circumlocution
{{Short description|Ambiguous or roundabout figure of speech}}
Circumlocution (also called circumduction, circumvolution, periphrasis, kenning,{{cite web |url=http://grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/periphrasisterm.htm |title=periphrasis – definition and examples of periphrasis (rhetoric) |publisher=Grammar.about.com |date=1953-08-10 |access-date=2013-05-20 |archive-date=2013-05-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514020626/http://grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/periphrasisterm.htm |url-status=dead }}{{dubious|reason = Kenning is not a mere synonym for circumlocution! It is specific to the Scandinavian context.|date=June 2022}} or ambage{{citation needed|reason=Or at least desired|date=June 2022}}) is the use of an unnecessarily large number of words to express an idea. It is sometimes necessary in communication (for example, to work around lexical gaps that might otherwise lead to untranslatability), but it can also be undesirable (when an uncommon or easily misunderstood figure of speech is used).{{cite book|author=Gail Ramshaw|title=Liturgical Language: Keeping it Metaphoric, Making it Inclusive|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X8GphoHlB2wC&pg=PA36|access-date=29 September 2013|date=1 January 1996|publisher=Liturgical Press|isbn=978-0-8146-2408-1|page=36}} It can also come in the form of roundabout speech wherein many words are used to describe something that already has a common and concise term (for example, saying "a tool used for cutting things such as paper and hair" instead of "scissors").{{cite book|author=Máire Byrne|title=The Names of God in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: A Basis for Interfaith Dialogue|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Krnw3eHdwggC&pg=PA48|access-date=29 September 2013|date=8 September 2011|publisher=Continuum|isbn=978-1-4411-5356-2|page=48}} Most dictionaries use circumlocution to define words. Circumlocution is often used by people with aphasia and people learning a new language, where simple terms can be paraphrased to aid learning or communication (for example, paraphrasing the word "grandfather" as "the father of one's father"). Among other usages, circumlocution can be used to construct euphemisms, innuendos, and equivocations.
Language acquisition
Circumlocution is often used by beginner and intermediate second language speakers to convey the meaning of a word they don't know in their target language. Relative clauses are often used for circumlocution in English.{{Cite web |date=2018-01-25 |title=Circumlocution Strategies |url=https://premierskillsenglish.britishcouncil.org/course-stages/circumlocution-strategies |access-date=2022-09-14 |website=premierskillsenglish.britishcouncil.org |language=en}} For example,
[Firefighters] are the people who you call when your house is on fire. A [spider] is an arachnid that catches insects in its web.Synonyms and simile are two other common circumlocution strategies. A pomegranate could be described using these techniques as follows:
It's a kind of fruit, it's red and it has lots and lots of little seeds in it.
Euphemisms
{{Main|Euphemism}}
Euphemistic language often uses circumlocution to avoid saying words that are taboo or considered offensive. For example, "Holy mother of Jesus!" is a circumlocution of "Mary!", but "heck", while still euphemistic, is not a circumlocution of "hell".
Euphemistic circumlocution is also used to avoid saying "unlucky words"—words which are taboo for reasons connected with superstition: for example, calling the devil "Old Nick","Speak of the devil, and he will appear" is the proverb. calling Macbeth "the Scottish Play" or saying "baker's dozen" instead of thirteen.
Innuendo
{{Main|Innuendo}}
Innuendo refers to something suggested but not explicitly stated.{{cite web|url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/innuendo |title=innuendo – definition of innuendo by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia |publisher=Thefreedictionary.com |access-date=2013-05-25}}
Equivocation
{{main|Equivocation}}
Equivocation is the use of ambiguous language to avoid telling the truth or forming commitments.New Oxford American Dictionary 2nd edition 2005 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
See also
Notes
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References
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External links
{{Wiktionary|circumlocution}}
- {{Cite web |url=http://inpraiseofargument.com/say-two-things-at-once/ |title=Say Two Thing at Once – Paradoxes, irony, puns, and tactical ignorance |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615080822/http://inpraiseofargument.com:80/say-two-things-at-once/ |website=inpraiseofargument.com |archive-date=2013-06-15}}
- {{Cite encyclopedia |title=Communicative styles: Digressing and being indirect or evasive |encyclopedia=Cambridge dictionary |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/topics/communicative-styles/digressing-and-being-indirect-or-evasive/ |access-date=2024-01-24}}
{{Figures of speech}}
{{Authority control}}