请输入您要查询的百科知识：

　

词条 Parallelism (rhetoric)
释义

  1. Examples

  2. Forms of parallelism

  3. In proverbs

  4. See also

  5. Footnotes

  6. Sources

{{mergefrom|Antithetic parallelism|date=February 2019}}Parallelism is a rhetorical device that compounds words or phrases that have equivalent meanings so as to create a definite pattern. This structure is particularly effective when "specifying or enumerating pairs or series of like things".[1] A scheme of balance, parallelism represents "one of the basic principles of grammar and rhetoric".[2]

Parallelism as a rhetorical device is used in many languages and cultures around the world in poetry, epics, songs, written prose and speech, from the folk level to the professional. It is very often found in Biblical poetry and in proverbs in general.

Examples

The following sentences and verses possess "similarity in structure" in words and phrases:

{{quote |She tried to make the law clear, precise and equitable.[2]}}

In the quote above, the compounded adjectives serve as parallel elements and support the noun "law".

{{quote |Her purpose was to impress the ignorant, to perplex the dubious, and to confound the scrupulous.[1]}}

In the above quote, three prepositional phrases produce the parallel structure supporting the noun "purpose". Note that this rhetorical device requires that the coordinate elements agree with one another grammatically: "nouns with nouns, prepositional phrases with prepositional phrases and adverb clauses with adverb clauses."[3]

When the coordinate elements possess that same number of words (or in the example below, the same number of syllables) the scheme is termed isocolon:

{{quote |I'll give my jewels for a set of beads,
My gorgeous palace for a hermitage,
My gay apparel for an almsman's gown
My figured goblets for a dish of wood.

Forms of parallelism

Parallelisms of various sorts are the chief rhetorical device of Biblical poetry[5] in the tristich and in multiples of distich parallels[6] and also in the poetry of many other cultures around the world, particularly in their oral traditions.[7] Robert Lowth coined the term parallelismus membrorum (parallelism of members, i.e. poetic lines) in his 1788 book, Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrew Nation. Roman Jakobson pioneered the secular study of parallelism in poetic-linguistic traditions around the world, including his own Russian tradition.[8]

Chinese and Vietnamese classical poetry and prose have frequently made use of parallelism. Conversations between learned men in many cases involved exchanging single parallel couplets as a form of playing with words, as well as a kind of mental duel.[9][10] In a parallel couplet, not only must the content, the parts of speech, the mythological and historico-geographical allusions, be all separately matched and balanced, but most of the tones must also be paired reciprocally. Even tones are conjoined with inflected ones, and vice versa.[11]

Parallelisms in artistic speech are common in some languages of Mesoamerica, such as Nahuatl (Aztec).[12] It has also been observed in a language of Indonesia (that Fox imprecisely referred to as "Rotinese")[13] and Navajo.[14] Other research has found parallelisms in the languages of the Ural-Altaic area (including Finnish-Karelian folk poetry and the epics and songs of the Turkic and Mongolian peoples) and Toda, suggesting wider distribution among Dravidian languages.[13]

In proverbs

Parallelisms in proverbs are very common in languages around the world. Parallel structures in short passages such as proverbs help direct the listener or reader to compare the parallel elements and thereby more easily deduce the point.

  • Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. (English proverb)
  • Wounds caused by knives will heal, wounds caused by words will not heal. (Mongolian proverb)
  • The truth has legs and ran away; the lie has no legs and must stay. (Yiddish proverb)
  • When there is food in the house, what matter if a guest arrives? When there is faith, what is death? (Pashto proverb)[15]
  • The cow which leaves first will be broken at the horn; the cow which remains in the back will be broken at the tail. (Alaaba proverb from Ethiopia)

See also

  • Anaphora
  • Antithetic parallelism
  • Chiasmus
  • Exergasia

Footnotes

1. ^1 Corbett and Connors, 1999. p. 46
2. ^1 Corbett and Connors, 1999. p. 45
3. ^Corbett and Connors, 1999. p. 45-46
4. ^ Baldick,2008. p. 17
5. ^{{CathEncy|wstitle=Parallelism}} Online version of article.
6. ^{{cite web | url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11902-parallelism-in-hebrew-poetry | title=PARALLELISM IN HEBREW POETRY | publisher=JewishEncyclopedia.com | accessdate=December 7, 2011 | author=Casanowicz, I. M.}}
7. ^p. 216. James J. Fox. 1971. Semantic Parallelism in Rotinese Ritual Language. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde Deel 127, 2de Afl., pp. 215-255.
8. ^Jakobson, Roman. 1987. "The Poetry of Grammar and the Grammar of Poetry." In Language in Literature. K. Pomorska and S. Rudy, eds. Pp. 121-144. Cambridge, MA: The Belnap Press of Harvard University.
9. ^{{cite book|last1=Ann Huss|first1=Ann|last2=Liu|first2=Jianmei|title=The Jin Yong Phenomenon: Chinese Martial Arts Fiction and Modern Chinese Literary History|date=2007|publisher=Cambria Press|isbn=9781934043080|page=223|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2j5o95IZZAMC&pg=PA223}}
10. ^{{cite book|last1=Nguyen|first1=Tai Thu|title=The History of Buddhism in Vietnam|date=2008|publisher=CRVP|isbn=9781565180987|page=200|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tUN8tC0ftJcC&pg=PA200}}
11. ^Chinese Poetic Literature ChinaVista, 1996-2010.
12. ^William Bright. 1990. "With one lip, with two lips": Parallelism in Nahuatl. Language 66.3:437-452.
13. ^1 James J. Fox. 1971. Semantic Parallelism in Rotinese Ritual Language. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde Deel 127, 2de Afl., pp. 215-255.
14. ^Coyote Poems: Navajo Poetry, Intertextuality, and Language Choice. Anthony K. Webster. 2004. Coyote Poems: Navajo Poetry, Intertextuality, and Language Choice. American Indian Culture and Research Journal 28.4:69-91.
15. ^p. 181. Bartlotti, Leonard and Raj Wali Shah Khattak. 2006. Rohi Mataluna, revised and expanded ed. Peshawar, Pakistan: Interlit and Pashto Academy, Peshawar University.

Sources

  • Baldrick, Chris. 2008. Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Oxford University Press. New York. {{ISBN|978-0-19-920827-2}}
  • Corbett, Edward P. J. and Connors, Robert J. 1999. Style and Statement. Oxford University Press. New York, Oxford. {{ISBN|0-19-511543-0}}
  • Forsyth, Mark. 2014. The Elements of Eloquence. Berkley Publishing Group/Penguin Publishing. New York. {{ISBN|978-0-425-27618-1}}
{{Communication studies}}

2 : Grammar|Rhetoric
随便看

　

开放百科全书收录14589846条英语、德语、日语等多语种百科知识，基本涵盖了大多数领域的百科知识，是一部内容自由、开放的电子版国际百科全书。

　

Copyright © 2023 OENC.NET All Rights Reserved
京ICP备2021023879号 更新时间：2024/11/14 2:47:47