A Textual Analysis of Hyperbole and Litotes in Selected English Political Speeches | ||
| Anbar University Journal of Languages & Literature | ||
| Article 1, Volume 6, Issue 4, July 2014, Pages 45-83 PDF (612.92 K) | ||
| DOI: 10.37654/aujll.2014.100889 | ||
| Authors | ||
| Inst. Dr. Salah Mohammed Salih; Maghdid M. Braim | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Hyperbole and litotes are two opposing rhetorical terms that can be seen in political speeches. Hyperbole is a form of overstatement while litotes is a form of understatement. The present study is concerned with the analysis of the two opposing tropes in political speeches to find their frequency in terms of types, uses, and functions. It also aims at finding out which one of these tropes is more or less common in the selected English texts, showing whether or not these devices are characteristic of this register; and explicating the pragmatic purpose behind using these two devices. The model adopted in this study is an eclectic one that is adapted from Spitzbardt (1965), Galperin (1977), Leech (1983), McCarthy and Carter (2004), Mora (2006), Sert (2008), Claridge (2011), and Muhammad (2013). The method of analysis is both qualitative and quantitative. From the analysis of the selected data, it has been revealed that hyperbole is more frequent than litotes in political texts, that the frequency of hyperbolic forms and functions outnumber their litotic counterparts and that hyperbole devices are characteristic of political language. The reason is plausibly that politicians seek their own interests. That is why they use more hyperbole in their speeches to make images and matters bigger and more important on the part of the audience so as to convince and direct them to a particular aim, for example, to vote for their own benefit. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| hyperbole; litotes; political speeches; pragmatics | ||
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