Diction

- Are choice of words, especially with regard to correctness, clearness, or

effectiveness.
- It concerns itself with emotional and cultural values of words and their ability to affect
meaning.

Levels of Diction
1. High/Formal Diction
- This is the use of sophisticated language without slang, idioms, colloquialisms, and
contractions. It is also an elevated type of language that sticks to grammatical rules
and uses complex syntax—the structure of sentences.

2. Neutral/Standard Diction
- This level of diction is used when addressing a well-educated audience and
maintains a professional tone while trying to avoid highly technical or specialized
terms and concepts.

3. Neutral/Informal Diction
- This level of diction is grammatically correct, but conversational. This may include
"slang" language, which may be used to create a specific "flavor," as in sports casting
or novels.

4. Low/Non-standard Diction
- This level of diction is outside of conventional or standard use and is most likely used
when addressing an audience of familiarity.

How to choose the level of diction?

● First, decide for whom you're writing. Because you are writing for a certain
audience, they will have particular expectations about the level of diction you will
choose. Choose the level most appropriate for your audience.
● Second, determine your purpose.​ Some possible purposes may be to inform, to
persuade, to illustrate, to analyze, or to entertain. For each of these purposes, you
may choose to use a different level of diction.
Types of Diction in speech and writing
1. Formal Diction
- This is used when speaking to a live audience or writing an official document. It gives
writing or speech a sense of authority and respect.
- It also includes choosing descriptive, precise words that are polite and proper.
- In some genres of fiction, it also helps pull the reader in and take the text seriously.
- Example: Our municipality’s intricate roadway system is in pristine condition.

2. Informal Diction
- This is the normal type of diction and it is mostly used in a conversational type of
writing.
- Informal speaking or writing may include elements of dialect or colloquial expressions
depending on who you’re speaking or writing to.
- Example: Let’s hang out after the game and grab a bite to eat.

3. Pedantic Diction
- The speaker or writer focuses on the precision of all words.
- all about writers using a highly or academic level in their writing, it's where they use
deep and meaningful words or phrases.
- Example: The number-two pencil that she had just sharpened for her fourth test of
the semester promptly broke when she eagerly filled in the fourth bubble on question
six.

4. Abstract Diction
- Also known as abstract imaginary.
- This diction refers to language that denotes ideas, emotions, conditions or concepts
that are intangible. It sometimes lacks physical detail because they are the things
readers cannot experience through their five senses.
- Example: love, freedom, success and democracy.

5. Concrete Diction
- It describes tangible qualities about something, such as color, size, shape, or other
physical traits. In contrast to abstract, concrete diction describes things that the five
senses can experience.
- Beyond an object’s qualities, concrete diction also applies to any specific noun or
adjective.
- Example: My cat is grey.
 6. Poetic Diction
- It usually involves a use of descriptive language and rhyming words put together to
create a beautiful poem.
- It involves the vocabulary, the phrasing, and the grammar considered appropriate
and inappropriate to poetry at different times.

7. Colloquial Diction
- is informal in nature and generally represents a certain region or time.
- It is also non-standard, often regional, ways of using language appropriate to informal
or conversational speech and writing.
- Sometimes colloquial diction makes itself known through phrases or aphorisms.
- Example: “put your money where your mouth is” or “pass the buck”

8. Slang
- These are words or phrases that have meant different things over time or even had
no meaning in the past. Due to common usage, these words officially become part of
a language and even are included in dictionaries.
- Example: "Chika" which is about gossip or just a casual conversation.

9. Figurative
- Using words not exactly what they mean.
- It is very imaginative and it conveys not just the facts but an idea, also it encourages
us to use our imaginations.
- Figurative when writing goes beyond the actual meanings of words so that the reader
gains new insights into the objects or subjects in the work.
- Example: “That news hit me like a ton of bricks.”–It doesn't actually mean that a ton
of bricks has hit you, what it actually means is the news really hurt you that it felt like
a ton of bricks actually hit you.

10. Connotation
- It refers to the writer's choice of words because of their connotative meanings.
- It is the implicit rather than explicit meaning of a word and consists of the
suggestions, associations, and emotional overtones attached to a word.
- Connotation diction can be used by an author to evoke specific emotions in his/her
audience. Those emotions lead the reader to understand the tone or the attitude the
author has toward his/her subject.
 - This may include words like “Mom” and “Dad,” the use of which implies a loving
parental relationship. Other words like “Wall Street” usually give people a mental
image of money and extreme wealth. Words like thrifty and courageous have positive
connotations, while stingy and stubborn are negatively connotated.

11. Denotation
- It is the exact, literal definition of a word independent of any emotional association or
secondary meaning.
- This is an essential type of diction to know and understand when trying to avoid
ambiguity.
- Example: I can see for miles.

12. Cliché
- These are overused phrases or words and even expressions that gradually lose their
meaning over time.
- Example: "don't judge a book by its cover"

13. Jargon
- refer to words and expressions that are used in special or technical ways by
particular groups of people, often making the language difficult to understand. It can
also mean a characteristic of a particular profession or pursuit.
- It's common shorthand among experts and used sensibly can be a quick and efficient
way of communicating.
- Example: Patient presents with high BP and idiopathic tachycardia.

14. Vulgarity
- This refers to a type of diction in which language is deficient in taste and refinement;
it is coarse or base (any swear word).
- Example: curse words like shit, fuck, tangina
 References
“Diction.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc.,
www.britannica.com/art/diction-literature.
Topic: Diction Definition - Farmingdale.Edu,
www.farmingdale.edu/writing-center/pdfs/diction.pdf.
“What Is Diction? Learn 8 Different Types of Diction in Writing with Examples - 2023.”
MasterClass,
www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-diction-learn-8-different-types-of-diction-in-writing-with
-examples.
Capitalize My Title. “Learn the 14 Types of Diction for Writing and Speaking.”
Capitalize My Title, 5 Oct. 2021,
capitalizemytitle.com/learn-the-14-types-of-diction-for-writing-and-speaking/.