Linguistic synaesthesia through the prism of stylistic devices

The article considers linguistic manifestations of synaesthesia. The authors aim to order the range of stylistic devices denoting linguistic synaesthesia and to expand the list; to introduce novel figures of speech; to analyse the internal structure of synaesthetic phrases from the point of view of the theory of stylistic devices; to reveal whether such phrases can be regarded as part of “framing” structures. The first section of the article provides an overview of the topic and outlines its current research questions. Normally, synaesthesia is manifested as various figures of speech that include lexical units containing sensory semantic components. Quite a significant number of studies by default consider synaesthetic metaphor to be the manifestation of synaesthesia in discourse. However, the actual practice shows that we cannot pinpoint a certain device as the only manifestation of synaesthesia. Rather, synaesthesia provides a certain semantic content to a fixed structure of various stylistic figures; therefore, it is ineffective to study metaphor as the only form of synaesthesia. Another problem is the ambiguous linguistic definition of synaesthesia, since along with regular polysensory phrases it includes combinations in which both components are perceived through the same sensory channel, as well as those in which only one word contains a sensory component. The second and third sections consider semantic devices (i.e. those based on analogy and contiguity) and syntactic devices, respectively. Indeed, among semantic devices metaphor is regarded to be the most typical manifestation of synaesthesia (including an extended metaphor and a metaphor containing implicit synaesthesia). Considering whether simile is a synaesthetic device is a controversial issue - though, it quite resembles metaphor. The synaesthetic nature of metonymy and hypallage is a controversial question as well, because these devices may be in non-compliance with the definition of synaesthesia (as they do include sensory semantic components). Oxymoron contains components belonging to the same sensory modality, which goes against the criterion of polysensority. Thus, the issue whether to include oxymoron in the set of synaesthetic devices depends on the problem of a linguistic definition of synaesthesia. The analysis of linguistic synaesthesia also includes studying the devices that have never been considered before: narrative ellipsis, portmanteau words, and metaphor based on confronting presupposed analogies rather than notions comprising metaphor. The fourth section focuses on synaes-thetic combinations integrated into larger - “embracing” - figures (i.e. synaesthetic metaphors as part of antithesis or chiasmus). Considering synaesthesia from the viewpoint of the theory of stylistic devices allows studying in more detail the principles of its functioning and opens up new vistas in the linguistic description of synaesthesia. The authors declare no conflicts of interests. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

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