Publications
Publication details [#13587]
Martorelli, Damiano. 2018. Introduzione alle figure retoriche nella lingua italiana. Youcanprint Self-Publishing. URL
Abstract
Introduzione alle figure retoriche nella lingua italiana is an introductory handbook to figures of speech based on the Italian language, with useful information also about the Greek and Latin etymologies of words. “Metaphor”, for instance, is said to derive from a Greek word than means ‘transfer’. As a matter of fact, a metaphor draws upon an implicit simile or analogic relationship, whereby a certain word or phrase is used to express a different concept from the one it is normally associated to. Hence the idea of ‘meaning transfer’. Similarly, the word “metonymy” is also derived from a compound Greek term meaning ‘exchange of name’. And metonymy can indeed be viewed as a substitution of a word with another with which it stands in a relation of logical contiguity. The book is clearly written and provides numerous examples from various sources, including fiction and non-fiction. It represents a valuable contribution on the topic both for experts and students alike, because it provides evidence of the richness of language and of its enormous expressive potentialities, also from an emotive point of view.