contrapoese

Contrapoese is a neologism used to describe a linguistic and literary device in which a single utterance is crafted to encode both a proposition and its contrapositive, producing dual readings in discourse. The device relies on negation, conditionals, and parallel syntax to invite readers to foreground different logical facets of the same sentence.

Etymology and usage: The term combines contra- “against” with poese, a root linked to poetic expression. It is a fringe concept in philosophy of language and experimental poetry; references are scarce, and it is not a standard term in mainstream linguistics.

Characteristics: Contrapoese typically involves explicit negation and a conditional frame; its sentences are composed to be semantically compatible with both the original proposition and its contrapositive. The effect is a subtle tension that becomes apparent when the reader notices the logical relation between the clauses or when prosody and punctuation guide interpretation.

Example: If it is raining, the street is wet; if the street is not wet, it is not raining. In use, such an utterance can be presented as a straightforward conditional but also invites a contrapositive reading, highlighting the dual logical layers embedded in a single line.

See also: paradox, contronym, chiasmus, logical implication, linguistic puzzles.