A posteriori

SOUND SYMBOLISM: Often, several words with similar meaning may coincidentally have a similar phoneme- combination in them. Because this particular sound occurs in this pattern of words, the sound itself may become strongly associated with some quality in the words' connotation. This accident can become a building block in poetry, allowing literary artists to choose words that convey some additional indirect meaning or create a line in which the sound symbolism echoes or mirrors or contrasts with the content in that line. For example, Denning and Leben point out how the phoneme combination /sl/ indicates a certain slippery nature in English words (43):

slip
slick

slither
slide

The connotations associated with this sound mean a poet can use several /sl/ sounds in a specific line to convey that slipperiness indirectly. Alternatively, when coining a new neologism, the creator of a new lubricant might use the phoneme combination /sl/ in the new product name to convey that quality. Poets describing a sword-fight might want to convey swishing and clattering sounds indirectly through alliteration, describing how the "swaggering swain swung his sword in answer" or the "clever cut came close to carving him as he jerked back blocking the blow." Because the alliteration not only borders on onomatopoeia but actually connects with the content of the lines--i.e., the sword-fight--it enters the realm of sound symbolism.

SOURCE: (1) An earlier work of literature or folklore used as the basis of a later work. Scholars use the term source only when it is clear that one of the manuscripts or one piece of oral transmission influenced a specific later work. If that relationship is not clear, two works sharing similar material or subject-matter are said to be analogues if it is uncertain which one influenced the other or if both might originate from some third, lost source. See also stemma and Ur-text. (2) When students write a research paper, their sources are the original places where they found facts, ideas, and quotations. Primary sources are the main work of literature the students are citing and analyzing (such as Shakespeare's Macbeth or Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises). A secondary source comes from all other materials--especially those later writings scholars produce about Macbeth or Hemingway (or whatever the topic is). Secondary sources might include articles in peer-reviewed journals, biographies of the author, books analyzing or discussing a particular work of literature, and so on. All literary analyses should use quotations or references to the primary text as the main componant of an argument--especially in the case of a close-reading. Longer literary assignments such as research papers should also make use of appropriate secondary research. See also peer-reviewed journal.

SPACE OPERA: A subgenre of "soft" science fiction especially popular between 1930-1960, often used in a derogatory sense. These space operas are novels or short stories set in the distant future after humanity has spent centuries or millenia colonizing the entire galaxy--or sometimes multiple galaxies. The narratives typically feature some form of easy space travel via imaginary technologies such as "hyperspace drives" or "warp nacelles." This easy method of travel and colonization allows the formation of huge space fleets to fight each other using laser cannons and nuclear missiles. Behind these aramadas, vast interstellar empires compete with each other (or with rebel forces, or with alien species) for territorial control or political power. The governments imagined in these books are often feudal in nature or else they are based loosely on empires from Earth's past history--i.e., the Roman Empire, the British Empire of the 19th century, the Caliphates of the Middle East, the Samauri Shogunates of 16th century Japan, and so on. In other cases, seeking models for future history, the authors frequently rely upon parallels with the American West or the exploration of Africa, and they create parallels between sailing ships and spaceships, even going so far as adding space pirates. They frequently present readers with stark contrasts in social and geographic terrain--i.e., contrasting ice-worlds with desert worlds, or technologically wealthy space-merchants with impoverished barbarians, and so on. The stories often focus on characterization, drama, and (most especially) action rather than theme, symbolism or other literary devices.

The first example is probably Edison's Conquest of Mars (published 1898). The editor Brian Aldiss later amassed a two-volume collection of space operas prior to 1979 in Galactic Empires. Other famous space operas include E.E. Smith's Lensman series, and the genre's literary grandchildren include Frank Herbert's Dune series, Lois McMaster Bujold's "Miles Vorkosigan" saga, Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, Catherine Asaro's Saga of the Skolian Empire, and pop culture films and television series like Star Wars and Star Trek, both of which have spawned literally hundreds of spinoffs and pulp fiction novels in their own rights.

SPEAKER, POETIC: See poetic speaker.

SPECIALIZATION: A semantic change restricting the referents of a word--i.e., a linguistic movement from a more general to a more specific meaning for a word. For instance, the Old English word wif (Modern English wife) once meant merely "woman." However, through linguistic specialization it has come to mean "married woman" more specifically. In Middle English, a single French loanword might be adopted twice over different centuries--once from early Anglo-Norman French, and afterward from Central French. They would have slight differences from each other in spelling and pronunciation--so English speakers would give each one a slightly specialized meaning--even though the two originally meant the same thing in French. Examples include chief (leader of a war band) and chef (leader of a kitchen). Both were once the same word more or less meaning "leader" generally.

SPECULATIVE FICTION: Also called "alternative history," speculative fiction is science fiction that explores how the "real world" we live in today might be different if historic events had unfolded with slight changes. For instance, Robert Harris' novel Fatherland asks, what would Germany look like three decades later if Nazi Germany had won World War II? Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale asks, what would the U.S. look like if a reproductive crisis (widespread sterility) allowed a fundamentalist regime to come to power and control women's reproduction?

SPEECH ACT THEORY: An idea set forth by J. L. Austin's How to Do Things with Words, which argues that language is often a mode of action rather than a means of communication or conveying information. Language-use that conveys information is called constative, and constative sentences by their very nature are either true or false in the sense that they are accurate or inaccurate. Language-use that serves as a mode of action is called performative. Performative language causes something to happen merely by making assertion. Examples include the "I do" statement in a wedding ceremony. Here, the act of making the assertion is the same as the action itself. Other examples include the following ones:

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  betting ("I bet ten dollars that he drops the ball.")
  
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  composing a will ("To my beloved daughter, I leave my house and my second-best bed.")
  
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  umpiring ("Strike three! You are out!")
  
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  passing sentence ("This court finds you guilty of negligent homicide.")
  
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  christening ("You are christened John.")
  
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  knighting ("I dub thee Sir Lancelot.")
  
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  blessing ("In nomine patri, filii, et spiritu sancti, benedicite")
  
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  firing ("You're fired.")
  
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  bidding ("I bid ten dollars.")
  
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  baptizing ("I baptize you in the name of the father and the son and the holy ghost.")
  

In these examples above, the act of making the assertion is the same as performing the act. Thus, these are examples of performative language.

SPEECH PREFIX: Often abbreviated "s.p.," this term in drama refers to a character's name or an abbreviated version of a character's name which indicates what actor is speaking subsequent words in the text of a play. Conventionally, in modern drama a colon or period separates the speech prefix from the lines to be read. Here is an example with the prefixes indicated in bold: