Honors English 12 Language Terminology - Vocabulary List #1

A set of 24 vocabulary flashcards covering language terms, sound devices, imagery, and syntax and structural devices from Honors English 12 Vocabulary List #1.

Allusion

A reference to another person, place, or work of literature, which is a specific word-choice strategy.

Connotation

The emotional, social, or cultural associations and implied meanings attached to a word beyond its explicit definition.

Denotation

The literal, dictionary definition of a word.

Diction

The author's choice of words and their connotations and denotations; choosing the right word for the right situation to set the scene or evoke a particular mood in writing.

Figurative Language

Writing or speech that departs from literal meaning to achieve imaginative, persuasive, vivid, or complex effects.

Mood

The overall atmosphere and emotional feeling that an author creates to evoke a specific response or experience in the reader.

Personification

Giving human qualities to non-human things.

Simile/Metaphor

Comparisons between two unlike things.

Symbolism

When an object or idea represents something else.

Syntax

The way words and phrases are arranged to form sentences; at its core, sentence structure: the order of words and how they fit together.

Tension

The feeling of suspense, conflict, or emotional strain created in a text through diverging meaning, forces, ideas, or narrative elements.

Tone

The writer's attitude and stance reflected in the text, crafted through key elements including diction, figurative language, and syntax.

Alliteration

The repetition of initial consonant sounds.

Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds.

Consonance

The repetition of consonant sounds.

Onomatopoeia

Words that imitate the sound they describe (e.g., 'buzz').

Rhyme

The repetition of similar sounds.

Visual Imagery

Details appealing to the sense of sight.

Anaphora

Literally meaning 'carrying back,' the repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences.

Antithesis

Literally meaning 'setting opposite,' the creation of a clear, contrasting relationship between two ideas by joining them together or juxtaposing them, often in parallel structure.

Asyndeton

A deliberate omission of conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses.

Chiasmus

Named after the Greek letter 'chi,' indicating a criss-cross; refers to a reversal in the order of terms in the second of two parallel clauses (AB-BA structure).

Parallelism

Describes any structure that displays recurrent syntactical similarity.

Zeugma

Refers to a grammatically correct linkage (or yoking together) of two or more parts of speech by another part of speech.