FIGURES OF SPEECH. The general term under which are comprised all deviations in the use of words from the literal sense, or from the literary or common forms and constructions. Such deviations have at different periods been variously classified and minutely differentiated. At the present time the tendency is toward greater generalization. The deviations from com mon use may be classified as figures of thought (figures of rhetoric) and grammatical figures (figures of etymology and figures of syntax). The individual figures are treated under ETY MOLOGY, FIGURES OF; SYNTAX, FIGURES OF; and RHETORIC, FIGURES OF. In addition to these classes, older authorities recognized a fourth, figures of orthography, the subclasses of which were called mimesis and archaism, mimesis rep esenting the imitation in spelling of illiterate or provincial speech, as in the modern dialect stories; and archaism, the reproduction of anti quated orthography and form. The FIGURES OF ETYMOLOGY, concerned entirely with the forms of words, are employed chiefly for their effect on rhythm and poetry. The omission of an initial letter (aplueresis), as 'gainst for against, or of a letter within a word (syncope), as never for never, or the separation of parts of a compound (tmesis), as how good soccer, have almost no application to common speech or prose writing. The FIGURES OF SYNTAX, or deviations in the con struction, on the other band, are in constant and unconscious use by speakers of all classes and ages. Their use adds directness, picturesqueness,
and force to language. Of the figures of syntax, ellipsis is the most common, and appears in exclamations, commands, and energetic utter ances of many kinds. It consists in the omission of a word, phrase, or clause theoretically essen tial, the absence of which, however, heightens the effect of the words. Thus Here! is more striking than Come here. Bread, may be equivalent to Give me some bread : and in many business forms and in signs a word or two may have the value of a whole sentence, as No smoking. for Smoking is not permitted. Emphasis is gained by the fig ure called redundancy (the use of unnecessary words to express an idea) ; e.g. I did it in,/ own. self. The OF RHETORIC, or deviations from the usual application of words, add grace and beauty to the expression of thought. and increase the resources of speech. Therefore they appear constantly in poetical composition, and are fre quent in prose and ordinary conversation. Simile requires a connective, pointing cut the comparison: He is as brave as a lion: meta phor omits it: He is a lion. Such expressions as roof for house (synecdoche), or gray hairs for obi age (metonymy), are figures in very common use founded on contiguity; and all the figures may be referred to the vonseious ur unconscious tendency toward enlarging the limindaries of language and heightening the emphasis of speech.