Abstract
This article makes steps towards a detailed cognitive processing model of irony, hyperbole and metaphor. The intent is not just to deal with irony, hyperbole and metaphor in a consistent way, but also to deal with intimate combinations of these types of figurative language. The model is being developed by uniting some existing models: the author’s own ATT-Meta model of metaphor, his separate, recently developing model of irony, and the hyperbole model of Pena & Ruiz de Mendoza. The irony and metaphor models are overtly of the “pretence” based style that various authors have followed. The hyperbole model can also be regarded as being in this style. The melding of the models proceeds largely by extending, into the models of hyperbole and irony, a certain major provision in the metaphor model. This is a provision for the transformation and exportation of aspects of pretended scenarios into the actual situations being addressed by the speaker. Another salient feature of the overall model is its strong affectcentredness. The model does not only pay much attention to the affective (i.e., evaluative or emotional) connotations of hyperbole, irony and metaphor. It goes yet further by often giving affect the driving role in deriving a contrasting value in irony (e.g., the degree of badness of the weather conveyed by an ironic “Sure, great weather!”) or a scaled-down value in hyperbole (the actual rough weight of the suitcase in a hyperbolic “This suitcase weighs a ton!”). This approach was partly inspired by Pena & Ruiz de Mendoza’s work, and opposes the traditional assumption that the central issue in irony and hyperbole is the derivation of such contrasting and scaled-down values that are not dependent on the details of the affective connotations.