Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-wbk2r Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-18T07:21:09.079Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - The rhetoric of hyperbole

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2011

Claudia Claridge
Affiliation:
Universität Duisburg–Essen
Get access

Summary

The preceding chapters, in particular, Chapters 4 and 5, have dealt mostly with the everyday uses of hyperbole. But as occasional references to Quintilian in Chapters 2 and 3 have already indicated, hyperbole as a concept has its roots in the system of classical rhetoric. Hyperbole thus needs to be seen in the larger context of the art of persuasion. Figures of speech such as hyperbole are used in this context in a consciously strategic manner in order to reach fairly well-defined aims. Such highly deliberate uses are found in texts, types and contexts with various aims (and, of course, also in everyday speech). Furthermore, it is likely that hyperbole is distributed across registers and genres in a non-random manner, with some of these encouraging the use of hyperbole and others doing the opposite. A full-scale genre investigation is beyond the scope of this book, but it is possible to highlight some types with very different (functional) orientations and thus also, differential use of hyperbole. The analyses in this chapter will therefore further elucidate the functions of hyperbole beyond those singled out in Chapter 4. The present chapter will focus on registers and genres such as political discourse as a typical persuasive register, humorous texts as a primarily entertaining category, and literature as a type that combines persuasive, entertaining and instructive/edifying features.

Type
Chapter
Information
Hyperbole in English
A Corpus-based Study of Exaggeration
, pp. 216 - 262
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×