Asyndeton

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The asyndeton ( Greek  ἀσύνδετον 'unconnected', plural: asyndeta ) is an asyndetic (unconnected) enumeration in rhetoric and linguistics .It is a rhetorical figure from the group of word combinations . The conjunction that is actually to be expected (connecting particles) is omitted here. The words or parts of sentences lined up without a conjunction are grammatically and content-wise equated and not increased.

Lower forms

Sometimes a distinction is made between the following sub-forms:

  • Asyndeton adversativum (opposing enumeration - two enumerations without conjunctions are compared)
  • Asyndeton consecutivum (consequential enumeration)
  • Asyndeton enumerativum (uncountable enumeration - asyndeton to show the all-encompassing nature of the enumerated)
  • Asyndeton explicativum (explanatory list)
  • Asyndeton summativum (resulting enumeration - the enumeration is then summarized in one result)

effect

The fact that an asyndetic ranking is irrational and disordered means that it is often somewhat outside the context of the text. This gives it an outstanding meaning in the text as a whole, which makes it possible, for example, to express the inner tension or the dynamics of a process. A sequence connected with a conjunction is called a syndeton. The opposite of the asyndeton is the polysyndeton (the multi-linked list, for example “unity and law and freedom”).

Examples

“How happy I am! O hair / forehead / look / chest / hand /
So delicious / friendly / clear / graceful and happy! "

- Georg Rodolf Weckherlin : Wonder about her beauty , that's it

“Call, drank, thirsty! trembled! became paler, was bleeding! called: …"

- Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock : The Messiah , 10th song

"A car. A computer. A man."

"A red, a green, a gray sent past, a small profile that has barely begun ..."

See also

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: asyndetic  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. Duden | Asyndeton | Spelling, meaning, definition, origin. Retrieved April 18, 2019 .
  2. "The psychological root of the Asyndeta lies in the haste that gushes out unconnected, what we otherwise take the time to tie together" ( Richard M. Meyer : Deutsche Stilistik. 2nd, improved and increased edition. Beck, Munich 1913, § 104, P. 99 f.).