擬人法

• 読み: ぎじんほう
• ローマ字: gijinhou
• 漢字の分解: 擬 (gi) — imitate, liken; 人 (jin) — person, human; 法 (hou) — method, technique
• 発音: /ɡi.dʑiɴ.hoː/

意味

Personification; prosopopoeia; a rhetorical device in which human qualities, emotions, or actions are attributed to non-human subjects.

A noun for the literary technique of attributing human characteristics to animals, objects, nature, or abstract concepts. Common in poetry, children's literature, and advertising. In Japanese literary analysis, 擬人法 is distinguished from 擬人化 (the broader cultural phenomenon of anthropomorphisation). It is taught as a core rhetorical figure in secondary school Japanese composition.

例文

1. 風が囁くという表現は、擬人法の典型的な例として授業で紹介された。
2. 宮沢賢治の作品には、擬人法を用いた豊かな自然描写が随所に見られる。
3. 子ども向けの物語では、動物に感情や意思を持たせる擬人法が多用される。

使い方ガイド

場面: rhetoric, literary analysis, poetry, education

トーン: analytical

起源と歴史

Sino-Japanese compound. 擬 means 'to imitate, to liken' and 人 means 'person/human'. 法 means 'method, technique, law'. Together: 'technique of likening to a person'.

文化的背景

時代: Modern

世代: Students/Adults

社会的背景: Educational/Literary