Peculiarities of Hyperbole in J. Swift’s Works

 

Moldova State University

Foreign Languages and Literatures Department

English Philology Chair

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peculiarities of Hyperbole in J. Swift’s Works

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scientific adviser:

Vera Tabureanu

 

Written by:

Zlatova Irina, gr. 393L

                                                                                                   

 

 

 

 

Chisinau, 2012

 

Table of Contents

 

 

Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………..2

CHAPTER I: Hyperbole as a vivid Stylistic Device ……………………………………………4

1. Definitions of Stylistics ……………………………………………………………………4
2. The notion of Stylistic Devices and its Classification …………………………………….7
3. Definition of Style and its Classification …………………………………………………11
4. Functional Styles of the English language ………………………………………………..14
1. The Belles-Lettres Style as a part of Linguistics ……………………………………18
5. Hyperbole as a Lexical Stylistic Device and its types……………………………………..20

CHAPTER II: Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Hyperboles in J. Swift’s works………25

    2.1 Analysis of Hyperbole in “Gulliver’s Travels”…………………………………………...25

      2.1.1 Hyperbole classified according to novelty (Y. M. Skrebnev) ………………………...25

      2.1.2 Hyperbole classified according to the part of speech………………………………...

   2.2 Analysis of Hyperbole in “Battle of the Book”………………………………………….

      2.2.1 Hyperboles classified according to novelty (Y. M. Skrebnev) …...............................

     2.2.2 Hyperboles classified according to the part of speech ………………………………

2.3 Quantitative Analysis of Hyperboles in J. Swift’s works ………………………………..

Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………….

Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………..

Appendix……………………………………………………………………………………...

          Glossary of Linguistic Terms …………………………………………………………..

          Corpus Linguistics……………………………………………………………………...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

 

        The study of hyperbole is very spread in stylistic field, which dominated all the periods of human existence. It study will never ends; it is one of the most frequent device used in every day life. Also the given stylistic device is utilized in various, well-known literary works, especially in novels, sagas, detectives and poetry.

     Our mind used to express our feelings and thoughts towards the world that surrounds us. A special code is the main means in expressing people’s thoughts in the language owing to which the people can understand and communicate to each other. In the context of the language –as –a –system people use different types of means of expression that are known as manners of expression, they are called also stylistic devices or figures of speech. They are used in different context and because of it in the language exists several types of styles that are supposed to describe the meaning of the words. The best-known styles are: publicistic, belles-lettres, newspaper and that of official documents.

     The purpose of the presented research paper is to analyze a corpus linguistic of 150 examples, collected from J. Swift’s novel “Gulliver’s Travels”, observe and comment on the use of hyperbole, their structure, types, function and effect within the novel.

     The topicality In order to improve the training and provide better knowledge of foreign languages we have to accelerate the realization of the National Programmer of Personnel Training in the country. As in many other aspects of life the situation changed in a language policy. That requires creation of new textbooks, dictionaries, manuals. In order to fulfill this goals one must know every field of linguistics. In my opinion the theme of the work is quite relevant, because there is not any manual which compare the lexical stylistic devices of the    English language. The novelty also consists in the fact that using the hyperbole in special literary context we will be able to describe the language. In this respect one and the same stylistic device (hyperbole) would be understood in different ways in several types of context.

     The hypothesis that we suggest for the given research paper is that hyperbole sought in the novel by J. Swift is pretty numerous owing to the fact that the writer’s goal was to emphasis the dissimilar features, to be more sophisticated and underline significant items.

     The main motivation to study deeper the implication of the hyperbole in the context of belles-lettres style is that the language that people use everyday have to express their thoughts, feelings, emotions is full of such elements. For that reason the use of them in different literary context and their description by many linguists give us the opportunity to make a clear presentation of such stylistic devices.

     The objectives of the present research paper are the following:

• To define the subject matter of Stylistics and its impact on the style of the language used;
• To identify the concept of the style, stylistics and stylistic devices;
• To characterize  the hyperbole as a lexical stylistic device;
• To classify the hyperboles under investigations according to criteria selected according to the theoretical materials investigated;
• To establish the frequency of appearance of different hyperboles in both works;
• To comment on the effect created by hyperboles in the works under analysis;
• To interpret images created by hyperboles in the works under analysis.

     The main methods that are used in the work can be the following: contextual analysis, description, characterization and comparison etc.

More specific look upon the methods; contextual analysis implies a phase of natural language processing, following semantic analysis, whose purpose is to elaborate the semantic representation of what has been made explicit in the utterance with what is implicit from context. 

Description is another method which helps to present a person’s appearance to aid in the identification of the person by outward features. A special standardized terminology has been developed for descriptions on the basis of anatomic and anthropological data. Such method as characterization is very similar to description, but has broader array. We may characters such elements as: characters traits, appearance, words, thoughts, feelings and emotions. There are two types of characterization: direct and indirect. And the last one is comparison -is a basic procedure of explanation and analysis. Comparison presents two or more objects and describes, analyzes their similarities and differences. The comparison usually makes us see the items under discussion more clearly and in a new light.

The scientific relevance of the given work consists in the fact that there is a specific description of the hyperbole as a mean of expression which is given for its vivid presentation.

The research paper consists of the following components: introduction, chapter one, chapter two, conclusion, bibliography and appendix: glossary of linguistic terms, corpus linguistics.

     The introduction presents the goal, objectives, resources and topicality of the research.

Chapter One introduces general considerations on stylistic devices and not only defines them but, presents their classification and describes some of their peculiarities. It also deals with the notion of hyperbole in general, attempting to describe it and its peculiarities and types.

Chapter Two is dedicated to the analysis of 150 hyperboles from the work by J. Swift from the various classifications and point of view as part of speech grouping, novelty.

The conclusion sums up the results of the research. The bibliography lists the entire set of primary and secondary sources used for the elaboration of the research. The appendix includes a glossary of linguistic terms that were used in the thesis and the complete corpus linguistics used as basis for the investigation classified according to novelty.

We believe that the practical value of our work might lie in fact that it can be helpful for specialists in the field of stylistics and literary theory, as well as methodology, because an investigation of hyperbole helps pay attention to teaching it and explain its meaning. It may also be useful to researchers in the field of stylistics, text interpretation and literary theory, as well as to practical translators. We also hope that our work could help those, who encounter difficulties with the understanding of the concept of hyperbole.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER ONE: The Hyperbole as a vivid stylistic device

 

 

     The proper theoretical chapter focuses on the most important theoretical concepts that are relevant for our research. Among these are the notions of stylistic, style and their classification, various definitions of hyperbole and opinions on its classification according to a number of linguists, modern linguistic and theories on hyperbole, and types and functions of hyperbole. These notions will be briefly presented, analysed and compared.

 

1. Definition of Stylistics

 

I. R. Galperin states that Stylistics, sometimes called linguo-stylistics, is a branch of general linguistics. 

     It has now been more or less definitely outlined. It deals mainly with two interdependent tasks: a) the investigation of the inventory of special language media which by their ontological features secure the desirable effect of the utterance and b) certain types of texts (discourse) which due to the choice and arrangement of language means are distinguished by the pragmatic aspect of the communication. The two objectives of stylistics are clearly discernible as two separate fields of investigation. The inventory of special language media can be analyzed and their ontological features revealed if presented in a system in which the co-relation between the media becomes evident. [  ]

     The types of texts can be analyzed if their linguistic components are presented in their interaction, thus revealing the unbreakable unity and transparency of constructions of a given type. The types of texts that are distinguished by the pragmatic aspect of the communication are called functional styles of language (FS); the special media of language which secure the desirable effect of the utterance are called stylistic device (SD) and expressive means (EM).

     The first field of investigation of SDs and EMs necessarily touches upon such general language problems as the aesthetic function of language, synonymous ways of rendering one and the same idea, emotional coloring in language, the interrelation between language and thought, the individual manner of an author in making use of language and a number of other issues.

     The second field, i.e. functional styles, cannot avoid discussion of such most general linguistic issues as oral and written varieties of language, the notion of the literary (standard) language, the constituents of texts larger than the sentence, the generative aspect of literary texts, and some others.

     In dealing with the objectives of stylistics, certain pronouncements of adjacent disciplines such as theory of information, literature, psychology, logic and to some extent statistics must be touched upon. This is indispensable; for nowadays no science is entirely isolated from other domains oh human knowledge; and linguistics, particularly its branch stylistics, cannot avoid references to the above mentioned disciplines because it is confronted with certain overlapping issues.

Another scientist P. Simpson gives his interpretation of Stylistic.

“Stylistics” is a method of textual interpretation in which primacy of place is assigned to language. The reason why language is so important to stylisticians is because the various forms, patterns   and levels that constitute linguistic structure are an important index of the function of the text. The text’s functional significance as discourse acts in turn as a gateway to its interpretation. While linguistic features do not of themselves constitute a text’s ‘meaning’, an account of linguistic features nonetheless serves to ground a stylistic interpretation and to help explain why, for the analyst, certain types of meaning are possible. The preferred object of study in stylistics is literature, whether that be institutionally sanctioned ‘Literature’ as high art or more popular ‘non-canonical’ forms of writing. The traditional connection between stylistics and literature brings with it two important caveats, though. [13]

    The first is that creativity and innovation in language use should not be seen as the exclusive preserve of literary writing. Many forms of discourse (advertising, journalism, and popular music – even casual conversation) often display a high degree of stylistic dexterity, such that it would be wrong to view dexterity in language use as exclusive to canonical literature. The second caveat is that the techniques of stylistic analysis are as much about deriving insights about linguistic structure and function as they are about understanding literary texts. Thus, the question ‘What can stylistics tell us about literature?’ is always paralleled by an equally important question ‘What can stylistics tell us about language?’

      In spite of its clearly defined remit, methods and object of study, there remain a number of myths about contemporary stylistics. Most of the time, confusion about the compass of stylistics is a result of confusion about the compass of language. For instance, there appears to be a belief in many literary critical circles that a stylistician is simply a dull old grammarian who spends rather too much time on such trivial pursuits as counting the nouns and verbs in literary texts. Once counted, those nouns and verbs form the basis of the stylistician’s ‘insight’, although this stylistic insight ultimately proves no more far-reaching than an insight reached by simply

intuiting from the text. This is an erroneous perception of the stylistic method and it is one which stems from a limited understanding of how language analysis works.

True, nouns and verbs should not be overlooked, nor indeed should ‘counting’ when it takes the form of directed and focused quantification. But the purview of modern language and linguistics is much broader than that and, in response, the methods of stylistics follow suit. It is the full gamut of the system of language that makes all aspects of a writer’s craft relevant in stylistic analysis. Moreover, stylistics is interested in language as a function of texts in context, and it acknowledges that utterances (literary or otherwise) are produced in a time, a place, and in a cultural and cognitive context. These ‘extra-linguistic’ parameters are inextricably tied up with the way a text ‘means’. The more complete and context-sensitive the description of language,

then the fuller the stylistic analysis that accrues. 

Prof. Kukharenco suggested the term “Stylistic” in different way she says that:

     The term “stylistics” originated from the Greek “stylos”, which means, “a pen”. In the course of time it developed several meanings, each one applied to a specific study of language elements and their use in speech.

     It is no news that any propositional content — any “idea” — can be verbalized in several different ways. So, “May I offer you a chair?”, “Take a seat, please”, “Sit down” — have the same proposition (subject matter) but differ in the manner of expression, which, in its turn, depends upon the situational conditions of the communication act.

     70 per cent of our lifetime is spent in various forms of communication activities — oral (speaking, listening) or written (reading, writing), so it is self-evident how important it is for a philologist to know the mechanics of relations between the non-verbal, extra linguistic, cognitive essence of the communicative act and its verbal, linguistic presentation. It is no surprise, then, that many linguists follow their famous French colleague Charles Bally, claiming that Stylistics is primarily the study of synonymic language resources.

Representatives of the not less well-known Prague school — V. Mathesius, T. Vachek, J. Havranek and others focused their attention on the priority of the situational appropriateness in the choice of language varieties for their adequate functioning. [   ]

     The Concise Oxford dictionary gives such definitions of stylistics as:

Stylistics- is a branch of modern linguistics devoted to the detailed analysis of literary *style, or of the linguistic choices made by speakers and writers in non-literary contexts. [  ]

Another dictionary suggests that stylistics is akin to linguistics and semantics (qq.o.), it is an analytical science which covers all the expressive aspects of language: phonology,

prosody, morphology, syntax and lexicology.[  ]

And last one identifies the Stylistics in such a way:

The term ‘stylistics’ or ‘linguistic stylistics’ has come to designate any analytic study of literature which uses the concepts and techniques of modern linguistics, for example.

which is not a study of style as such but an introduction to practical textual criticism refined by linguistic ideas. It is preferable to restrict the term to the linguistic study of style in the sense indicated above, devising appropriate terms for other literary applications of linguistic. [      ]

     In order to sum up the first paragraph I have to mention that Stylistics  is a branch of general linguistic and has two basic goals: to research the inventory of  special language and certain types of discourse.   

 

 

1.2 The Notion of Stylistic Devices and its Classification.

     In order to figure out the notion of “stylistic device” we have to begin with the term style. Style means particular features of any kind of work or thing which can posses these specific features. That’s why the notion “stylistic device” is considered to be arguable point. Whatever we read or write, see or hear is not style by itself but it reveals particular or prominent stylistic feature.

     In linguistics, exists various terms to distinguish the specific means by the help of which writer demonstrates a particular manner or style. Such terms as: expressive means and stylistic devices, and other terms which might be used in order to describe his own style of writing. But very often the terms expressive means and stylistic devices are confused and it is very important to make a distribution between the terms in order to clarify their specification. The outstanding scientist I. R. Galperin determines expressive means as “phonetic means, morphological means, morphological forms, means of word-building, lexical, parasitological and syntactical forms, all of which linguistic function is to intensify the utterance[Galperin ;137].

     Another well-known scientist Y. M. Skrebnev provides one of the latest classifications of expressive means and stylistic devices. In his approach we clearly can see the combination of principles revealed in Leech’s system of pragmatic and syntagmatic subdivision and level-oriented   approach.[Skrebnev; 24].

I. R. Galperin's classification of expressive means and stylistic devices.

The classification suggested by Prof. Galperin is simply organized and very detailed. His manual "Stylistics" published in 1971 includes the following subdivision of expressive means and stylistic devices based on the level-oriented approach:

1. Phonetic expressive means and stylistic devices.

2. Lexical expressive means and stylistic devices.

3. Syntactical expressive means and stylistic devices.

1. Phonetic expressive means and stylistic devices. To this group Galperin refers such means as:

1) Onomatopoeia (direct and indirect): ding-dong; silver bells... tinkle, tinkle;

2) Alliteration (initial rhyme): to rob Peter to pay Paul;

* To avoid repetition in each classification definitions of all stylistic devices are given in the glossary.

3) Rhyme (full, incomplete, compound or broken, eye rhyme, internal rhyme. Also, stanza rhymes: couplets triple, cross, framing ring);

4) Rhythm. [        ]

2. Lexical expressive means and stylistic devices

There are three big subdivisions in this class of devices and they all deal with the semantic nature of a word or phrase. However the criteria of selection of means for each subdivision are different and manifest different semantic processes.

I. In the first subdivision the principle of classification is the interaction of different types of a word's meanings: dictionary, contextual, derivative, nominal, and emotive. The stylistic effect of the lexical means is achieved through the binary opposition of dictionary and contextual or logical and emotive or primary and derivative meanings of a word.