Word-level Techniques
the associations attached to a word in addition to its dictionary definition
connotation
a small picture or symbol that represents a larger image
icon
appeals to credibility
ethos
a balance within one or more sentences of similar phrases or clauses that have the same grammatical structure
parallel structure
a dominant or recurring idea or image in a work
motif
a deliberate and extravagant exaggeration
hyperbole
a character described or drawn through the exaggeration of the features that he or she possesses
caricature
acknowledging an opponent’s/opposing side’s idea
concession
a grammatical mood expressing a directive: command, warning, request, etc.
imperative
a short, interesting story about a real person or incident
anecdote
a verb that expresses a great degree of certainty or obligation (ex: "must" vs "can")
high modality
the quality of being particularly noticeable or important; prominence
salience
the process of addressing mass audiences as though they were individuals through inclusive language usage.
synthetic personalisation
the omission or absence of a conjunction between parts of a sentence, as in “I came, I saw, I conquered.”
asyndeton
the words of a speaker that are reported rather than being quoted directly (e.g. David said that he was going out.)
indirect speech
a word or phrase used in a sentence to express ambiguity, probability, caution, or indecisiveness about the remainder of the sentence, rather than full accuracy, certainty, confidence, or decisiveness
hedging language
what is being illustrated in this image?
level of abstraction
hiding the intended meaning of communication by making the message difficult to understand, usually with confusing and/or ambiguous language
obfuscation
the repetition of a word at the end of successive clauses or sentences
epistrophe
Which technique is illustrated here?
I always tell my children not to take their freedom for granite.
malapropism
a set of words grouped in a specific way for a specific communicative purpose (e.g. emotive language, words all tied to similar “grouping” of meaning – brother, sister, mother = family)
lexical field/cluster
Unrealistic pictorial elements coming from a character, symbolizing something about that character
emanata
a figure of speech in which the speaker poses a question and then answers the question
hypophora
a round-about or long-winded way of saying something
periphrasis
a device in which a part is used to represent a whole (e.g. There were several new faces at the meeting.)
synecdoche