Explanation
Diacope repeats a word or phrase after a short intervening element. The repeated terms form a frame in which the insertion becomes prominent, emotionally charged, or rhythmically bound. Unlike immediate repetition, interruption creates distance and return: the word briefly disappears and reappears with altered significance or greater weight. Analysis identifies the identical elements, examines the length and function of the insertion, and compares both occurrences. It asks whether reference, tone, or evaluation changes on the second appearance and what effect depends specifically on limited interruption.
Movement of thought
1. The recurring words or phrases are identified exactly and tested for formal identity. 2. The insertion is analysed for length, syntax, meaning, and relation to the repeated expression. 3. First and second occurrences are compared for changed reference, emphasis, or emotional colouring. 4. A version without interruption shows what tension and expectation the insertion creates. 5. Context determines whether return produces emphasis, lament, invocation, irony, or rhythmic order.
Scientific use case
Rhetoric, prosody, poetry, speech analysis, and memory research study diacope through distance, stress, and recognition. Experimental variants can test when insertion improves recall and when it dissolves the repeated unit.
Example
A speaker says, “This decision, despite every warning, this decision has destroyed trust.” The insertion fills the returning key phrase with a reasoned accusation.
Counterexample
Two distant occurrences or accidental lexical recurrence are not diacope. Repetition and a short insertion must function together as a perceptible rhetorical unit.
Distinction
Distinguish diacope from epizeuxis, conduplicatio, epanalepsis, and repetition generally. Diacope contains a short insertion between repetitions; epizeuxis places identical expressions immediately together.
Effect on thought and perception
Diacope creates insistent emphasis while combining recognition with brief suspense. The returning term may appear confirmed, wounded, corrected, or emotionally deepened.
Resonance
An expression sends out an initial impulse, is briefly overlaid by other material, and returns audibly. The interval changes its reverberation and makes recurrence meaningful.
Cite this entry
Reich, Michael (Hrsg./ed.): „Diacope“. Atlas der Sprache, AT-HAR7-0003. ATLAS 260, data model 1.6.0. https://atlasoflanguage.com/concept/AT-HAR7-0003The address remains stable; editorial content may evolve. Editorial reading state: 2026-10-15. Include your access date for precise references.
Historical background
In Peacham’s 1593 account, diacope repeats an expression with a short insertion between its occurrences. The interruption is part of the pattern rather than an accidental obstacle to it. His examples and practical cautions attend to the lengths of both the recurrent and intervening material, showing a concern with perceptible relation and delivery. The history becomes especially instructive beside Bullinger’s later tmesis entry, where diacope is listed in a different terminological neighbourhood involving the separation of a compound expression. Shared naming imagery must therefore not be allowed to obscure different textual structures. The Atlas’s present profile follows the interrupted-repetition sense. To understand its movement, a reader should identify what returns and ask how the intervening phrase changes the return: it may address someone, qualify the first occurrence or create a moment of pressure. The older handbook is evidence for this English rhetorical use, not for a fixed psychological effect. Earlier borrowing and ancient lexical history still require independent documentation.
How conceptual history changes the analysis
“I wait, despite everything, I wait.” The insertion reframes the returning claim. This differs from dividing a compound expression; recurrence and word separation must remain distinct patterns.