from which it is made is metonymic (gold, silver - Athletes brought gold and silver from the Olympics); place names - to groups of people who are there (audience - The audience listens attentively to the lecturer); names of dishes - on its contents (porcelain dish - delicious dish); the name of the action - on its result (embroidering - beautiful embroidery); the name of the action - to the place of action or those who perform it (crossing the mountains - underground transition); the name of the object - to its owner (tenor - young tenor); author's name - on his works (Shakespeare - set Shakespeare) etc.

Like metaphor, metonymy can be not only linguistic, but also individual authorial.

Synecdoche is “the transfer of the name of the whole to its part, and vice versa” Rosenthal D.E., Golub I.B., Telenkova M.A. Modern Russian language. - M.: International Relations, 1995. - 560 p. For example, a pear is a fruit tree and a pear is the fruit of this tree.

Transfers of meaning are based on synecdoche in such, for example, expressions: a sense of elbow, a faithful hand.

word polysemantic metaphor expressiveness

A word can have one lexical meaning. Such words are called unambiguous, for example: dialog, purple, saber, alert, appendicitis, birch, felt-tip pen

Several types can be distinguished unambiguous words.

1. These include, first of all, proper names (Ivan, Petrov, Mytishchi, Vladivostok). Their extremely specific meaning excludes the possibility of varying the meaning, since they are the names of single objects.

2. Usually recently emerged words that have not yet become widespread are unambiguous (briefing, grapefruit, pizza, pizzeria etc.). This is explained by the fact that for the development of ambiguity in a word, its frequent use in speech is necessary, and new words cannot immediately receive universal recognition and distribution.

3. Words with a narrow subject meaning are unambiguous (binoculars, trolleybus, suitcase). Many of them denote objects of special use and therefore are rarely used in speech. (beads, turquoise). This helps to keep them unique.

4. One meaning, as a rule, highlights the terms: sore throat, gastritis, fibroids, syntax, noun.

Most Russian words have not one, but several meanings. These words are called polysemantic, they are opposed to single-valued words. The ability of words to have multiple meanings is called polysemy. For example: word root- multivalued. In the "Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language" by S. I. Ozhegov and N. Yu. Shvedova, four meanings of this word are indicated:

1. The underground part of the plant. The apple tree has taken root. 2. The inner part of the tooth, hair, nail. Blush down to the roots of your hair. 3. trans. Beginning, source, basis of something. The root of evil. 4. In linguistics: the main, significant part of the word. Root- significant part of the word.

The direct meaning of the word is its main meaning. For example, an adjective gold means "made of gold, composed of gold": gold coin, gold chain, gold earrings.

The figurative meaning of the word- this is its secondary, non-primary meaning, which arose on the basis of the direct one. Golden autumn, golden curls- the adjective in these phrases has a different meaning - figurative ("similar to gold in color"). Golden time, golden hands- in these examples, the adjective has a figurative meaning - "beautiful, happy."

The Russian language is very rich in such transfers:

wolf skin- wolfish appetite;

iron nail- iron character.

If we compare these phrases, we can see that adjectives with a figurative meaning not only tell us about some quality of a person, but evaluate it, figuratively and vividly describe: golden character, deep mind, warm heart, cold look.

The use of words in a figurative sense gives speech expressiveness, figurativeness. Poets and writers are looking for fresh, unexpected, accurate means of conveying their thoughts, feelings, emotions, moods. On the basis of the figurative meaning of words, special means of artistic representation are created: comparison, metaphor, personification, epithet and etc.

Thus, on the basis of the figurative meaning of the word, the following are formed:

comparison(one object is compared to another). The moon is like a lantern; fog like milk;

metaphor(hidden comparison). Rowan bonfire(rowan, like a fire); the bird cherry is throwing snow(bird cherry, like snow);

personification(human properties are transferred to animals, inanimate objects). The grove answered; cranes do not regret; the forest is silent;

epithet(figurative use of adjectives). The grove is golden; birch tongue; pearl frost; dark fate.

The main means of giving imagery to a word is its use in a figurative sense. The play of direct and figurative meaning generates both aesthetic and expressive effects of a literary 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 endlessly expanding the vocabulary to designate new phenomena, concepts. If there are 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 of achieving some sl. 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 is blossomed );
4. animate to inanimate ( escort- 'patrol ship').

The main tendencies of metaphorical transfer: figurative meanings appear in words that are socially significant at a given time. During the Great Patriotic War, everyday 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 high point, space velocity, dock. Currently, a large number of metaphors are 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 ( the 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, in gold; in scarlet and gold dressed forests; dancing gold );
2. adjacency transfer about 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 arms, 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 the language of fiction there are also figurative 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 section is very easy to use. In the proposed field, just enter the desired word, and we will give you a list of its meanings. I would like to note that our site provides data from various sources - encyclopedic, explanatory, word-building dictionaries. Here you can also get acquainted with examples of the use of the word you entered.

What does "portable meaning" mean?

Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1998

figurative meaning of the word

the secondary (derivative) meaning of a word that arose on the basis of various types of associative links, through metonymy, metaphor and other semantic changes. For example, the figurative meaning of the word "wake up" ("the forest woke up"), "rig" ("rig the facts").

The figurative meaning of the word

the secondary (derivative) meaning of a word associated with the main, main meaning by metonymic, metaphorical dependence or some associative features. P. z. With. may arise on the basis of spatial, temporal, logical, etc. correlation of concepts (adjacency of material and product, process and result, etc.), average metonymic meanings of the words "publishing", "finishing", "wintering", "image ”, based on associations by similarity (in shape, color, character of movements, etc.), for example, the metaphorical meanings of the words “stupid”, “fresh”, “stamp”. As a result of the transfer of names on the basis of a common function, many P. z. s., for example, the words "wing", "shield", "satellite". P. z. With. have a greater syntagmatic connection (see Syntagmatic Relations), while direct meanings are most paradigmatically conditioned (see Paradigmatic Relations). Regularities of emergence of P. z. With. (regularity and irregularity of formation in semantically homogeneous groups of words, etc.), the nature of their relationship with the main meaning (for example, the direction of development from more specific to more abstract meanings, etc.) can be described both in synchrony (see Synchrony) and and in diachronic (see Diachrony) plans. In the history of the development of the language P. z. With. can become the main ones and vice versa (the average development of the meanings of the words “hearth”, “slum”, “red”). This shift in the semantic structure of the word is influenced by various factors (emotional-evaluative elements, associative links accompanying the word when it is used, etc.).

Lit .: Vinogradov V. V., The main types of lexical meanings of the word, “Issues of Linguistics”, 1953, ╧5; Kurilovich E., Notes on the meaning of the word, in his book: Essays on linguistics, M., 1962; Shmelev D.N., Problems of semantic analysis of vocabulary, M., 1973.

what is the literal and figurative meaning of the word?

1. What is the literal and figurative meaning of the word?

   These are two terms from word formation - the science of replenishing the vocabulary of a language at the expense of its own means, and not by borrowing from other languages.
   According to tradition, some words of a language can distinguish two or more lexical meanings related to each other in some way. This relationship is described, for example, in V. V. Vinogradov's book "The Russian language. A grammatical doctrine of the word", as well as in academic grammars, which are used in school textbooks.
   It is believed that a word with one - direct - meaning, in some cases, due to semantic transfer, by the similarity of phenomena (metaphor) or by the adjacency of the functions of phenomena (metonymy) can receive an additional - figurative meaning.
   So, the verb "injure" can have a direct meaning "injure, damage, destroy the tissues of the human body" (The soldier was wounded by the police with a pistol) and figuratively "hurt a person's feelings, offend, insult" (E hurt the words of a classmate).
   Similarly, we can talk about the direct and figurative meanings of many words: "to go, poisonous, transparent, shell" and so on.
   It is believed that all figurative meanings of a word arise on the basis of one - direct meaning, that is, the direct meaning is the source for all figurative ones, and figurative ones are always secondary.
   I must say that the issue of figurative meanings is rather controversial: sometimes it is not possible to determine what is primary and what is secondary in the same "word". Or the transfer mechanism is not clear (why is a person sometimes called the word "goat"?). Or there is no semantic connection at all between equally sounding words (a person goes / a dress goes to her). In such cases, they are no longer talking about direct and figurative meaning (together they define the term "polysemy"), but about homonyms.
   This is a problem of modern linguistics, which has yet to be unambiguously solved.

2. Well, yes
3. this is when words don’t go together, for example, eat like a bear, this is a translational meaning
4. The direct meaning of a word is its specific formulation, that is, what it means in the literal sense of the word, and figurative, that is, it is used with a slightly different meaning that is not natural for the surrounding world, for example, the word tail ... The direct meaning is the tail of a dog, the tail of a creature .... and the figurative tail is, for example, to correct tails, that is, to correct deuces) something like this)
5. monosemantic and polysemantic words. The direct and figurative meanings of the word Zhdanova L. A. A word can have one lexical meaning, then it is unambiguous or several (two or more) meanings such a word is called polysemantic. There are a fairly large number of single-valued words in the language, but the most frequent, commonly used words are usually polysemantic. There are many unambiguous words among the terms, names of tools, professions, animals, plants, etc. For example, the words dualism, planer, neuropathologist, roe deer, poplar, tulle, trolleybus, wattle are unambiguous. Polysemantic words can have from two to more than two dozen meanings (for example, the word go in the Ozhegov Dictionary has 26 meanings). If a word is polysemantic, there is a semantic connection between its meanings (not necessarily all at once). For example, for the word road in the Ozhegov's Dictionary, the following meanings are allocated: 1. A strip of land intended for movement. Asphalt road. 2. The place where you need to go or drive, the route. On the way to the house. 3. Travel, stay on the road. Tired from the road. 4. Mode of action, direction of activity. Road to success. The first three meanings have a common component of movement in space, the fourth meaning is associated with the second: both contain the meaning of direction (in the second meaning, the direction of movement in space, and in the fourth in activity, in development). In a polysemantic word, the direct (basic) meaning of the word and figurative (derivative) meanings are distinguished. The figurative meaning is the result of the transfer of the name (sound-letter means) to other phenomena of reality, which begin to be denoted by the same word. There are two types of name transfer: metaphor and metonymy. It should be noted that the question of which meaning is direct and which is figurative should be decided on a modern language cut, and not translated into the field of the history of the language. For example, the word stick in the Ozhegov Dictionary is interpreted as follows ...
6. line and bend
7. to make an elephant out of moss is a figurative meaning, for example, we cannot make an elephant out of a fly, but the direct meaning is to confuse everything to turn the real into something else
   With ambiguity, one of the meanings of the word is direct, and all the rest are figurative.

   The direct meaning of a 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 a word 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 value is transferred, there are three main types of value transfer:
   metaphor,
   metonymy,
   synecdoche.
   Metaphor (from the Greek metaphora transfer) is the transfer of a name by similarity:
   ripe apple eyeball (according to shape);
   the nose of a person the nose of a ship (by location);
   chocolate bar chocolate tan (by color);
   bird wing aircraft wing (by function);
   howled ps howled the wind (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; kettle boils;
   porcelain dish delicious dish;
   native gold Scythian gold
   and etc.
   Synecdoche (from the Greek synekdoche meaning) is the transfer of the name of the whole to its part and vice versa:
   thick currant ripe currant;
   beautiful mouth extra mouth (about an extra person in the family);
   big head smart head
   and etc.
   In the process of developing figurative meanings, the word can be enriched with new meanings as a result of narrowing or expanding the main meaning. Over time, figurative meanings can become direct.

   It is possible to determine in what meaning a word is used only in context.
   We sat on the corner of the bastion, so that we could see the sun in both directions. In Tarakanovo, as in the most deaf corner of a bear, there was no place for secrets.
   In the first sentence, the word ANGLE is used in the direct meaning of a place where two sides of something converge, intersect. And in stable combinations in a deaf corner, a bearish corner, the meaning of the word will be figurative: in a deaf corner in a remote area, a bearish corner is a deaf place.

   In explanatory dictionaries, the direct meaning of the word is given first, and the figurative meanings come under numbers starting from 2. The meaning that was recently fixed as a figurative goes with the mark of the translation. :
   Wooden, th, th. 1. Made from wood. 2. trans. Motionless, expressionless. Wooden expression. #9830;Wood oil cheap olive oil

8. direct when words have their own meaning, and figuratively another, for example, golden hands in the literal sense of the hand of gold, and figuratively hardworking hands.
9. The direct meaning of the word is the main one and reflects the direct correlation of the word with the called object, sign, action, phenomenon.

   The figurative meaning of a word arises on the basis of a direct one as a result of the transfer of the name of one object (attribute, action, etc.) to another, in some way similar to it. Thus, the figurative meaning of a word reflects the connection between the word and the called phenomenon of reality not directly, but through comparison with other words. For example, the direct meaning of the word rain is precipitation in the form of drops, and the figurative flow of small particles of something, pouring in a multitude.

   One word can have several figurative meanings. So, the word burn has the following figurative meanings: 1) to be in a fever, in a feverish state (the patient is on fire); 2) blush from a rush of blood (cheeks burn); 3) sparkle, shine (eyes burn); 4) to experience some strong feeling (to burn with love for poetry).

   Over time, figurative meanings can become direct. For example, the word nose is now used in its direct meaning, if we are talking about the organ of smell, located on the face of a person or on the muzzle of animals, and about the front of the ship.

   It is possible to determine in what meaning the word is used only in the context: a drop, a drop of water, a drop of pity; insatiable insatiable animal, insatiable ambition; golden golden ring, golden autumn. A figurative meaning is one of the meanings of a polysemantic word and is given in explanatory dictionaries marked as portable. .

   1. Here, where the vault of heaven looks so languidly at the skinny earth, - here, plunging into an iron dream, tired nature sleeps (F. Tyutchev). 2. The sun turns golden. Buttercup is cold. The river is silvery and naughty with water (K. Balmont).