A. Facetious way
According to Oxford English Learner’s Dictionary, facetious is trying to appear amusing and intelligent at a time when other people it is appropriate, and
when it would be better to be serious. When a speaker speaks facetiously, he means the opposite of what he says. In facetious way people usually use irony to
express their idea. Keraf 1991: 143 says, “ironi atau sindiran adalah suatu acuan yang ingin mengatakan sesuatu dengan makna atau maksud yang berlainan dari
apa yang terkandung dalam ungkapan kata-katanya”. From the statement, we can conclude that irony is a verbal device which implies an attitude quite different
and often opposite to the literary context. Look at the examples below: You have a golden teeth, it’s yellow
You come too early, it’s ten o’clock the class started at eight Both of the sentences above actually do not mean literally. In the first
sentence, the word “golden teeth” does not mean teeth made of gold; rather it shows that the teeth are so bad. The word “too early” in the second sentence of
course does not mean the literal one, but to express the opposite that it’s too late.
B. Exaggerated Way
E xaggerated is made something to seem larger, better, worse, or more
important than it really are or need to be. Oxford English Learner’s: 431. One can speak exaggeratedly that is in the right circumstances. Sometimes it is called
as Hyperbole. It is a extravagant exaggeration that represent something as much greater or lest, better or worse, or more intense than it really is. For example one
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can say, “she is ten feet tall’ and means that she is very tall, not to mean that she is really ten feet tall.
C. Figurative Way
Figurative speech is used in a way that is different from the usual meaning, in order to create a particular mental image, Oxford English Learner’s: 471. The
function of figurative speech is to carry the meaning from literal level into the figurative one. One can speak figuratively by using Metaphor or other types of
figurative language such as simile, personification, euphemism, etc. some ways of speaking figuratively are explained below:
Simile
Simile is a word or phrase that compares something to something other, using the word like, or as Oxford English Learner’s:1199. It is important to remember
that simile is not just an ordinary comparison. If you say for example, “my phone is like your phone”, then it is not a kind of simile. A simile is a figure of speech in
which there are two different things compared because they appear to be similar in at least one character. Look at this example, “he jumps like a deer”, or “he runs
like a horse”. So there are two different things are compared he and deer, or he and horse.
A simile is not just an ordinary comparison, for example saying “you are like my sister”, is not a simile because the things that are being compared is basically
the same. A simile must compare two basic things that are found to be alike in an aspect.
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Simile resembles metaphor, in which both of them are comparing two different things. But t he difference is that the use of words “like, and as” in
simile, while metaphor does not use it.
Metaphor
Metaphor is a kind of figurative expressions, which a comparison is made between two things by identifying one with the other. Etymologically metaphor
derives from Greek word “metaphora”. It derives from Meta which means over and pherein which means to carry. Metaphor is simply mean carrying from one
place to another. According to Oxford English Learner’s metaphor is a word or phrase used in
imaginative way to describe somebody or something else, in order to show that the two things have the same qualities and to make the description more powerful.
We can see another definition given by Kennedy 1991: 587, “metaphor, a statement that one thing is something else, which, in little sense, it is not”. In other
words, it is the comparison between two things unlike. The difference with simile is the use of word like and as. So if in a simile we can say “his eyes are like star”,
then in metaphor we can say, “His eyes are star”.
Personification
Personification closely related to metaphor, is figure of speech that gives human form, powers, or qualities to inhuman things. It then make inhuman things
appeared to be alive. According to Oxford English Learner’s, personification is the practice of
representing objects, qualities, etc as human beings, in art and literature. So it
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seems that inanimate things is alive and act like human beings. Look at this example, ‘the sun comes to wake me up’. If this sentence is interpreted literally
means that the sun comes into your bed and wake you up. But what the meaning is rather to show a figure of speech. So things like sun is seem to be alive like
human beings.
Euphemism
Euphemism is an indirect speech or word that people often use to refer to something embarrassing or unpleasant, something to make seem more acceptable
that it really is. Oxford English Learner’s: 428. Look at this example, the word pass away is used better that died, or the camps of prison is called “retraining
centre”. So we can say that this kind of figurative speech is used to make the connotation of the words better, or to make it sound pleasant.
In the simple way it can also be said that euphemism is the using of pleasanter, less direct name for something thought to be unpleasant.
Oxymoron
According to Oxford English Dictionary, Oxymoron is a phrase that combines two words that seems to be the opposite of each other, for example “a silent
voice”. In this case usually there are two contradictory words puts together, that lexically have different meaning. Look at the example; of course it is not silent if
there is a voice, so the idea of silent and voice is the opposite.
D. Idioms
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