Irony Theoretical Framework .1 Figurative Language
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overstatement is used to cause the effect and reaction from the reader such as serious, ironic, and humorous.
Hypebole has the keywords that indicate them as an expression of hyperbole. Based on Carter 2003: 136 there are four types of hyperbole, as follows:
1. Vague quantifiers
a. Numerical quantifiers e.g.
dozens of, scores of, thousands of, millions of.
b. Measurement expression e.g.
yards of, miles of, tons of.
c. General size quantifiers e.g.
heaps of, loads of, stacks of.
d. Container quantifiers e.g.
buckets of, truck oflorry loads of, ocean of.
e. Time quantifiers e.g.
seconds, minutes, hours, centuries.
2. Modifiers: e.g.
gigantic, enormous, to be dying, massive, vast, endless, wall-to-wall.
3. Verb phrases: e.g to be covered in, to be dying of, to be up to one’s eyes
in.
4. Counterfactual expressions: often used in conjunction with
literally, nearlyalmost
and related metalingual ‘triggers’, e.g.
I ran when I was waiting to go on, I nearly died of thirst waiting for them.
The reader should be sensitive to this hyperbole because it contains excessive statement and it brings untrue meaning. Galperin 1997: 76 alerts the reader to be
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careful in determining the expression of hyperbole by saying “If the reader listener is not carried away by the emotion of the writer speaker, hyperbole becomes mere
lie.” He gives the example
he was so tall that I was not sure he had a face
O. Henry. This expression included to
modifiers form
because using
tall.
The meaning of this hyperbole expression that he is indeed so tall and then the speaker cannot see
his face because if somebody is very tall, the speaker will talk and see his friend to look up to see his face. The use of hyperbole is to emphasize the strong expression
that he has very tall body. The reader has to pay attention in interpreting an expression of hyperbole
because if he believes with what is said by the author and then the use of hyperbole as exaggerative expression is fail.