Rhetorical Tropes

The term trope is derived from the Greek (tropos), "turn, direction, way", related to the root of the verb (trepein), "to turn, to direct, to alter, to change".

Trope: The use of a word, phrase, or image in a way not intended by its normal signification.

Tropes are figures of speech with an unexpected twist in the meaning of words

Trope

All discourse is unavoidably rhetoricalRhetoric is not simply a matter of how

thoughts are presented but is itself an influence on ways of thinking which deserves serious attention.

Terence Hawkes tells us that 'figurative language is language which doesn't mean what it says' - in contrast to literal language which is at least intended to be, or taken as, purely denotative.

The conventions of figurative language constitute a rhetorical code, and understanding this code is part of what it means to be a member of the culture in which it is employed

Tropes generate 'imagery' with connotations over and above any 'literal' meaning.

According to Roman Jakobson, metaphor and metonymy are the two fundamental modes of communicating meaning

According to George Lakoff and Mark Johnson – it provides the basis for much of our understanding in everyday life

Roland Barthes declared that ‘humanity seems doomed to analogy'

All the artificial and figurative application of words eloquence has invented, are for nothing else but to insinuate wrong ideas, move the passions, and thereby mislead the judgment; and so indeed are perfect cheats

In seventeenth century England the scientists of the Royal Society sought 'to separate knowledge of nature from the colours of rhetoric, the devices of the fancy, the delightful deceit of the fables

Banishing metaphor is an impossible task since it is central to language.

Tropes 'orchestrate the interactions of signifiers and signifieds' in discourse (Silverman 1983, 87)

The linguist Ferdinand de Saussure and the philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce described sign system.

He defined a sign as being composed of:

a 'signifier' - the form which the sign takes;

the 'signified' - the concept it represents.

A trope such as metaphor can be regarded as new sign formed from the signifier of one sign and the signified of another.

A metaphor consists of a 'literal' primary subject (or 'tenor') expressed in terms of a 'figurative' secondary subject (or 'vehicle') (Richards 1932)

Metaphor

For instance: 'Experience is a good school, but the fees are high'

(Heinrich Heine)

In this case, the primary subject of experience is expressed in terms of the secondary subject of school.

we have to make an imaginative leap to recognize the resemblance.

Time is a thief - Time isn't really stealing anything, this metaphor just indicates that time passes quickly and our lives pass us by.

The detective listened to her tales with a wooden face.

She cut him down with her words. Aankhein chaar hona (Eye to eye confrontation

between two people) Aik aankh say dekhna (To look at everyone

equally) Aankhein phaar phaar kar dekhna ( to stare) Aankh lagna (To take a nap (eyes closed))

Examples

Metaphor may not only be verbal but visual.

For instance, a shot of an aeroplane followed by a shot of a bird flying would be metaphorical, implying that the aeroplane is (or is like) a bird

Visual Metaphor

Etymology:From the Greek, "change of name"

Metonymy is a function which involves using one signified to stand for another signified which is directly related to it or closely associated with it in some way.

Reference to something or someone by naming something it is associated with.

● "The pen is mightier than the sword."--The pen is associated with reasonable thoughts written down with a pen; the sword is associated with military action or violence. Thus writing is more effective than violence.

Metonymy

Metonymy includes the substitution of: effect for cause ('Don't get hot!' for 'Don't get

angry!'); object for user (or associated institution) ('the

Crown' for the monarchy, 'the stage' for the theatre and 'the press' for journalists);

substance for form ('plastic' for 'credit card', 'lead' for 'bullet');

place for event: (‘pentagon changed attitudes to nuclear power');

place for person ('No. 10' for the British prime minister);

place for institution ('Whitehouse isn't saying anything');

institution for people ('The government is not backing down').

Lakoff and Johnson comment on several types of metonym, including:

producer for product ('She owns a Picasso');

object for user ('The ham sandwich wants his bill');

controller for controlled ('Nixon bombed Hanoi')

His purse would not allow him that luxury.

"Lend me your ears"--meaning Listen to me, as ears are obviously associated with listening or hearing.

Examples