A Little Literary Language List – Part 1

Noun, Verb, Sentence, Metaphor, Adjective, Grammar, Phrase….. we all know what those mean. But there are some literary terms that are less well known  even confusing. 

For example, acronym. Well, we know an acronym is a word made from initial letters. For example, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) , BOGO (buy one get one), YOLO  (you only live once). 

An initialism is also made from initial letters. So what is the difference? An acronym makes a new word and is pronounced as a word.  An initialism is generally too difficult to say as a word and is pronounced with the letters. For example, IBM, NAACP, ASPCA.

Here are some other literary terms that are not as common as noun and metaphor:

Affix – An affix is a group of letters attached to the root of a word to change the meaning. These include prefixes, suffixes, and circumfixes. Circumfixes are added to both the beginning and the end of a root, for example enlighten.

Anaphora – The repetition of words at the beginning of consecutive phrases or clauses for effect. For example,“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up… I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia…” (Martin Luther King speech) and “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…” (“Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities).

Assonance – Whereas an alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds (Little Literary Language List), an assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds. For example, “The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain,” from My Fair Lady, and “chips and dips.”

Calque –Unlike a loanword (which adopts the foreign word’s actual sound and spelling, like pizza or kindergarten), a calque translates the meaning using native building blocks. For example,“Flea market” (a literal translation of the French marché aux puces) and “Adam’s apple” (translated from the French pomme d’Adam).

Collocation – A familiar combination or two or more words that commonly go together and can sound weird if another word is substituted. For example, fast food (quick food doesn’t sound right), excruciating pain, maiden voyage, commit a crime, bar of soap, round of applause.

Consonance – The repetition of consonant sounds anywhere within or at the end of words. (An alliteration is a specific type of consonance, where the repetition must occur at the beginning of the words.) A consonance can appear anywhere. For example, “Ike likes his new bike,”  “When will the hen lay eggs again?”

Connotation – The emotional, cultural, or secondary meaning that a word or phrase evokes beyond its literal dictionary definition. For example, house and home mean the same thing, but home evokes a warmer feeling and something more than just a building. Nosy has a negative connotation, whereas curious is more positive. However, they might be used to describe the same behavior.

Deixis – From the Greek word for “pointing” or “showing,” it refers to words and phrases whose complete meaning depends on the situational context of the speaker. For example, in the sentence “I will meet you here tomorrow,” the words I, you, here, and tomorrow are deictic. They change their exact reference every time a different person says them. 

Determiner – A word placed at the start of a noun phrase to clarify the noun’s reference. There are several types: 

• Articles – Show whether a noun is general or specific: The pencil, A pencil
• Demonstratives – Point out nouns relative to the speaker (this, that, these, those): this book, that house
• Possessives – Indicate who owns the noun (my, your, his, hers, their, our): my car, his motorcycle
• Quantifiers – Express amount or quantity (some, few, many, all, etc.): several days, many cookies
• Distributives – Refer to individual members (each, every, either, neither): neither book, every dog 
• Numbers- Specify exact count or order: nine cars, second chapter
• Interrogatives –  Used to ask questions about nouns: which pie? what idea?