O pleonasm it is characterized by the repetition of ideas in the same utterance, generated by the use of different terms that, however, produce the same meaning. When redundancy is purposefully done, pleonasm is a stylistic device. When redundancy occurs without the speaker's intention, then it is a language addiction.
Read too:What is irony?
Summary on pleonasm
Pleonasm is the repetition of the same idea through different words that have the same meaning.
When this repetition is purposeful, pleonasm is considered a figure of speech, used to reinforce an idea.
When this repetition is not intentional, pleonasm is considered a language addiction, in which the redundancy occurred without the intention of the enunciator.
Among the types of pleonasm are literary pleonasm and vicious pleonasm, in addition to the pleonastic object concept.
What is pleonasm?
pleonasm is the repetition of the same idea in the statement by the use of different words that have the same meaning. It can be considered a figure of speech
or a language addiction, depending on the enunciator's intention to produce the repetition in the speech.What are the types of pleonasm?
There are some types of pleonasm, basically characterized by the intention to use it in the utterance. This factor differentiates the use as a stylistic resource from the use considered a language addiction. Let's go to them:
literary pleonasm
The literary pleonasm is that purposefully employed. Its use happens to emphasize the meaning that repeats itself. Often, this repetition gives an even more lyrical or poetic character to the speech, as it reinforces a meaning intended by the author.
"At sweet waters of the river they beautified the landscape.”
In the above statement, pleonasm is given by the term “sweet river waters”, since river waters are, par excellence, sweet.
"I want to live it in every moment
And in your praise I will spread my song
AND laugh my laugh and shed my tears
Your grief or your contentment"
(Vinicius de Moraes)
In this stanza of Vinicius de Moraes, the term “laughing my laugh” is a literary pleonasm, since, despite being redundant, it is used to give greater lyricism to the statement.
Read too: Metaphor — one of the most popular figures of speech
vicious pleonasm
Vicious pleonasm occurs when different terms are used with the same meaning in the utterance itself, which generates a redundancy in the speech. As this repetition is not intended, it occurs due to language addiction of the enunciator, who unnecessarily reproduces a term to retransmit an idea that was already clear.
Note that the following terms have the same meaning, so that, when used in the same statement, they generate redundancy, often unintentionally.
vicious cycle |
main protagonist |
together with |
get inside |
go out |
climb up |
down down |
shout out loud |
freeze from cold |
new creation |
inaugurate the new |
→ Vicious pleonasm video lesson
pleonastic object
The concept of pleonastic object refers to the repetition of a certain complement in the same utterance with the aim of emphasizing it. This is usually done by using unstressed oblique pronouns linked to verbs.
“When Rubião reached the corner of Catete, the seamstress was talking to a man, who had been waiting for her, and who immediately afterwards gave her his arm; saw-yougo both, conjugally, to the Glory side"
(Machado de Assis)
In the excerpt above Quincas Borba, the pleonastic object appears in the excerpt “he saw them go both”: the oblique pronoun “them” already represented “man” and “seamstress”. Even so, the use of “both” reinforces this idea, since it is a pleonastic object.
“To me, not meyou deceive.”
In the statement above, the indirect object “a mim” was reaffirmed in the sequence, with the pronoun “me”, characterizing another occurrence of a pleonastic object.
Listen to our podcast: Most common vicious pleonasms in the Portuguese language
What are the differences between pleonasm and redundancy?
As seen above, pleonasm is the repetition of the same idea through the use of terms that, together, become redundant. Redundancy, also called vicious pleonasm, occurs unintentionally in speech. However, when a pleonasm is purposely used to reinforce some meaning in the utterance, it is a figure of speech.
Pleonasm (purposeful use as a styling feature):
O salt sea invited us to a great adventure.
Redundancy (unintentional use that generates unnecessary repetition):
Me I went upthere on top to fetch the material.
solved exercises
question 1
(Funrio)
Tick the alternative that does not show a pleonasm.
A) Connecting link.
B) I saw it with my own eyes.
C) We obtained favorable approval from the judge.
D) Unblemished Conduct.
E) It's a movie based on real facts.
Resolution
Alternative D. “Elo” already establishes the idea of connection; “see” already indicates that it was with the eyes; “referral” already presents the idea of having been favorable; and “facts” already indicate the idea that it is something real.
question 2
(Unesp – adapted)
Text for question
Elegy in the death of Clodoaldo Pereira da Silva Moraes, poet and citizen
Death arrived over the long distance in long metallic spirals.
It was dawn. I heard my mother's voice, widow.
Suddenly I had no father.
In the dark of my house in Los Angeles I tried to recompose your
souvenir
After so much absence. childhood fragments
Floated from the sea of my tears. I saw myself boy
Running to meet you. on the night island
Only the gas lamps and the clarinet had been lit.
De Augustus usually procrastinated the afternoon.
It was nice to wait for you, citizen. the cable car
Creaked on the tracks many beaches away
We said: “H-come my father!”. when the curve
Turned on from moving lights, oh, we ran
We ran to meet you. The big thing was to get there before
But be marraio in your arms, feel last
The sweet thorns of your beard.
From then on you brought an unspeakable expression of fidelity and patience
Your face had the fundamental grooves of sweetness
From who you let yourself be. your powerful shoulders
Bowed as if under the weight of enormous poetry
That you didn't realize. The string cut your fingers
Heavy of a thousand packages: meat, bread, utensils
For everyday (and often binoculars
That you were always buying and that you were left with whole hours
Looking at the sea). tell me my father
Who saw so many years through your eyeglass
That you never revealed to anyone?
You won the route between the almond tree and the house like the exhausted athlete on the last leg of the marathon.
We got you. You were a bunch of children. Never
A harsh word, a fatherly growl. you entered the humble house
At a gesture from the sea. the night closed
About the family group like a big thick door.
*
Many times I saw you want. You wanted. you let yourself look at the sea
With an argonaut gaze. your ugly little eyes
They were looking for islands, other islands... — the immaculate, inaccessible
Treasure Islands. Wanted. Would you like to dock one day?
And bring — deposit the glittering jewels at the feet of the beloved
Of your love. Yes, you were discoverer, and among them
From the most advanced. I saw you many times, commander
Command, whipped by winds, lost in the phosphorescence
Of vast and nocturnal oceans
Without ever.
You gave us poverty and love. you gave me
The supreme poverty: the gift of poetry, and the ability to love
In silence. You were a poor man. you beg our love
In silence. You were the one on the left. But
Your love invented it. you financed a speedboat
Moved by water: went straight to the bottom.
you left one day
To a Brazil beyond, miners, without fear and without blemish.
Twelve moons returned. Your eldest child — it is said —
Didn't recognize you. They had big beards and little aquamarines.
They weren't, my father. you gave me
Large aquamarines, populated with stars, urchins
And giant guaiamus. You gave me aquamarine
Where each shell carried a pearl. The aquamarines that
of this
They were my first wedding bed.
[...]
(Vinicius de Moraes. Poetic Anthology. 11th ed. Rio de Janeiro: José Olympio Editora, 1974. for. 180-181.)
Mark the alternative whose verse contains a pleonasm, that is, a redundancy of terms with good stylistic effect.
A) Suddenly I didn't have a father.
B) Creaking on the tracks many beaches away...
C) Bowed as if under the weight of enormous poetry
D) On the family group as a big thick door.
E) You gave us poverty and love: You gave me
Resolution
Alternative E. In the excerpt “You gave me to me”, there is a pleonastic object due to the repetition of the 1st person pronouns of the singular “me”/“me”.
By Guilherme Viana
grammar teacher
