Vietnam National University, Hanoi Vietnam National University, Hanoi College of Foreign Languages and International Studies DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES SIMILE AND HYPERBOLE IN IDIOMS OF COMPARISON An implicaton for Vietnamese students studying English idioms of comparison SEMANTICS (Final assignment) Hanoi 2010 CONTENT 1 INTRODUCTION 2 DEVELOPMENT 2 1 Simile and hyperbole 2 1 1 Definition 2 1 1 1 Definition of simile 2 1 1 2 Definition of hyperbole 2 1 2 Analysis 2 1 2 1 The.
Vietnam National University, Hanoi College of Foreign Languages and International Studies DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES *********** SIMILE AND HYPERBOLE IN IDIOMS OF COMPARISON An implicaton for Vietnamese students studying English idioms of comparison SEMANTICS (Final assignment) Hanoi- 2010 CONTENT INTRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT 2.1 Simile and hyperbole 2.1.1 Definition 2.1.1.1 Definition of simile 2.1.1.2 Definition of hyperbole 2.1.2 Analysis 2.1.2.1.The four parts structure of simile and hyperbole 2.1.2.2 Simile in contrast with hyperbole 2.2 Idioms 2.2.1 Definition 2.2.2 Classification 2.2.3 Characteristic 2.3 Simile and hyperbole in idioms of comparison 2.3.1 Semantic roles of the comparison elements 2.3.2 Cultures features affecting simile and hyperbole 3 IMPLICATION CONCLUSION INTRODUCTION Language is explicitly crucial for communication and mutual understanding To communicate clearly, one of the most important factors is that students must be able to identify and use figurative language correctly Figurative language is language that uses words or expressions with a meaning that is different from the literal interpretation When a writer uses literal language, he or she is simply stating the facts as they are Figurative language, in comparison, uses exaggerations or alterations to make a particular linguistic point Figurative language is very common in poetry, but is also used in prose and nonfiction writing as well There are many different types of figurative language For example:simile metaphor personification hyperbole, idioms, These appear in both English and Vietnamese English and Vietnamese both own a variety of idioms- the quite brief, figurative way of expressing ideas that makes wonders out of normal words and expressions In any language, idioms plays a considerable role as idioms contain language knowledge and culture knowledge as well Therefore, it would be inadequate for learners of English without idioms studies To some extent, knowledge of idioms may be regarded as one of the criteria to assess learners’ deep understanding about the language Using transference of meaning in idioms is said to be common Among various transference of meaning types as mentioned before, hyperbole and simile are used rather widely However, it is not easy to distinguish these two types as there is no explicit borderline between them Because of the reason above, I have no better choice but a desire for taking the topic Simile and hyperbole in idioms of comparison with an implicaton for Vietnamese students studying English idioms of comparison in this final assignment This is made with the hope to giving a brief overview about Simile and hyperbole in idioms of comparison Also, I have an expectation that this study would be a helpful reference for Vietnamese learners of English sothat they could have a better understanding and efficient using of English idioms of comparison All supervisor’s and readers’ comments are welcome Thank you so much! DEVELOPMENT 2.1 Simile and hyperbole 2.1.1 Definition 2.1.1.1 Definition of simile A simile is a figure of speech comparing two unlike things, often introduced with the words "like", "as", or "than" Even though similes and metaphors are both forms of comparison, similes allow the two ideas to remain distinct in spite of their similarities, whereas metaphors compare two things without using "like" or "as" For instance, a simile that compares a person with a clock would go as follows: " He is as punctuate as a clock." A metaphor might read something like, "When Chris ran, she was a speeding bullet racing along the track (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) “An explicit comparison using like or as, simile literally mean ‘like’ or ‘the same as’ (Jack Lynch- http://library preservice.org) 2.1.1.2 Definition of hyperbole Hyperbole is a rhetorical device in which statements are exaggerated It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally Hyperboles are figures of speech that are exaggerated in order to create emphasis or effect Hyperbole is a literary device often used in poetry, and is frequently encountered in casual speech An example of hyperbole is: "The bag weighed a ton" Hyperbole helps to make the point that the bag was very heavy although it is not probable that it would actually weigh a ton On occasion, newspapers and other media use hyperbole when speaking of an accident, to increase the impact of the story This is more often found in tabloid newspapers, which often exaggerate accounts of events to appeal to a wider audience (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) “Hyperbole is an exaggerated statement not meant to be understood literally but the effect is powerful” (Hoa, Nguyen- 2001) For example: “I nearly died laughing” or “ I tried a thousand times” 2.1.2 Analysis 2.1.2.1 The four parts structure of simile and hyperbole Grammatically, hyperbole and simile are the forms that represent two proportions in a semantic structure A proportion consists of two elements, the topic and the comment on that topic When a simile or a hyperbole occurs, readers must analyse it by finding out the two proportions for an insightful understanding These two porportions are related to each other by a comparison The comparison appears in the comments and the proportions For example, in the simile “He fought as bravely as a lion”, there are two proportions: - He fought bravely.(1) topic comment A lion fought bravely.(2) topic comment However, in an example of hyperbole such as “like a dog with two tails” → implicit 1st proportion, 2nd proportion: dog topic with two tails comment We can infer that a dog would be very proud of two tails and it looks funny, too That would make others have curious look towards him As a resutl, he must be embarrassed This is the figurative meaning of the idiom Now, it becomes easier to decide what the st proportion should be, depending on the communicative purpose In such a case, we have to analyse the topic, the comment of the nd proportion to find the image, the point of similarity and the figurative meaning In general, to have a good understanding of simile and hyperbole, we should make the two proportions explicit By doing this, we would be able to point out the topic (the topic of the 1st proportion- figurative), the image (the topic of the 2nd proportion- figurative), the point of similarity (the two comments of the proportions) and the nonfigurative meaning (the meaning of the whole simile, hyperbole) 2.1.2.2 Simile in contrast with hyperbole 2.1.2.2.1 Similarities Both simile and hyperbole are figurative language- means of stylistics with the purpose of a more powerful effect When a simile or a hyperbole occurs, it would be very easy and effective for readers and listeners to visualise the discussed matters They both makes a full use of images in expressing ideas in a very figurative way For instance, we can either say “He is very strong” or “ He is as strong as a horse” However, the nd way is much more figurative, forceful with the use of definite image- a horse Therefore, simile and hyperbole both are preferable in daily conversations Generally, simile and are hyperbole comparisons or more exactly, simile is a comparison while hyperbole commonly takes the form of comparison Simile and hyperbole often compare two things to find the similarity, and then ask for a deep understanding from readers and when analysing them, it is a must to find the four parts structures 2.1.2.2.2 Differences Simile is defined as “a comparison between two essentially unlike items on the basis of a shared quality, similes are introduced by like or as” Meanwhile, hyperbole is considered as “usage of words or expressions to exaggerate features with the purpose of highlighting them, causing particularly powerful impressions” Obviously, the term hyperbole has a much wider scope as it can either take the form of comparison or not Regularly we use hyperboles such as “millions of promises” without the use of comparative structures A simile, in contrast, must take the form of comparison, commonly it is the structure “as as” or “like ” It can be concluded that the term hyperbole overlaps simile However, a major part of hyperboles compare two objects i.e take the form of comparison As a matter of fact, the distinguishing point between hyperbole and simile is the sense ‘exaggeration’- an action of making something seem to be larger, better, worse than it really is In a hyperbole, exaggeration dominates such a major role that it becomes the hyperbole’s indicator Let take a look at the following example: “Her face went as white as the sheet when she heard the news” This sentence can be analysed as follow: - Topic: Her face - Image: a sheet - Point of similarity: white - Nonfigurative meaning: she was very shocked, feared on hearing the news On the other hand, a simile takes no exaggeration It simply is a comparison of one item with another Let have a look at the following instance: “The old house stayed as firmly as a rock in the storm” with the four part structure as follow: - Topic: The old house - Image: A rock - Point of similarity: stay firmly - Nonfigurative meaning: The old house stayed as firmly as a rock in the storm It is obvious that no exaggeration is found since the image ‘a rock’ functions as an additional to the nonfigurative meaning of the sentence With the use of the comparative structure, the sentence is much more vivid, figurative.Then, readers would find it easier to understand the meaning It seems to be rather complicated to distinguish simile and hyperbole as the sense of exaggeration is not concrete and depends on individual views A comparison can be considered as exaggerating by one person or one culture but not by others 2.2 Idioms 2.2.1 Definition An idiom is an expression used by a particular group of people with a meaning that is only known through common use One example of an idiom would be to say, “I’m just waiting for him to kick the bucket.” Many idioms that are frequently used are also considered clichés (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) “An idiom id the assigning of a new meaning to a group of words which already have their own meaning” (Dean Curry-1995) 2.2.2 Classification Basing on lexicology, idioms are devided into three types: - Pharaseological Fusions - Pharaseological Unites - Pharaseological Combinations According to Giap, Nguyen Thien- 1999, idioms are devided into two types: Pharaseological Fusions and Pharaseological Combinations Pharaseological Fusions are idioms with the highest stage of blending the idioms’ component together There is no connection between the meaning of the idioms and its components i.e the meaning of the idiom can not be understood by the meaning of its components It is a must to study the idiom as a whole unit Pharaseological Unites are partially motivated idiom The meaning of the whole unit is not the sum of the components’ meanings but it is based on them We can deduce the general meaning from the components Pharaseological Combinations are explicitly motivated idioms as they contain components used in direct meaning In Pharaseological Combinations, words retain their complete semantic independence despite their being limited in combinative power 2.2.3 Characteristic - Stability of lexical structure - Stability of grmmatical structure - Stability of use 2.3 Simile and hyperbole in idioms of compariso 2.3.1 Semantic roles of the comparison elements It has been widely accepted for ages that the general structure of a comparison is A as B, of which A is the compared element, B is the compared with element, as differ from languages to languages according grammatical rules However, there is an exception For example: “He is as fierce as tiger” → “He” is compared with “tiger” by their character “ fierce” → A is compared with B only by comparing their so-called similar attributes, not the two elements themselves Then, the logical structure of a comparison should be: At as Bt In linguistic structure of comparison, Bt is always seen under the form of implication so the general and complete linguistic structure of comparison is At as B or t as B or as B In an idiom of comparison, from semantic view, the element t is socalled the needs-to-be-clarified-element and the element B is the used-toclarify-element when it has the attributes that can be used to clarify the t Such a relation is carried out by the grammatical element as In the t as B structure of an idiom of comparison, the appearance of the element t is stable in the idiom’s semantic structure while in the comparisonthe lexical structure it is very flexible In terms of meaning, the element t has no concern to the figurativeness as it is simply the element with the literal meaning Unlike the element t, the element as is also a standing element in the lexical structure but it plays a minor role in semantic structure In many cases, the element as even has no semantic function but the grammatical one only Contrastively, the element B brings either lexical or figurative meaning(s) to the idiom Researchers have shown that the element B in idioms of comparison has at least three types of meanings as follow: - t as B of which t at a definite grade, of a manner and under the speaker’s judgement - t as B: How t – the states, definite property of t under speaker’s judgement - as B: being in the state or having the property that is reflected by B 2.3.2.Cultures features affecting simile and hyperbole From the analysis of simile and hyperbole, we have proved that the root of the difference between them is exaggeration However, since exaggeration is an abstract term, it turns out to be the speaker’s judgement and attitude that decide what is exaggerated and what is not With the same image of comparison, it can be considered as exaggeration by this person but not by that one In the study on idioms of comparison, we find that the element B dominates the key role and only by analysing the element B can we work out the grade, the manner, the speaker’s judgement and attitude towards what is being discussed in the element t Besides, the speaker’s judgement is directly affected by the culture settings and features The same image can be of positive judgement in this culture but negative in another Cuture study have shown that the English is typical for their analytic ways of thinking English people keep on examining carefully all the concern matters for an insightful understanding In their mind, everything must be accurate and detailed Such analytic way of thinking is best exemplified in the English grammar, the direct talking manner, the punctuate habit and it directly has influence on simile and hyperbole in idioms of comparison IMPLICATION Teaching figurative language especially idioms of comparison can be a challenge on many different levels For example: - Small children find figurative language difficult because they lack the intellectual capacity to realize that words can have more than one meaning - People who are learning English as a second language find many types of figurative language to be challenging because of their vocabulary limitations It is not easy to solve these problems at once but with the theory presented above, I hope that Vietnamese learners would be provided with a useful brief document to have a more explicit understanding about the use of simile and hyperbole in English idioms of comparison CONCLUSION Idioms are said to be the major part of any language that have been attracting scholars, learners to study With the simple aims of having s deeper understanding about idioms with their figurative meanings and stylistic methods for a productive application in daily converstion, future teaching career and also with a small ambition to study on this matter, I have found that English is rich in idioms and once they are used, the speech becomes very figurative The study has also pointed out that the most typical feature to distinguish simile and hyperbole is exaggeration However, since exaggeration is an abstract psychology term, the study stated that cultural features had an important influence on simile and hyperbole in idioms of comparison They are the speakers’ way of thinking and lifestyle REFERENCE Dean Curry- Illustrated American Idioms (1995) Jack Lynch- Guide to literary term (http://library preservice.org) Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ... choice but a desire for taking the topic Simile and hyperbole in idioms of comparison with an implicaton for Vietnamese students studying English idioms of comparison in this final assignment This... a comparison while hyperbole commonly takes the form of comparison Simile and hyperbole often compare two things to find the similarity, and then ask for a deep understanding from readers and. .. better understanding and efficient using of English idioms of comparison All supervisor’s and readers’ comments are welcome Thank you so much! DEVELOPMENT 2.1 Simile and hyperbole 2.1.1 Definition