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Understatement, litotes and meiosis

(2008-05-01 16:01:09)
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杂谈

0503席淑桢 
2008-02-24 21:58

1. Understatement(低调陈述), as the word implies, is the opposite of hyperbole, or overstatement. It achieves its effect of emphasizing a fact by deliberately understating it, impressing the listener or the reader more by what is merely implied or left unsaid than by bare statement.

At one time, it was divided into litotes (以反说代替正说) and meiosis(以弱说代替强说).

2. Litotes is understatement by use of negatives.(以反说代替正说)

常见否定式有no small, no little, no lack of, no common, no joke, no laughing matter, not half bad, cannot…too 等等.此外,还常用not without等双重否定结构,因为双重否定等于加强了语气的肯定.

E.g.: This is no small acomplishment.( It means this is an accomplishment of considerable magnitude.)

Other examples:

The German fleet was not an unworthy opponent. (It means the German fleet was a formidable opponent.)

This is not at all unpleasant. (It means it is quite pleasant.)

He was a man of no mean wealth.( he was quite rich.)

3. Meiosis is merely understatement without the use of negatives.

常用a bit, almost, hardly, kind of, rather, pretty, scarcely, quite, something of, sort of等低调词来缩减事物的重要性.

e.g.: Mr. Li is something of a philosopher.

       李先生略有哲学家的深度.

由于没有上下文,李先生虽言谈中带有一些哲学深度,但未必就是哲学家.若是,不直说他是哲学家,不会有奉承之嫌.若不是,此句就有讽刺的意味了.

To sum up, Modern English dictionaries tend to treat the three terms understatement, litotes, meiosis—as synonyms. Sometimes understatement alone is used as the name for this figure of speech, the other two being considered archaic(古体的).

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