English Non-Literary (Language) Analytic Vocabulary Flashcards
Verisimilitude
The quality of appearing to be true, real, or likely within the context of a literary work.
Synecdoche
A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole or the whole is used to represent a part.
Understatement
A figure of speech that deliberately represents something as less important or significant than it actually is.
Diction
The choice and use of words and phrases in writing or speech.
Tone
The attitude or emotional disposition of the writer or narrator towards the subject matter or audience.
Allusion
A brief and indirect reference to a person, place, event, or work of literature, which the reader is expected to recognise.
Imagery
The use of descriptive language that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, taste, touch, smell) to create vivid mental images.
Dichotomy
A division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different.
Metonymy
The substitution of the name of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing meant, for example suit for business executive, or the track for horse racing.
Euphemism
A mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing. For example, ‘they passed away’ instead of ‘they died’.
Abbreviation
A shortened form of a word or phrase. E.g. Ag from the Latin word of silver, argentum.
Acronym
An abbreviation formed from the initial letters of other words and pronounced as a word (e.g. NASA ).
Initialism
An abbreviation consisting of initial letters pronounced separately (e.g., CPU ).
Onomatopoeia (Phonology)
The formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named (e.g. slam, sizzle, gargle).
Epizeuxis
The repetition of a word or phrase in quick succession. (E.g. ‘He was dead. Dead as can be.’ Or ‘Oh no, Oh no, Oh no’).
Asyndetic Listing (Asyndeton)
Listing connected with a comma instead of a conjunction/connective.
Polysyndetic Listing (Polysyndeton)
Listing while placing a conjunction/connective (and, or) after every term in the list (except, of course, the last).
Malapropism
The mistaken use of a word in place of a similar-sounding one, often with unintentionally amusing effect, as in, for example, “dance a flamingo” (instead of flamenco).
Solecism
A grammatical mistake in speech or writing. (E.g. “This is just between you and I” for “This is just between you and me”).
Jargon
Special words or expressions that are used by a particular profession or group and are difficult for others to understand.
Logos
Appealing to the audiences’ sense of reason or logic. This can be done by including the use of facts or statistics and/or using historical and literal analogies to make a logical argument.
Ethos
The character or emotions of a speaker or writer that are expressed in the attempt to persuade an audience. It appeals to the speaker’s status or authority, making the audience more likely to trust them.
Pathos
Appeals to the reader’s emotions, trying to make the audience feel angry or sympathetic.
Epistrophe
The repetition of a word at the end of successive clauses or sentences. (Like anaphora but at the end of a sentence instead of at the beginning).
Synaesthesia
When an author blends the human senses to describe an object. (E.g. “Loud dress”).
Extended Metaphor
An extended metaphor is a version of metaphor that extends over the course of multiple lines, paragraphs, or stanzas of prose or poetry.
Rule of Three
The rule of three is a writing principle that suggests that a trio of entities such as events or characters is more humorous, satisfying, or effective than other numbers. (E.g. “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”).
Discourse
A method of analysing the structure of texts or utterances longer than one sentence, taking into account both their linguistic and sociolinguistic contexts. (E.g. Graphology, text type, purpose, narrative, exposition, description).
Syntax
A set of rules that helps readers and writers make sense of sentences. (E.g. Clauses, collocations, declarative, imperatives, interrogatives, passive vs active voice, simple sentences, Oxymorons, Asyndeton, etc).
Lexis
The vocabulary of a language. (Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, determiners, connotations, etc).
Morphology
The study of words and their parts. (E.g. Prefixes, suffixes, base words, plurals, modality, tenses, etc).
Phonology
The branch of linguistics that deals with systems of sounds (including or excluding phonetics), within a language or between different languages. (E.g. Liquid sound, sibilance, plosives, assonance, alliteration, etc).
Liquid Sound
A consonant sound in which the tongue produces a partial closure in the mouth, resulting in a resonant, vowel-like consonant, such as English l and r.
Assonance
The repetition of the vowel sound (I, e, a, u, o, y, w) across words within the lines of the poem creating internal rhymes.
Active Voice
The subject performs the action denoted by the verb. These examples show that the subject is doing the verb’s action. (E.g. Shira likes birdwatching).
Passive Voice
The subject of the sentence is acted on by the verb. (E.g. Birdwatching is liked by Shira).
Visual Narrative
Individual images, series of images, and sequences of images created with the intent to tell a story. Visual narrative formats include drawing, painting, illustration, still photography, film, collage, and performance art.
Copy
This is the term used to describe the text or words in an advertisement.
Tagline
This is the catchphrase that leads an advertisement. It should be memorable.
Signature
The use of the products name and logo acts as a kind of signature.
Slogan
This is a phrase used by a or product or brand for all of its marketing purposes.
Fairclough’s Linguistic Theory
Advertising exists as a prime example of ideology at work through building a relationship between text producer and receiver by constructing a ‘product image’, that, in turn, help to position the receiver as a potential ‘consumer’. This has 3 stages (Synthetic Personalisation, Members’ Resources, Building the Consumer).
Synthetic Personalisation (Stage 1)
Using personalised language such as the second-person pronoun ‘you’ to construct a relationship between text producer and receiver.
Members’ Resource (Stage 2)
The vast amount of background knowledge and information that readers use in order to interpret texts and which may be explicitly drawn upon by text producers.
Building The Consumer (Stage 3)
Placing the text receiver into a desired position in relation to the advertiser and advertised product. The implied reader of this advertisement and by consequence implied consumer of this product is of course the one for whom this particular construction of image and product represents a closeness to his or her own values and lifestyle. (Intangible Value).
Gender Performativity
Gender is made up of the acts that mark a person as “man” or “woman” (dress, mannerisms, etc) and it is through the repetition of those gendered acts that the illusion of a stable gender identity is created.
Substructure
Foundation
Paragon
Perfect Example
Enamata
Unrealistic pictorial elements emanating from a character, symbolising something about that character (movement or emotion like surprise). E.g. a sweat drop for anxiety or a question mark for confusion.
Typography
Arranging text to make written language, readable, clear and visually appealing. (Font, capitals, etc)
