Hyperbaton consists of altering the natural order of words.
The etymological journey of hyperbaton begins in the Greek word hyperbatón , which derived from the Latin hyperbăton . The concept is used in the field of rhetoric to refer to a change implemented in the usual order of words in a speech .
Modify the conventional syntax
The hyperbaton, therefore, is a rhetorical figure or a resource that modifies conventional syntax with some objective . A need linked to the meter of a poem and the desire to emphasize something are frequent reasons that lead to the use of the hyperbaton.
It is important to keep in mind that the alterations made through the hyperbaton are not arbitrary. The rules linked to the logic of the language are respected in such a way that the meaning is understandable .
Generally the hyperbaton has a poetic purpose. The idea is that what is expressed is aesthetic . For example: "There is a thicket of green willows." In this verse, the Spanish poet Garcilaso de la Vega uses the hyperbaton, since the natural thing would be to indicate "There is a thicket of green willows."
Some commonly used turns are constructed by including a hyperbaton, such as "thank God" , "there is no one else" or "if I remember correctly" . In these three cases, the common syntax is altered: "thank God" , "there is no one else" and "if I remember correctly" would be the logical forms of expression.
in speech
In oral language , finally, the hyperbaton usually appears spontaneously: "This restaurant, the pastas it serves are spectacular" (for "The pastas this restaurant serves are spectacular" ).
Star Wars, the hyperbaton and the anastrophe
The Star Wars film saga , which in our language is also known by the title Star Wars , is one of the most important in the history of cinema worldwide. Although there are many people who are not interested or who have never approached her, many of her characters have transcended the limits of the screen to reach them too. Such is the case of Master Yoda , a philosopher specialized in the art of reflection and concentration, whose way of speaking is quite peculiar.
Among his countless quotes are the following two: "Judging me, by my size, will you?" , Impossible to see the future is » . Some experts in the Spanish language assure that these are clear examples of hyperbaton, since an alteration is seen in the logical order of the words, as dictated by the syntax. But not everyone agrees with this statement, since there is another resource, anastrophe , which is very similar to hyperbaton and could be the one actually used by this mythical character.
Yoda, the master philosopher of Star Wars, expresses himself through the hyperbaton.
The literary figure known as anastrophe does not consist of altering the structure of a statement in a general way, but rather doing so in one of its sequences. This was done in Latin to place the noun in front of a preposition, but in Spanish it is reduced to reversing the order of only two terms, which are part of a larger sequence. However, in the Royal Spanish Academy's own dictionary, anastrophe is defined as "a type of hyperbaton" , which simply consists of reversing the logical order of two immediately successive terms, as occurs in "what you have said" .
If we rely on the official academics of the language , therefore, Yoda always resorts to hyperbaton, even when he uses anastrophe. If we return to the phrase "Impossible to see the future is" , in fact, given that the alteration consists of moving the verb ( es ) several spaces forward, it cannot be anastrophe, because for this the master philosopher should have said "impossible." is" .