One of the remarkable features of the Russian language is its ability to use words in a figurative meaning. Transfer is a direct consequence of polysemy. Words in a language can be unambiguous and ambiguous. Ambiguity is the ability of one word to denote various objects or phenomena. The meanings of polysemous words have a common semantic core and a connection between themselves. Ambiguous words have an initial, or primary, meaning, and a series of derivatives formed later.
The formation of new meanings is made possible by the transference phenomenon. Linguists have established 2 types of name transfer. The first is adjacency transfer, or metonymy. Metonymy is characterized by transfers of names, replacement of a part by a whole, or vice versa. Let's look at some examples.
Figurative meaning of the word | Direct meaning |
wife in sables | wears a fur coat |
championship gold | gold medal |
class left after class | all students left |
blue collar workers | workers |
Beijing sent a note | government of china |
hold your tongue | stop saying it |
The second type is similarity transfer, or metaphor. Two objects or phenomena have a common feature. Such a sign may be color, size, shape, human perception, functional purpose. Imagine the direct and figurative meaning of a word. Examples for comparison are given in the table below.
Direct meaning | Figurative meaning |
the heart is beating | army beats |
hair tape | road strip |
sharp needle | sharp mind |
musician drums | rain drumming |
Wolf Pack | wolf glance |
snow-capped mountain | mountain of suitcases |
sawing a pine | to cut a spouse |
bitters | bitter fate |
milk boiled | he boiled with anger |
sediment mixture | sediment after a conversation |
In colloquial speech, people often use the figurative meaning of a word to enhance expressiveness, brightness of communication. The names of animals can be used: fox - cunning, ram - stubborn, elephant - awkward, ant - hardworking, eagle - proud. There are frequent cases when figurative meanings have lost their imagery over time and began to be perceived as direct. The figurative meaning of the word has already been lost in phrases such as: mushroom cap, nail head, boat nose, chair leg. In modern dictionaries, these meanings are assigned to words and are indicated as functional direct meanings.
It is possible that the saving factor played a role in the appearance of transference - it is human nature to make life easier for himself, and taking as his foundation an existing word, he was looking for a new phenomenon in the world around him that he could describe with this word. Perhaps this phenomenon is to blame for the human imagination. Once having received a round piece of cheese from sheep’s milk, the hostess rightly noticed that its shape is extremely similar to the head.
The figurative meaning of the word is not unique to the Russian language. This phenomenon is inherent in many European languages. In English, for example, this language feature is a real challenge for students starting to learn it. Often, understanding the meaning of a word is possible only by context, since the word can act as different parts of speech. Nevertheless, transference enriches any language, makes it figurative, lively and juicy.