16.3 Descriptive Section Vocabulary

Vocab Words	Definitions
Constraint-Based Writing	A writing technique by which an author tries to follow a rule or set of rules in order to create more experimental or surprising content, popularized by the Oulipo school of writers.
Description	A rhetorical mode that emphasizes eye-catching, specific, and vivid portrayal of a subject. Often integrates imagery and thick description to this end.
De-Familiarion	A method of reading, writing, and thinking that emphasizes the interruption of automatization. Established as “остранение” (“estrangement”) by Viktor Shklovsky, de-familiarization attempts to turn the everyday into the strange, eye-catching, or dramatic.1
Ethnograpy	A study of a particular culture, subculture, or group of people. Uses thick description to explore a place and its associated culture.
Figurative Language	Language which implies a meaning that is not to be taken literally. Common examples include metaphor, simile, personification, onomatopoeia, and hyperbole.
Imagery	Sensory language; literal or figurative language that appeals to an audience’s imagined sense of sight, sound, smell, touch, or taste.
Thick Description	Economical and deliberate language which attempts to capture complex subjects (like cultures, people, or environments) in written or spoken language. Coined by anthropologists Clifford Geertz and Gilbert Ryle.

Vocab Words