Parataxis (from Greek: παράταξις, "act of placing side by side"; from παρα, para "beside" + τάξις, táxis "arrangement") is a literary technique, in writing or speaking, that favors short, simple sentences, without conjunctions or with the use of coordinating, but not with subordinating conjunctions.
[4] Edward Parmelee Morris wrote in 1901 that the term was introduced into linguistics by Friedrich Thiersch in his Greek Grammar (1831).
These handbooks have not survived the years, but it is known that they classified rhetorical styles, so it is assumed that the distinction between periodic syntax and more traditional techniques were made.
[6] In the Rhetoric, Aristotle makes the earliest formal distinction between periodic syntax and older methods.
Statements along these lines are referred to as unlimited, because the people listening to the speaker do not know how the sentence will end based on its beginning.
Aristotle's section in his book regarding these styles of statements is seen today as the description of parataxis and is used to distinguish between Greek prose and periodic and paratactic techniques.
[7] Parataxis may use commas, semi-colons, and periods to force juxtaposition, but it can also replace these punctuation marks with "and" to seamlessly string the speech or written piece together and present the words as each being equally important.
"[8] Parataxis may be considered from three points of view: The underlying idea is that, in a connected discourse, complete independence among the consecutive sentences is very rare.
[8] Recent studies show that the Zamucoan languages are characterized by a rare syntactic configuration which is called para-hypotaxis, where coordination and subordination are used simultaneously to connect clauses (Bertinetto & Ciucci 2012).
And with a lengthened string of similar broken sentences, delivered with extraordinary volubility, the stranger led the way to the traveller's waiting-room, whither he was closely followed by Mr. Pickwick and his disciples.Samuel Beckett's opening to his monologue "Not I" is another example.
.. yes ... tiny little girl ... into this ... out into this ... before her time ... godforsaken hole called ... called ... no matter ... parents unknown ... unheard of ... he having vanished ... thin air ... no sooner buttoned up his breeches ... she similarly ... eight months later ... almost to the tick ... so no love ... spared that ... no love such as normally vented on the ... speechless infant ... in the home ... no ... nor indeed for that matter any of any kind ... no love of any kind ... at any subsequent stage ...In What Is Called Thinking?, Martin Heidegger addresses the paratactic nature of Classical Greek texts.
Examples might range from the collages of the dadaists and Robert Rauschenberg to many contemporary music videos.