home / Relationship/ The meaning of the word periphrase. An example of periphrasis in poetry and prose What is periphrasis in Russian

The meaning of the word paraphrase. An example of periphrasis in poetry and prose What is periphrasis in Russian

Summary of a Russian language lesson in 10th grade on the topic:

Periphrasis as a means of artistic expression.

Target: acquaintance with such a means of artistic expression as PERIPHRASE (PERIPHRASE)

Developing skills in finding paraphrases in text.

Preparation for the Unified State Exam.

Lesson plan:

Theoretical material on the topic: periphrasis.
Consolidation. Finding paraphrases in examples from literature.
Examples of tasks from the Unified State Exam.

1. There are quite a lot of tropes in literary studies that descriptively express some concepts with the help of others. These are metaphors, puns, and comparisons. Periphrasis occupies a special place among them.

Periphrasis is a trope that consists of replacing a word or name with a descriptive phrase indicating their essential features, qualities, and features. Here is an example from A.S. Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin”:

Although we know that Evgeniy

I have long ceased to love reading,

However, several creations

He excluded from disgrace:

Singer Gyaur and Juan(instead of Byron, author of the poem “The Giaour”

Yes, there are two or three more novels with him...and the novel in verse "Don Juan")

PERIPHRASE - replacing a word or phrase with a figure of speech that indicates the characteristics of an unnamed object(St. Petersburg - the northern capital, a city on the Neva).

Instead of directly naming an object or phenomenon, a poet or writer often resorts to its description.

A) the property of an object is taken as a control word, and the name of the object is taken as a controlled word: “The poet used to amuse the khans of poetry with rattling pearls” (a paraphrase of the word “verse”);

B) the verb is replaced by a noun formed from the same stem with another (auxiliary) verb: “an exchange is made” instead of “is exchanged.”

As a stylistic figure:

C) the name of the object is replaced by a descriptive expression, which is an expanded trope (metaphor, metonymy, etc.): “send me, in Delisle’s language, a twisted steel piercing the tarred head of the bottle, i.e., a corkscrew” (Pushkin’s letter to his brother) .

More examples:

night luminary = moon

I love you, Petra's creation! =

I love you, St. Petersburg!"

“king of birds” instead of “eagle”, “king of beasts” - instead of “lion”,“people in white coats” (doctors), “red-haired cheat” (fox), “blue screen” (TV).

General linguistic periphrases usually acquire a stable character. Many of them are constantly used in the language of newspapers:people in white coats (doctors). Stylistically, a distinction is made between figurative and non-figurative periphrases, cf.:The sun of Russian poetry and the author of “Eugene Onegin” (V.G. Belinsky).

The most common periphrases were at a time when strict attention was paid to the selection of vocabulary and simple words were considered unpoetic. The use of periphrases was especially developed during the period of late classicism in the 18th century and remained in early XIX century

Examples identified in colloquial speech and literary texts make it possible to classify the phenomenon into logical and figurative subgroups. In logical, the descriptive moment is built on explicit, visible, easily distinguishable connections between objects, phenomena, and events. And in figurative ones - on a system of associations and hidden unifying links. What is a logical periphrasis? Examples in Russian are quite easy to find. This is “the author of “A Hero of Our Time” instead of “Lermontov”, and “ green spaces" instead of "plant". Their distinctive feature is widespread, transparency lexical meaning, stereotypical reproduction.

A slightly different kind of figurative paraphrase. Examples from fiction help to reveal its essence as accurately as possible. If you call someone Oblomov, it becomes clear that this refers to such human qualities as laziness, lack of desire to do anything, idle daydreaming. Plyushkin has long become synonymous with stinginess in its highest manifestations; native speakers of the Russian language often call Moscow “White Stone,” and St. Petersburg in the words of Pushkin: “Peter’s creation.” In this case, we are not dealing with periphrasis in its pure form, but with its fusion with other tropes: metaphor and comparison. They are often realized (that is, having lost their pronounced figurative meaning), expanded or hidden. Two in one

What else is interesting about periphrasis? Examples from literature and colloquial speech prove its connection with another linguistic phenomenon - euphemism, or more precisely, the imposition of one concept on another. In what cases does this happen? If it is necessary to replace a rude, stylistically reduced word with another, more “noble” one. For example, instead of “cough,” they say “clear your throat.” A prostitute is called a “woman of easy virtue”, “hetaera”, “representative of the most ancient profession”, “Messalina”. The process of clearing the sinuses is beautiful expression“use a handkerchief”, etc. Euphemisms appeared and became entrenched in the language at a time when its literary norms, there was a struggle for purity and correctness.

Euphemism- a type of paraphrase. Euphemisms replace words whose use by the speaker or writer for some reason seems undesirable.

Lomonosov, with his theory of the “three calms,” drew a sharp line between “high,” “medium,” and “low” vocabulary. It was believed that refined and educated nobles should not use rudeness in their speech. And although Lomonosov’s teaching primarily concerned literature, genders and genres, it found the widest application in society.

There is another reason for the appearance of euphemisms: periphrasis is subjective in nature and is determined by religious and cult factors. For example, instead of “devil” in Rus', especially among the people, it was customary to say “unclean” or “evil.” It was believed that such names would not attract excessive attention from otherworldly forces to people, and they, in turn, would not annoy “God’s souls.” In the same way, the peasants did not say the word “brownie” out loud, calling him “master”, “grandfather”, “helper”. The word “Himself” came up quite often. They believed that otherwise the brownie would be offended and we would begin to play dirty tricks on them. And if you call it “correctly,” then in this way you can appease the spirit, which will definitely bring good luck to your home.

2. Find examples in fiction.

Examples of paraphrasefrom the works of A.S. Pushkin:

1.Forgive me, Northern Orpheus

What's in my funny story

Now I'm flying after you. ("Ruslan and Ludmila")

2. She rested in eternal sleep. ("Ruslan and Ludmila")

3. All of us let's descend under the eternal vaults. (“Do I wander along noisy streets”)

4. My path is sad. Promises me work and grief

The coming troubling sea. ("Elegy")

5.Until Morpheus arrives . ("Eugene Onegin")

6. Smile gloomy nature

Through a dream he meets morning of the year. ("Eugene Onegin")

7. Meanwhile, as we Enemies of Hymen,

In home life we see alone

A series of tedious pictures

8. Is it really really true?

Without elegiac undertakings

The spring of my days has flown away.

9. O Romulus family , tell me, how long have you fallen?

10. I escaped the aesculapius

Thin, shaved - but alive;

His tormenting paw

Doesn't weigh down on me.

Answers: Northern Orpheus - Zhukovsky, rested in eternal sleep - died, we will descend under the eternal arches - we will die, the exciting sea of the future - future life, Morpheus arrives - we’ll fall asleep, the morning of the year is spring, Hymen’s enemies are convinced bachelors, the spring of my days is youth, the Romulus family - the Romans: Romulus, according to legend, one of the founders of Rome), escaped from Aesculapius - recovered.

A. Tvardovsky.

1. And hidden among the trees,

Having lined up decorously,

Howls and hums together

Bee town. (=beehive)

2. And suddenly find yourself in Siberia

At a semi-unknown point

What's in it for you sublunary world -(=on earth)

From now on, the house and address are yours.

Unified State Examination tests 2015.

Internet sources:

Literature5.people.ru.

PERIPHRASE

- (from the Greek periphrasis, peri - around, phradzo - I say) - a type of trope, a descriptive figure of speech, used instead of a word or phrase. In P., the name of an object or phenomenon, for greater expressiveness, is replaced by an indication of its most characteristic features: “Northern Venice” (St. Petersburg), “king of beasts” (lion). P. are figurative (bearing a metaphorical nature) and non-figurative (preserving the direct meaning of the words that form them, for example: “city on the Neva” - St. Petersburg). Only figurative plots belong to the tropes. In figurative plots, some key feature is highlighted, and all others are, as it were, obscured, which gives the author the opportunity to pay attention to those features of the depicted objects and phenomena that are especially important for him artistically. Non-figurative P. only rename objects, qualities, actions and perform not so much an aesthetic as a semantic function: they help the author more accurately express a thought, emphasize certain qualities of the described object or phenomenon, and avoid repetition of words (for example, instead of A.S. Pushkin - " author of "Eugene Onegin", "great Russian poet"). In the poem "The Death of a Poet" by M.Yu. Lermontov the same A.S. Pushkin is called a “slave of honor”, a “wonderful genius”, and in a well-known obituary - “the sun of Russian poetry” - these are figurative P., tropes. P. is one of the leading tropes in symbolist poetry of the early twentieth century.

Dictionary of literary terms. 2012

Classifications of paraphrases

Although some researchers consider periphrasis as a type of trope, not everyone agrees with this position. According to I. B. Golub, only figurative periphrases that are metaphorical in nature should be classified as tropes, while non-figurative periphrases (other authors call them “logical”), in which the direct meaning of the words that form them are preserved, are not tropes. For example, from two paraphrases denoting A.S. Pushkin - “ the sun of Russian poetry" and "a second "Eugene Onegin"- only the first one is figurative.

The indicated division is close to the division of periphrases by method of education into metaphorical and metonymic. The criterion for separation is the use of one or more words that make up the periphrasis in a figurative meaning. Comparing two established periphrases - “ office rat"(official) and " sea worker"(fisherman) - one can see that only the first of them is metaphorical, since the word “rat” is used in a figurative sense, while in the second both nouns are used in their basic meaning.

By frequency of use periphrases can be divided into individual-authored and general linguistic ones, firmly entered into the lexicon, such, for example, as “ weaker sex», « our little brothers», « people in white coats», « land of the rising sun», « Third Rome" In a number of cases, it is possible to trace the literary roots of general linguistic periphrases. Thus, thanks to A.S. Pushkin, such periphrases as “ copper horseman ik" (monument to Peter I on Senate Square), " admiralty needle"(spire of the Admiralty building in St. Petersburg), " semi-powerful ruler"(A.D. Menshikov), etc.

By the presence or absence of the paraphrased word in the text periphrases are divided into dependent and independent. So, in the lines of A. S. Pushkin “Meanwhile, the moon, the queen of the night, floats in the azure skies” is a paraphrase “ queen of the night” is explained by the basic word “moon”. Often a dependent paraphrase requires mandatory disclosure: the title of the article “ Moscow director responded to criticism addressed to him” does not give an understanding of who exactly is being discussed - this requires deciphering the paraphrase in the text. Independent paraphrases that do not have such explanations require intellectual effort and a certain outlook from the reader or listener. For example, the periphrase used in G. R. Derzhavin’s poem “My idol” art of Praxiteles"can be correctly understood only if the reader knows that Praxiteles was an ancient Greek sculptor, which means the author means sculpture, the art of sculpting.

Using paraphrases

Paraphrases in literary speech serve as a means artistic expression. They were most common in the 18th - early 19th centuries, when simple words were considered unpoetic. Thus, M. V. Lomonosov uses numerous periphrases in his poems: “ beautiful luminary" (Sun), " rattling Peruns"(lightning), " namesake Grandfather and Grandfather k" (Ivan III and Ivan IV), etc. In the poem "Before the Saint's Tomb" A. S. Pushkin never mentions the name of M. I. Kutuzov, but describes him in a detailed periphrasis:

He sleeps under them this ruler,
This idol of the northern squads,
The venerable guardian of the sovereign country,
Suppressor of all her enemies,
This rest of the glorious flock
Catherine's Eagles.

A. S. Pushkin. "Before the Saint's Tomb." 1831

In affective speech (oratory, colloquial), periphrasis serves to enhance the impact of the statement on the addressee: “enough is enough.” wag your tongue! (instead of “chatter”), “look what they claim lying scribblers"(journalists).

In both artistic and business speech, periphrases help avoid repetition. For example, in the text of a scientific review: “I. Ivanov’s work leaves a good impression. Young scientist managed to show... Author of the work claims...”

Since periphrases, as a rule, concentrate on any one feature, they may contain an assessment of the designated object. Thus, in a journal article about animals, the word lion can be replaced by a neutral paraphrase (“ representative of the cat family"), negative (" ruthless African predator") or positive (" ruler of the savannah», « king of beasts», « majestic animal"). Thus, periphrases can carry both ameliorative (praising, positive-evaluative) and pejorative (negative-evaluative) functions. This property of periphrases is actively used in journalism and socio-political speech.

In official business speech, periphrases can be used to avoid directly naming an object or event or to give it a neutral character: “police stopped the riots", "according to application appropriate measures have been taken».

In addition, periphrases can act as a euphemism: “ make yourself look bad"(disgrace yourself), " ease your nose"(to blow your nose) or dysphemism: " fill your belly"(to eat), " turn up your face"(refuse).

In order to diversify our speech and artistic capabilities and enhance imagery, we all often use rhetorical figures. Among these so-called tropes, perhaps the most actively used linguistic turn in speech is called “periphrase.”

Etymology and meaning

The word “periphrase” is formed from several ancient Greek words with the meanings “allegory”, “statement”, “about”. Thus, to paraphrase, we name something not directly, but on the basis of highlighting some of its features. Sometimes - using an idiom, that is, a stable statement. It is also important here that the object word is often replaced by an expanded phrase consisting of several (at least two) words.

You can understand what a periphrase is using the following examples: The Earth is called the blue planet, animals are called our little brothers. They will say about work that it is the father of all virtues, about fear - that it is the father of all vices, etc.

But others are from literature. A. S. Pushkin about autumn:

It's a sad time! Ouch charm!

Or the statement of K. G. Paustovsky in “Letter from Tarusa”:

The last thing that should not be talked about, but simply shouted, is about the ugly treatment of the Oka - a wonderful, our second Russian river after the Volga, the cradle of our culture, the birthplace of many great people, whose names our entire people are rightfully proud of.

Education

A periphrasis can be formed according to the main metaphorical, that is, allegorical, component for such an expression, or with the help of metonymy - by highlighting one feature.

When they say “office rat,” they mean an official. “Rat” in this expression is a case of using such an indirect, figurative meaning.

But they will tell you - “people in white coats”, and you will immediately understand that this is about doctors. But the main feature here is taken as a common feature - a medical uniform. And there is nothing metaphorical in this paraphrase anymore. This is a case of metonymic formation.

There are many periphrases that have entered our language thanks to the statements of writers, poets, critics, and famous personalities.

Expression by A. S. Pushkin from “ Bronze Horseman“has become so popular that few people today will say in a conversation: “Monument to Peter I on Senate Square.” Well, maybe tour guides. And, by the way, this is a rare case when the paraphrase turned out to be shorter than the direct name.

Widely known and recognizable, for example, are such paraphrases as:

leader of the world proletariat (about V.I. Lenin);
petrel of the revolution (about the writer M. Gorky);
the iron lady of British politics (about British Prime Minister M. Thatcher);
architect of perestroika (about M. S. Gorbachev).

Scope of use

We found out what a periphrase is in colloquial and literary speech. But the scope of use of this technique also extends to business style. And in general, it is indispensable for the competent construction of the text - in particular, so as not to repeat itself.

Let us show with examples that this is a paraphrase:

The work of I. I. Nikiforov, presented at the conference, was highly appreciated. The young scientist convincingly proves that... The author was able to reveal for the audience... etc.

A paraphrase may well be a positive (praising) or degrading (dismissive) substitute statement. This technique is widely used in journalism.

In these cases, what a periphrase is can be seen using the following examples. A bear can be called a neutral large mammal from the canine family. Or, depending on the purposes of the article, one can say - this dangerous, unpredictable predator.

You can also express it neutrally: he put himself in the worst (not the best) light, or you can say it disparagingly - he disgraced himself (colloquial - “sat in a puddle”), etc.

It should be noted that when creating periphrases, authors sometimes build completely unthinkable linguistic constructions. For example, instead of saying “you should find out if this official took bribes,” today you can hear the following statement: “it would be a good idea to check her for corruption.”

By the way, this phrase would be quite appropriate if it were said with irony or in a humorous text that parodies the business style of speech. But, of course, not in the official chronicle.

note

The words “periphrase” and “periphrase” are the same thing. Russian language dictionaries tell us about this - both spelling and explanatory. That is, this word can be used in both the masculine and feminine gender. Although more often they still say “periphrase”.

One more nuance. A similar word forms the verb “to paraphrase.” It means to say something in the form of a paraphrase (periphrasis). Example: paraphrase an aphorism.

It is easy to confuse this verb with the similar one - “paraphrase”. Although the meanings of these words may seem similar. Paraphrase - retell someone’s words, thought, etc. Example: paraphrasing Dostoevsky’s words that...

But that's not all. There is another paraphrase. This word usually means a concise presentation, retelling. Briefly and in your own words you can convey books, comedies, scripts for operas, films, poems and poems - that is, quite voluminous works.

Sometimes this is not only a retelling, but also a reworking of a complex text in order to adapt it for any audience. For example, these are “Myths Ancient Greece", laid out for children. Or there is the “Children's Bible” (published in Stockholm in 1990) - the name of the book speaks for itself. Poetic and musical paraphrases are also known.

That's all. We talked about what a periphrase is.

In Russian linguistics in modern world The concept of “text stylistics” came to the fore. Stylistics has rightfully taken priority positions in the Russian language course in high school high school. It is also studied by first and second year students of higher education. educational institutions linguistic and non-linguistic orientation. This is important because when analyzing a text, the student encounters a large number of different stylistic units. And he must be able to differentiate between them.

In texts submitted for linguistic analysis, periphrastic units or periphrases are very common. This article will focus specifically on this stylistic unit.

Periphrasis (periphrasis) is a unit of stylistics, which, when translated from Greek, means “I’m talking around.” In stylistics, this term is understood as a lexically indivisible phrase with a descriptive meaning. It explains another phrase or word in an allegorical way.

Examples from fiction:

No./item	Example	Author
1	Titan nailed to the rock	Ancient Greek myths
2	Died..., slave of honor...
3	A thunderous goblet from the sky...	F. Tyutchev
4	She fell into eternal sleep	A. Pushkin
5	The cheat approaches the tree on tiptoe	I. Krylov
6	Morpheus will not close their eyes	A. Pushkin
7	The bee town howls and buzzes	A. Tvardovsky
8	From the gaps between the clouds a ray of sun burst out from time to time.	A. Utkin
9	The contents of the dirty iron box were shaken out near the airport walls.	A. Thorin
10	He's just a media plowman	Ch. Aitmatov
11	Despising road guards and defending the rights of pedestrians	Z. Prilepin

Definition of periphrasis in the Russian stylistics section literary language can be formulated as follows.

Periphrasis is a stylistic trope, the figurative function of which is built on the principle of replacing one word with a phrase of a descriptive nature.

Kinds

In the modern style of the Russian literary language, linguists distinguish different kinds and subtypes of periphrases. In this article we will adhere to the traditional approach to the classification of tropes and name the types of these stylistic units that correspond to the established approach.

Types of paraphrases:

Figurative. This type is based on a metaphorical statement. By and large, there is no fundamental difference between this type of periphrasis and metaphor. The differences can only be found in the structure of these linguistic units. But this difference is not fundamentally important.
Brain teaser. In other words, these are synonymous expressions. They replace a broad concept with a specific one. It is important that this fundamentally new concrete concept should not be based on an abstract image.
Dismissing. This unit of stylistics is a subtype of periphrasis. It was described by the linguist Buzaji. He believes that this subtype is based on replacing a specific concept with a general one using two or more words.

Domestic linguist Ilya Romanovich Galperin adheres to his own classification. He identifies two types of these stylistic units. In his classification, the basis is the authorship of the word or phrase.

Two types of stylistic units according to Galperin:

Original. In other words, these are stylistic units that belong to a specific author.
Traditional. These units are firmly integrated into the Russian language and their meaning is clear without context. This type can be considered a component of the phraseology of the native language.

Examples in the language:

Wikipedia offers three different classifications of periphrases. Quite a lot of information is devoted to the use of trope in speech.

At the end of the article, paraphrases that belong to famous people are listed in the form of a list.

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Periphrase

If you follow it, you can find a lot interesting information on the topic of the article.

Examples in advertising

In the modern multi-information world, advertising is becoming an important engine. Periphrasis is often used in advertising posts and videos.

It is important that in an advertising video or on a banner the trope should be used only next to the image of the object or phenomenon in question. If this rule is not followed, then the reader (watcher) simply will not understand what is being said.

Clean, refreshing water. (Aqua Minerale)
This is a product for those for whom the car has become their home.
Soothe this boredom. (Tonic drink)
Our devices will excite you. (Technique in Eldorado)
Crazy discovery. (Japanese restaurant)
Each pine or spruce when purchasing a plot. (Sale)
EXCELLENT offer for students. (MTS services)
I'll soak the big-eared one in milk. (Nesquik)
Plaster cast hooray! (Building mixtures)
The bath of my dreams. (Hochland processed cheese)
Live well! (Pepsi)

Figurative paraphrases

They are akin to metaphors. Figurative periphrases are found very often in texts of artistic and journalistic styles. Such stylistic units give the text a special expression.

Greetings, deserted corner...
Where are you..., proud singer of Freedom?
The country of birch chintz...
Through a dream he greets the morning of the year.
I see before me the proud heads of the Caucasus.
Poet..., slave of honor.
One of the five continents, supported by cowboys.
Ukraine is the homeland of dumplings, mud huts and oxen.
Land of the rising sun.
The city of white nights, bridges and canals.
The pond was surrounded by chains of ice.
City of three revolutions.

Idioms

In Russian, an idiom is usually called an idiom, the components of which have the same meaning. Among the periphrases there are those that have become part of phraseology.

Here are examples of such expressions:

North Venice.
Flowers of life.
Foggy Albion.
Great worker.
Skillful fingers.
Take the yoke off your neck.
Red warrior.
Fascist vultures.
Fifth Ocean.
Field worker.
Refer your question.
Snail's pace.
Country of wine.
A sea of tears.
Night light.
Fall into sleep.
Hare soul.

Useful video

Conclusion

Thus, we can say that periphrasis is a unit of stylistics that gives imagery to speech. In the text it allows you to produce lexical replacement, thereby avoiding unnecessary repetitions. Periphrases enrich the speech of the speaker and writer, allowing them to express a variety of emotions and attitudes towards a particular phenomenon. With their help you can convey feelings.

If a person uses paraphrases in writing and oral speech, then this is evidence that he has an individual style.

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