Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics
trope [Grk trópos ‘turn; manner’]
A term in rhetoric for expressions with a transferable meaning (e.g. metaphor), which can be understood as a substitute for a denotatively suitable word. That is to say, trope is a semantic substitution. Tropes are classified according to their semantic relationships with the substituted word, e.g. as antonomasia, synecdoche, emphasis, metonymy, litotes, and irony, among others. Classical rhetorical theory distinguishes the figure of speech from the trope as a paradigmatic variation, based on syntagmatic variation.
References
Campbell, B. 1969. Metaphor, metonymy, and literalness. General Linguistics 9.149–66.
Ortony, A. (ed.) 1979. Metaphor and thought. Cambridge.
Ricoeur, P.
1978. The rule of metaphor: multidisciplinary studies in the creation of meaning in language. London.
Schoefer, P. and D.Rice. 1977. Metaphor. metonymy and synecdoche revis(it)ed. Semiotica 21.121–49.
Shapiro, M. and M.A.Shapiro. 1976. Hierarchy and the structure of tropes. Bloomington, IN.
White, H. 1978. The tropics of discourse. Baltimore. MD.
figure of speech
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