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In [[language]], '''alliteration''' refers to repetition of a particular [[phoneme|sound]] in the first syllables of a series of words and/or phrases. Alliteration has historically developed largely through [[poetry]], in which it more narrowly refers to the repetition of a consonant in any syllables that, according to the poem's [[meter (poetry)|meter]], are stressed, as in [[James Thomson (poet)|James Thomson]]'s verse "Come…dragging the '''l'''azy '''l'''anguid '''L'''ine a'''l'''ong" <ref>{{cite book | title = [[The Castle of Indolence]] | author = James Thomson | authorlink = James Thomson (poet)}}</ref>.
In [[language]], '''alliteration''' refers to repetition of a particular [[phoneme|sound]] in the first syllables of a series of words and/or phrases. Alliteration has historically developed largely through [[poetry]], in which it more narrowly refers to the repetition of a consonant in any syllables that, according to the poem's [[meter (poetry)|meter]], are stressed, as in [[James Thomson (poet)|James Thomson]]'s verse "Come…dragging the '''l'''azy '''l'''anguid '''L'''ine a'''l'''ong" <ref>{{cite book | title = [[The Castle of Indolence]] | author = James Thomson | authorlink = James Thomson (poet)}}</ref>.


Alliteration is usually distinguished from the mere repetition of the end sound of any word in positions other than the beginning of each word — whether a consonant, as in "so'''m'''e '''m'''a'''mm'''als are cla'''mm'''y" ([[literary consonance|consonance]]) or a vowel, as in "y'''e'''llow w'''e'''dding b'''e'''lls" ([[assonance]]); but the term is sometimes used in these broader senses. Alliteration may also include the use of different consonants with similar properties ([[labial consonant|labials]], [[dental consonant|dentals]], etc.) <ref>{{cite journal | author = Stoll, E. E. | title = Poetic Alliteration | work = Modern Language Notes | volume = 55 | issue = 5 | month = May | year = 1940 | page = 388}}</ref> or even the unwritten [[glottal stop]] that precedes virtually every word-initial vowel in the [[English language]], as in the phrase "'''A'''pt '''a'''lliter'''a'''tion's '''a'''rtful '''a'''id" (despite the unique pronunciation of the "a" in each word) <ref>{{cite journal | author = Scott, Fred N. | authorlink = Fred Newton Scott | title = Vowel Alliteration in Modern Poetry | work = Modern Language Notes | volume = 30 | issue = 8 | month = December | year = 1915 | page = 237}}</ref>.
Alliteration is usually distinguished from the mere repetition of the beginning of any word in positions other than the beginning of each word — whether a consonant, as in "so'''m'''e '''m'''a'''mm'''als are cla'''mm'''y" ([[literary consonance|consonance]]) or a vowel, as in "y'''e'''llow w'''e'''dding b'''e'''lls" ([[assonance]]); but the term is sometimes used in these broader senses. Alliteration may also include the use of different consonants with similar properties ([[labial consonant|labials]], [[dental consonant|dentals]], etc.) <ref>{{cite journal | author = Stoll, E. E. | title = Poetic Alliteration | work = Modern Language Notes | volume = 55 | issue = 5 | month = May | year = 1940 | page = 388}}</ref> or even the unwritten [[glottal stop]] that precedes virtually every word-initial vowel in the [[English language]], as in the phrase "'''A'''pt '''a'''lliter'''a'''tion's '''a'''rtful '''a'''id" (despite the unique pronunciation of the "a" in each word) <ref>{{cite journal | author = Scott, Fred N. | authorlink = Fred Newton Scott | title = Vowel Alliteration in Modern Poetry | work = Modern Language Notes | volume = 30 | issue = 8 | month = December | year = 1915 | page = 237}}</ref>.


Alliteration is commonly used in many languages, especially in poetry. [[Alliterative verse]] was an important ingredient of poetry in [[Old English]] and other old [[Germanic languages]] like [[Old High German]], [[Old Norse]], and [[Old Saxon]]. On the other hand, its accidental occurrence is often viewed as a defect.
Alliteration is commonly used in many languages, especially in poetry. [[Alliterative verse]] was an important ingredient of poetry in [[Old English]] and other old [[Germanic languages]] like [[Old High German]], [[Old Norse]], and [[Old Saxon]]. On the other hand, its accidental occurrence is often viewed as a defect.

Revision as of 15:26, 2 November 2010

Template:Manner of articulation

In language, alliteration refers to repetition of a particular sound in the first syllables of a series of words and/or phrases. Alliteration has historically developed largely through poetry, in which it more narrowly refers to the repetition of a consonant in any syllables that, according to the poem's meter, are stressed, as in James Thomson's verse "Come…dragging the lazy languid Line along" [1].

Alliteration is usually distinguished from the mere repetition of the beginning of any word in positions other than the beginning of each word — whether a consonant, as in "some mammals are clammy" (consonance) or a vowel, as in "yellow wedding bells" (assonance); but the term is sometimes used in these broader senses. Alliteration may also include the use of different consonants with similar properties (labials, dentals, etc.) [2] or even the unwritten glottal stop that precedes virtually every word-initial vowel in the English language, as in the phrase "Apt alliteration's artful aid" (despite the unique pronunciation of the "a" in each word) [3].

Alliteration is commonly used in many languages, especially in poetry. Alliterative verse was an important ingredient of poetry in Old English and other old Germanic languages like Old High German, Old Norse, and Old Saxon. On the other hand, its accidental occurrence is often viewed as a defect.

Literature and poetry

Relative formal accessibility of alliteration makes it one of the most commonly used literary tools in English, tracing its origins to Old English and its ancestral languages. Old Germanic poetry was mostly in the form of alliterative verse that relied heavily on consonance and assonance rather than rhyme. An example of Old English alliterative verse, is this passage from the famous poem Beowulf, lines 1162-1165:[4]

Þa cwom Wealhþeo forð
gan under gyldnum beage, þer þa godan twegen
sæton suhterge-fæderan; þa gyt wæs hiera sib ætgædere,
æghwylc oðrum trywe.
[…] Wealhtheow came to sit
in her gold crown between two good men,
uncle and nephew, each one of whom
still trusted the other.

Statistical analysis of alliteration use in a Thomas Churchyard poem was used in order to correctly date it in relation to his other works.[5] Statistics can also fuel debates on whether alliterations in literary works were included by chance or by the author’s volition, as in a recent study of 100 Shakespearian sonnets.[6]

Alliteration still seems to maintain an important, though perhaps more subtle, part in contemporary English poetry. Books aimed at young readers often use alliteration, as it consistently captures children's interest, as the "powerful Poo-A-Doo powder" and the "Bitsy Big-Boy Boomeroo" in Dr. Seuss's The Butter Battle Book.

Among contemporary literature, crime fiction writer James Ellroy employed alliteration extensively in the second volume of his Underworld USA Trilogy, The Cold Six Thousand, consistent with the novel's hard-boiled tabloid style.

Usage in English

Pop culture

Alliteration survives most obviously in modern English in hip-hop, magazine article titles, advertisements and business names, comic strip or cartoon characters, and common expressions: [7]

Old English names

Another use of alliteration in Old English, outside the literary sphere, is found in personal name giving.[11] This is evidenced by the unbroken series of 9th century kings of Wessex named Æthelwulf, Æthelbald, Æthelberht, and Æthelred. These were followed in the 10th century by their direct descendants Æthelstan and Æthelred II, who ruled as kings of England.[12] The Anglo-Saxon saints Tancred, Torhtred and Tova provide a similar example, among siblings.[13] A well-known modern example of alliteration in name giving is the Gracie family.

See also

References

  1. ^ James Thomson. The Castle of Indolence.
  2. ^ Stoll, E. E. (1940). "Poetic Alliteration". Modern Language Notes. 55 (5): 388. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  3. ^ Scott, Fred N. (1915). "Vowel Alliteration in Modern Poetry". Modern Language Notes. 30 (8): 237. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  4. ^ Hieatt, Constance B., 'Alliterative Patterns in the Hypermetric Lines of Old English Verse', in Modern Philology Vol. 71, No. 3. (Feb. 1974), pp. 237
  5. ^ Shirley, Carles G, Jr. "Alliteration as Evidence in Dating a Poem of Thomas Churchyard: An Exploratory Computer-Aided Study". Modern Philology, Vol. 76, No. 4. (May, 1979), pp. 374.
  6. ^ Stoll, Elmer E. Modern Language Notes, Vol. 55, No. 5. (May, 1940), pp. 388-390.
  7. ^ Coard, Robert L. Wide-Ranging Alliteration. Peabody Journal of Education, Vol. 37, No. 1. (Jul., 1959),pp. 30-32.
  8. ^ Wylie, Philip G. Science has Spoiled my Supper. Atlantic Magazine, April 1954.
  9. ^ Dykeman, Wilma: Too Much Talent in Tennessee? Harper's Magazine, 210 (Mar 1955): 48-53.
  10. ^ Oppel, Richard A. Kurdish Control of Kirkuk Creates a Powder Keg in Iraq. New York Times. [1]
  11. ^ Gelling, M., Signposts to the Past (2nd edition), Phillimore, 1988, pp. 163-4.
  12. ^ Old English "Æthel" translates to modern English "noble". For further examples of alliterative Anglo-Saxon royal names, including the use of only alliterative first letters, see e.g. Yorke, B., Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England, Seaby, 1990, Table 13 (p. 104; Mercia, names beginning with "C", "M", and "P"), and pp. 142-3 (Wessex, names beginning with "C"). For discussion of the origins and purposes of Anglo-Saxon "king lists" (or "regnal lists"), see e.g. Dumville, D.N., 'Kingship, Genealogies and Regnal Lists', in Sawyer, P.H. & Wood, I.N. (eds.), Early Medieval Kingship, University of Leeds, 1977.
  13. ^ Rollason, D.W., 'Lists of Saints' resting-places in Anglo-Saxon England', in Anglo-Saxon England 7, 1978, p. 91.
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