Nineteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Spitzbardt (1963) is one of the pioneers suggested to examine hyperbole in everyday language. Kreuz et al. (1996) emphasize the importance of hyperbole in language use. However, there has been little research done on the linguistic features of hyperbolic expressions. This study focuses on hyperbolic expression in Mandarin Chinese and German with the purpose of revealing the syntactic, semantic and sociolinguistic differences features of animal fixed expressions. “Hyperbole contrasts of magnitude” (Colston and O’Brien 2000) is the theoretical background of the study. The result shows that: (1) syntactically, while the Chinese apply verbal predicates (tun1zhou1zhi1yu2 ‘swallow-boat-of-fish; a loose punishment’, ying2che1zhi1yu2 ‘load-car-of-fish; a great deal of fish’) and antithesis to hyperbolize, Germans use adjectival predicates (Drachenzahn ‘dragon-tooth; fossilized tooth’, Elefantengeburt ‘elephants-birth; a long-drawn-out, protracted project’) and shift description (Adlerblick ‘eagle-look; looks/appearance like an eagle; harsh/hard look in one’s eyes’). (2) Semantically, both Mandarin and German animal fixed expressions hyperbolize human behavior, characters, sound, and unpredictable destiny. But Germans stress human behavior (schnattern wie eine Ente ‘quack-like-a-duck; to gabble away, to yak’), whereas Chinese highlight unpredictable destiny (ma2que4bian4feng4huang2 ‘sparrow-become-phoenix; to turn to the beau monde from low class’). In addition, mechanisms of language change in which either synesthesia, generalization or specification is involved, show in the given languages. Animal fixed expressions in both Mandarin Chinese and German serve as hyperbolic expression that renders the emotional outlet to the language users. Implications of these results for theories to interpret hyperbolic expression are thus modified.