Anapodoton
Ananapodoton(from Ancient Greekἀναπόδοτονanapódoton:"that which lacks anapodosis,that is, the consequential clause in a conditional sentence), pluralanapodota,is arhetorical devicerelated to theanacoluthon;both involve a thought being interrupted or discontinued before it is fully expressed. It is a figure of speech or discourse that is an incomplete sentence, consisting of a subject or complement without the requisite object. The stand-alone subordinate clause suggests or implies a subject (a main clause), but this is not actually provided.[1]
As an intentional rhetorical device, it is generally used for set phrases, where the full form is understood, and would thus be tedious to spell out, as in "When in Rome [do as the Romans]."
Anapodota are common inClassical Chineseand languages that draw from it, such asJapanese,where a long literary phrase is commonly abbreviated to just its condition. For example,Zhuangzi'sphraseGiếng oa không thể ngữ với hải giả câu với hư cũng"A frog in a well cannot conceive of the ocean", meaning "people of limited experience have a narrow world view" is rendered asẾch ngồi đáy giếng"A frog in a well" in Modern Chinese, and asI no naka no kawazu(Giếng の trung の ếch)"A frog in a well" in Modern Japanese, abbreviatingI no naka no kawazu taikai o shirazu(Giếng の trung の ếch biển rộng を biết らず)"A frog in a well does not know the great ocean".
Other uses[edit]
It is also said to occur when a main clause is left unsaid due to a speaker interrupting him/herself to revise a thought, thus leaving the initial clause unresolved, but then making use of it nonetheless by recasting and absorbing it into a new, grammatically complete sentence.
Though grammatically incorrect, anapodoton is a commonplace feature of everyday informal speech. It, therefore, appears frequently in dramatic writing and in fiction in the form of direct speech or the representation ofstream of consciousness.
Examples:
- "If you think I'm going to sit here and take your insults..."
- (implied: "then you are mistaken" )
- When life gives you lemons... "
- (implied: "you make lemonade" )
- "If they came to hear me beg..."
- (implied: "then they will be disappointed" )
- "The only easy day..."
- (implied: "was yesterday" )
- "When the going gets tough..."
- (implied: "the tough get going" )
- "If you can’t stand the heat..."
- (implied: "get out of the kitchen" )
- "Birds of a feather..."
- (implied: "flock together" )
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Stephen Wayne Whitworth (1997).The Name of the Ancients: humanist homoerotics and the signs of pastoral.University of Michigan. p. 143.