IBHL English Lit P2 - Key Terminology

Prosaic (style)

The author’s word choice is ordinary, unimaginative and lacking in originality.

Vernacular (style)

The word choice is part of the dialect spoken by ordinary people in a certain place/region. Similar to everyday language, colloquial speech.

Stylised (style)

Word choice unique and distinct, with original characterisations.

Quotidian (formality)

of or occurring everyday, daily

Colloquial (formality)

Used in ordinary or familiar language, idiomatic, informal

Clarity terms (word choice)

Basic/plain, explicit, obvious, ambiguous, vague, obscure/cryptic

Personal engagement (word choice)

Reflective, personal, subjective, objective, empirical, detached

Humour/seriousness (word choice)

Solemn/humourless, stern, serious, silly, comic, absurd

Misanthropic (tone/mood)

Unsociable, disliking people, unfriendly, reclusive

Acerbic (tone/mood)

Sharp and forthright, caustic, cutting

Satirical (tone/mood)

Containing or using satire, mocking, sarcastic

Sycophantic (tone/mood)

Grovelling, behaving in an overly submissive way to gain an advantage, fawning

Morose (tone/mood)

Sullen, ill-tempered, depressing

Saccharine (tone/mood)

Excessively sweet or sentimental

Truncated (sentence structure and grammar)

Shortened in duration or extent - creates sense of haste and urgency

Staccato (sentence structure and grammar)

Short sentences or detached sentences written back to back, clipped - creates sense of urgency for excitement or drama, emphasises meaning

Convoluted (sentence structure and grammar)

Complex, difficult to follow, ornate, intricate - adds extra layer of detail for reader comprehension

Intrusive narrator

A narrator who, telling the story in the third person, intervenes in the narrative, with a comment in the first person.

Interior monologue

First person, as though the narrator is verbalising their thoughts as they occur.

Third person omniscient character

A narrator who is assumed to know everything connected with the story narrated. Refers to the characters as ‘he’ or ‘she’. Often popularly assumed to be the author. 

Polyphonic/multiple voices

More than one narrative voice used in a single text. Can be first or third person or a mixture of the two.

First person narrative

A narrator who speaks as ‘I’, often a character who plays a role in the story, although it may not be his or her own story.

Focaliser

In a third person narrative, the character from whose perspective the action is seen.

Inadequate

A narrator who doesn’t seem to understand as much about

what’s happening as the reader.

Self-conscious narrator

Reminds the reader that what they are reading is fiction, dispelling any illusion that the characters are real people etc.

Second person address

A narrative voice that directly addresses the reader as ‘you’. It’s rare for a whole text to do this, as it’s very hard to maintain. 

Unreliable narrator

A narrator who is perhaps self-deceiving or who cannot be trusted to give a version of events that is to be believed. 

Stream of consciousness

A narrative style that imitates the qualities of thoughts and feelings, making the reader feel as if they’re inside someone’s head. The grammar and structure suggest the random and fragmentary nature of thought. In the third person it’s an extreme version of free indirect style. In the first person it’s an extreme version of interior monologue.

Free indirect style

Third person narration in which a character’s thoughts and feelings seem to be directly expressed, freely taking on the views and often the language of that character. Narratives often slide between conventional third person narration and this style, moving from a more detached voice to one that is more intimately connected to one character or another.

Physiognomy

Assessing a person’s character or personality based on their facial features

Didactic

Intending to teach, to educate on moral judgements (as an ulterior motive)

Stichomythia

Alternate lines of verse between two characters (Ancient Greek theatre)

Ad hominem

Argument directed at the person instead of the position they’re arguing

Hypophora

When one or more questions are asked and then responded to by the same speaker - to catch the readers attention and spike curiosity, to answer questions for clarity, transitional device

Anaphora

Repetition of the same word or expression at the beginning of successive phrases

Duologue

A play or part of a play with speaking roles for only two actors.

Pararhyme

An almost rhyme, a partial rhyme with the same consonants but not vowels (e.g flare and care)

Slight rhyme

Visually rhyme but not verbally (e.g read and read, wind and wind)

Sibilance

Neighbouring words make a hissing or whooshing sound, repetition of the ‘s’ sound

Consonance

Consonance is a literary device in which the repetition of consonant sounds occurs at the beginning, middle, or end of two or more adjacent words. It is often used in poetry and prose to create a musical or rhythmic effect, and to emphasize certain words or ideas.

Assonance

Vowel rhyme, type of repetition usually found in the middle of a word. E.g ‘she feel asl*eep* under the willow *tree*’

Fricative alliteration

‘v’ and ‘f’ sounds repeated, gives an airy, breathless sound. Used to convey mysterious or light atmospheres.

Plosive alliteration

Where is air is completely blocked by mouth movements as the letters b, g, k and p are pronounced. Make small explosive sounds as you say them, so often used to add emphasis or meaning.

Dental alliteration

Where ‘d’ and ‘t’ are repeated - creates hard and fast rhythm, used to move the text forward

Vocalic alliteration

The same vowel sounds are repeated at the beginning of a set of words. E.g “exceptional work was produced by every editor”

General alliteration

Repetition of the beginning sound or syllable in a series of words.

Unvoiced alliteration

When alliteration appears when written, but not spoken. E.g “Penny partied with a purple pterodactyl"

Guttural alliteration

Emphasis on ‘g’ and ‘c’ sounds, gives words a deeper or harsher sound.

Liquid alliteration

Repetition of the ‘I” and ‘r’ sounds, gives words a more fluid and light nature than other letters.

Symmetrical alliteration

When a phrase begins and ends with the same sound in a mirrored formate. e.g “the boys played patacake badly” repeats the ‘b’ and ‘p’ in reversed order. - makes it easier to understand via parallelism

Metonymy

When an obvious reference is made to a concept by referring to one of its attributes. For example, “Wall Street” for the American financial industry, or “give me a hand” to ask for help.

Synecdoche

When something is referred to by description of a part rather than a whole. For example, “they brought new wheels” to refer to someone buying a new car.

Hyperbole

An extended metaphor, an intentional exaggeration

Assonance

The intentional juxtaposition of similar sounding words. Rhyming that creates an echo throughout a sentence (a rhyme contrasts vowels and consonants, assonance is only vowels). E.g “try to fly the kite” or “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.”

Aphorism

A moral or philosophical lesson shrunk down to a sentence-sized prescription. For example, "A penny saved is a penny earned,” or “actions speak louder than words.” Generally more straightforward and less figurative than idioms.

Heteroglossia

The presence of two or more expressed viewpoints in a text or other artistic work.

Declamatory

Expressing feelings or opinions with great force

Epistolary

Relating to the writing of letters

Asyndeton

The absence or omission of a conjugations (and, but, then, or) between parts of a sentence, e.g ‘I came, I saw, I conquered."‘

Modal verb

A supporting verb that expresses necessity or possibility, such as must, should, can, would, etc