What is litota and hyperbole: examples in fiction

Russian language today is among the ten most beautiful and, according to linguists, there are about half a million words in it, not including professionalisms and dialects. Great Russian writers contributed to the development of the Russian literary language, thanks to which the language was replenished with artistic expressive means, which are used in writing and in speech today.

The development of the Russian literary language and the first trails

Literary Russian language began to form in the XI century, during the state of the state of Kievan Rus. Then the first chronicles and masterpieces of Old Russian literature were created. A thousand years ago, the authors used the artistic expressive means of language (path): personification, epithet, metaphor, hyperbole and litota. Examples of these terms are common and still in the literature as well as in everyday speech.

The concepts of "hyperbola" and "litota"

Hearing for the first time the term "hyperbole", connoisseurs of history for sure will correlate it with the legendary country Hyperborea, and mathematicians will recall a line consisting of two branches, which is called hyperbole. But how does this term refer to literature? Hyperball is a stylistic figure that is used to strengthen the expression expressiveness and deliberate exaggeration. It is easy to guess that this term has an antonym, because if there are means for exaggeration in the language, there must certainly be a stylistic figure that serves to understate. Such an artistically expressive means is a litote. The following examples will clearly show what a litote is and how often it is used in speech.

Millennial history of hyperbole

Hyperbole is very often found in Old Russian literature, for example, in the Lay of Igor's Regiment: "I called in Tomorrow in Polotsk, the early morning, at Saint Sofia's bell, and he heard a ringing in Kyev." Analyzing the proposal, you can understand the meaning: the sound of the bell, which rang in Polotsk, reached Kiev! Of course, in reality this can not be, otherwise residents of nearby settlements would lose their hearing. The term is of Latin origin: hyperbole in translation means "exaggeration". Hyperbol was used by almost all poets and writers, but especially its frequent use in their works were Nikolai Gogol, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin. So, in Gogol's play "The Inspector General" there was a "watermelon of seven hundred rubles" on the table - another exaggeration, because watermelon can not be so expensive if it is not, of course, golden. Mayakovsky in his "Extraordinary Adventure" sunset glowed "in one hundred and forty suns," that is incredibly bright.

Litota in fiction

Having ascertained the importance of hyperbole, it is not difficult to understand what a lithot is. Gogol often referred to this term. In the novel "Nevsky Prospekt" he described the mouth of one person so small that he could not miss more than two pieces. In Nikolai Nekrasov's famous poem "Peasant Children" a hero is a peasant with a fingernail, but this does not indicate his growth in a centimeter: the author wanted only to emphasize that an old little man carries a heavy bundle of firewood. Proposals with a litotus can also be found in other authors. By the way, this term has come from the Greek word litotes, which means "simplicity, restraint."

Litota and hyperbole in everyday speech

A person, without noticing it, uses hyperbole and litote in everyday life very often. If you can still guess the meaning of the hyperbola thanks to the well-known all-rooted verb "to hyperbolize", what is a litote - for many remains a mystery. Razorivshis, the rich man will say: "I have money - a cat cried", and seeing a tiny girl walking along the street, you can notice what it "inch", and if it's a little kid - "boy with a finger." These are the most frequent examples of litho. Each of us uses hyperbole too often, for example, having met accidentally with a friend, the first remark will be "hundred years have not been seen", and the mother, tired of making the same remark to the unconsumed son, will say: "I've told you a thousand times!" . So, you can once again conclude that not everyone knows what a litote and hyperbole is, but these tricks are used even by a three-year-old child.

The cultural significance of the tropes

The role of stylistic figures in the Russian language is great: they impart an emotional coloring, strengthen images and make speech more expressive. Without them, the works of Pushkin and Lermontov would lose their splendor, and now you can more confidently use beautiful speech, because you know, for example, what a litote is.

In the literature it is impossible to do without these techniques that make the Russian language one of the most expressive, complex and rich. So take care of the Russian language - this treasure, this treasure, as bequeathed to us by Turgenev and our other outstanding compatriots.