Language Analysis Flashcards
Adjective
Adds descriptive detail to make the text more interesting
Can imply something positive or negative
Alliteration
Adds emphasis, reinforces the meaning
Draws attention to keywords/ideas
Memorable
Appeal
Triggers an emotional response
Evokes feelings of guilt, shame, concern
Fear, or conversely of pride, honour, satisfaction
Attack
Belittles opponents arguments, may lend weight to the author’s arguments
Can help the author argue from position of authority
Bias
Can strengthen argument if bias seems relevant within the context
Can undermine argument if disproportionate to context
Cliche
Can sway the audience by appealing to something familiar
May alienate the discerning audience
Colourful language
Can provide humour
May offend a conservative audience
Establishes informal register
Connotation
Encourages the audience to accept (subtly or truly) an implication
Paints an event or issue in a suggestive/ loaded light
Design and structure
Persuade through association
Establishes genre and context
Can manipulate emotions
Euphemism
Can soften and blow of difficult information or ideas
Evidence
Can lend weight to an argument and increased author credibility if employed responsibly
Can undermine argument if overused or used inappropriately
Exaggeration and Hyperbole
Create a dramatic effect, often through imagery
Formal and Informal
Formal- Creates a sophisticated, authoritative style, can sound pretentious out of context
Informal- Conversational, establishes rapport with the audience, appeals to the sense of identity, can alienate if used out of context
Generalisation
Seeks to validate a theory or contention, sometimes dubiously
Can be inferred by a naive audience to be evidence
Can detract from ur undermine an argument if unrealistic or illogical
Gesture and body language
Helps to convey arguments and moods
Can influence a subject by making them feel either welcome or intimidated
Humour
Often denigrates the subject
Can provide a more engaging and friendly tone
Can sway an audience by having them enter into the joke
Imagery
Paints ‘word picture’: helps to illustrate point visually and by comparison
Inclusive and exclusive language
Targets or accuses specific groups
Can create a sense of solidarity
Can create ‘us and them’ mentality
Can encourage a sense of responsibility
Irony
Can engender support through the use of humour
Can point out an awkward or interesting paradox or unexpected outcome
Encourages audience to see flimsy logic in situation or idea
Logic
Appeals to reason rather than emotions and therefore lends credibility
Sounds logic is hard to refute
Noun
Adds detail to make the text more specific provides a label or name
Can imply something is positive or negative
Repetition
Memorable enables a word or phrase to be held and recalled
Rhetorical question
Encourages the audience to consider the issue and accept the author’s answer
Sarcasm
Can provide humour
Servers to mock or question the logic of a situation undermines its validity
Satire
Makes a point in a humorous fashion
Serves to mock or question a situation
Can engender hostility in a sensitive audience
Sensationalism
Appeals to an audience’s curiosity and prejudice
Reinforces stereotypes
Can offend or alienate critical audiences
Sound and sound effects
Manipulate audiences emotions
Persuades through association
Sound effects can make a text seem either more realistic or more exciting
Verb
Adds detail to make the text more specific- provides the action
Can imply something positive or negative
Vocabulary choice
Paints a subject in a flattering or unflattering light
Subtly or overtly supports a point of view
