Periphrasis: A Way to Speak «differently» Among Precious French Authors

Abstract

The article is devoted to the verbal presentation, stylistic characteristics and types of periphrasis and analysis of its use in fiction. Periphrasis is situated precisely within the framework of both linguistic and socio-cultural phenomena, which, while retaining their main characteristics, experience cultural and social influences, reflecting the development of human perceptions, expectations and instincts. Complexity of semantic structure of periphrasis, thanks to which the speech becomes richer and much more interesting, always attracts the attention of linguists. Periphrasis is a dynamic and interesting stylistic figure that gives a descriptive representation of objects, phenomena or people rather than their direct names. Periphrasis is semantically loaded and conveys not only the information message, but also its emotionally expressive and evaluative characteristics. This stylistic figure is used in fiction and by its types and functions it is close to euphemisms, metaphors, antiphrasis, and neologisms. Theoretical information about this artistic method is illustrated with examples from the texts of French authors of the period of preciosity. Periphrastic description served precious authors to «code» their works so that they became inaccessible to everyone. The article also presents the attempt to classify the periphrases used by precious authors according to semantic categories and to their role in the text, which helps to «put order» in the figurative lexicon of the precious and prove the seriousness of the precious language. In addition, the periphrasis is considered not only as a linguistic phenomenon, but also as the one of general culture.