Hyperbolic Expressions in Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty: A Semantic Study
Keywords:
Contextual meaning, literature anaysisAbstract
This study aims to identify and analyze hyperbolic expressions found in Jenny Han’s novel The Summer I Turned Pretty and to explain their contextual meanings through a semantic approach. The study employs a descriptive qualitative method, with data collected using the documentation technique. The data were taken from dialogues and narratives in the novel that contain hyperbolic expressions. Each expression was identified based on Knickerbocker and Reninger’s (1974) typology of figurative language and further examined using McCarthy & Carter’s (2004) criteria. The contextual meanings were analyzed using Lyons’s (1977) theory, emphasizing how meaning is shaped by situational and emotional context. Results show that the novel contains 19 hyperbolic expressions reflecting adolescent emotional intensity, particularly exaggerations related to temporal distortion, spatial amplification, and metaphorical destruction. These hyperboles dramatize teenage experiences and mirror psychological states, functioning as linguistic markers of emotional development in coming-of-age narratives.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Almas Zulfanida, Armiwati, Dedy Kurniawan
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