Figures of Quantity: Hyperbole, Meiosis, Litotes

Hyperbole is a deliberate overstatement or exaggeration of a feature essential to the object. Hyperbole produces a more striking effect than a plain statement. I saw it ten times. A variant of hyperbole is understatement in which smallness is exaggerated: A woman of pocket size.

Hyperbole is aimed at exaggerating quantity or quality. When it is directed the opposite way, when the size, shape, dimensions, characteristic features of the object are hot overrated, but intentionally underrated, we deal with understatement. I haven't seen you for ages.Litotes - is a device whereby an affirmation is expressed by denying its contrary. Usually litotes presupposes double negation - one through a negative particle (no, not), the other - through a word with negative meaning. Its function is to convey doubts of the speaker concerning the exact characteristics of the object or a feeling. It's not a bad thing - It's a good thing. He is no coward. He is a brave man. He was not without taste.

They are used to weaken the positive characteristics of a thing or phenomenon. The obligatory presence of the particle “not” makes the statement less categorical and conveys certain doubts of the speaker as to the quality he mentions.

The final result of litotes is always the assertion of a positive, though weakened quality or characteristics. She said it, but not impatiently.

English Intonation

Every language has its own intonation, or speech melody. Intonation helps you to recognize the language that you hear in the same way as the melody of a song helps you to recognize the song that you hear. If you change the melody of a song, it will be difficult for your listener to recognize and understand the song you are singing. The same is true in reference to intonation: if you speak English with Russian intonation, your listener will have a problem understanding what you are saying.

English intonation is a complicated and varied phenomenon. There are dialectal and regional differences in intonation; for example, there are quite a few differences between British and American intonation. Intonation may sound differently depending on whether the speakers have high or low voices, speak fast or slowly, loudly or quietly, energetically, emotionally, neutrally, or listlessly. Men and women may have their own differences and preferences in intonation. For the purpose of studying, this variety may be described in several intonation patterns characteristic of English speech.

In general, linguists distinguish several types of English intonation. Falling intonation and rising intonation are the two basic types used in different types of sentences. These types of intonation are described in Falling Intonation and Rising Intonation. You can listen to them in Listening for Falling and Rising Intonation (AmE) and Listening for Intonation in Questions and Answers (AmE) in the section Phonetics. Language learners should master typical patterns of standard falling and rising intonation before studying other types of intonation.

Intonation is based on several key components, such as pitch, sentence stress, and rhythm.

Pitch is the degree of height of our voice in speech, that is, how high or how low the voice goes in speech. Intonation is formed by certain pitch changes characteristic of a given language. Normal pitch in English speech is at mid level (AmE), with a fall or a rise at the end of a sentence.

Sentence stress makes the utterance understandable to the listener by making the important words in the sentence stressed, clear and higher in pitch and by shortening and obscuring the unstressed words.

Sentence stress provides rhythm in connected speech. All words have their own stress in isolation, but when they are connected into a sentence, important changes take place: content words are stressed, and function words aren't; sense groups (i.e., logically connected groups of words) are singled out by pauses and intonation; the stressed syllables occur at regular intervals and are usually higher in pitch than the unstressed syllables; the unstressed syllables are blended into a stream of sounds between the stressed syllables; emphatic stress may be used in the sentence to single out the most important word; the last stressed word in the sentence gets the strongest stress with the help of a fall or a rise.

Intonation performs several important functions in English. The first function is uniting separate words into sentences in oral speech. The second function of intonation is distinguishing between types of sentences (i.e., statements, questions, commands, requests, exclamations). Also, intonation allows us to express various emotions: finality, confidence, interest, surprise, doubt, joy, pain, irony, etc.

English intonation is very different from Russian intonation. Both languages use falling and rising intonation, but they are not the same in English and Russian. It's very important not to bring Russian intonation into English because intonation patterns from Russian may convey a different meaning in English and cause misunderstanding and even produce an unfavorable impression of you.