II- Words patterns

Palindrome

A form of anagram in which a word or a whole sentence can be read forwards or backwards while retaining its meaning. For example the hero's christian and family names, Pip Pirrip, in Dicken's Great Expectations (1860). They may express this characters patent incapacity of progressing in life. Palindromes may take the form of a whole sentence like "Madam, I am Adam"

Neologism

A newly created word. Some integrate everyday language, others remain mere inventions. For example Lewis Carroll invented nonsensical words like "chortle" or "gallumph" which became so famous that they now belong to the English language. Many neologisms where portmanteau words or blending so, that is two words telescoped into one like Oxbridge (= Oxford+Cambridge). James Joyce and Lewis Carroll are famous four their portmanteau words (gallumph = to gallop in triumph )

Anagram

A word that is created by rearranging the letters of another word. Anagram often conceal meanings or proper names. For example the title of Samuel Butler's novel Erewhon is an anagram of Nowhere. Erewhon is a imaginary perfect country or utopia which can be found nowhere on earth.

The meaning

A word's meaning is what the word signifies or refers to.

Homonyms

Are words with identical spellings and/or Pronounciation, but whose meanings are different (lead can refer to a metal or to the action of showing the way). Writers like Shakespeare may use homonyms to create comical quiproquos or double meanings. For example in Romeo and Juliet, the "silver sound of music" refers to musical harmony, but also to the money earned through playing.

Polysemous words

Are words with more than one meaning.

Antonyms

Are words with opposite meanings (high and low)

Synonyms

Are words with the same meanings and can more or less be interchanged. For example "assist" is synonymous with "help"

Pun, double meaning, wordplay

Is a figure of speech relying on the similarity of sound. Wordplay often relies on homonyms or polysemous words. For example : "The lie shall lie heavy on my sword" (Shakespeare) in his Sonnet 73, Shakespeare also made a pun on the "yellow leaves" which refers both to the ancient pages he is writing on and to the autumn leaves on the trees. In Agatha Christie's novel And Then There Were None, the murderer calls himself U.N.Owen (unknown)

The referent

Is the idea or thing represented in/by the word. Some words have no referent, for instance, grammatical words surch as articles and conjunctions.

Polysemy or Multiple Meaning

It can be found in all languages. For example : "to lie" in English.

Abstract words

Like intelligence, illusion, con be contrasted to concrete words like house, book.

Archaism

Obsolete words, which some writers use intentionally, in order to create an atmosphere of the past. For example the Romantic writers' renewed interests with in the Middle Ages prompted them to introduce archaisms in their writings. Like Keat's refrain "The belle dame sans merci/ Thee hath in thrall"

Denotation

The literal meaning of a word, which does not take into account its emotional or cultural associations.

Connotation

The subjective, emotional, or cultural implications a word may have in a given context. For example : when Wilkie Collins chose to entitle one of his novels "The woman in White" he knew that white denoted a colour, but that it also connoted virtue, virginity and pureness of soul in his readers' mind. And yet, that colour suggests positive values in Western societies, it connotes death and mourning in many eastern countries.

1- Content and meaning

What is in, and what it means

2-Playing on

With words