------------------------------------------------- Figure of speech From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "Figures of speech" redirects here. For the hip hop group, see Figures of Speech. A figure of speech is the use of a word or words diverging from its usual meaning. It can also 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, or personification. 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. Not all theories of meaning have a concept of "literal language" (see literal and figurative language). Under theories that do not, figure of speech is not an entirely coherent concept. 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, and transferring. ------------------------------------------------- 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: * "Round the rugged rocks the ragged 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 eader 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 a terse 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 synechdoche, 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. Tropes Main article: Trope (linguistics) * allegory: Extended metaphor in which a story is told to illustrate an important attribute of the subject * alliteration: Repetition of the first consonant sound in a phrase. allusion: Indirect reference to another work of literature or art * anacoenosis: Posing a question to an audience, often with the implication that it shares a common interest with the speaker * antanaclasis: A form of pun in which a word is repeated in two different senses * anthimeria: Substitution of one part of speech for another, often turning a noun into a verb * 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: Word or words used contradictory to their usual meaning, often with irony * antonomasia: Substitution of a phrase for a proper name or vice versa * aphorism: Tersely phrased statement of a truth or opinion, an adage * apophasis: Invoking an idea by denying its invocation * 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 * catachresis: Mixed metaphor (sometimes used by design and sometimes a rhetorical fault) * circumlocution: "Talking around" a topic by substituting or adding words, as in euphemism or periphrasis * commiseration: Evoking pity in the audience * correctio: Linguistic device used for correcting one's mistakes, a form of which is epanorthosis * denominatio: Another word for metonymy * double negative: Grammar construction that can be used as an expression and it is the repetition of negative words * dysphemism: Substitution of a harsher, more offensive, or more disagreeable term for another.
Opposite of euphemism * epanorthosis: Immediate and emphatic self-correction, often following a slip of the tongue * enumeratio: A form of amplification in which a subject is divided, detailing parts, causes, effects, or consequences to make a point more forcibly * epanados: Repetition in a sentence with a reversal of words. Example: The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath * erotema: Synonym for rhetorical question * euphemism: Substitution of a less offensive or more agreeable term for another * exclamation: An emphatic parenthetic addition that is complete in itself,Exclamation differs from interjection in that it usually involves an emotional response. * hermeneia: Repetition for the purpose of interpreting what has already been said * 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). * invocation: Apostrophe to a god or muse * 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 reality * metalepsis: Referring to something through reference to another thing to which it is remotely related * metaphor: Stating one entity is another for the purpose of comparing them in quality * metonymy: Substitution of an associated word to suggest what is really meant * 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 * onomatopoeia: Words that sound like their meaning oxymoron: Using two terms together, that normally contradict each other * parable: Extended metaphor told as an anecdote to illustrate or teach a moral lesson * 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 * parallel irony: An ironic juxtaposition of sentences or situations (informal) * paralipsis: Drawing attention to something while pretending to pass it over * paronomasia: A form of pun, in which words similar in sound but with different meanings are used * pathetic fallacy: Using a word that refers to a human action on something non-human * periphrasis: Using several words instead of few personification/prosopopoeia/anthropomorphism: Attributing or applying human qualities to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena * 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 * proverb: Succinct or pithy expression of what is commonly observed and believed to be true * pun: Play on words that will have two meanings * repetition: Repeated usage of word(s)/group of words in the same sentence to create a poetic/rhythmic effect * rhetorical question: Asking a question as a way of asserting something.
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: Use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc. A literary composition, in verse or prose, in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule. A literary genre comprising such compositions * simile: Comparison between two things using like or as * snowclone: Quoted or misquoted cliche or phrasal template * 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: Form of pun, in which a single word is used to modify two other words, with which it normally would have differing meanings * syncatabasis (condescension, accommodation): adaptation of style to the level of the audience * synecdoche: Form of metonymy, in which a part stands for the whole * synesthesia: Description of one kind of sense impression by using words that normally describe another. * tautology: Needless repetition of the same sense in different words Example: The children gathered in a round circle * transferred epithet: Placing of an adjective with what appears to be the incorrect noun * 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 * zeugma: A figure of speech related to syllepsis, but different in that the word used as a modifier is not compatible with one of the two words it modifies * zoomorphism: Applying animal characteristics to humans or god
