Periphrasis as a linguistic stylistic device: functional and structural-semantic features

THE ORIGIN OF PERIPHRASIS

• This device has a long history. It was widely used in the Bible and in
• Homer’s Iliad. As a poetic device it was very popular in Latin poetry. Due to this
• influence it became an important feature of epic and descriptive poetry throughout
• the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance. It is due to this practice of re -naming
• things that periphrasis became one of the most favored devices in the 17th and 18th
• centuries giving birth even to a special trend in literature in France and other
• countries called periphrastic. There exists in English a whole battery of phrases
• which are still used as periphrastic synonyms for ordinary denominations of things
• and phenomena.

The word periphrasis was taken from Latin origin and it means

• The word periphrasis was taken from Latin origin and it means
• circumlocution from Greek origin, from periphrazein and means “speak in a
• roundabout way”, from peri- as a preposition means “around, about,
• beyond”+phrazein “to express”. The use of a longer phrasing in place of a
• possible shorter form of expression; a roundabout or indirect manner of writing or
• speaking. In literature periphrasis is sometimes used for comic effect

TYPES OF PERIPHRASIS

• Periphrasis like all stylistic devices can be traditional or trite and genuine or
• individual. Traditional periphrasis as a result of frequent repetition may become
• established in the language. For example: the fair sex means women; and my better
• half means my wife.

Genuine periphrasis is an individual creation which often contains in itself

• Genuine periphrasis is an individual creation which often contains in itself
• metaphor or metonymy.
• For example:
• “That was a blow, a terrible blow; it was like a death sentence. I
• stood turned to stone.”
• Another type of periphrasis is euphemistic periphrasis substitutes a mild neutral
• expression for one which seems to be coarse or unpleasant.
• For example:
• “I would not leave a gold cigarette – case about when he is in the
• neighborhood”.