Litote- an expression of the affirmative with or visa versa( not bad-“means “good’, no coward-‘brave”, not small-“great”).
Irony –saying one thing while meaning the opposite: ‘how clever of you!’
Euphemism - the substitution of words with mild vague connotations for expressions rough, unpleasant.
Taboo-a prohibition meant as a safeguard against supernatural.
Metaphor - similarity of meaning; transfer of meaning on the basis of comparison; a semiprocess of resemble other. Herman Paul points out that metaphor can be based on different types of similarity.
similarity of shape: head ( of a cabbage), bottleneck, teeth( of a saw, comb);
similarity of position: foot ( of a page, of mountain); head( of procession);
similarity of function, whip ( an official in the British Parliament whose duty is to see that members were present at the voting);
similarity of behavior
similarity of colour: orange, hazel, chesnut,
in some cases we have a complex similarity to a human leg in its shape, position and function. Many metaphors are based on parts of a human body ( an eye of a needle, arms and mouth of a river, when proper names become common nouns, e.g. “philistine”- a mercenary person, ‘ ‘vandals’-destructive people, “ a Don Juan”- a lover of many women.
Metonymy – contiguity of meaning; a semantic process associating two referents, one of which makes part of the other or is closely connected with it. There are different types of metonymy.
the material of which an object is made may become the name of the object: ‘glass’, boards, iron’;
the name of the place may become the name of the people or of an object placed there ;
“ White House” –the administration of the USA; “ the House” – members of British Parliament; “Fleet Street” – bourgeous press.
names of musical instruments may become names of musicians: ‘ the violin”, “the
saxophone”
the name of some person may become a common noun, e.g. ‘boycott’ was originally the name of an Irish family who were so much dislikeв by their neighbors that they didn’t
mix with them. “ Sandwich’ was named after lord Sandwich who was a gambler. He didn’t want to interrupt his game and his food was brought to him while he was playing cards between two slices of bread not to soil his fingers.
names of inventors become terms: ‘watt’, “om”, rengen’, etc.
geographical names become nouns: ‘holland’= linen fabrics, ‘brussels’- a special kind of of carpets, ‘china’- dishes made of porcelain ( china is a birthplace of porcelain)