DIRECTIONS:

• Read through the notes on diction. You can print them off or copy into your class notes.

• Go back through your annotations and apply to “The Masque of the Red Death.”

• Be prepared to discuss notes on Thursday.

PAG E 1 9 7

DICTION ANALYSIS

DICTION

•Author’s strategic word choice that• 1) creates meaning or conveys an author’s view of truth to the reader, and• 2) produces intentional effects (tone, appeal)

LEVELS OF DICTION

LEVELS OF DICTION

•Refers to the overall view of an author’s word choice which includes• Vocabulary (# of syllables per word)• Standard/non-standard language use• contractions

LEVELS OF DICTION: FORMAL

•Creates elevated tone• Pretentious, academic, elitist, pompous, objective, condescending, sarcastic

•Free of slang, idioms, colloquialisms and contractions•Polysyllabic words•Elegant vocabulary

LEVELS OF DICTION: INFORMAL

• Language of everyday use• Creates tones of:• Relaxed and conversational, familiarity,

nostalgic, ignorant, immature, regional (pride in culture),

• Includes common and simple words, idioms, slang, colloquialism, jargon and contractions

LEVELS OF DICTION: NEUTRAL

•Standard language and vocabulary without elaborate words; may include contracts•Creates tone of: • objectivity, indifference, neutrality, apathy, disconnect, indifference, confusion, detachment

TYPES OF DICTION

DICTION TYPE

•Refers to categories of diction

SLANG

•Group of recently coined words used in informal situations•Come and go quickly•Passing in/out of usage within months or years

COLLOQUIAL EXPRESSIONS

•Nonstandard language•Often regional•Ways of using language appropriate to informal or conversational speech/writing

JARGON

•Words and expressions characteristic of a specific trade, profession or pursuit

DIALECT

•Nonstandard subgroup of a language with its own vocabulary and grammatical features•Dialects reveal person’s region and/or economic or social class

CONCRETE VERSUS ABSTRACT DICTION

Concrete

• Describes physical qualities or conditions of something

Abstract

• Denotes ideas, emotions, conditions or concepts that are intangible

DENOTATION VERSUS CONNOTATION

Denotative Diction

• Exact, literal definition of a word independent of any emotional association or secondary meaning

Connotative Diction

• Implicit rather than explicit meaning of a word• Consists of

suggestions, associations and emotional overtones attached to a chosen word

PURPOSES OF DICTIONPURPOSE: TONE & APPEALS

• allude to __________• analyze a process• argue• classify/divide• compare/contrast• define• describe

• exemplify• inform• narrate• persuade• reveal cause/effect

EFFECTS OF DICTIONWHY X TONE/WHY X APPEAL (AUDIENCE?)

• amuse• bolster or diminish the speaker’s ethical appeal• convince• create an atmosphere/mood• entertain

• evoke _____________ emotion in the reader• narrow the

intended audience• outrage • persuade• surprise

FINDING DICTION“THE RATTLER”

“THE RATTLER”PAGE 198

•Annotate for diction (already established U.T.!)• Strongly connotative diction• Identify connectivity between words• Consider words to describe both elements of the contrast•Must identify shift (tonal shift)• Consider words before and after shift

CONNECTING DICTION(FOR EVIDENCE AND COMMENTARY)

•Tone (purpose of diction) & Tonal Shift•Subject•Speaker/Author’s Purpose•Occasion•Audience

ORGANIZING COMMENTARY FOR DICTION

FOR EVIDENCE, COMMENTARY AND ORGANIZATION OF BODY PARAGRAPHS

CHUNKING DICTION

•Tone (purpose of diction) & Tonal Shift•Subject•Speaker/Author’s Purpose•Occasion•Audience

BRAINSTORMING: CHUNK 1

Word for Word Cluster:Words Chosen based on SUBJECT (“the rattler”) that also represents one side of contrast and lends itself to UT discussion

PURPOSE & Effect of specific word in the “cluster”

Live Wire adversary meets adversary, contrast and primary conflictEmphasizes conflict that underscores UTelectric feeling, potential dangerTONE: dangerous and ominous

Little Tocsin an alarm, a warning bell on a ship; a signal reinforces “little” – insignificant COMPARED to the speaker’s duty or obligation to kill the snake

BRAINSTORMING: CHUNK 2

Word for Word Cluster:Words Chosen based on

SUBJECT (“the rattler”) that also represents one side of contrast and lends itself to

UT discussion

PURPOSE & EFFECT of specific word in

the “cluster”

Arrested frozen in time, caught by a force stronger than the snake; punishment; fear; cacophonous

Sunset insinuates the end of the day, completion of the day's tasks (literal)

(figuratively) symbolizes the end of a journey; reinforces that his “task” or “duty” was to kill the snake and marks the finality of life and his decision

O R G A N I Z AT I O N A N D C O M M E N TA RY

DICTION BODY PARAGRAPH

TOPIC SENTENCES

• No direct quotations• Topic• Restatement of UT• Purpose verb• Hint at examples• What does diction do?• Describes, heightens, underscores, elaborates, narrates,

emphasizes, etc.

EXAMPLES:

• In "Letter from Birmingham Jail," Martin Luther King, Jr., writes in a relatively denotative formal style which thus contributes to a dignity of tone, while the lack of euphemism underscores the seriousness of his intention.

“RATTLER” EXAMPLES

• The author’s diction heightens the power and force behind the snake as it responds to the man, first placidly, then aggressively, thereby highlighting the animalistic nature of not just the snake, the humanity as well.• The author’s electric diction, such as when the narrator

describes the snake and then when the snake attacks the narrator, heightens the power and force behind the snake as it responds to the man, first placidly, then aggressively, thereby highlighting the animalistic nature of not just the snake, the humanity as well.

EVIDENCE

• Incorporate direct quotations from the passage• Integrate diction choices (words or short

phrases) smoothly into your own sentences• Do not merely list words• Connect words based on subject,

audience, tonal and/or tonal shift, contrast, speaker.

EXAMPLE

The snake“lay rigid,”“arrested” in time and place in the “thinning” light

of the desert’s “sunset”.

Standard Organization: Set up a contrast and/or tonal shiftChronological: focus on highlighted words as foreshadowing element; underscores contrast.

EXAMPLE 2

•“Arrested,” the snake becomes a “live wire” after he shakes his “little tocsin” at the narrator.

INTEGRATING DICTION INTO YOUR OWN SENTENCES

• If you change the form of a word when you quote or add words of your own to the original citation, you must enclose those words in brackets to show your reader what you did.

The snake “lay rigid,” “arrested” in time and place

as the light “[thinned]” in the desert.

COMMENTARYPURPOSE & EFFECT

SAMPLE PARAGRAPH: STANDARD ORGANIZATION

The author’s diction heightens the power and force behind the snake as it responds to the man, first placidly, then aggressively.“Arrested,” the snake becomes a “live wire” after he shakes his “little tocsin” at the man. Unmoving at first, the snake plays a waiting game as adversary meets adversary across an imaginary line drawn in the desert. Then a feeling of electricity jolts the reader, heart beating faster from the noise of the warning that, like battle stations aboard a ship, calls all to readiness. Yet it must lose; despite its attempts to retreat to a “paper-bag bush,” the snake knows its life has been “dearly sold,” but it remains “sinuous and self-respecting” in the man’s mind. The hiding place is an illusion, and a costly one. The snake’s valiant behavior adds dignity to its last moments. All involved recognize the strength of both the man and the almost-human snake but know that responsibility and commitment to others make the killing necessary.