EPITHETS AS A MEANS OF THE PERSONAGE’S EMOTIONAL STATE REPRESENTATION IN THE TEXTS OF ENGLISH FICTIONAL WORKS

Abstract

The aim of the present research is to analyse in detail and describe functioning of such lexical stylistic means as epithet used to nominate the personage’s emotional state in the texts of English fictional works. The research has been done within the framework of functional linguistics, namely, text linguistics. The established aim implies finding solutions to a number of tasks: 1. to analyse the peculiarities of usage of metaphorical epithet; 2. to describe the means of intensification used to increase expressiveness of epithets; 3. to define the characteristic features of epithets formed with the help of nouns; 4. to outline the difference of inverted epithets. The material of our investigation includes the works of outstanding English writers: D. H. Lawrence (The Lovely Lady and other stories), К. Mansfield (Selected stories), J. D. Salinger (Nine Stories). Epithets serve as a stylistic means that is widely used to characterize the emotional state of a personage. As a result of our research, we have established several types of epithets that help to express mainly negative emotions (anger, repulsion). Metaphorical epithets give the nominated emotion brighter characteristics, thus, contributing to full exposure of the personage’s image. In combination with other stylistic means epithets may form chains. The latter intensify the perception of the nominated emotion by the reader. Epithets in postposition toward to the noun they identify and intensifiers (mainly ‘so’) can not only express the personage’s emotions (or even their shades), but also their attitude to the events / phenomena. Inverted epithets are expressive and stylistically marked as colloquial. As a rule, epithets are expressed by adjectives and participles. Fewer epithets are expressed by adverbs. There are cases fixed when nouns function as epithets, mainly in prepositional phrases with ‘of’.