Language Devices that Create Sounds
To discuss sound language devices effectively, you must be able to use the correct terminology to identify the exact techniques the writer is using to create sounds and build moods in a text or a poem.
The examiners award higher marks to students who can use the correct terminology to identify language features in their evaluative paragraphs. So, it is useful to know the correct terms to describe specific language devices when analysing their effect in a text or a poem.
Language devices that create sounds can be described as auditory devices or aural techniques. So, in addition to discussing imagery devices and emotive techniques in your work, you can now use the correct term for sound devices: aural or auditory devices. Note that the words ‘device' and ‘technique' are interchangeable in this context.
The main auditory devices used in texts and poems are onomatopoeia and alliteration.
Onomatopoeia – words that directly represent a sound:
Bang
Hum
Ping
Crash
Alliteration – the repetition of sounds across a stretch of words in a text or a poem.
These sounds are often the initial sound of the words, but they can also occur in central and end positions. If there are repeated sounds in a stretch of words that look like they are being deliberately used by the writer, they are probably being used alliteratively. Analyse the purpose and effect of this alliteration:
'The grass grew strong, dragging the grey winter into the greens of spring."
These aural techniques are generally used to add layers of sensory experience to texts and poems so that the reader can not only see what is happening, but they can also hear the noises of the scene. By adding this layer of sensory experience, the writer can develop a richer mood and atmosphere , enabling the reader to engage with the scene, emotion or experience more fully.
When a writer uses onomatopoeia, they are telling you directly about the types of sounds that can be heard by the characters in scene or the speaker in the poem. However, when a writer uses alliteration, you may have to think a bit more about what sounds they are trying to create and what mood that might reflect.
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