Tropes and figures of speech

A trope (ko‘chim) is the transfer of a word’s meaning from one thing to another. Every day we say stolning oyog‘i (“the leg of a table”), tog‘ etagi (“the foot of a mountain”, literally its hem), oltin kuz (“golden autumn”), and in each of them the meaning has been transferred. Tropes and other figures of speech give language imagery and expressiveness. The topic is studied both in linguistics (how word meaning develops) and in literary theory (artistic devices), so it appears twice in the exam: in vocabulary tasks and in text analysis. The key skill is finding the basis of the transfer: similarity, association, or the relation of part and whole.

§1. What a trope is and why we need it

Every word has a literal meaning: oyoq is the leg, the limb a person or animal walks on. When a new thing needs a name, a language often uses an existing word instead of inventing a new one: a table’s support stands at the bottom and bears the weight like a leg — stolning oyog‘i. In this way the word acquires a figurative meaning.

Tropes have two functions:

• naming — giving a name to something new (choynakning tumshug‘i, the spout of a teapot, literally its beak; kompyuter sichqonchasi, a computer mouse); over time such tropes become ordinary words and their imagery fades;
• artistic — making a description vivid and powerful (tosh yurak, oltin kuz); such tropes are the product of a writer’s creativity.

There are four main kinds of trope: metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche and transfer by function (vazifadoshlik). Besides these there are simile, epithet, hyperbole, personification, irony and other devices.

§2. Metaphor

Metaphor is transfer of meaning based on similarity. The similarity can lie in different features:

• shape: choynakning tumshug‘i (spout), ko‘zoynakning qulog‘i (the arm of glasses, literally its ear);
• position: tog‘ etagi (foot of a mountain), tog‘ning beli (a mountain pass, literally its waist), stolning oyog‘i;
• colour: oltin soch (golden hair), kumush qor (silver snow);
• quality: tosh yurak (heart of stone — merciless), oltin qo‘llar (golden hands — skilful), temir iroda (iron will).

For example, telling a child Bog‘imning gulisan (“you are the flower of my garden”) compares the child to a flower without -dek or kabi — this is a metaphor. Saying Sen guldeksan (“you are like a flower”) is a simile.
Many metaphors are so deeply rooted in the language that we no longer notice them: stolning oyog‘i, ignaning ko‘zi (the eye of a needle). Such “dead” metaphors are recorded in dictionaries as figurative meanings, while a writer’s fresh metaphors live only in the literary text.

Worked example

Which devices are used in Bahor yerga yashil gilam to‘shadi (“Spring spread a green carpet on the earth”)?

1. Bahor ... to‘shadi — a season acts like a person → personification.
2. yashil gilam — the grass is likened to a carpet, but neither the word maysa (grass) nor -dek appears.
3. A transfer based on similarity, with no comparison marker → metaphor.
4. Answer: personification and metaphor.

§3. Metonymy, synecdoche, transfer by function

Metonymy is transfer based on association (contiguity). The things are not alike but are always connected:

• place → the people in it: Zal qarsak chaldi (the hall applauded), Butun shahar uxlardi (the whole town was asleep);
• author → their work: Navoiyni o‘qidim (I read Navoiy);
• container → contents: Bir piyola ichdi (drank a bowl), Qozon qaynadi (the cauldron boiled);
• material → object: Qulog‘iga oltin taqdi (she put gold in her ears).

Synecdoche is transfer based on part and whole; it is a special kind of metonymy:

• part for whole: Uyda besh jon bor (five souls — five people), Uyda o‘nta og‘iz bor (ten mouths to feed), Ostonamga qadam bosmang (don’t set foot on my threshold — don’t come);
• singular for plural: Bu yil bug‘doy mo‘l (wheat is plentiful this year — the whole crop).

Transfer by function (vazifadoshlik): the name of an old object passes to a new one doing the same job. O‘q first meant an arrow; now a bullet is called that too. Samolyot qanoti (an aeroplane’s wing) serves flight like a bird’s wing.

Worked example

Which trope is in Butun mahalla to‘yga keldi (“The whole mahalla came to the wedding”)?

1. Mahalla names a place, but people, not a place, come to a wedding.
2. The mahalla and its residents are not alike, but they are constantly connected.
3. It is not part and whole: the people are meant not as a “part” of the mahalla but as its residents.
4. Answer: metonymy.

§4. Simile and epithet

A simile is an open comparison of two things. It has four parts: the tenor (what is compared), the vehicle (what it is compared to), the ground (the shared feature) and the marker:

Simile markers: -dek, -day, -simon, -namo, kabi, singari, xuddi, go‘yo, misoli. Sometimes the ground is left out: Sherday yigit (“a lad like a lion” — bravery is implied).
An epithet is an attribute expressing an artistic, figurative feature: oltin kuz (golden autumn), kumush qish (silver winter), ma’yus kuz (melancholy autumn), shirin so‘z (sweet word), achchiq haqiqat (bitter truth). Unlike an ordinary attribute it carries imagery and evaluation: sariq barg (a yellow leaf — a plain feature) versus oltin barg (a golden leaf — an epithet). Many epithets contain a hidden metaphor.

§5. Hyperbole, litotes, personification, intoq

• Hyperbole (mubolag‘a) — extreme exaggeration: Ko‘z yoshi daryo bo‘ldi (her tears became a river), Ming marta aytdim (I’ve told you a thousand times), Tog‘dek yuk (a load as big as a mountain).
• Litotes (kichraytirish) — extreme understatement: Ignaning ko‘zidek hovli (a yard the size of a needle’s eye), tirnoqdek bola (a child no bigger than a fingernail).
• Personification (jonlantirish, tashxis) — giving human qualities to an inanimate thing or an animal: Shamol kuylaydi (the wind sings), Daraxtlar shivirlashadi (the trees whisper), Tong uyg‘ondi (dawn woke up).
• Intoq — making an inanimate thing or an animal speak; common in fables (for example, the birds converse in Gulxaniy’s “Zarbulmasal”).

Hyperbole and litotes intensify feeling; they should not be taken as lies — both author and reader know the exaggeration is intended. Hyperbole is especially common in folk epics (dostons), where the hero’s strength and beauty are exaggerated.

§6. Irony, periphrasis and the order of analysis

• Irony (kinoya) — using a word in the opposite sense, mockingly: Barakalla, juda «aqlli» ish qilibsan (“Well done, very ‘clever’ of you” — in fact foolish). Irony is recognised from tone and context; in writing it is often marked with quotation marks.
• Periphrasis (tasviriy ifoda) — naming a thing through its feature instead of its name: oq oltin (white gold — cotton), po‘lat qush (steel bird — aeroplane), cho‘l kemasi (ship of the desert — camel).

How to identify a device in a text:

1. Decide whether the word or phrase is used literally or figuratively.
2. If figuratively, find the basis linking the two things: similarity, association, part–whole or function.
3. Check for a simile marker (-dek, kabi): present — simile; absent — metaphor.
4. If something inanimate acts like a person — personification; if a feature is exaggerated — hyperbole.

These devices give speech expressiveness, one of the main qualities of good speech.

Worked example

Analyse the simile in Yuzi oydek go‘zal qiz (“a girl whose face is beautiful like the moon”).

1. The marker -dek is present, so this is a simile, not a metaphor.
2. The tenor is yuzi; the vehicle is oy.
3. The shared feature is go‘zal — the ground of the comparison.
4. Answer: a full simile — tenor, vehicle, ground and marker are all present.

Check yourself

1. Which trope is choynakning tumshug‘i?

2. Which trope is Butun shahar uxlardi?

3. Which trope is Uyda o‘nta og‘iz bor?

4. What is the simile marker in Sherday botir?

5. Is Tog‘dek yuk hyperbole or litotes?

6. What device is oltin in oltin kuz?

7. Which device is used in Shamol kuylaydi?

8. Which trope is in Navoiyni o‘qidim?

Common mistakes

• Confusing metaphor and metonymy: similarity — metaphor, association — metonymy.
• Calling a simile with a marker a metaphor.
• Treating every adjective as an epithet: sariq barg is an ordinary attribute.
• Taking irony for praise — pay attention to tone and context.
• Mixing up personification and intoq: if the thing speaks, it is intoq.
• Not singling out synecdoche and calling everything metonymy.