Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Figures of Speech: Galen Rowe

The following is my summary of a list of figures of speech from Galen Rowe.

Galen O. Rowe, “Style” in Handbook of Classical Rhetoric in the Hellenistic Period: 330 B.C. – A.D. 400, (Edited by Stanley Porter, Leiden: Brill, 2001), 121-158.

  1. Tropes (extend, expand, or change meaning of words)
    1. Metaphor
    2. Metonymy: name of one thing applied to another with which it is closely associated
    3. Synechdoche: Part signified by the whole, or the whole by the part
    4. Emphasis: special or greater meaning than the word itself signifies
    5. Periphrasis: saying in many words what might be said in few, or roundabout what might be said directly
    6. Autonomasia: substitution of an appellative, usually a nickname or epithet, for a proper name
    7. Hyperbole: a fitting exaggeration of the truth in order to make a point
    8. Litotes: emphatic affirmation be denying the opposite
    9. Irony: use of words which in the context convey a contrary meaning
  2. Word Figures
    1. Epanalepsis: repetition of a word or group of words within the same clause
    2. Anadiplosis: repetition of a word which ends a clause at the beginning of the next clause
    3. Climax: ascending order of thought through successive clauses, last word of preceding clause repeated as the first word in next phrase
    4. Prosapodosis: use of the same word or group of words at the beginning and at the end of a clause or sentence
    5. Anaphora: when successive clauses begin with the same word or group of words
    6. Antistrophe: the repetition of the same word at the end of successive clauses
    7. Symploche: repetition of the same beginning and ending words in a succession of clauses
    8. Paronomasia: a pun, a play on words which sound nearly the same but have distinctively different meanings
    9. Traductio: a play on different meanings of the same word or on different words that have the same spelling
    10. Polyptoton: repetition of a noun or pronoun in different cases at the beginnings of successive clauses
    11. Metabole: pronouns that change case and also spelling used in successive clauses
    12. Metaclisis: repeated use of the same word with different inflections elsewhere than at the beginnings of successive clauses
    13. Synonymia: repetition of a thought in synonymous terms
    14. Diaphora: repeated use of the same word, which acquires added or different significance in the repetition
    15. Diairesis: specified roles are assigned among several parts of a whole or several members of a group
    16. Epitheton: attributive addition to a substantive, such as an adjective or appositive
    17. Polysyndeton: repeated use of conjunctions
    18. Ellipsis: the omission of essential grammatical details
    19. Zeugma: use of a word in one phrase which must be supplied in other parallel phrases in order to complete the meaning
    20. Asyndeton: omission of conjunctions
    21. Anastrophe: reversal of the normal sequence of two words that immediately follow one another
    22. Hyperbaton: separation of two words that syntactically belong together through the insertion of a word or group of words
    23. Synchesis: an elaborate form of hyperbaton, forms of one syntactic group separated by words from another syntactic group
    24. Isocolon: two or more coordinate clauses which tend to have the same construction and length (in syllables)
    25. Chiasmus: feature of isocolon where the second clause reverses the order of the first
    26. Homoeoteleuton: feature of isocolon in which coordinate clauses end in words that have the same inflections and sounds
    27. Homoeoptoton: frequent repetition of the same grammatical case within one period or sentence
  3. Thought Figures
    1. Deesis: an impassioned request in the name of a god or a special sacred object
    2. Parrhesia: claiming to use candor, which by appearing to risk the good will of the audience, is intended to acquire their respect for the courage of the speaker
    3. Apostrophe: turning from the general audience to address a specific person or group
    4. Erotesis: an affirmative proposition stated in the form of a question to which the answer is obvious
    5. Pusma: question which demands an answer other than yes or no
    6. Aitiologia: imaginary dialogue in the form of question and answer
    7. Aporia: state of feigned helplessness in which the speaker seeks advice as to how to proceed
    8. Anacoeosis: feigned helplessness in which the speaker asks advice not about speech but about action
    9. Orismus: a definition which supports the speaker’s case but is not therefore contrary to common opinion
    10. Epanorthosis: correction or improvement of a remark immediately recognized by the speaker as unsuitable
    11. Prodiorthosis: attempt to prepare the audience for a shocking or offensive statement
    12. Antithesis: juxtaposition of opposite meanings
    13. Prosapodosis: a statement about two or more elements which are elaborated in separate distinguishing clauses
    14. Antimetabole: the confrontation of a thought and its reverse through the repetition of the same words with switched grammatical functions
    15. Oxymoron: paradoxical statement combining two terms, which in ordinary usage are contraries
    16. Exclamatio: abrupt utterance, usually isolated in context by grammar and vocal stress and conveying a strong emotion, such as pity or indignation
    17. Enargeia: description of a situation or action as if it were present
    18. Sermocinatio: creation of statements, conversations, soliloquies or unexpressed thoughts attributed to normal persons, real or imagined
    19. Prosopopoiia: attribution of speech and personality to non-human things
    20. Epimone: repetition of a thought either in the same words but with changed vocal inflection or in synonyms, which while conveying the same basic meaning, nevertheless adds nuance to it.
    21. Simile: explicit comparison between the speaker’s subject and a fact of natural life and fixed human experience
    22. Metabasis: abrupt change of subject or the return to a subject from a digression
    23. Syneociosis: exploitation of an opponents argument to one’s own advantage
    24. Proparaskeue: the speaker prepares the audience to attend in a special way to the course of argument about to come
    25. Synchoresis: admission of truth of an opponents argument which is shown to have no damaging effect on one’s case
    26. Epitrope: speaker pretends to allow, even to dater, someone to decide or act independently or contrary to the speaker’s position
    27. Parenthesis: insertion of a grammatically independent clause within a sentence
    28. Aetiologia: attachment of a reason to a main statement
    29. Gnome: truism or maxim
    30. Epiphonema: statement, often in the form of an exclamation, that concludes a line of argument or makes a comment about what has been narrated
    31. Epitrochasmus: brief enumeration of subjects, events, each of which would otherwise deserve a prolonged treatment. (As like an outline)
    32. Paraleipsis: the speaker’s stated intention to omit certain subjects which he nevertheless mentions in passing
    33. Aposiopesis: abrupt breaking off of thought before it has been completely expressed
    34. Hysterologia: what should logically be said first is last, and vice versa

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