Oxymoron in literary discourse: features of its functioning as a stylistic marker

Abstract

The article aims to explain how oxymoron operates as a stylistic marker in English literary discourse and how it steers reader interpretation. The object of the study is oxymoronic constructions in literary discourse, while the subject concerns their marker mechanisms and interpretive outcomes. Methodologically, the paper combines contextual-semantic analysis, functional stylistic commentary, a discourse-oriented perspective, and selected cognitive-explanatory tools. The analysis demonstrates that oxymoron, by bringing semantically incompatible elements into one construction, produces a foregrounding effect: it disrupts automatic reading and prompts readers to resolve the contradiction within context. As a result, oxymoron is shown to function as a systematic discourse signal that highlights points of emotional ambivalence, supports ironic distancing, and, in some cases, makes ideological paradoxes visible in the text.