Editing Diction (section)

{{short description|Distinctive vocabulary choices}}
'''Diction''' ({{langx|la|dictionem}} (nom. {{lang|la|dictio}}), "a saying, expression, word"),<ref>[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=Diction&searchmode=none "Diction"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110915232638/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=Diction&searchmode=none |date=2011-09-15 }}, ''[[Online Etymology Dictionary]]''</ref> in its original meaning, is a writer's or speaker's distinctive [[vocabulary]] choices and style of expression in a piece of writing such as a poem or story.<ref>{{Cite dictionary |title=diction |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diction |encyclopedia=Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary |location=Springfield, Mass. |publisher=Merriam-Webster |access-date=24 March 2020}}</ref><ref name="Crannell97p406">Crannell (1997) ''Glossary'', p. 406</ref> In its common meaning, it is the distinctiveness of [[speech]]:<ref name="Crannell97p406" /><ref>''Littré - Diction''.</ref><ref>Georges Le Roy, ''Traité pratique de la diction française'', 1911.</ref> the art of speaking so that each word is clearly heard and understood to its fullest complexity and extremity, and concerns [[pronunciation]] and tone, rather than word choice and style. This is more precisely and commonly expressed with the term [[enunciation]] or with its synonym, [[Manner of articulation|articulation]].<ref name="Crannell97p84">Crannell (1997) Part II, Speech, p. 84</ref>

Diction has multiple concerns, of which [[register (sociolinguistics)|register]], the adaptation of style and formality to the social context, is foremost. Literary diction analysis reveals how a passage establishes [[setting tone|tone]] and characterization, e.g. a preponderance of verbs relating physical movement suggests an active character, while a preponderance of verbs relating states of mind portrays an introspective character. Diction also has an impact upon word choice and syntax.

[[Aristotle]], in ''[[Poetics (Aristotle)|The Poetics]]'' (20), defines the parts of diction ({{wikt-lang|grc|λέξις}})<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Cambridge Greek Lexicon |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2021 |isbn=978110-8836982 |pages=865}}</ref> as the [[Letter (alphabet)|letter]], the [[syllable]], the [[Grammatical conjunction|conjunction]], the [[Article (grammar)|article]], the [[noun]], the [[verb]], the [[Case (grammar)|case]], and the speech ({{wikt-lang|grc|λόγος}}),<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Translation |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1984 |editor-last=Barnes |editor-first=Jonathan |volume=2 |pages=2331}}</ref> though one commentator remarks that "the text is so confused and some of the words have such a variety of meanings that one cannot always be certain what the Greek says, much less what Aristotle means."<ref>{{Cite book
 |title       = The Poetics of Aristotle: A translation and Commentary
 |author      = Preston H. Epps.
 |url         = http://www.w3.org/TR/xlink/
 |publisher   = Univ. of North Carolina Press
 |date        = 1967
 |isbn        = 978-0807840177
 |url-status     = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20040607130553/http://www.w3.org/TR/xlink/
 |archive-date = 2004-06-07
}}</ref>