diegetic

1 9.3

Thing in a story that characters can notice, for example music playing in a scene

adjective
/daɪˈdʒɛtɪk/

Literature

: diegético

The director used diegetic sounds, such as footsteps and door creaks, to create a more immersive experience.
diegetic music
diegetic level
diegetic character

Examples

A popular example of diegetic music can be found in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope (1977).

Academic text (2015)
At times, it is difficult to tell whether this music is diegetic or not.

Academic text (2010)
Therefore, the music's relationship to the narrative world can be deemed diegetic.

Academic text (2015)
The diegetic world dissolves in mid-action, just as Krug is about to be shot dead by the guards.

Academic text (2016)
Thus, two basic types of metafiction are distinguishable: the diegetic and the linguistic, each of which may be overt or covert.

Academic text (1993)
In other words, listening to a film soundtrack with headphones allows for the establishment of the diegetic soundspace of the film within the headspace of the passenger.

Academic text (2016)
In the film, the characters dance to a song that is clearly diegetic, as it plays on the radio in the background.
During the party scene, the music is diegetic since it can be heard by the characters and affects their actions.

Surface Forms

diegetic positive

Morphology

diegetic = diegesis (opaque) = diegesis + ic

Formed by the regular adjective-forming suffix '-ic' from the noun 'diegesis', but the root and the exact morphological alternation are specialized and may not be immediately obvious to learners.

Etymology

The word diegetic comes from the Greek diegesis, meaning 'a telling' or 'story', so a helpful image is that diegetic things are 'inside the story' being told. That's why diegetic sound or objects belong to the film's world and can be heard or used by the characters.