1.2.2. Figures of quantity

Hyperbole

Hyperbole is stylistic device in which emphasis is achieved through deliberate exaggeration of a certain quality of an object or phenomenon. Hyperbole is one of the most common expressive means of our everyday speech, of literary discourse: to be scared to death, thousand pardons, чекати цілу вічність, вмирати від цікавості, робити з мухи слона, etc.

The exaggeration the hyperbole is based on is aimed not at the presenting the real quality or dimension of the object but is intended as such and signals the emotional background of the utterance. The main function of hyperbole is to attract listener’s attention towards the object, emphasize either its positive or negative sides. Hyperbole may be the final effect of other stylistic devices (metaphor, epithet, simile, irony, etc), as we have in the following sentences: Every single rascal tries to cheat the public here or the man was like the Rock of Gibraltar.

It is also the oldest stylistic device and the most characteristic feature of primeval worldview embodied in folk literature heroes that were endowed with incredible power: Котигорошко, Кирило Кожум’яка, Beowulf, etc.

Hyperbole may be expressed by all notional parts of speech:

The girls were dressed to kill (J. Braine)

The papers are the organs of individual men who have jockeyed themselves to be party leaders, in countries where a new party is born every hour over the glass of beer in the nearest café (J. Reed).

Ви завжди забуваєте про час і ніколи не поспішаєте.

Не дружина – прямий нащадок іспанської інквізиції (О. Чорногуз).

Не хмара сонце заступила,

Не вихор порохом вертить,

Не галич чорна поле вкрила,

Не буйний вітер се шумить:

Се військо йде всіма шляхами,

Се ратне брязкотить збруями,

В Ардею-город поспіша.

Стовп пороху під небо в’ється,

Сама земля, здається, гнеться ... (І. Котляревський).

Meiosis and Litotes

Meiosis is deliberate diminution of a certain quality of an object. It is opposite to hyperbole. Meiosis underlines the insignificance of such qualities as size, time, volume, distance, and shape. Its main communicative function is the same as in hyperbole – it is not the actual diminishing of the object but a transient subjective impression that finds its realization in this stylistic device.

There is a drop of water left in the bucket.

It was a cat-size pony.

Зачекайте хвилинку

Ні гроша в кишені.

Litotes is a special type of meiosis. It has a spercific syntactic structure that consists in double negation. Such combination generally has positive sense and makes judgments and statements more delicate and diplomatic:

Martin is not without sense of humour.

The venture was not impossible.

Бачу, що ви обурені, і не без причини.

2. Lexico-syntactic expressive means and stylistic devices. Figures of combination

2.1. Figures of identity

Simile

Simile is expressive, imaginative comparison of two unlike objects, belonging to two different classes. This stylistic device consists of three components: the compared object (the tenor), the object with which the first object is compared (the vehicle) and the linking element – most often a conjunction as, like, as though, as if, мов немов, ніби, як, наче, неначе, etc.

E.g.Paula is like a flower.

Дівчина була струнка, як тополя.

Simile both in English and in Ukrainian can also be expressed by adjectives and adverbs in comparative degree, by adverbial word combinations containing prepositional attributes and adverbial clauses:

Roy behaved worse than a cutthroat.

Чорніше чорної землі блукають люди (Т.Шевченко).

Robin looked at Sybil as a mouse may look at a cat.

Долиною повивалась річечка, неначе хто кинув нову синю стрічку на зелену траву (М.Коцюбинський).

With the quickness of a cat, Samuel climbed up the tree.

The English linking element like (a formal indicator of comparison) in some cases may serve as a semi affix, e.g.: dog-like devotion (собача відданість), with the cat-like tread (по-котячому, нечутно), a lamb-like girl (лагідна, покірна дівчина), etc., which liken the created simile to compound epithet.

Simile may be implied, having no formal indication of comparison or may be realized in the form of detached predicative constructions that suggest the idea of comparison:

The ball appeared to the batter to be a slow planet looming towards the earth (B. Malamud).

His strongly tout, full-width grin made his large teeth resemble dazzling miniature piano keyboarding the green light (J. Jones).

Ой ти дівчино, з горіха зерня ... (І. Франко).

Кров твоя – рубін коштовний/ Кров твоя – зоря світання (Леся Українка).

In the Ukrainian language there are two more types of simile that have no structural and semantic analogues in English.

The first one is simile expressed by a noun in instrumental case (орудним відмінком іменника):

А серденько соловейком щебече та плаче (Т.Шевченко).

Чорнобоким яблуком доспілим скотився день (М. Рильський ).

Simile of this type from the semantic and structural point of view stands close to metaphor and from the cognitive point of view is based on the mythological believes of our forefathers in the mysterious possibility of human being and animals to metamorphose into different objects of animate and inanimate world: дівчина- у тополю, калину, мавку; мати – у зозулю, чайку; козак, молодий хлопець – у дуб, явір, клен, сокола; сльози – у квіти; кров – у маки тощо.

E.g. Летіла зозуля тай стала кувати,

Ой тож не зозуля, то рідная мати (нар. пісня).

The language of Ukrainian folklore contains the great variety of poetic resources that reflect such and similar associations. Among them simile based on the metaphor-metamorphosis is the oldest and the most productive means of creating animistic images.

A lot of comparative constructions represented by a noun in instrumental case due to the long and frequent usage have become stable phraseological units, as in сичати гадюкою, дивитися вовком, стояти стіною.

The second type of simile is so called negative simile, which is expressed by a comparison with negative particle не, ні and conjunctionні...ні:

Ой тож не зоря – дівчина моя з новенькими відерцями по водицю йшла.

...такий, що ні в казці сказати, ні пером описати.

Such similes always refer to the human beings.

As for the stylistic and expressive potential simile can be original and trite. Original simile is the most effective means of making speech expressive. The more unexpected the confrontation between the compared objects is (the more striking is the difference between their characteristics) the richer is the simile. It is the process of evoking ideas, feelings, perceptions and various other connections in a vivid and effective way.

E.g.: He had a face like a plateful of mortal sins (B.Behan)

Сірий туман квочкою вгніздився над полями і висиджує тишу (М.Стельмах).

Trite similes are fixed idiomatic expressions. Although fixed similes have lost their imagery power they still retain their expressive value. They are part and parcel of the stylistic system of a certain language; they are culturally specific language units that reflect the peculiarities of figurative comparison of different things and phenomena inherent in a certain nation. Impressed in folklore, literary texts and everyday speech, trite similes bear the features of national consciousness and world perception that have been developing for centuries.

E.g. as sharp as a razor, to quiver like an aspen leaf, as welcome as a storm snow in harvest, a s welcome as a flower in May, as bold as brass, as fresh as a bean, as a daisy, as true as steel, as true as a needle to the pole, as drunk as a lord, гострий, як бритва; один, як палець; потрібен, як мертвому кадило; битися, як риба об лід; мало, як кіт наплакав; худий, як тріска; молоти , як з гарячки; говорити, як горохом об стіну; зникнути, як корова язиком злизала etc.