Glossary of Linguistics and Rhetoric o-z 

objective correlative

a situation or sequence of events or objects that evokes a particular emotion in a reader or an audience.

onomasiology

the branch of semantics dealing with related words and their meanings. See also: semantics.

onomastic

of, relating to, or explaining one or more names.

onomatopoeia

a word that refers to a specific sound and whose pronunciation mimics the sound. "Bang! Zoom!" -- Jackie Gleason.

oratio obliqua

indirect speech See also: oratio recta.

oratio recta

direct speech See also: oratio obliqua.

orismology

the science of defining technical terms.

orthography

the study of correct spelling according to established usage. See also: heterography, homography.

oxymoron

the juxtaposition of incongruous or contradictory terms.

oxytone

relating to or being a word that has an acute accent on the last syllable, especially a Greek word; also, a word with this quality. See also: paroxytone.

palilogy

the repetition of a word or phrase in immediate succession, for emphasis. See also: epizeuxis, ploce.

palindrome

a word, phrase, clause, or sentence that reads the same regularly as it does when its letters are reversed; a type of palingram. "A man, a plan, a canal, Panama." See also: palingram.

palingram

a word, phrase, clause, or sentence that reads the same backwards after rearranging segments. "Workmate did teamwork," is a palingram, because the sentence can be rearranged into four four-letter segments, with one three-letter segment in the middle; by reversing the order of the segments and, when necessary, rearranging the letters within each segment, the sentence reads the same backwards. See also: palindrome.

palinode

a poem or ode in which something said in a previous poem or ode is retracted.

pangram

a sentence that uses all the letters of the alphabet; a holalphabetic sentence. See also: holalphabetic.

paradiastole

a figure of speech in which a vice is portrayed as a virtue. "He is confident," said of a proud man.

paradox

apparent contradiction or discrepancy with common sense.

paragoge

the process by which a new word is formed by adding a letter or syllable to the end of another word. Same as "proparalepsis." "Climature," derived from "climate." See also: anaptyxis, dissimilation, epenthesis,haplology, metathesis, parelcon.

paragram

a pun. See also: antisthecon, equivoque, paronomasia.

paralanguage

the set of nonphonemic properties of speech, such as speaking tempo and vocal pitch, that can be used to communicate attitudes or other shades of meaning. See also: paralinguistic.

paraleipsis

See: apophasis.

paralepsis

See: apophasis.

paralipsis

See: apophasis.

paralinguistic

relating to the study of paralanguage. See also: paralanguage.

paraph

a flourish made after or below a signature, originally to prevent forgery.

paraphasia

a disorder of verbal communication that includes the transposition of letters or spoken sounds, and, in some cases, the substitution of one word for another while both words remain among the words spoken at that particular time. See also: aphasia.

paraprosdokian

unexpected ending of a phrase or series.

parasiopesis

mentioning an idea or event only insofar as to indicate that it be left or assumed to be understood. See also: apophasis, autoclesis.

parasynthesis

derivation of words using hyphenated compounds.

parataxis

juxtaposition of clauses or phrases without the use of coordinating or subordinating conjunctions. "She didn't remember her own name; her entire past, in fact, was blotted from her memory."

parechesis

the repetition of the same sound in words in close or immediate succession. "Veni, vidi, vici." -- Julius Caesar. See also: alliteration, assonance, consonance.

parelcon

the addition of one or more syllables to the end of a pronoun, verb, or adverb. See also: paragoge.

parimion

See: paroemion.

parisology

the deliberate use of equivocal or ambiguous words.

paroemion

excessive alliteration. "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers." See also: alliteration.

parole

the act of speaking; a particular utterance or word.

paronomasia

wordplay involving the juxtaposition of similar sounding words; also, punning. See also: adnominatio, paragram, polyptoton.

paronym

a paronymous word. See also: paronymous.

paronymous

of or relating to a word having the same stem as another. Beautiful and beauteous are paranymous words, or paranyms. See also: paronymous.

paroxytone

relating to or being a word that has an acute accent on the next to last syllable; also, a word with this quality. See also: oxytone.

parrhesia

Freedom or boldness of speech.

pasigraphy

an artificial international language that uses characters (such as mathematical symbols) instead of words.

patavinity

the use of local or provincial words.

patronymic

of or relating to the name of one's father or a paternal ancestor; also, a name so derived.

pejoration

linguistic process of a word gradually becoming more negative in meaning or connotation over time. See also: melioration.

periphrasis

roundabout wording. "The person to whom I am married," instead of "my spouse." See also: circumlocution.

perpilocutionist

one who expounds on a subject of which he has little knowledge.

personification

attribution of personal characteristics to an impersonal entity. See also: hypostatize.

phatic

characteristic of speech employed for the purpose of sharing feelings or establishing a mood of sociability rather than to communicate information or ideas.

philophronesis

the pacification of an adversary with the use of promises or mild speech.

phonaestheme

a word with a phonetic likeness to other words of similar meaning. Crush, crash, clash, bash, mash, smash, and smoosh are phonaesthemes of each other. See also: phonaesthesia.

phonaesthesia

the phenomenon by which associations arise among groups of similar sounding words, which may have close, distant, or no etymological relations to each other. Same as "klang association." See also: phonaestheme.

phonocentrism

obsession with the voice. See also: logocentrism.

phoneme

the smallest phonetic unit in a language that is capable of conveying a distinction in meaning. "M", in "man," and "c", in "can," are phonemes. See also: morpheme.

pleonasm

the use of a superfluity of words, often deliberately, for emphasis. "I've never seen anything more obscene in all my 80 years on this Earth."

ploce

repetition of a word to emphasize or extend meaning. See also: epizeuxis, palilogy.

polyptoton

repetition of a word in different forms, cases, or with different inflection, in the sentence. See also: adnominatio, paronomasia.

polysemous

characterized by having many meanings. See also: polysemy.

polysemy

an instance of a word or sentence or other writing being polysemous. See also: polysemous.

polysyndeton

repetition of conjunctions in a series of words, phrases, or clauses. "So I got mad at him and picked up a pillow and popped him in the head." See also: asyndeton.

preterition

See: apophasis.

privative

altering the meaning of a term from positive to negative; also, a privative prefix or suffix.

proclitic

a word or syllable which is joined with the following word in such a way as to lose its own independent accent. "Prithee," which is a shortening of "pray thee," and "Get," in, "Get 'em!" See also: enclitic,synaloepha.

prolepsis

speaking or acting upon something anticipated as if it were done or existing. "I'm a dead man, now!" Alternately, positioning a relative clause before its antecedent. "Consider the lilies of the field how they grow." See also: procatalepsis.

procatalepsis

anticipating and answering an opponent's objections in advance; an instance of prolepsis. See also: hypophora, prolepsis.

proparalepsis

See also: paragoge.

prosonomasia

See: paronomasia.

prosopopoeia

a figure of speech in which an absent or imaginary person is represented as speaking.

prosthesis

the prefixing of one or more letters to the beginning of a word. "Beloved."

protolanguage

a language that is the recorded or hypothetical ancestor of one or more other languages. Same as "Ursprache."

provection

the carrying forward of a final letter to the following word.

psittacism

parrot-like repetition in speech

purr word

a word with positive connotations and therefore desirable to use in building and sustaining good public relations. See also: snarl word.

rebus

a representation of words in the form of pictures or symbols, especially when presented as a puzzle.

reification

to regard or treat an abstraction as if it had concrete or material existence.

rheme

the part of a sentence that provides new information about the topic under discussion.

rhetoric

the art or study of using language effectively and persuasively; more generally, verbal communication.

rhopalic

characteristic of a line or verse in which each successive word has one more syllable than the previous.

rhyme

correspondence of terminal sounds of words or of lines of verse. "No more rhyming now, I mean it! / Anybody want a peanut?" -- The Princess Bride.

sandhi

modification of the sound of a morpheme in certain phonetic contexts. See also: morpheme.

scesis onomaton

a sentence constructed with a sequence of generally synonymous phrases or statements; also, a sentence constructed only of nouns and adjectives, typically in a regular or synonymous pattern.

semantics

the meaning of a word, phrase, clause, or sentence, as opposed to its syntactic construction. Same as "semiotics." See also: onomasiology.

semiotics

See: semantics.

sesquipedalian

of a word, having many syllables; of a person, tending to use long words.

shibboleth

a word or pronunciation that distinguishes people of one group or class from those of another.

sibilant

characterized by a hissing sound, especially a speech sound, such as those indicated by "s," "sh," "z," or "zh." See also: sigmatism.

sigmatism

inability to pronounce sibilant sounds correctly. See also: sibilant.

simile

an explicit comparison between two things using the word like or as. See also: metaphor.

snarl word

a word with negative connotations and therefore not desirable to use lest good public relations be undermined. See also: purr word.

solecism

a mistake in the use of language; also, an offense against good manners or etiquette.

sophism

a false argument, especially one intended to deceive.

spoonerism

the interchange of the initial letters of two words, usually as a slip of the tongue. "I think I'll go outside and get a freth of bresh air."

stichomythia

an ancient Greek arrangement of dialogue in which single lines of verse or other writing are spoken by alternate speakers.

subreption

phrasing words in such a way as to misrepresent by concealing facts.

superordinate

a word that is more generic than a given word.

suprasegmental

pertaining to a feature of speech that extends over more than a single speech sound.

syllepsis

use of a single word that applies to two or more others in different senses. "He was deep in thought and in debt." Also, "We must all hang together or assuredly we will all hang separately." -- Benjamin Franklin. See also: zeugma.

syllogism

deductive reasoning in which a conclusion is derived from two premises. "All human beings are mortal. I am a human being. Therefore, I am mortal."

symploce

simultaneous use of anaphora and epistrophe. "Justice came down from heaven to view the earth; Justice returned to heaven, and left the earth." See also: anadiplosis, anaphora, epistrophe.

synaeresis

See: syneresis.

synaesthesia

a brain disorder characterized by a cross-referencing of senses: for example, sounds might be "seen" and colors might be "heard."

synaloepha

omitting one of two vowels, one of which occurs at the end of one word and the other of which occurs at the beginning of the next word; a type of metaplasm. "Th'other," a shortening of "the other." See also:enclitic, metaplasm, proclitic.

synchysis

confused arrangement of words in a sentence, either by accident or on purpose; an extreme instance of hyperbaton or anastrophe. See also: anastrophe, hyperbaton.

syncope

shortening a word by omitting a middle segment.

synecdoche

referring to something by just a part of it. "New York won the World Series," instead of "The New York Yankees won the World Series." See also: metonymy.

syneresis

the drawing together of two consecutive vowels or syllables into a single syllable, as the formation of a diphthong. Same as "synaeresis." See also: diphthong.

synesis

agreement of words to logic rather than grammatical form. "The wages of sin is death." -- Romans 6:23. See also: anacoluthon.

synonym

a word which has the same meaning as another. "Elated," which is a synonym for "ecstatic." See also: antonym.

systole

the shortening of a long syllable.

tachygraphy

the art or practice of rapid writing or shorthand; stenography.

tautology

repetition of an idea in different words. "With malice toward none, with charity for all." -- Abraham Lincoln.

tautonym

a scientific name in which the genus and species names are the same. For example, gorilla gorilla.

theophoric

See: theophorous.

theophorous

having the name of a god; derived from the name of a deity.

tmesis

inserting a word in the middle of another. "Hoo-bloody-ray" and "un-freaking-believable." See also: dystmesis.

traduttori traditori

Italian saying meaning "Translators, Traitors," implying that expression in one language can never be equivalently expressed in another.

trope

the figurative use of a word or expression.

univocalic

writing that contains just one vowel. "Left rebel 'Red Ken' elected." See also: lipogram.

Ursprache See: protolanguage.

velar  See: guttural.

verbicide

the destruction of the sense or value of a word.

vernacular

the language or dialect of a country; the everyday language of ordinary people.

Wanderwort

a word that is similar in several presumably unrelated or distantly related languages yet whose origins are unknown. "Wine." See also: calque, etymon, loanword.

Witzelsucht

a mental disorder characterized by the making of poor jokes and puns and the telling of pointless stories and usually caused by lesions on the frontal lobe.

wordfact

a label that, when applied often enough to a particular group, eventually becomes accepted as fact. "The perception that Generation Xers are 'slackers' is inaccurate; it is a mere wordfact."

xenoepist one with a foreign accent.

zeugma two words linked to another, which only applies to one of them; also, a syllepsis. See also: syllepsis.