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Kunstlerroman
Class of Bildungsroman, or apprenticeship novel, that deals with the youth and development of an individual who becomes—or is on the threshold of becoming—a painter, musician, or poet. (James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as A Young Man)
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Lampoon
A sharp, often virulent satire directed against an individual or institution (Insult)
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Lexicon
The vocabulary of a particular language, field, social class, person, etc. (Lingo)
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Limerick
A kind of humorous verse of five lines, in which the first, second, and fifth lines rhyme with each other, and the third and fourth lines, which are shorter, form a rhymed couplet. (Book of Nonsense)
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Linguistics
The science of language, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and historical linguistics. (Fruit flies like a banana)
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Litotes
Understatement, especially that in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary (“not bad at all.”)
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Malapropism
An act or habit of misusing words ridiculously, especially by the confusion of words that are similar in sound. (Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing)
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Masque
A masquerade (Ball in Romeo and Juliet)
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Meiosis
Expressive understatement, especially litotes. ("your mom is smart")
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Melodrama
A dramatic form that does not observe the laws of cause and effect and that exaggerates emotion and emphasizes plot or action at the expense of characterization. (A Tale of Mystery)
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