Of the figures of speech used in the Dutch language, many are aimed at emphasizing a particular word or phrase. This can be done by changing the word order or word arrangement. Other possibilities are the use of, for example, opposites. Here the different word arrangements are discussed, and the paraleipsis or praeteritio, where the aim is to emphasize a term.
Chiasm
A chiasm is a figure of speech in which the aforementioned concepts are repeated in another ?? often reversed ?? order. These do not always have to be the same words, but can also be synonyms. Chiasm is also called “crucifixion” because the words are almost always mirrored. A figure of speech is only a chiasm if the meaning of the phrase does not change greatly due to the inversion. Chiasm is therefore only used to emphasize something, or as variation in the text. Examples are:
- Thinking of death I cannot sleep, not sleeping I think of death ?? (by JC Bloem)
- Lonely and deserted, deserted and alone
Hendiadys
The hendiadys is a little used figure of speech. In this change of word arrangement, an adjective is used as a noun. This means that two nouns are next to each other, often linked by the word ?? and ??. An example of a hendiadys is:
- Praise and song ?? instead of hymn
Hypallage or enallage
A hypallage or enallage is a figure of speech in which a word is associated with a word other than the phrase to which it refers. Common examples of hypallage or enallage are:
- ??A nice cup of coffee?? (not the cup is tasty, but the coffee)
- A bakery
Inversion or anastrophe
An inversion or anastrophe is a figure of speech in which the usual word order in a sentence is reversed. Normally a sentence starts with subject, person form and definition, with an inversion or anastrophe this changes to put more emphasis on a certain term. Examples are:
- Are you an idiot!
- He walked home crying.
Prolepsis
A prolepsis is very similar to an inversion or anastrophe. With prolepsis, a word or phrase is also emphasized by placing it at the front of the sentence. The difference is that a prolepsis is separated from the rest of the sentence, often by a comma. An example of a prolepsis is:
- An idiot that’s what you are
Paraleipsis or praeteritio
In a paraleipsis or praeteritio the writer says he does not want to say something. Yet he goes into this. By saying that you don’t want to talk about something, you already emphasize the saying. In addition, you can easily keep yourself out of harm’s way. Examples of this figure of speech are:
- I don’t want to say he’s ugly.
- I’m not going to talk about today ????