Entertainment / Literature Glossary

Alba: (Provençal 'dawn') A medieval lyric or morning serenade about the coming of dawn. The alba's refrain typically ends with the word 'dawn.' The theme can be religioius, but more frequently th . . . View Full Definition

Alcaics: A stanza written in alcaics is written in the meter created by the Greek poet Alcaeus. This stanza-form was later used with slight changes by the poet Horace. An example in English appears i . . . View Full Definition

Alchemy: The medieval and Renaissance precursor to modern chemistry, characterized by mystical philosophy and attempts to turn 'base' metals such as lead and tin into 'noble' metals such as gold and . . . View Full Definition

Alexandrine: A twelve-syllable line written in iambic hexameter. Alexandrines were especially popular in French poetry for drama between 1500-1800 CE, but their invention dates back to the late 1100s. Th . . . View Full Definition

Allegoresis: The act of reading a story as an allegory.

Allegory: The word derives from the Greek allegoria (speaking otherwise'). The term loosely describes any writing in verse or prose that has a double meaning. This narrative acts as an extended metaph . . . View Full Definition

Alliosis: While presenting a reader with only two alternatives may result in the logical fallacy known as false dichotomy or either/or fallacy, creating a parallel sentence using two alternatives in p . . . View Full Definition

Alliteration: Repeating a consonant sound in close proximity to others, or beginning several words with the same vowel sound. For instance, the phrase 'buckets of big blue berries' alliterates with the co . . . View Full Definition

Alliterative Prose: Many texts of Old English and Middle English prose use the same techniques as alliterative verse. Aelfric (c. 955-1010 CE) and Wulfstan (d. 1023) wrote many treatises using skillful allitera . . . View Full Definition

Alliterative Revival: The general increase or surge in alliterative poetry composed in the second half of the 14th century in England. Alliteration had been the formalistic focus in Old English poetry, but after . . . View Full Definition

Alliterative Verse: A traditional form of Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse poetry in which each line has at least four stressed syllables, and those stresses fall on syllables in which three or four words alliterate ( . . . View Full Definition

Allomorph: A different pronunciation of a morpheme. For instance, consider the -s plural morpheme. The standard /s/ sound (as in ) becomes a /z/ sound in some allomorphs (such as .) Howeve . . . View Full Definition

Allophone: A predictable change in the articulation of a phoneme. For example, the letter t in the word top is aspirated, but the letter t in stop is unaspirated.

Allusion: A casual reference in literature to a person, place, event, or another passage of literature, often without explicit identification. Allusions can originate in mythology, biblical references . . . View Full Definition

Alphabet Poem: An acrostic poem of thirteen lines in which each line consists of two words, each word beginning with sequential letters in the alphabetic pattern ABCDEF, etc. Deutsche noteas that many poet . . . View Full Definition

Alphabetic: The adjective alphabetic refers to any writing system in which each unit or letter represents a single sound in theory. English writing is theoretically alphabetic--but in actual point of fa . . . View Full Definition

Alphabetism: A word formed from the initial letters of other words (or syllables) pronounced with the letters of the alphabet--such as the IRS, CIA, the VP, or VIP. See further discussion under acronym.

Altaic: (from the Altai mountains) A non-Indo-European language family including Turkish, Tungusic, and Mongolian.

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