Figure of speech
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A figure of speech is the use of a word or a phrase, which transcends its literal interpretation. It can be a special repetition, arrangement or omission of words with literal meaning, or a phrase with a specialized meaning not based on the literal meaning of the words in it, as in idiom, metaphor, simile, hyperbole, personification, or synecdoche. Figures of speech often provide emphasis, freshness of expression, or clarity. However, clarity may also suffer from their use, as any figure of speech introduces an ambiguity between literal and figurative interpretation. A figure of speech is sometimes called a rhetorical figure or a locution.Rhetoric originated as the study of the ways in which a source text can be transformed to suit the goals of the person reusing the material. For this goal, classical rhetoric detected four fundamental operations[1] that can be used to transform a sentence or a larger portion of a text: expansion, abridgement, switching, transferring.
Contents
The four fundamental operations
Main article: Rhetorical operations
The four fundamental operations, or categories of change, governing the formation of all figures of speech are:[1]- addition (adiectio), also called repetition/expansion/superabundance
- omission (detractio), also called subtraction/abridgement/lack
- transposition (transmutatio), also called transferring
- permutation (immutatio), also called switching/interchange/substitution/transmutation
Style of speech
A figure of speech is able to imbue a given speaker with certain distinctiveness of spoken language which could be considered his/her style. Two readily understandable examples are use of atypical grammatical structures (Yoda's[who?] "OSV" grammar) and poetic expressions (V's alliterative monologues). Note that these two examples have little do with rhetoric and more to do with the manner of speech itself.[why?]Examples
The figure of speech comes in many varieties. The aim is to use the language inventively to accentuate the effect of what is being said. A few examples follow:- "Around the rugged rocks the rugged rascal ran" is an example of alliteration, where the consonant r is used repeatedly.
- Whereas, "Sister Suzy sewing socks for soldiers" is a particular form of alliteration called sibilance, because it repeats the letter s.
- Both are commonly used in poetry.
- "She would run up the stairs and then a new set of curtains" is a variety of zeugma called a syllepsis. Run up refers to ascending and also to manufacturing. The effect is enhanced by the momentary suggestion, through a pun, that she might be climbing up the curtains. The ellipsis or omission of the second use of the verb makes the reader think harder about what is being said.
- "Military Intelligence is an oxymoron" is the use of direct sarcasm to suggest that the military would have no intelligence. This might be considered to be a satire and an aphorism.
- "But he's a soldier, so he has to be an Einstein" is the use of sarcasm through irony for the same effect. The use of hyperbole by using the word Einstein calls attention to the ironic intent.
- "An Einstein" is an example of synecdoche, as it uses a particular name to represent a class of people: geniuses.
- "I had butterflies in my stomach" is a metaphor, referring to my nervousness feeling as if there were flying insects in my stomach.
- To say "it was like having some butterflies in my stomach" would be a simile, because it uses the word like which is missing in the metaphor.
Categories of figures of speech
Scholars of classical Western rhetoric have divided figures of speech into two main categories: schemes and tropes. Schemes (from the Greek schēma, form or shape) are figures of speech that change the ordinary or expected pattern of words. For example, the phrase, "John, my best friend" uses the scheme known as apposition. Tropes (from the Greek trepein, to turn) change the general meaning of words. An example of a trope is irony, which is the use of words to convey the opposite of their usual meaning ("For Brutus is an honorable man; / So are they all, all honorable men").During the Renaissance, scholars meticulously enumerated and classified figures of speech. Henry Peacham, for example, in his The Garden of Eloquence (1577), enumerated 184 different figures of speech. Professor Robert DiYanni, in his book "Literature - Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama and the Essay" [5] wrote: "Rhetoricians have catalogued more than 250 different figures of speech, expressions or ways of using words in a nonliteral sense.".
For simplicity, this article divides the figures between schemes and tropes, but does not further sub-classify them (e.g., "Figures of Disorder"). Within each category, words are listed alphabetically. Most entries link to a page that provides greater detail and relevant examples, but a short definition is placed here for convenience. Some of those listed may be considered rhetorical devices, which are similar in many ways.
Schemes
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (June 2013) |
Main article: Scheme (linguistics)
- accumulation: Accumulating arguments in a concise forceful manner
- adnomination: Repetition of words with the same root word
- alliteration: Series of words that begin with the same consonant
- adynaton: hyperbole taken to such extreme lengths insinuating a complete impossibility
- anacoluthon: Changing place of clauses within a sentence
- anadiplosis: Repetition of a word at the end of a clause at the beginning of another
- anaphora: Repetition of the same word or group of words in a paragraph
- anastrophe: Changing the object, subject and verb order in a clause.
- anticlimax: Arrangement of words in order of decreasing importance
- antanaclasis Repetition of a single word, but with different meanings
- anthimeria: Transformation of a word of a certain word class to another word class
- antimetabole: Repetition of words in successive clauses, in reverse order
- antirrhesis: Disproving an opponents argument
- antistrophe: Repetition of the same word or group of words in a paragraph
- antithesis: Juxtaposition of opposing or contrasting ideas
- aphorismus: Statement that calls into question the definition of a word
- aposiopesis: Breaking off or pausing speech for dramatic or emotional effect
- apostrophe: Directing the attention away from the audience and to a personified abstraction
- apposition: Placing of two statements side by side, in which the second defines the first
- assonance: Repetition of vowel sounds
- asteismus: Mocking answer or humorour answer that plays on a word
- asterismos: Beginning a segment of speech with an exclamatory word
- asyndeton: Omission of conjunctions between related clauses
- cacophony: Juxtaposition of words producing a harsh sound
- cataphora: Co-reference of one expression with another expression which follows it (example: If you need one, there's a towel in the top drawer.)
- classification: Linking a proper noun and a common noun with an article
- chiasmus: Repetition of words in successive clauses, in reverse order
- climax: Arrangement of words in order of increasing importance
- commoratio: Repetition of an idea, re-worded
- conduplicatio: Repetition of a key word
- Conversion (word formation): An unaltered transformation of a word of one word class into another word class
- consonance: Repetition of consonant sounds, most commonly within a short passage of verse
- dubitatio: Expressing doubt and uncertanity about oneself
- dystmesis: A synonym for tmesis
- ellipsis: Omission of words
- elision: Exclusion of a letter from a word or phrase
- enallage: Changing the grammatical form of a word, but not its meaning
- enjambment: Breaking of a syntactic unit (a phrase, clause, or sentence) by the end of a line or between two verses
- enthymeme: An informal syllogism
- epanalepsis: Repetition of the initial word or words of a clause or sentence at the end of the clause or sentence
- epanodos: Repetition of a word or several words.[6][7][8]
- epistrophe: (also known as antistrophe) Repetition of the same word or group of words at the end of successive clauses. The counterpart of anaphora
- epizeuxis Repetition of a single word, with no other words in between
- euphony: Opposite of cacophony - i.e. pleasant sounding
- half rhyme: Partially rhyming words
- hendiadys: Use of two nouns to express an idea when the normal structure would be a noun and an adjective or noun functioning as an adjective
- hendiatris: Use of three nouns to express one idea
- homeoptoton: (in a flexive language) the use the first and last words of a sentence in the same forms
- homographs: Words that are identical in spelling but different in origin and meaning
- homoioteleuton: Multiple words with the same ending
- homonyms: Words that are identical with each other in pronunciation and spelling, but differing in origin and meaning
- homophones: Words that are identical with each other in pronunciation, but differing in spelling, origin and meaning
- homeoteleuton: Words with the same suffix
- hypallage: Reversal of syntactic relations between two words
- hyperbaton: Text ignoring rules of syntax
- hyperbole: Exaggeration of a statement
- hypozeuxis Every clause having its own independent subject and predicate
- hysteron proteron: The inversion of the usual temporal or causal order between two elements
- isocolon: Use of parallel structures of the same length in successive clauses
- internal rhyme: Using two or more rhyming words in the same sentence
- kenning: A metonymic compound where the terms together form a sort of anecdote
- merism: Referring to a whole by enumerating some of its parts
- mimesis: Imitation of a person's speech or writing
- onomatopoeia: Word that imitates a real sound (e.g. tick-tock or boom)
- paradiastole: Repetition of the disjunctive pair "neither" and "nor"
- parallelism: The use of similar structures in two or more clauses
- paraprosdokian: Unexpected ending or truncation of a clause
- parenthesis: Insertion of a clause or sentence in a place where it interrupts the natural flow of the sentence
- paroemion: Resolute alliteration in which every word in a sentence or phrase begins with the same letter
- parrhesia: Speaking openly or boldly, or apologizing for doing so (declaring to do so)
- pleonasm: Use of superfluous or redundant words
- polyptoton: Repetition of words derived from the same root
- polysyndeton: Repetition of conjunctions
- pun: When a word or phrase is used in two(or more) different senses
- rhythm: A synonym for parallelism[9]
- sibilance: Repetition of letter 's', it is a form of alliteration
- sine dicendo: A statement that is so obvious it need not be stated, and if stated, it seems almost pointless (e.g. 'It's always in the last place you look.')
- solecism: Trespassing grammatical boundaries
- spoonerism: Interchanging of (usually initial) letters of words with amusing effect
- superlative: Declaring something the best within its class i.e. the ugliest, the most precious
- synathroesmus: Agglomeration of adjectives to describe something or someone
- syncope: Omission of parts of a word or phrase
- syndeton Two conjuncts joined by a conjunction
- symploce: Simultaneous use of anaphora and epistrophe: the repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning and the end of successive clauses
- synchysis: Interlocked word order
- synesis: Agreement of words according to the sense, and not the grammatical form
- synecdoche: Part for whole and whole for part
- synizesis: Pronunciation of two juxtaposed vowels or diphthongs as a single sound
- synonymia: Use of two or more synonyms in the same clause or sentence
- tautology: Redundancy due to superfluous qualification; saying the same thing twice
- tmesis: Insertions of syllables within a compound word
- zeugma: The using of one verb for two or more actions
Tropes
Main article: Trope (linguistics)
- accismus: expressing the want of something by denying it
- allegory: Extended metaphor in which a story is told to illustrate an important attribute of the subject
- allusion: Indirect reference to another work of literature or art
- ambiguity: Phrasing which can have two meanings
- amplification: Expanding upon an initial statement
- anacoenosis: Posing a question to an audience, often with the implication that it shares a common interest with the speaker
- analogy A comparison
- anapodoton: Leaving a sentence unfinished
- antanaclasis: A form of pun in which a word is repeated in two different senses
- anthimeria: Transformating a word's word class
- anthropomorphism: Ascribing human characteristics to something that is not human, such as an animal or a god (see zoomorphism)
- antimetabole: Repetition of words in successive clauses, but in transposed grammatical order
- antiphrasis: An name or a phrase used ironically.
- antistasis: The use of two homonyms or homonymic phrases.
- antonomasia: Substitution of a proper name for a phrase or vice versa
- aphorism: Briefly phrased, easily memorable statement of a truth or opinion, an adage
- apologia: Justifying one's actions
- aporia: Faked or sincere puzzled questioning
- apophasis: (Invoking) an idea by denying its (invocation)
- appositive: Insertion of a parenthetical entry
- apostrophe: Addressing a thing, an abstraction or a person not present
- archaism: Use of an obsolete, archaic, word (a word used in olden language, e.g. Shakespeare's language)
- auxesis: Form of hyperbole, in which a more important sounding word is used in place of a more descriptive term
- bathos: Pompous speech with a ludicrously mundane worded anti-climax
- burlesque metaphor: An amusing, overstated or grotesque comparison or examplification.
- catachresis: Blatant misuse of words or phrases.
- categoria: Candidly revealing an opponent's weakness
- chleasmus: A ridiculing respond
- cliché: Overused phrase or theme
- circumlocution: Talking around a topic by substituting or adding words, as in euphemism or periphrasis
- commiseration: Evoking pity in the audience
- congeries: Accumulation of synonymous or different words or phrases together forming a single message
- correctio: Linguistic device used for correcting one's mistakes, a form of which is epanorthosis
- dehortatio: discouraging advice given with seeming sagacity
- denominatio: Another word for metonymy
- diatyposis: The act of giving counsel
- double negative: Grammar construction that can be used as an expression and it is the repetition of negative words
- dirimens copulatio: Juxtaposition of two ideas with a similar message
- distinctio: Defining or specifying the meaning of a word or phrase you use
- dysphemism: Substitution of a harsher, more offensive, or more disagreeable term for another. Opposite of euphemism
- dubitatio: Expressing doubt over one's ability to hold speeches, or doubt over other ability
- ekphrasis: Lively describing something you see, often a painting
- epanorthosis: Immediate and emphatic self-correction, often following a slip of the tongue
- encomium: A speech consisting of praise; a eulogy
- enumeratio: A sort of amplification and accumulation in which specific aspects are added up to make a point
- epicrisis: Mentioning a saying and then commenting on it
- epiplexis: Rhetorical question displaying disapproval or debunks
- epitrope: Initially pretending to agree with an opposing debater or invite one to do something
- erotema: Synonym for rhetorical question
- erotesis: Rhetorical question expressing approvement or refusal of belief in
- euphemism: Substitution of a less offensive or more agreeable term for another
- grandiloquence: Pompous speech
- exclamation: An emphatic parenthetic addition that is complete in itself, exclamation differs from interjection in that it usually involves an emotional response.
- Invective: The act of insulting
- humour: Provoking laughter and providing amusement
- hyperbaton: Words that naturally belong together are separated from each other for emphasis or effect
- hyperbole: Use of exaggerated terms for emphasis
- hypocatastasis: An implication or declaration of resemblance that does not directly name both terms
- hypophora: Answering one's own rhetorical question at length
- hysteron proteron: Reversal of anticipated order of events; a form of hyperbaton
- innuendo: Having a hidden meaning in a sentence that makes sense whether it is detected or not
- inversion: A reversal of normal word order, especially the placement of a verb ahead of the subject (subject-verb inversion).
- imperative sentence: The urging to do something
- irony: Use of word in a way that conveys a meaning opposite to its usual meaning
- kataphora: Repetition of a cohesive device at the end
- litotes: Emphasizing the magnitude of a statement by denying its opposite
- malapropism: Using a word through confusion with a word that sounds similar
- meiosis: Use of understatement, usually to diminish the importance of something
- merism: Statement of opposites to indicate a unit of something
- metalepsis: Figurative speech is used in a new context
- metaphor: Figurative language
- metonymy: Referring to something by a new or lesser used epithet
- neologism: The use of a word or term that has recently been created, or has been in use for a short time. Opposite of archaism
- non sequitur: Statement that bears no relationship to the context preceding
- occupatio Mentioning something by reportedly not mentioning it
- onomatopoeia: Words that sound like their meaning
- oxymoron: Using two terms together, that normally contradict each other
- par'hyponoian: Replacing in a phrase or text a second part, that would have been logically expected.
- parable: Extended metaphor told as an anecdote to illustrate or teach a moral lesson
- paradiastole: Making a euphemism out of what usually is considered negative
- paradox: Use of apparently contradictory ideas to point out some underlying truth
- paradiastole: Extenuating a vice in order to flatter or soothe
- paraprosdokian: Phrase in which the latter part causes a rethinking or reframing of the beginning
- paralipsis: Drawing attention to something while pretending to pass it over
- parody: Humouristic imitation
- paronomasia: Pun, in which similair sounding words but words having a different meaning are used
- pathetic fallacy: Ascribing human conduct and feelings to nature
- periphrasis: Superfluous use of grammatical morphemes
- personification/prosopopoeia/anthropomorphism: Attributing or applying human qualities to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena
- pleonasm: The use of more words or word-parts than is necessary for clear expression
- praeteritio: Another word for paralipsis
- procatalepsis: Refuting anticipated objections as part of the main argument
- prolepsis: Another word for procatalepsis
- proslepsis: Extreme form of paralipsis in which the speaker provides great detail while feigning to pass over a topic
- prothesis: Adding a syllable to the beginning of a word
- proverb: Succinct or pithy, often metaphorical, expression of wisdom commonly believed to be true
- pun: Play on words that will have two meanings
- rhetorical question: Asking a question as a way of asserting something. Asking a question which already has the answer hidden in it. Or asking a question not for the sake of getting an answer but for asserting something (or as in a poem for creating a poetic effect)
- satire: Humoristic criticism of society
- sensory detail imagery: sight, sound, taste, touch, smell
- sesquipedalianism: use of long and obscure words
- simile: Comparison between two things using like or as
- snowclone: Alteration of cliché or phrasal template
- style: how information is presented
- superlative: Saying that something is the best of something or has the most of some quality, e.g. the ugliest, the most precious etc.
- syllepsis: The use of a word in its figurative and literal sense at the same time
- syncatabasis (condescension, accommodation): adaptation of style to the level of the audience
- synchoresis: Giving an impression of impartiality
- synecdoche: Form of metonymy, referring to a part by its whole, or a whole by its part
- synesthesia: Description of one kind of sense impression by using words that normally describe another.
- tautology: Superflous repetition of the same sense in different words Example: The children gathered in a round circle
- transferred epithet: Giving an inanimate object animate qualities.
- truism: a self-evident statement
- tricolon diminuens: Combination of three elements, each decreasing in size
- tricolon crescens: Combination of three elements, each increasing in size
- verbal paradox: Paradox specified to language
- zeugma: Use of a single verb to describe two or more actions
- zoomorphism: Applying animal characteristics to humans or gods
See also
References
- ^ Jump up to: a b Jansen (2008), quote from the summary:
Using these formulas, a pupil could render the same subject or theme in a myriad of ways. For the mature author, this principle offered a set of tools to rework source texts into a new creation. In short, the quadripartita ratio offered the student or author a ready-made framework, whether for changing words or the transformation of entire texts. Since it concerned relatively mechanical procedures of adaptation that for the most part could be learned, the techniques concerned could be taught at school at a relatively early age, for example inthe improvement of pupils’ own writing.
[full citation needed]
- Jump up ^ Book V, 21.29, pp.303-5
- Jump up ^ Institutio Oratoria, Vol. I, Book I, Chapter 5, paragraphs 6 and 38-41. And also in Book VI Chapter 3
- Jump up ^ Rhetorica ad Herennium
- Jump up ^ Second Edition, McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0-07-557112-9, pp.451
- Jump up ^ "The scientific and literary treasury - Samuel Maunder - Google Books". Books.google.se. Retrieved 2013-05-23.
- Jump up ^ "Universal Technological Dictionary Or Familiar Explanation of the Terms Used ... - George Crabb - Google Books". Books.google.se. Retrieved 2013-05-23.
- Jump up ^ "Naming-day in Eden: The Creation and Recreation of Language - Noah Jonathan Jacobs - Google Books". Books.google.se. Retrieved 2013-05-23.
- Jump up ^ "rhythm - definition and examples of rhythm in phonetics and poetics". Grammar.about.com. Retrieved 2013-05-23.
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