Analysis Language Flashcards
Alliteration and assonance
Repetition of initial consonant sounds (alliteration) and vowel sounds (assonance)
‘Sydney’s slippery slide’ (alliteration)
‘The elite meet and greet’ (assonance)
Active and passive voice
Active: ‘they released the report’
Passive: ‘the report was released’
Appeals
Attempts to persuade through emotional manipulation
‘Long-range weapons don’t discriminate; we are all a target’ (appeal to a sense of social security)
Attach
Means of criticising or opposing and individual or idea
‘Teachers must be held accountable for these appalling literacy levels’ (scapegoating)
Bias
Overt preference or sympathy for a particular point of view
An advertisement for the Liberal party announcing benefits of it’s changes to Australia’s workplace legislation
Cliché
Overused phrase or opinion, shows a lack of original thought
‘Take a bow’
‘A gold-metal performance’
Connotation
Positive/negative implications, loaded language that evokes an idea or feeling, either positive or negative
‘Her reckless behaviour was questioned’
Adjectives
Describing words
Beyoncé was flawless
Colourful language
Vulgar or rude language
‘Who gives a toss about the Queen anyway’
‘The whole policy is a dogs breakfast’
Design
Appearance and layout of a text, including colour, font selection and page presentation
A letter from a principle on formal school letterhead
Evidence
Material used in support of argument
- facts and statistics, expert testimony, research findings, anecdotal evidence
‘The city’s 1.5 million households used over 500 billion litres of water’ (statistics)
Formal/informal language
Formal: elaborate, precise, sophisticated
Informal: colloquial, everyday or slang terms
Generalisation
Broad statements inferred from specific cases
‘It is clear from the evidence at this school that all girls benefit from single-sex VCE classes’
Gesture
Use of the body and face to communicate meaning and sentiments
An interviewee crossing his arms to indicate dissatisfaction
Humour
Being amusing through the use of puns, irony, sarcasm, satire, wit etc.
‘George Dubbya Bush and his weapons of mass distraction’
Hyberbole, exaggeration
Exaggeration or overstatement used to imply something is better, worse, more/less important etc.
‘We’re all being brainwashed by mind-numbing reality TV shoes’
Imagery, figurative language
Images and metaphorical language to illustrate points and make comparisons: similes, metaphors etc.
‘Australia is a fabric woven of many colours’ (metaphor)
‘Citizenship was tossed around like confetti’ (simile)
‘Bodies were piled up in make shift roadside graves in gutters’ (imagery)
Inclusive and exclusive language
Personal pronouns (I, you, we, they, their, our etc.) to either involve (inclusive) or distinguish/alienate (exclusive)
‘They had their own laws, their own beliefs’ (exclusive-distinguishing)
Irony
Humour in contradictory situations, often through use of sarcasm
‘In order to ensure our freedoms, more control is required’
‘The woman was hit but an ambulance’
Logic
Reasons; justifiable and valid arguments to sway an audience
‘Research has proven that a prison term for a minor offence only hampers rehabilitation; therefore we must adopt a new approach, as locking people up simply doesn’t work’
Repetition
Reuse of words or phrases for effect
‘We cannot imagine the horrors they faced; cannot imagine the strength of their spirit. And we cannot allow it to happen again’
Rhetorical question
Question that does not require an answer
‘And why do we do this? Because we are fair’
Sarcasm
Use of irony to mock or show contempt, by implying the opposite of what is actually said
‘Why stop at thirty students to a class when we can cram at least fifteen more in?’
Satire
Use of exaggeration to expose, criticise or ridicule
Political cartoons
Sensationalism
Provocative language and images, and exaggeration
‘Paris Hilton exposed again”
“Juvenile joyriders terrorise community”
Sound and sound effects
Musical, effects and other audio to enhance a multimodal text
Background music during a current affairs report to create a particular mood
Vocabulary choice
Careful selection of particular words with a clear connotation, positive or negative
‘terrorist’ versus ‘freedom fighter’
