Tautology is the repetition of words or phrases within a single utterance, often used for effect in literature and poetry. It can draw attention to important elements or warn of upcoming events. While less common today, it still appears in writing to reinforce important points.
In terms of discourse patterns and literary construction, tautology is the redundant use of words or phrases within a single utterance. In general, tautology incidence is a device that is used for effect, such as calling attention to a particular component of the spoken or written word, or as a means of attracting attention to the observations that follow. Examples of tautology are found in nearly every language and culture, with the repetition of words in a single sentence being particularly common in 19th-century English.
The use of tautology is often associated with a specific purpose, rather than just being thrown away for brevity. In the written word, tautology is often used in the construction of poetry. When this is the case, the redundancy will often call attention to some element of the construct, working to draw the reader’s attention to some element that the author considers integral to the intent of the piece.
Many revered authors have put tautology to good use as a way to warn the reader that something important is about to happen within the storyline. A number of popular novels of the 19th and early 20th centuries frequently used the device at key points in the narrative. An exclamation of “Hark, Hark!” it often meant that something major was about to happen. In other applications of this type of repetitive process, a character may use tautology as a way to demonstrate an urgent need for clarification, such as “The sky is green, are you saying the sky is green?”
While the use of tautologous phrases is less common in both spoken word and literature today, the device still appears from time to time. Writers still use tautology as a device to call attention to an important part of the text, or to reinforce a point that may seem innocuous at the time but will be very important later in the narrative.
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