Functional-semantic and expressive potential of the oxymoron in Russian poetry of the XIX century.

Faizullina Nargiza Damirovna Senior Lecturer, Chair of Languages, Samarkand Academic Lyceum of the Ministry of Internal Affairs 140100, Uzbekistan, Samarkand region, Samarkand, Termezskaya str., 17 narciss.fayzullina@mail.ru

 The study of antonyms in functional-semantic and expressive terms allows us to identify various stylistic figures based on opposites and contradictions, determine the specifics of these figures and show how antonyms help the poet to create artistic images, convey the ideological content of the work.

 The opposite and contradiction presuppose the presence of at least one pair of opposable elements. ^{[2, p. 15]}. In the language of works of art, the word acquires a special sound, reveals in its entirety when it collides with another, opposite in meaning. ^{[1, p. 422]}. That's why antonyms serve as the basis for various stylistic figures. However, the scientific literature testifies to the existence of many stylistic figures based on antonyms, such as: acrothesis, amphitesis, antimetabol, apopheme, diathesis, syncrisis, synoikeosis, syneciosis, paradiastola, mukabala, alternatesis, enantiosemia.  These figures are noted in the works of L.A. Vvedenskaya, L.A. Matviyevskaya, V.Ya. Pastukhova, L. Bicentsova, V.P. Moskvin, E.S.Koryukin. In this article we will try to describe the stylistic figure "oxymoron", its functional and expressive features.

A person's mental activity is arranged in such a way that he perceives everything in opposition, contrasting evil with good, good with bad, which manifests itself in a linguistic phenomenon called allophrony. ^{[2, p. 16]}. The term "allophrony" ("other thinking") It was proposed by B.T.Ganeev in the work "Contradiction in language and speech" (Ganeev 2004). Allophrony is directly related to the concept of contradiction in a broad sense and can be used as a synonym for the term contradiction in the occasional use of words. Allophrony covers a wide range of linguistic and speech phenomena, such as: lies, metaphor, irony, paradox, entity, a number of rhetorical and stylistic means – tropes and figures. ^{[2, p. 6]}.

The oxymoron is considered from the traditional point of view as a stylistic device, which is characterized by a comic effect, increased emotionality, often intentionally used by writers to create an emotional-expressive effect, directly related to the contradiction, the opposite. At the same time, the scientific literature has not yet developed a tradition of understanding the essence and role of these concepts in the formation of the oxymoron as an aesthetically integral phenomenon. L.A. Vvedenskaya in the Dictionary of Antonyms of the Russian language, refers the oxymoron not just to a variety of stylistic figures based on antonyms, but also clarifies that it is "one of the most original artistic receptions <...> combinations of words expressing concepts incompatible from the point of view of logic" ^{[1, p. 128]}. An oxymoron is a combination of words expressing concepts incompatible from the point of view of logic.

Oxymoronic combinations are based not only on the convergence of common-language antonyms, but also on the combination of incompatible words opposed in this situation in the individual linguistic consciousness. For example, in A.S. Pushkin's poem "Poltava", the oxymoron performs the function of describing and ironically evaluating the hero:

And the day has come. Mazepa rises from his bed, this sickly sufferer, This living corpse, who moaned weakly over the grave yesterday. (A. S. Pushkin "Poltava", p.115)

In the phrase corpse, a living writer expresses an anomalous phenomenon – the contradiction of existence, shows a disapproving attitude towards the main character. Based on the current expression, we understand that this hero has not been young for a long time. This combination, which names the opposite signs attributed to one object, is an oxymoron, since the semantics of the word alive is "having all the signs of life, giving the impression of existing in real life", and the semantics of the word corpse is "the dead body of a person or animal".

An oxymoron, like any linguistic unit, is a speech error deliberately used by the writer to ridicule the shortcomings of the hero, thereby the author makes it clear the attitude towards the hero, calling him a noble Demon, indicates the hypocrisy of the hero.

The devil is a noble boredom mystery,

And on the twisted lips

Some kind of extraordinary thought

The seal lies down; what is in the hearts…

(N.ANekrasov "It is gratifying to see what he finds", p. 61)

When considering this example, the definition of a demon does not coincide with age-old concepts in any way, since "a demon is evil – according to religious beliefs – a spirit tempting a person, an unclean force," and the definition of noble is given to someone who is distinguished by high moral quality. According to Christian teaching, only God can be the source of true nobility, but this definition is given to a demon who is in opposite relations, thereby the poet gives us an understanding of the essence of his hero.

Also, an oxymoron can be built on the basis of two antonymic pairs, in which each of the members is formed from the same root, but belongs to different parts of speech, then the antonymic relations of lexical units can be formed using prefixes, an example of which is an excerpt from N. Nekrasov's poem "Our Century":

The light is like a bargain, where forever,

To inflate others by loving,

Man is inhumaneHe's blowing himself up.

(N.Nekrasov "Our century", p.115)

The statement man inhumanly contains a judgment about the presence of positive and negative qualities in one expression, acts as a figurative combination of contrasting contradictory concepts, because the semantics of the noun man is "a person as the owner of the best intellectual or moral qualities", is opposed to the adverb inhumanly, the meaning of which is given as "very cruel, ruthless, heartless, inhumane, so as is not typical for a person, for people." The addition of such units preserves the form of the word and gives the antonyms the meaning of a weakened opposite. Their contrast of meaning in comparison with heterogeneous antonyms becomes as if muted ^{[3, p. 162]}. This is how the poet expresses his opinion about the innovations of the century, where he humorously describes the inventions of that time associated with the exposure of deception and speculation.

Like the antithesis, the oxymoron presupposes the presence of two members and, thus, is a paired figure. It is characterized by a combination of incongruous, deliberate use of contradiction to create a stylistic effect:

He is cursed from all sides

And, only seeing his corpse,

How much he has done, they will understand,

And how he loved–hating!

(N.Nekrasov "Blessed is the gentle poet", p. 128)

The phrase to love by hating expresses concepts incompatible from the point of view of logic, opposite feelings, one of which is "to feel deep affection for someone or something" (to love), and the second word hating expresses "a feeling of hatred for someone or something".

"The basis of the oxymoron as a kind of absurdity is a deliberate violation of the logical law of contradiction, according to which a judgment and its negation, in particular opposite assessments, cannot be simultaneously true in relation to the same object" ^{[1, p. 208]}.

The capital is silent in the transparent darkness;

Only occasionally to the noise and the voice of the night

The dozing sentry will respond

Or the horse will stomp, and quickly the chariot

It will rattle on the ringing pavement

(N.Yazykov "Spring Night", p.255)

The expressiveness of the linguistic units of this sample of artistic speech lies in the absurdity of the statement deliberately used by the author to attract the reader's attention, depicting the incomprehensible to human understanding – a paradox. In the explanatory dictionary, the word haze is given "as opaque air saturated with water vapor; fog", but we have the phrase transparent haze, where a combination of contrasting phenomena, a combination of incongruous, is already visible. Haze is characterized as the absence of light, and the word transparent is light passing through itself. When studying the poetry of the XIX century, we found the epithet transparent mist, transparent twilight several times.

In the transparent twilight flashes

Your image is slim and lively.

(S. Nadson "In the shadow of a brooding Garden", p. 76)

Transparent twilight, moonless shine,

When I 'm in my room

I write and read without a lamp,

(A.S.Pushkin "The Bronze Horseman", 174)

The next phrase that defies logic is the gloomy fun used by N.A.Nekrasov in the poem "Muse". The noun fun in the explanatory dictionary of S.I.Ozhegov is given as "carefree-joyful mood, lively joyful pastime", in the psychological dictionary fun is given as "the emotional state of a person, a positive emotional background, high spirits", which can not be combined with the adjective gloomy (lack of light, illumination). Such combinations that combine both positive and negative, we can give examples of an oxymoron.

The mad woman swore to start a stubborn fight

Betrayed by wild and gloomy fun,(N.A.Nekrasov "Muse", p. 130)

Another logical opposite can be the phrase dumb speech, used by A.A.Fet:

And as the dawn blush dal

Or the days of yore silent speech,I am captivated by the ballroom whirlwind 

And the flickering light stirs

(A.A.Fet "Ball", p. 98)

S.I.Ozhegov gives the following characteristic to the word speech: "speech - 1) The ability to express thoughts in words; the ability to speak; 2) Language at the moment of pronunciation of words; sounding language;  3) The nature of pronunciation or pronunciation." However, the semantics of the word mute is the opposite of speech: mute is "deprived of the ability to speak." There are a lot of such examples in poetry, each poet in his lines wanted to express with such colorful epithets a protest against the foundations of that time, not consent.

Thus, the expressiveness of an oxymoron in artistic speech consists in the absurdity of a statement that sharply diverges from the usual opinion, contradicting common sense, by merging two opposite, contradictory concepts connected into a phrase, usually by the type of coordination connection. In most cases, in the poetry of the XIX century, writers use the following construction: the main word is a noun, a contrasting adjective adjoins it. These constructions create a paradox in poetic speech.