Part II. Diction
Diction is the choice and use of words. The English language has a very large vocabulary: as many as 400,000 words are collected in the Oxford English Dictionary. Of course no one knows or needs to use so many words. Only a small part of them are used by ordinary people for ordinary purposes. A student learning to write should learn to use the word that are most useful and most often used to express himself. Sometimes he may use the wrong words, but more often the words he uses are not entirely wrong, but inappropriate, inexact, unidiomatic or uninteresting. A basic knowledge of diction mat be of help to him.
I. Stylistic Characteristics of Words
The words that are often used may be divided, from a stylistic point of view, into three types: formal, common and colloquial.
Formal words may be also called learned words, or literary words, or “big words”. They mainly appear in formal writing, such as scholarly or theoretical works, political and legal documents, and formal lectures and addresses. Many such words contain three of more syllables, and most of then are of Greek or Latin origin. They are seldom used in daily conversation, except for special purposes.
The following paragraph talks about heart, and it contains 108 words, of which 17 words are from Latin, accounting for about 16%. If we exclude 19 articles, 13 prepositions and 13 pronouns and conjunctions, Latin words account for 27%.
We have known for only 400 years that it [the heart] was a four-chambered pump and that the circulation moved one way around the body. The left ventricle, which is the chamber that propels blood to the rest of the body, has the thickest, most muscular wall in the heart. Inside it are grayish translucent flaps extending into the cavity. These are the flaps of the mitral valve which stand between the left
auricle and the left ventricle, preventing the backflow of blood. Attached to their surface there are long, thin, glistening threads or cords, rather like the ropes of a tent holding open the flaps of the canvas.
---- Jonathan Miller, Exploring the Inner Man
Most of the words in the paragraph, however, are those that people use every day, and appear in all kinds of writing. Because of this, they are called common words. Read the following paragraph:
When I was a kid, and reading every science fiction book in the local library, I used to wonder exactly how the future would happen. By that I don?t mean what the future would be like—science fiction already told me that—but rather how we?d actually get there. Science fiction books seemed to agree, for example, that in the future there would be no money—all transactions would be made via identity cards
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and centralized computers. But that seemed dubious to me: how, I wondered, are you going to get everybody to give up money in the first place?
— Michael Rogers
In this paragraph, except one or two words that are very colloquial, like kid, and one or two that are a little formal, like transactions and dubious, all the words are commonly used words. The sentences are relatively short and simple. Such vocabulary and sentence structures fit the content of the paragraph, as it describes the thoughts of a child.
There are words which are mainly used in informal of familiar conversations. They seldom appear in informal writing, and in literary works their main use is to record people’s thoughts and dialogues. They are usually short words of one or two syllables and most of them are of Saxon origin (i.e., not borrowed from Greek, Latin or French). We may call them colloquial words, such as guts (meaning courage), guy (man), and hassle (bother).
Here is a paragraph with some of these words:
You have your tension. Sometimes you come close to having an accident, that upsets you. You just escape maybe by a hair or so. Sometimes maybe you get a disgruntled passenger on there, and starts a big argument. Traffic. You have someone who cuts you off or stops in front of the bus. There?s a lot of tension behind that. You got to watch all the time. You?re watchin? the drivers, you?re watchin? other cars. Most
of the time you have to drive for the other drivers, to avoid hitting them. So you take the tension home with you.
— Studs Terkel
This is part of a talk given by a Chicago driver. He uses very colloquial words and expressions like there’s, you’re, by a hair or so, on there, cuts you off, and you got to. But most of the words he uses are common words.
Thus there are three levels of words, with the formal or learned at the top, the colloquial at the bottom, and the common in the middle. Common words are good for all kinds of writing; formal words are seldom used in formal writing, unless for some special purposes or effect. These are all words of standard English, which is used by all educated speakers of the language. There are words which is used only by special groups of people for special effect. Among these are slang words, dialectal words and certain words that are often used by uneducated speakers.
Slang words are highly informal. They may be vivid and interesting, but they may, when used inappropriately, make the writer or speaker sound offensive or funny:
On hearing that his father had kicked the bucket, we wrote him a letter to express our sympathies.
The big banquet held in honor of the distinguished guests was really neat.
Because of the slang expression, the first sentence does not really sound sympathetic, and the second one is not serious in tone.
However, sometimes writers may use different levels of words skillfully in their writing,
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especial novelists. In the following paragraph, the writer skillfully uses standard English to narrate the story, and nonstandard English to describe the thoughts of a black mother.
…She did not even turn her head when she heard him [her son] come stomping into the kitchen. She heard him pull up a chair, sit, sigh, and draw off his muddy shoes; they fell to the floor with heavy thuds. Soon the kitchen was full of the scent his drying socks and his burning pipe. Tha boy hongry! She paused and looked at him over her shoulder; he was puffing at his pipe with his head tilted back and his feet propped up on the edge of the stove; his eyelids drooped and his wet clothes steamed from the heat of the fire. Lawd, that boy gits mo like his pa every day he lives, she mused, her lips breaking in a slow faint smile. Hols tha pipe in his mouth just like his pa usta hol his. Wondah how they woulda got erlong ef his pa had lived? They oughta like each other, they so mucha like….
---- Richard Wright, Bright and Morning Star, 1930s
The appropriate use of words of different styles depends on the occasion, including the writer’s or the speaker’s subject, audience and purpose.
The following sentences are all used to ask the other person to close the door, and the tone is from a simple order to a polite request. Which one to choose, of course, depends on the different relations and status of the two speakers:
Door!
Shut the door (will you) (please)?
I could do without the draught from that door. May we have the door shut (please)? Would you mind closing the door (please)? I wonder if you would mind closing the door?
I?m sorry to trouble you, but could I ask you to close the door for me, please? ---- W. R. O’Donnell and Loreto Todd, Variety in Contemporary English, 1980
Exercises
I. Read the following passage carefully and then answer the questions:
Language is our facility to talk to each other. The word ?talk? is used not merely to avoid a rather more technical and high-sounding word like ?communicate?; talk is more precise and more relevant to the special nature of human language than ?communicate?. In the first place, all creatures — cat, sparrow, and bee — can be said to communicate with each other to some extent. They can attract each other?s attention, warn of danger, woo their mates, and direct the way to food. We are still learning just how well animals can communicate with each other, but there can be no doubt that animal communication is wholly rudimentary as compared with the complex and subtle control of language possessed by even the least intelligent or least educated English tramp or American aboriginal. It is therefore appropriate to say that language involves ?talk? to emphasize that language is a peculiarly human activity.
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—Randolph Quirk
1. From what type of book is this passage taken? What do you think is the purpose of the book?
2. Is the book written for scientists or for ordinary readers?
3. Are there slang expressions in the passage? Are there formal words in it? Give examples.
4. Is the diction appropriate for the content of the passage? Give reasons.
II. Read the following passage carefully and then answer the questions:
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.
But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.
—Martin Luther King, Jr.
1. Is the style of the passage formal or informal?
2. Give examples of the formal words and expressions in the passage.
3. What rhetorical devices are used? Give examples.
III. Point out the formal and common words in each of the following groups of words:
get, obtain; locate, find; cast, throw; bear, carry; buy, purchase; cease, desist, stop;
commence, begin; complete, finish; give, extend;, donate; live, dwell, reside; edifice,
building; possible, feasible; hasten, expedite; try, endeavor; dubiety, doubt; send out, dispatch; take away, remove; deem, think; conceal, hide; rooms, accommodation; felicitate, congratulate; perchance, perhaps; true, veritable; vessel, ship; share, partake
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II．The Meaning of Words
The meaning of a word has two aspects: denotative and connotative. A word’s denotation is what it literally means, as defined by the dictionary; its connotation is the feeling or idea suggested by it.
For instance, country, nation, state and land have more or less the same denotation and may all be translated into 国家 in Chinese, but their connotations are quite different. Country refers to an area of land and its population and government, nation emphasizes the people of a country, state refers to the government or political organization of a country, and land is less precise but more literary and emotive than country.
an island country; neighbouring countries;
In area China is the third largest country in the world. a peace-loving nation; the awakening nations of Africa;
The modernization program has won the support of the whole nation. state organs; state-owned enterprises China is my native land.
The connotations of words may very different based on people’s country, race, class, political views and even professions. The names of people and places, animals and plants, colors, etc., may bring different associations to different people. The names of people that can have connotations may come from history, literary works or other sources. From example, in English, the names of Hitler, Don Quixote or Judas can all have many connotations. Similarly, in Chinese we can describe a person as a 张飞，or a 红娘, but the connotations of these two names may not be able to be understood by English-speaking people.
Names of places may also have many connotations: Munich, Pearl Harbor, Vietnam in English; 周口店，延安，黄河，卢沟桥 in Chinese.
Many animals have similar connotations in the minds of the easterners and westerners. For instance, a fox is cunning; a pig is dirty and lazy; a sheep is meek and a mouse is timid, etc. Of course, some animals have different connotations in different cultures. For instance, in English, a phoenix is a symbol of “rebirth, renaissance” while in Chinese, 凤凰is a symbol of “祥瑞”. Some animals may have special meanings only to a certain people. In English, chicken may be used to refer to a young woman, or more often, a coward. In Chinese, 仙鹤is a symbol of longevity, but in English, the word crane never have such a connotation.
Colors may have similar or different connotations in English and Chinese. For example, in English-speaking countries, white is usually considered a sacred and pure color, while in China, it is traditionally a color of mourning. Black has a negative connotation both in English and Chinese: black market, black list, black day, black future, black heart, etc. The connotations of blue are quite different in English and Chinese. In Chinese, blue may symbolize peace and calmness, while in English the connotations of blue may be more negative: sad, melancholy, obscene, etc. Similarly, the connotations of green may be more positive in Chinese: exuberant and hopeful. In English, it has more connotations: new and immature (a green hand, as green as grass); envious (green with envy, the green-eye monster). Also, it can be used to refer to money, because the bills of U.S. dollars are green in color: green power（金钱的力量）, green stuff（钱，纸币）. Yellow may
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