This article examines hypallage as illustrated in the relationship between prenominal adjectives and nouns (A-N), in NPs headed by the noun "silence" (most examples taken from the BNC). The association of an attributive adjective and a head noun often denotes a familiar object. It is here claimed however that this impression varies according to the choice of the determiner in the DP construction [det + A + N]. Various interpretative paths are then illustrated, revealing implicit cause and

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... relationships within NPs comprising one or more qualifying adjectives; the semantic discohesion between A and N is then partially eclipsed. Finally, it is here claimed that a qualifying adjective can appear both with a figurative and a literal meaning (a form of condensation), with a connotative meaning coming first; this implying some form of 'deferred hypallage'.