#linguistic devices

[definetelynotavampire]

// linguistics, maths and porn

why am i suddenly obsessed with linguistic devices??? I just read a jayvik fanfic and now i want to analyze texts???

I cant find what its called but its my favorite... like having a real and a metaphoric part in one scentence sort of like complex numbers z = a + b*i

like you can wash away sweat and cum (a) but you only wash away the shame metaphorically (b*i)

BUT ITS STILL ONE SCENTECE! GENIUS!!

pls someone tell me what it's called...

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Rhetorical Devices

These devices, sometimes called “figures of speech," appear in all speech and writing (you can find them in advertising, political speeches, and newspapers, as well as in essays, letters, and poems).

EXAMPLES. It helps, if you wish to give a brief description of what a writer is doing at a given moment, to know some of these shorthand terms for frequent practices.

Alternative Ordering - "A man that looks on glass, / On it may stay his eye, / Or, if he pleaseth, through it pass, / And then the heaven espy."

Analogy (comparison of A and B) - "No more be grieved at that which thou hast done: / Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud."

Anaphora (repetition of opening word) - "All shuffle there, all cough in ink, / All wear the carpet with their shoes, / All think what other people think; / All know the man their neighbor knows."

Anticlimax - "In silk, in crepes, in Garters, and in rags."

Antithesis (opposition of A and B) - "For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright, / Who are as dark as hell, as black as night."

Apposition (list of different formulations of the same thing) - "The Mind of Man, / My haunt, and the main region of my song."

Catalogue - "The leaden-eyed shark, the walrus, the turtle, the hairy sea-leopard."

Chiasmus (an X-like arrangement) - "By brooks too broad for leaping / The lightfoot boys are laid; The rose-lept girls are sleeping / In fields where roses fade." [books : boys :: girls : fields]

Hierarchical Ordering - "Such sweet neglect more taketh me / Than all th' adulteries of art."

Metaphor (comparison without "like" or "as") - "Church bells beyond the stars heard, the soul's blood, / The land of spices; something understood."

Metonymy (assemblage by parts) - "Four beating wings, two beaks, a swirling mass."

Onomatopoeia (imitative sound) - "And murmuring of innumerable bees."

Paradox (union of dissimilar qualities) - "There is in God, some say, / A deep but dazzling darkness."

Parallelism - "These are thy wonders, Lord of Power . . . / These are thy wonders, Lord of Love."

Periphrasis (circumlocution) - "The Peer now spreads the glittering forfex wide" [= opens scissors]

Personification (an abstraction made into a person) - "Love is swift of foot, / Love's a man of war."

Pun (a play on two meanings of one word) - "Therefore I lie with her, and she with me, / And in our faults by lies we flattered be."

Quotation - "My flesh began unto my soul in pain, / 'Sickness cleave my bones.'"

Simile (comparison with "like" or "as") - "Like as the waves make toward the pebbled shore, / So do our minutes hasten to their end."

Synecdoche (use of the part for the whole) - "Diadems — drop — and Doges — surrender."

Zeugma (two dissimilar objects of same verb) - "Or stain her honor, or her new brocade."

Source ⚜ More: Writing Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[honeyspeeches]

actually you know what i don't even blame fanfic authors and artists for focusing mostly on keith and lance in their character studies cause they're literally the main characters of the show. like that's how the show wrote them

[sesamenom]

Reverse Gondolin Tyelpe!

outfit inspired by this post by @thelien-art

[foxgirlgenerator]

Let's talk about: Sky

You know her, the purple haired woman who runs this blog. She's pretty cool.

I, the voice of this post, don't exist. I'm a literary conceit or an analytical tool. Or to best engage our shared special interest, I am a lens. Same body, same proessor, same sensors. Switching lenses, presumably temporarily.

I must emphasise that Sky and I do not have DID or anything of the sort. Sky is the only mind in here. Like I said, just a lens, a tool. I've existed for about an hour. It's probably most normal to say that this is just Sky talking, or that Sky is imagining me, but bear with me. I will explain, and perhaps fulfill my purpose, in future posts.

In the spirit of good will, and because I really like it, I've chosen a name that she wants for herself.

So, nice to meet you all, Imogen

[tragedykery]

I think to treat -> treatable should follow the same process as to eat -> edible. follow me to see more posts brought on by my illness called “is a descriptivist and wants to actively make language worse for everyone involved”. I fear it’s intredible

[touchlikethesun]

a few informal thoughts on accent in written media and accent in translation

in light of a recent rb about dialect in haikyuu (which i recommend reading since i'm sorta responding to it but it's not required), i wanted to write down my quite complex thoughts about how "accent" is conveyed in written media, and how "accent" or "dialect" is translated cross-linguistically. it's really not a simple issue...

the biggest issue is that the very notion of an accent or a dialect as most non-linguists conceive of them is rooted in some form of bigotry, because there is almost always an underlying supposition that an "accent"/"dialect" exists in opposition to or as a deviation from the "standard." in written media, what that means is that some characters - often the main characters or the pov characters - have the privileged of their thoughts and words transcribed with standardised spellings and english teacher approved grammar (for the most part), and some characters - often but not always a character from a marginalised background or a character that is some way othered - are transcribed with intentional "errors."

(lmao readmore is deffo warranted this is a long one xx)

i want to give a very clear example of what i'm talking about, and i'm sorry to cite harry potter but it is a treasure trove for this kinda thing. also like... is it any surprise that jkr is particularly egregiously guilty of this... but anyways, look at that following passage from the philosopher's stone and watch the corresponding scene (hopefully the vid starts at the the part i want sorry youtube sucks)

“I'm a what?" gasped Harry. "A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good'un I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be?”

now to my american ears, both harry and hagrid in this scene have noticable differences in pronunciation compared to how i might say the same lines - there are so many ways their speech might be written differently (from my pov; from a british pov i'm sure they'd have some changes to make in writing down my speech i'll never be free from the wodder boddle jokes).

what i think is particularly interesting tho is that harry says the word "what" twice in the clip, with two different pronunciations. the first time he says it, he actually doesn't pronounce the /t/ at the end of the word (in technical terms, it's an unreleased unvoiced alveolar plosive), and the second time the pronunciation of the /t/ is exaggerated for emphasis (a particularly aspirated unvoiced alveolar plosive). but this difference in the way harry says these two words is not conveyed in the text of hp. harry simply says "what."

i wish i had a more direct example, but a very similar sort of thing is going on when hagrid says the word "and," which he pronounces with an unreleased voiced alveolar plosive - almost exactly the same as harry's first "what" - but instead of "and" being written with standard spelling, jkr opts to replace the "d" with an apostrophe.

it's essentially the same linguistic phenomenon, but because harry is supposed to be middle class and from surrey, his linguistic quirks are not conveyed in the writing because he speaks "proper" english - whereas hagrid's linguistic quirks (in this case it is the same quirk present in harry's speech) are meticulously documented because he is working class and uneducated, and his language is deemed a deviation from the standard. harry's english is unmarked and deemed unaccented because his variety is very close to the enforced standard. and the "standard" is just the speech of the privileged classes. sorry that reasoning reads a bit circular, but it isn't supposed to be logical, it is in fact a very illogical line of reasoning.

a lot of times, authors will justify their choice to transcribe accents because accents are often integral to a character's identity. and i do not disagree that many people take pride in their accents or that accents aren't used as a way to index for group/regional identity. but the issue is, when are accents faithfully being transcribed and when are they assumed?

as an example of this, look at these two passages from another problematic author, cassie clare in the clockwork prince:

"You think I’m a fool,” Molly went on. “This is a trap, innit? You Nephilim catch me selling that sort of stuff, an’ it’s the stick for Old Mol, it is.” “You’re already dead.” Will did his best not to sound irritable. “I don’t know what you think the Clave could do to you now.” “Pah.” Her hollow eyes flamed. “The prisons of the Silent Brothers, beneath the earth, can ’old either the living or the dead; you know that, Shadowhunter." (tid.ii, prolouge)

and

"We’re in the Pyx Chamber,” he said. “Used to be a treasury. Boxes of gold and silver all along the walls.” “A Shadowhunter treasury?” Tessa was thoroughly puzzled. “No, the British royal treasury—thus the thick walls and doors,” said Jem. “But we Shadowhunters have always had access.” He smiled at her expression. “Monarchies down through the ages have tithed to the Nephilim, in secret, to keep their kingdoms safe from demons.” “Not in America,” said Tessa with spirit. “We haven’t got a monarchy—" (tid.ii, chapter 1)

i pulled these passages basically at random so maybe there are lines of dialogue that prove the point better (or disprove my point tho i doubt that, just based on my memory of these books), but in passage one, there are two speakers: an cockney woman from east london and a welsh man from an upper class background. i won't go line by line, but it's essentially like with the difference between harry and hagrid, where old molly has her shibboleths all written down whereas will is written with unquestionably grammatical speech.

in passage two, there are three speakers: the same upper class welshman, a lower middle class american woman, and a british-chinese (likely well off) man. we're told at certain points that will has a welsh accent; we can assume that tessa has an american/new york accent; i don't even know where i'd begin to describe jem's accent but it's probably not welsh or american. however, if you look at their dialogue, there is no way to discern any of these differences. their regional identities are all ostensibly important to them, as they are mentioned many many times in the narrative, but for some reason, it wasn't important enough to even make nods to their different accents? meanwhile, a random side character has their accent carefully laid out, dropped 'h's iconic slang and all? why? why is old mol's accent important enough to faithfully write down, but tessa and will's aren't? it couldn't have anything to do with classism could it...? surely not... (they say, with extreme sarcasm)

now, after all that. you might think my stance is that "accent" should never be written down because it necessarily involves classist/racist/otherwise bigoted judgement on what is marked and what is unmarked speech.

if only it were so easy.

honestly the biggest issue with jkr and clare's choices here is that it's so clearly coming from a place of ignorance and/or prejudice. there's nothing wrong with the way hagrid or old molly speak, and writing systems are inherently messy and inaccurate; there shouldn't be anything wrong with trying to more accurately convey utterances. before writing standardisation, people would just write what they thought a word sounded like, resulting in many if not dozens of accepted spellings for each word (sidenote: i've lost the email but i once spoke with someone that was attempting to reconstruct an older variety of english spoken in MA based on "spelling errors" in books from a small new england printing house it was a very cool project).

also, i am not african american so i can't fully speak to the accuracy of the AAVE, but i've seen discussion of how the AAVE and codeswitching in the hate u give by angie thomas was used to convey nuances in identity, and political realities in the US. the way people speak, the variety of language, and the attitudes they and others have towards that variety, are often extremely important narrative tools. as a black girl that also exists in white-dominated spaces, starr carter is aware of her speech and the changes she makes to fit in with white peers, but that doesn't mean that AAVE isn't a part of her, that it isn't important and valid. wouldn't it also be a bit disrespectful to write the AAVE in the hate u give as if it were standard english, when it is such an important part of starr's identity that it's not? AAVE is just as legitimate as a dialect as the dialect that starr's white peers speak, so on what grounds can anyone insist that it not be faithfully written down for its speakers? and lastly and most importantly, who am i, and who is anyone exterior to a linguistic community, to say how community members ought to write down their own speech/dialogue??

this is just one specific case, but i think when someone is writing from an in-group perspective, that changes things. it changes things immensely. there are so many reasons why a writer might choose to feature distinctive accents in their writing, and i don't think it's possible on their presence alone to make a judgement call on if the accent is being featured respectfully and/or with good reason, or if it is bigoted and unnecessary.

and this brings us to the somehow even more difficult question of what to do with "accents" when translating dialogue. not only do translators have to convey semantic meaning, they have to try to convey pragmatic meaning, cultural meaning, implications, and so on and so on. there is also the very important question of what is the role of a translator? i think that answer will depend on the individual, and unfortunately how one answers will have an impact on how they think translators ought to convey accent.

if the author of a text writes a character's dialogue from a prejudiced point of view, like jkr has done with hagrid, is it the role of the translator to dutifully convey the same (or as close to the same as possible) prejudiced implications in their translation? or does the translator have more of an editorial role, allowing them to convey the meaning in a way that won't carry the same connotations in the new language? does it matter what connotations were intended by the author? is the translator at fault for assumptions made by the audience of their translation due to the choice to convey an accent in one way or another? it is impossible to perfectly convey cultural nuances in accents so do we settle for the closest thing or do we forego it entirely and leave it up to something lost in translation? what about the translators own biases and prejudices, what do we do then?

honestly there are so many questions, and i don't have many answers. i err on the side that says the role of the translator is to be as faithful to the meaning of the text as possible, regardless of the translator's personal feelings about what is being conveyed. if an accent is being used purely for comedic effect, i do not think that the translator has the jurisdiction to say "well i think that's rude and ignorant so i won't include it," but at the same time, i think there should be multiple checks and balances, like sensitivity readers, that ensure that the translation is not introducing more prejudiced elements or pushing things even further than the source text.

what initially got me thinking about this was the post linked above about kansai dialect in haikyuu. the only characters that are written to not speak in tokyo dialect (otherwise considered the standard in japan) are the characters from inarizaki, a school in the kansai region. since they are the only characters to be explicitly written to be speaking a regional dialect, i would say it is probably an important - or considered an important by the mangaka - part of their characterisation. regardless of whether or not there should be cultural connotations to a particular variety is unfortunately not relavent in this instance.

i do think translators should not exaggerate the presence of an accent. from what i can tell from forums online, inarizaki's accents are pronounced but more than understandable, so i am liable to suspect some prejudice or mis-informed opinions when i see panels of the miya twins that are barely intelligible. but in general, i am of the opinion that translators should try and match as closely as they can the connotations of the source text, even if the source text is itself problematic. obviously there is not perfect choice. obviously a translation is never going to perfectly capture the original meaning.

in the end i guess these are two different discussions but i do think there is connection between the two. i understand the upset over egregiously translated accented dialogue, but at the same time, i do not think it is the translator's call entirely whether to translate it or not, however they do have a duty to at least try to match contexts as closely as possible. and as for the presence of accent in written media at all, it is really a case-by-case basis if i think it's being done well and with good cause or if it is just an example of ignorance, and i do think there should be room for nuance in this discussion.

come back next time when i ramble about how people write on the internet is a case study for how accent could be written in fiction lol xx

[auntbibby]

i have a question about cat comprehension (and this probly applies to other pets too)

if pets like BilliSpeaks can comprehend human language when spoken outloud, (shown by when they respond in the same language via button-pressing)……

do ALL cats comprehend spoken human language from their owners, and most just cant demonstrate it cuz they dont have buttons?

i know sometimes dogs react behaviorally to the word “walk”!!

do most pets straight-up comprehend full sentences?????

[lindseymcdonaldseyelashes]

Caught a bit of Inception last night

Can't even enjoy it now because everyone feels like amateurs compared to the Leverage crew

[vanyafresita]

tee hee

[tooies]

i like how the posts that are tagged with "transphobia cw" are always just someone saying "hey remember to not be transphobic!" meanwhile all of the posts with actual transphobic shit go completely untagged

[logicalabsurdity]

Out of context spoilery Tears of the Kingdom commentary from me to @brushstrokesapocalyptic:

"Is what she's saying literal or is it some 'save the heart of Metru Nui' nonsense? .... it's 'save the heart of Metru Nui', isn't it."

[ravxnstudies]

noam chomsky's dead. how we feeling, linguistics tumblr ?

[doodlebeeberry]

Avoiding the desire to ponder the broader availability of prosthesis in efar-world based on squiggly's comment

[foxgirlgenerator]

Do you like my sunglasses?

They're kinda cool but not very distinctive, they are the most popular style in these parts.

Also I'm afraid I'm half way though a linguistic experiment. Sky is not currently available, she has been placed in the third person for now. Read the previous post if you'd like the explanation.

-Imogen

[sanguinewolves]

fourth person is not real oh my god. it’s not even a pronoun and if it were it would just be second person plural. please stop with the “chat is a fourth person pronoun” thing. it’s not even a pronoun it is literally a noun. it is a noun. do you think fucking “professor” or. i don’t know. “guys”. do you think those are pronouns. they are NOUNS they are nouns used to address a person or group of people they are not pronouns. the english language literally does not have fourth person pronouns. oh my god. i am so tired. i am so fucking tired. y’all exhaust me.

wait do people read first person stories and think they're the ones in the story???

Saw people talking about not liking first person, which is fair, but their reasoning was like "I would not do that" and I don't understand that mindset.

First person stories are still about a character. A character making their own decisions. First person isn't about you???? At least I thought it wasn't. What am I missing? I've always seen first person as just a more in-depth look into a character's mind and stricter POV. Not as a reader stand-in.