MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY TRẦN ÁI VI AN INVESTIGATION INTO STYLISTIC DEVICES IN ENGLISH CONTEMPORARY SHORT STORIES Field: English Linguistics Code: 8.01 Supervisor: HÀ THANH HẢI, Ph. e BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN TRẦN ÁI VI NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC BIỆN PHÁP TU TỪ TRONG TRUYỆN NGẮN ĐƯƠNG ĐẠI TIẾNG ANH Chuyên ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh Mã số: 8.01 Người hướng dẫn: TS. HÀ THANH HẢI e i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that the substance of this thesis has not already been submitted for any degree and is not currently being submitted for any other degree or award. I also declare that any help received to successfully complete this thesis, and all sources employed, have been acknowledged in this thesis.
Binh Dinh, 2021 Tran Ai Vi e ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many individuals both academically and personally have been considered as important parts of my journey. Without their support, the accomplishment of my study would have never been perfect. First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my respectable supervisor, Dr. Ha Thanh Hai for his considerable encouragement, timely enlightenment through valuable comments on every piece of my work.
Thanks to his great experience on Stylistic Devices, I have been expertly guided throughout the thesis. And without his support, my study could not be perfectly completed. I genuinely appreciate and learn a great deal from his intellectuality, dedication, and professionalism. Additionally, I would like to thank all the lecturers of my master‟s course at Quy Nhon University, who helped me to upgrade my knowledge and my skills of Linguistics during my course.
They all definitely play a vital role in enriching my high interest in linguistic research to further explore other aspects of both the English and Vietnamese languages. I am also indebted to the authors and experts whose works have been cited in the Literature Review part of my study. Last but not least, my special thanks are extended to my family, my friends who always stand by me, motivate and support me to participate in this course, and fully concentrate on completing the course and my thesis, and confidently overcome all the challenges and obstacles during the time of my study. e iii ABSTRACT The thesis is a study of identifying the types and functions of figures of speech in English contemporary short stories.This study is aimed to examine types of figures of speech and investigate the significant of them into in English contemporary short stories.
A combination of descriptive, quantitative and qualitative methods is employed to use for data analysis. The data of this research is 20 English contemporary short stories of the U.S and England from 2000 to 2019.The study points out that there are ten of twelve types of figures of speech found based on Perrine‟s theory, namely metaphor, simile, personification, metonymy, synecdoche, symbol, paradox, overstatement, understatement, and irony. Simile is the most frequently used, and metonymy ranks at the lowest point in the data of study. As for the effects they create for the stories, there are four functions of these figures of speech found based on Perrine‟s theory: to afford imaginative pleasure, to bring an additional imagery, to add emotional intensity, and to say much in a brief compass.The study hopefully contributes to the procedure of teaching, and learning English in particular and encourages them to use the stylistic device in writing to make their written papers more beautiful and attractive.
e iv TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. Aims and objectives of the study. Scope of the study.
Significance of the Study. Design of the study. The Definition of Figure of Speech. Types of Figure Speeches.
Functions of figures of speech. Contemporary short stories. Features of short stories. Reliability and validity.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. The types of stylistic devices in 20 English contemporary short stories. The functions of stylistic devices in 20 English contemporary short stories. To afford imaginative pleasure.
To bring an additional imagery. To add emotional intensity. To say much in a brief compass .