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10. Hyperbole.
Data example: 10
a Ericks dad: Honey, why dont you let me handle this one. p.3
It is uttered by Ericks dad. He acts as father of Erick. He delivers his message to his wife. But in this conversation, the writer can not find the name
of both parties. Therefore the writer addresses Ericks mom by name Anna to ease the writer gives an explanation.
In above sentence, the euphemism goes to the word honey, this is a kind of euphemistic hyperbole . The word honey is a euphemism for Ericks mom
which is called Anna in this study. Her name is counteracted by the euphemistic term for some reasons:
a There is a social taboo and fear to name the older kin by their given name.
b It could be taboo to address someones name in maintaining social
harmony. In typical sentence, it is taboo for the speaker to address her wife by name
since personal names are not used among spouses. Therefore, the speaker euphemized it by addressing honey.
Honey is a kind of address form marked by exaggerating the social distance between them. They do so because of the little social distance. Hence,
they may use the casual and intimate style or add the given name or nickname in that situation.
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To address someone with intimate style is in order to get more polite and more familiar address form. In the case, it happens to couple, close friends,
relatives. To address wife by using honey sounds more romantic, nicer than those of given name that is a little bit rude.
Honey is a euphemism in addressing or naming getting through euphemistic exaggeration or hyperbole. It is in order to emphasize and cause
dramatic effect and not to be understood literally. Supporting above description, the writer shall break down the term
honey into smaller components: Honey: [OBJECT] [COMMON] [NON-LIVING] [HUMANITY]
[SWEET] In this case, honey is something with sweet taste. Therefore, it is used as
euphemism for the taboo term. If the term honey is replaced by the intended meaning, the sentence will be changed like below:
b Ericks dad: Anna, why dont you let me handle this one.
This sentence is acceptable, yet it is not a euphemism expression like sentence a We can catch what is being said directly, moreover Anna falls under below
components: Anna: [OBJECT] [COMMON] [NON-LIVING] [HUMANITY] [GIVEN
NAME] These features let Anna be name of somebody which is taboo for some reasons
that have been mentioned The writer then would like to identify the semantic component of both
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words to get more explanation:
Honey Anna
+ Object
+ +
Common +
+ Non-living
+ +
Humanity +
- Given name
+ +
Sweet -
Those words share similar components [OBJECT] [COMMON] [NON- LIVING] [HUMANITY]. Honey and Anna are common object but they have
[HUMANITY] feature that let them deal with human. Honey is a kind of food consumed by human being, while, Anna is a kind of human beings name.
Therefore, honey is able to replace Anna. Let alone honey is regarded more polite and pleasant to hear. It is shown from semantic components which
differentiate it from that of Anna, such as: [SWEET]. The feature [SWEET] has a good and broad sense that refers to taste like sugar, fresh and pure,
fragrant smell, pleasant, attractive and the like. Hence, honey can be used to address form as intimate style.
Then the writer shall conclude that the meaning of honey is incompatible with that of Anna. it is because they share four components in
common but clash in the feature [± GIVEN NAME] and [± SWEET]. The new meaning honey undergoes semantic meaning in association
process. The meaning change is motivated by the similarity of characters. Honey used to mean thing produced by bee with sweet and delicious taste.
While, Anna is female name with nice characters like beautiful, attractive, patient and the like. The word honey may make up for Anna because they
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share identical feature [HUMANITY]. Honey has this feature and relates to human since human consumes honey because of the sweet taste like sugar.
Meanwhile, Anna is common object having [HUMANITY] feature since name is label for human beings to recognize one to another.
11. Understatement
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