Concept in Definition ABC

When we speak or write we handle a series of figures rhetorical or literary resources that allow us to communicate with a certain originality. The hyperbaton is one of these figures and it is specifically a position figure. It consists of altering the logical order of the words that make up a sentence.

As for the word hyperbaton, it comes from the Greek hyperbatos and literally means "to go over the steps".

In this way, if I say "Manuela went to the field today for margaritas", changing the structure I form a hyperbaton and I say "Manuela went to the field for margaritas today". This type of resource began to be used at the end of the Middle Ages in the texts of a courtly character with the intention of ennoblement of the language and that the expression appear more poetic and original.

The disorder of the words is due to two reasons: to the influence of the Latin syntax, in which the verb occupies the last place of a sentence or to highlight the most important element at the beginning of the statement.

The use of hyperbaton

Although it is a figure that has been traditionally used to alter the metric of the poetry, in everyday language is also used. Thus, when we say "if I remember correctly", "thank God", "God forbid", "it is fine" or "I see it badly" we are using a hyperbaton.

With this type of training, language acquires a certain elegance and beauty. On synthesis, It is a Figure of speech which is used for aesthetic reasons and for technical reasons, as it enhances the dimension aesthetics of language and, at the same time, it is possible to adapt a verse to a certain rhyme.

Rhetorical figures of position

In addition to the hyperbaton, other rhetorical figures of position are the anastrophe and the tmesis. The first is to reverse the syntactic order of the words, as in the saying "To God praying, with the mallet giving" or the verse of the poet Góngora "was the flowery season of the year." The tmesis or lexical overlap occurs when a word or several are inserted within a sentence. It is a very widespread resource in song lyrics. Thus, when saying "elegantly you speak mind", the word "elegantly" is being cut into two parts.

Other types of rhetorical figures

There are figures of diction such as metastasis or calambur. Figures such as anaphora, apostrophe or onomatopoeia belong to the repetition group. The list of types of figures is very broad, as there are logical, dialectical, semantic, syntactic or tropes.

Photos: Fotolia - RH2010 / Lorelyn Medina