Topic 3 (session A) - Patterns, Deviations, Style and Meaning > Deviation: non-literary examples > Task A > Our answer

Deviation for Foregrounding Purposes - A Universal Phenomenon

Task A - Our answer

Deviation within the popgroup name "Velvet Underground"

This pop group name is semantically deviant. The noun phrase has 'velvet' as a modifier to the headword 'underground'. But 'velvet' can only literally be used to modify nouns referring to items made of velvet (e.g. 'velvet dress'). You could use it metaphorically in an appropriate way if it is used to refer to some domain we could think of as being reasonably analogical. So, for example, the singer Nat King Cole was often described as having a velvet voice. But 'underground' does not connect to an appropriate analogical domain in any of its meanings.

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