Language Features

Last updated Jun 15, 2023 Edit Source

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• # Literary Techniques

  • Matrix Education - Literary Techniques

• # Visual Techniques

  • Matrix Education - Visual Techniques

• # Descriptive Language

  • Adjectives and Adverbs
    • Adjectives describe nouns
    • Adverbs describe verbs
  • Connotation
    • Meaning that is suggested, rather than literal
  • Sensory Details
    • Words and phrases that appeal to the reader’s senses
      • Typically of sight and hearing, but also of touch, taste and smell

• # Figurative Language

  • Anthropomorphism
  • Metaphor
  • Metonymy
  • Pathetic Fallacy
    • Crediting nature with human traits
    • e.g. a description of the weather to symbolise a character’s emotional state
  • Personification
  • Simile
  • Symbol
    • An object pr phrase that emobdies a range of meanings that extend beyond its literal definition
  • Synecdoche
  • Zoomorphism

• # Sound Devices

  • Alliteration
  • Assonance
  • Cacophony
    • Combing words to create or imply a harsh or unpleasant sound
  • Consonance
  • Euphony
  • Onamatopoeia
    • Words that sound similar to the sound they are mean to depict
  • Rhyme

• # Pace

  • Caesura
    • A break in the rhythm of a line of poetry, created by splitting a sentence or interrupting its regular rhythm, resulting in a dramaric pause
  • Rhythm
    • Patterns created through the arrangement of words according to syllables or the natural emphases created by their pronuciation

• # Word Play

  • Irony
    • Using words with intended meanings that are different from, or even the opposite of, their literal meanings
      • Often conveyed by the tone of delivery
    • Three types of Irony:
      • Verbal Irony
        • When someone says something that is opposite to what they mean
        • e.g. saying how warm it is when its very cold
      • Situational Irony
        • An event that mocks its circumstances
        • e.g. a fire station gets burnt down when its supposed to be a building to protect against fire
      • Dramatic Irony
        • When something happens/is happening that the character in the situation is unaware of but the audience knows
          • e.g. Romeo thinks Juliet is dead but the audience knows she is actually asleep
  • Parody
    • The delibrate exaggeration of particular textual features of another work for humourous effect
  • Pun
    • A play on words, creating humour or irony through the fact that words have two or more meanings
  • Satire
    • Using humour or parody to draw attention to human flaws

• # Intertextuality

  • Allegory
    • Exploring a complex or abstract concept through the creation of a more concrete example
  • Allusion
    • A casual reference to another literary work or real-world event
  • Analogy
    • Explaining something by comparing it with a similar thing that is more familiar to the audience
  • Quotation
    • Repeating the words of another work or person, to add meaning or authority to a text

• # Pathos - Emotion

  • Anaphora
  • Attacks and Praise
  • Colloquialism
  • Cumulation
  • Emotive Language
    • Language that is highly emotional, designed to provoke an emotional response from the audeince
  • Emphasis
  • Generalisation
  • Hyperbole
  • Inclusive Language
    • Language, such as personal pronouns (e.g. ‘we’, ‘us’, ‘our’), that makes the audience feel included in the writer’s argument
  • Litotes
  • Repetition
  • Rhetorical Question
    • A question that is posed not to elicit and answer but to encourage the audience to think, or for which the answer is self-evident

• # Logos - Logic

  • Aphorism
  • Evidence
  • Expert Opinions
  • Formal Language
  • Jargon
  • Statistics
  • Tricolon

• # Ethos - Credibility and Character

  • Anecdote
  • Credentials
  • Testimonials

• Accent
  • The way in which words are pronounced, usually associated with a geograhical region
• Back-channel
• Dialect
  • Grammar and vocabulary that is particular to a specific region
• Diction or Lexical Choice
• Elision
  • The omission or slurring of syllables or words, such as ‘gonna’ and ‘g’ day’
• Ellipsis
  • The omission of part of a sentence to create a causal tone
  • e.g. ‘You going out tonight?’ (missing are)
  • e.g. ‘Don’t know. You?’ (missing ‘I’ and ‘are’)
• Enunciation
• Filler
• Fluency
  • The quality of speech in terms of its fluid and error-free delivery
• Idiolect
• Intonation
  • The expression or tone carried by the voice; also refers to whether the voice is rising, falling or remaining at the same pitch
• Modality
• Non-verbal features
  • Features that inform spoken communication,
  • e.g. eye contact, gesture, posture and movement
• Pace or Tempo
• Pause
• Pitch
  • The sound frequency (high or low) or a voice
• Register
• Rhythm
• Sociolect
  • A style of speaking associated with a particular social group
• Stress
• Tone
  • Language choices that convey emotion or attitude
• Transition Markers
• Volume
  • The loundness or softness of a speaker

• # Mise en scène - Visual elements within the frame

  • Lighting
    • Colour
    • Contrast
    • Key
  • Setting
    • Environment
    • Props
  • Subject
    • Body Language
    • Costume

• # Composition - Placement of elements within an image

  • Camera Angle
    • Eye Level
    • High Angle/Bird’s Eye
    • Low Angle/Worm’s Eye
    • Oblique
  • Shot Type
    • Close-up/Extreme Close-Up
    • Establishing/Long Shot
    • Full/Medium Shot
  • Density
  • Depth of Field
  • Film Stock
  • Framing
  • Proxemics
  • Salience
  • Staging Positions

• # Text - Any words included in the imagr

  • Position
  • Ratio
  • Typography

• # Camera Movement and Focus

  • Dolly
    • Camera is mounted on a moving platform (dolly)
      • Smoothly moves closer to (dolly in) or further away from (dolly out) the subject
    • Gives the impression that the viewer is moving to/from the subject
      • Creates a less artificial effect than zooming
  • Handheld
  • Pan
  • Pedestal
  • Tilt
  • Truck
  • Zoom

• # Editing

  • Crossfade
  • Cut/Cutaway
  • Fade
  • Jump Cut
  • L-cut
  • Match Cut
  • Shot Reverse Shot
  • Split Screen
  • Wipe

• # Sound

  • Diegetic
    • Natural sounds from the scene
      • e.g. dialogue, street noise, wind
    • Adds to the realism of a scene
  • Extra-diegetic
    • Sound added in editing
      • i.e. not natural/not from the scene
      • e.g. voice-over commentary, backing track, sound effects
    • Creates atmosphere and manipulates the audience’s response

Credit to Insight Year 11 English