Literariness Flashcards
Literariness
the AQA like it when students can discuss the literary qualities of texts that aren’t superficially associated with literature and creativity. They may use, for example, many creative writing techniques
Discourse
used in many ways in language study. Can be used to refer to a mode of language (written or spoken discourse), a register (medical or legal discourse, for example), or a way of thinking about and presenting something (e.g. representing language using a discourse of decay).
Alliteration
the repetition of consonant sounds for affect, usually for concordance, discordance, or two link semantic values to words that share sounds.
Assonance
he repetition of vowel sounds for affect, usually for rhyme or other aesthetic reasons.
Foregrounding
he way in which texts emphasis key events or ideas through the use of attention-seeking devices that either repeat content in some way (parallelism) or break established patterns (deviation). Deviation can be external (breaking from normal conventions of language use with things like nonsense words or ungrammatical constructions) or internal (breaking from a pattern that has been previously set up in a text for striking effect.
Parallelism
patterns and repetitions within a text, e.g. recurring sentences that have the same initial wording.
Narrative perspective
the point of view from which the text is recounted - the narrative ‘voice’ will embody a first, second or third person point of view. Could be related to an ideological viewpoint and can also be discussed in terms of how the narrative is presented through space and time (is it chronological or not, for example).
Positioning
how the text/producer orientates him/herself to the subject being presented and towards the audience/reader being addressed.
Register
a variety of language associated with a particular field of reference, e.g. occupational discourse, or that reflects a degree of intimacy (colloquial, intimate, aloof).
Style
the level of formality of a text, which can be distinct from the register, e.g. occupational language can exist at different levels of formality depending on context).
Anadiplosis
beginning a written or spoken structure (sentence or utterance) with the same wording as the end of the structure preceding it: ‘Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.’
Chiasmus
a form of pattern in a text that follows an ABBA structure, where A and B can represent any linguistic or literary feature, including words: ‘Because achievement was difficult to measure, in education they made what was measurable, achievement’ – here achievement, measure, measurable, achievement follows an ABBA pattern for poetic effect.
Verisimilitude of spontaneous spoken discourse:
in fictional dialogue, we don’t reproduce the conventions of real spontaneous spoken discourse in entirety – we use some of them to give the flavour of realism without presenting something too difficult to follow
Triadic structures
sometimes called tripling or the rule of three – grouping elements into threes for emphatic or rhythmic effect.
Rhetorical questions
questions that don’t require answers used to make the audience/receiver think about the discourse
