A Linguistic Study of Oxymoron

Abstract

The study deals with the linguistic analysis of oxymoron as a figure of speech in which two words or phrases with contrasting meanings are brought together intentionally for effect. The effect can be ironic, humorous, paradoxical or merely emphatic. The starting point of this paper is an attempt to explicate oxymoron as a figure of speech. Then the study aims at drawing general parameters by means of which the grammatical structure as well as the semantic perspective can be described. A manifestation for the various rhetorical effect of oxymoron and its kinds will also be highlighted. The practical part includes certain text extracted from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Finally, the findings of the study will be summed up in the conclusion.