Questions of Diction
Definition: Diction refers to the author’s choice of
words and their usage. Diction, as refers to word usage, is a qualitative
term. It refers to the effectiveness of the author’s word choices.
As it refers to word choice it is more stylistic referring to the level of
the language employed by the author. There are at least two levels
of diction, that is, formal and informal. Some would add to these another
level that is colloquial. Some would take this one more step and add
slang, though slang is often included in colloquial speech. Formal
diction refers to the language used by educated people when writing scholarly
articles or are engaged in some form of elevated discourse. Formal
diction consists of sophisticated, often technical, language. It often
makes allusions to books, events, or ideas that are rarely understood by
those who have not had advanced schooling. It is writing that employs
what is often called in colloquial speech “big words,” though not all obscure
words are large. (Etiolate and otiose are favorite smaller words of
mine that are fairly obscure.) Formal diction is rarely used in conversation
and when it is it usually reflects badly on the person using it. Informal
speech refers to the language of educated people as they engage in every
day conversation. Cicero, the great Roman orator, is said to have employed
formal diction when at the Senate and informal diction when at the dinner
table. Informal diction is also the language of most journalism and
other writing intended for mass consumption. Those who recognize two
levels of diction would include colloquial speech in this definition.
Colloquial speech is the language associated with those with little education.
Educated people probably use colloquial speech in certain social situations,
as those with little or no formal education may on occasion use informal
diction. An example of formal diction would be the science textbook
on meteorology. An example of informal diction would be the weathercaster
on the evening news. An example of colloquial diction might be the
street corner discussions of the weather. Those who include slang as
a level of diction are referring to those words that are newly invented and
not formally recognized by society at large. They are often short lived,
but not always. (“Cool” for example keeps finding its way back into
the slang vocabulary.) The difficulty with slang as a level of language
is that it lacks a complete vocabulary. To express complete thoughts
slang terms must surround themselves with words that have been formally inducted
into the language. In practice slang as a level of diction is usually
colloquial speech with slang terms mixed in.
1. What is the level of language used in the writing?
2. Why did the author choose this level of language?
3. What does the level of language tell me about the character
using it? (For example, if a character uses formal diction at a party
it may be a clue we are to see him as pompous. This is an especially
important question to ask when reading fiction.)
4. What does the level of language reveal about the author's
intended audience and his attitude toward this audience? (For example,
formal diction implies a certain amount of education on the part of the reader,
where an informal diction may imply less educated reader. A diction
that is overly simplistic may reveal an attitude of superiority on the part
of the author.)
5. What do specific word choices reveal about what is happening
in the work? (For example, a room could be described as cluttered or
claustrophobic. It is possible for both words to describe a single
room, that is, a claustrophobic room is in all likelihood a cluttered one.
But "cluttered" is a less emotionally charged word than "claustrophobic."
If an author chooses to describe a room as claustrophobic, what is the significance
of that word choice? In The Prelude William Wordsworth describes an
experience he had as a young boy rowing out onto Lake Patterdale secretly
at night. When he set out he was happy and carefree. He describes
himself as dipping his oars into the lake. A moment later a "huge peak
. . . upreared its head." This terrified him. Instead of dipping
the oars into the water, he struck the water and later he rowed with trembling
oars. In each case he is rowing a boat. The word choices indicate
the intensity with which he rowed and his emotional state as he rowed.
He never says his emotions changed from ecstasy to terror, but the change
in the way he describes his movements, the way he rowed the boat, reveals
this change. It is a transformation in the boy that is signaled initially
by the words Wordsworth used to describe his movements and what he saw.
1
6. How effective are the author's word choices? If
they appear to be poor choices does this reflect on the quality of the writing
or is the author deliberately using a poor word choice to tell us something?
(For example, W. H. Auden in his poem "As I Walked Out One Evening" uses
inept and skillful word choices to reveal different things about the different
voices that are heard in the poem. The poor word choices are a clue
to the immaturity of the individual speaking them, while the more sophisticated
word choices of the second voice in the poem are a clue to that speaker's
maturity and experience.2
7. What kinds of words tend to predominate in the writing?
(Does the writer, for example, use more verbs than adjectives? Does
he seem to prefer shorter words to longer ones?)
8. Are the characters' word choices consistent with what
we know about them? If they are not what is the purpose of this inconsistency?
(A character may want to conceal from another character that he is well educated.
As a result he may deliberately use colloquial speech when we know his normal
speech is very sophisticated and refined, or informal speech bordering on
formal.)
1. This passage can be found on pages 55-57 of the Penguin edition
of The Prelude, edited by J. C. Maxwell.
2. The poem is found on pages 114-115 of Collected Poems by W. H. Auden,
ed. Edward Mendelson, Random House, 1976, New York.