“In traditional rhetoric, ‘device for changing the basic meaning of a word are termed as tropes.’”
-Tomashevsky
(Quoted in Universe of Mind by Yuri Lotman)
Brief
explanation:
The statement means:
In classical
and traditional rhetoric and literary theory, tropes are specific figures of
speech or rhetorical devices that alter or shift the literal or basic meaning
of a word or phrase.
Simple
breakdown:
Literal
meaning = the ordinary, dictionary definition of a word.
Trope = a
deliberate twist or turn (from Greek tropos = "turn") that
makes the word mean something different from its basic sense.
Common
examples of tropes:
Metaphor:
"He is a lion." (changes "he" from a person to something
brave or fierce).
Metonymy:
"The White House issued a statement." (uses "White House"
to mean the U.S. President or administration).
Synecdoche:
"All hands on deck." (uses "hands" to mean whole sailors).
Irony,
hyperbole, simile, personification, etc.
In short:
Tropes are the tools in traditional rhetoric that change a word’s core meaning
for artistic, persuasive, or expressive effect, as opposed to schemes which
only change the arrangement or sound of words, without altering meaning.
This distinction comes from ancient Greek and Roman rhetoricians like Aristotle, Quintilian, and Cicero.
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