Anacolouthon

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A linguistic phenomenon arises when a sentence deviates from expected grammatical rules, causing a disjunction in its structure and leading to potential ambiguity in meaning
2. This occurs when the anticipated grammatical consistency is interrupted, resulting in a lack of clarity or logical connection between ideas within a sentence
3. A sentence construction where the grammatical flow is unexpectedly interrupted, creating confusion in understanding its structure

Etymology: The Greek word from which "anacoluthon" comes, "anakolouthon", meant "without sequence" or "not following on", and grammarians used it of constructions that fail to follow their own grammatical logic. The root is "akolouthos", "following", which is also the source of the English word "acolyte", a person who follows or attends another. Prefixed with a negating element, the word describes a sentence that starts down one grammatical path and then abandons it, leaving the reader to follow an unexpected turn. The term passed into Late Latin as "anacoluthon", and English adopted it from there. Its spelling "anacolouthon" is an alternative form of the same word, and both are in use. The English word thus preserves the Greek idea of a loss of sequence, not a loss of meaning: the thought usually remains clear even though the grammar does not hold together.

Synonyms: disjunction, discontinuity