Hyperbole of Time & Space in Three Languages

Abstract

「你是我肚裡的蛔蟲」是一種誇飾，因為人不會真的變成蛔蟲來了解某個人。本文以動物固定語式為例探討華語、德語和英語的誇飾運用，所針對的誇飾種類是“時間”和“空間”這兩項。研究目的在於探討（1）華、德、英語的動物語式如何表達誇飾，（2）這些在時間和空間上的表達，如何運用擴大或縮小誇飾，（3）比較三個語言中最常用來表達誇飾的動物喻依頻率。研究結果看到華語常以表面視覺可以接收到的（動物移動的快慢和體形的大小）來直接誇飾。德語的“體積”誇飾亦如此，但“時間”誇飾卻不是這樣，反而較常使用動物的生理特徵和習性（Eintagsfliege[蜉蝣]的存活時間，Hund[狗]的忠心）來間接誇飾。在英語方面，“時間”誇飾也如德語般使用動物的生理特徵和習性（dog[狗]和donkey[驢]的存活時間）來間接誇飾。我們統計語料後顯示，華語最常用來誇飾的動物喻依為『虎』、『牛』，德語為Hund[狗]、Sau[豬]，英文則為dog[狗]和cat[貓]。不管是表達“時間”或“空間”，“情境”或“人格”等，動物喻依表達不同層次的語意，使語言使用者的表情達意更加豐富精采。No room to swing a cat does not mean that one wants to swing a cat but is a hyperbolic expression that means "there is no space to do things." This paper aims to study hyperbolic expressions in terms of animal fixed expressions. We will focus on "time" and "space" hyperboles. The research goals are: (1) How do Mandarin Chinese, German and English express hyperboles. (2) How do the "time" or "space" related hyperboles show magnification and reduction by means of animal expressions. (3) To compare the popular animal vehicles for hyperbolic expressions in the three languages. The outcome shows that Mandarin Chinese tends to exaggerate via visual descriptions (e.g., the speed of animals' movements and animals' sizes). Germans do the same at expressing "size", whereas using animals' characteristics or physiological feature (dog's faithfulness and mayfly's short life) to exaggerate "time" indirectly. In English, "time" is also exaggerated as the Germans do, but with mixed rhetoric for "size" exaggerating. Our statistic data show that the most popular animal vehicles used for hyperbolic expressions are tiger and cow in Mandarin, dog and sow in German, and dog and cat in English. Whether exaggerating about "time", "space", "situation", "personality", etc., animal names are suitable vehicles for language users to utter what they have in mind