Rhetorical Devices and Linguistic Variables Explained

Rhetorical Devices and Literary Figures

Sound and Repetition Figures

• Alliteration: The repetition of sounds in two or more words.
• Onomatopoeia: Used in poetry and comics, this is the reproduction of natural sounds (e.g., "toc toc").
• Paronomasia: The use of words that sound similar but have different meanings (e.g., "notary" is a "notorious" example).
• Anaphora: Two or more lines that begin the same way (e.g., "Because he was banished, because he ran out of bird flight").
• Epanadiplosis: A repetition where a line begins and ends with the same word (e.g., "Green, I want you green").
• Pun (Calambur): A play on sounds where changes in sound logically alter the meaning of the words (e.g., "make dice counties").

Syntactic and Structural Figures

• Asyndeton: The removal of conjunctions to give more flexibility to ideas (e.g., "runs, flies, sings").
• Polysyndeton: The reiteration of conjunctions to provide greater intensity.
• Anadiplosis: Repeating the last word of a sentence or verse at the beginning of the following sentence (e.g., "speak the languages and cry, cry and sing souls").
• Ellipsis: Omitting or not pronouncing an element of a sentence or verse (e.g., "rain, thousand April").
• Hyperbaton: The alteration of the standard grammatical order.
• Concatenation: Produced by the chain-like linking of words or concepts.

Semantic and Meaning Figures

• Pleonasm: A concept often considered a defect of language involving redundancy (e.g., "we go outside").
• Chiasmus (Pun): A literary figure where terms in a sentence are inverted, causing an alternation in meaning (e.g., "thinks and feels, a sense thinking").
• Epithet: An adjective that describes an inherent characteristic of the noun (e.g., "ice cold").
• Periphrasis: Referring indirectly to a specific concept (e.g., "the station of flowers" for spring).
• Metaphor: Changing the meaning of words through comparison (e.g., "the home are eyes that sparkle and enchant").
• Antithesis: Showcases situations or antagonistic elements (e.g., day and night).
• Oxymoron: Reflects a contradiction between two concepts that are apparently exclusive but compatible in context (e.g., "O living flame of love, that tenderly wounds").
• Hyperbole: Exaggeration (e.g., "it hurts to breathe").
• Metonymy: Establishes a relationship such as brand-product, container-content, or author-work (e.g., "I go to the bathroom to find comfort").
• Synecdoche: A relationship of the part to the whole (e.g., "sailing the Portuguese sea").

Linguistic Variables

• Diatopic: Linked to regional or geographical factors.
• Diachronic: Linked to the epoch; every century has its own vocabulary.
• Diaphasic: Related to style (formal, informal, symmetrical, or asymmetrical).
• Diastratic: Related to sociocultural levels and economic factors.