Transcript Document

Speech Terms:
information taken from
Division of Classics
What is rhetoric?
•Rhetoric (from Greek)
•one of the three original liberal arts.
•the seven liberal arts comprise two
groups of studies, the trivium and the
quadrivium
•Liberal arts: studies intended to
provide general knowledge and
intellectual skills, rather than
occupational or professional skills
•Trivium: grammar, rhetoric, and
dialectic (or logic)
•Quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry,
astronomy, and music
Definitions of Rhetoric
Plato: Rhetoric is "the art of
winning the soul by discourse."
Aristotle: Rhetoric is "the faculty
of discovering in any particular
case all of the available means of
persuasion."
Definitions of Rhetoric
Cicero: Rhetoric is "speech designed
to persuade."
Quintillian: "Rhetoric is the art of
speaking well.”
Philip Johnson: "Rhetoric is the art of
framing an argument so that it can be
appreciated by an audience."
Definitions of Rhetoric
John Locke: [Rhetoric,] that powerful
instrument of error and deceit.
George Kennedy: Rhetoric in the most general
sense may perhaps be identified with the energy
inherent in communication: the emotional
energy that impels the speaker to speak, the
physical energy expanded in the utterance, the
energy level coded in the message, and the
energy experienced by the recipient in decoding
the message.
Definitions of Rhetoric
The study of rhetoric does not include informal
modes of speech such as :
•small talk
•Jokes
•Greetings
•Exclamations
•Gossip
•Simple explanations
•Directions
(from Mrs. Wagner's Homepage, James F. Byrnes High School)
5 Parts of Rhetoric
(from Mrs. Wagner's Homepage, James F. Byrnes High School)
Inventio
Dispositio
Elocutio
Memoria
Pronuntiatio
Inventio
The Latin term for invention or discovery
concerned with a system or method for finding
arguments
Logos, Pathos, Ethos
Dispositio
•may be translated as “arrangement” or “organization”
•the division of rhetoric concerned with the effective and
orderly arrangement of the parts of a written or spoken
discourse
Latin rhetoricians recognized 6 parts:
•the introduction (exordium)
•the statement or exposition of the case under discussion
(narratio)
•the outline of the points or steps in the argument (divisio)
•the proof of the case (confirmatio)
•the refutation of the opposing arguments (confutatio)
•the conclusion (peroratio)
Elocutio
Stems from the Latin verb loqui (to speak)
3 levels of style
•low or plain style (Instructing)
•middle or forcible style (Moving)
•high or florid style (Charming)
Concerns of style
•Choice of words (correctness, purity, simplicity, clearness,
appropriateness)
•composition or arrangement of words (phrases and
clauses, syntax, patterns of sentences, use of conjunctions,
etc.)
Memoria
Concerned with memorizing speeches
Pronuntiatio
The theory of delivery
Alliteration: repetition of the
same sound beginning several
words in sequence.
“Let us go forth to lead the land
we love.”
J. F. Kennedy, Inaugural
Anadiplosis: ("doubling back") the
rhetorical repetition of one or several
words; specifically, repetition of a word
that ends one clause at the beginning
of the next.
“Men in great place are thrice
servants: servants of the sovereign or
state; servants of fame; and servants
of business.”
Francis Bacon
Anaphora: the repetition of a word or phrase at the
beginning of successive phrases, clauses or lines.
“We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end.
We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas
and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence
and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our
island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on
the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we
shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender.”
Winston Churchill.
Antistrophe (also, epistrophe): repetition of
the same word or phrase at the end of
successive clauses.
“In 1931, ten years ago, Japan invaded
Manchukuo -- without warning. In 1935, Italy
invaded Ethiopia -- without warning. In 1938,
Hitler occupied Austria -- without warning. In
1939, Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia -without warning. Later in 1939, Hitler invaded
Poland -- without warning. And now Japan
has attacked Malaya and Thailand -- and the
United States --without warning.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Anastrophe: transposition of
normal word order
“The helmsman steered; the ship
moved on; yet never a breeze up
blew.”
Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner
Antithesis: opposition, or contrast of
ideas or words in a balanced or
parallel construction.
“Brutus: Not that I loved Caesar less,
but that I loved Rome more.”
Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
Apophasis: the mention of something in
disclaiming intention of mentioning it-or pretending to deny what is really
affirmed.
“Our country puts $1 billion a year up to help feed the
hungry. And we're by far the most generous nation
in the word when it comes to that, and I'm proud to
report that. This isn't a contest of who's the most
generous. I'm just telling you as an aside. We're
generous. We shouldn't be bragging about it. But
we are. We're very generous.”
(President George W. Bush, 9 August 2004)
Aporia: expression of doubt (often
feigned) by which a speaker appears
uncertain as to what he should think,
say, or do.
“Then the steward said within
himself, 'What shall I do?’”
Luke 16
Apostrophe: a sudden turn from the
general audience to address a
specific group or person or
personified abstraction absent or
present.
“For Brutus, as you know, was
Caesar's angel.
Judge, O you gods, how dearly
Caesar loved him.”
Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
Archaism: use of an older or
obsolete form.
“Pipit sate upright in her chair
Some distance from where I was
sitting.”
T. S. Eliot, "A Cooking Egg"
Assonance: similarity in sound between
internal vowels in neighboring words.
-"Strips of tinfoil winking like people"
(Sylvia Plath)
Asyndeton: lack of conjunctions between
coordinate phrases, clauses, or words.
“We shall pay any price, bear any burden,
meet any hardships, support any friend,
oppose any foe to assure the survival and the
success of liberty.”
J. F. Kennedy, Inaugural
“But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate,
we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this
ground.”
Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
Bdelygmia: litany of abuse--a series of critical
epithets, descriptions, or attributes.
(Pronounced "de LIG me uh") [Gk. "abuse"]
You nauseate me, Mr. Grinch.
With a nauseous super-naus.
You're a crooked jerky jockey
And you drive a crooked horse.
Mr. Grinch.
You're a three decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich
With arsenic sauce."
(Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas)
Cacophony: harsh joining of sounds.
“We want no parlay with you and
your grisly gang who work your
wicked will.”
W. Churchill
Chiasmus: two corresponding pairs
arranged not in parallels
(a-b-a-b) but in inverted order
(a-b-b-a); from shape of the Greek
letter chi (X).
“Those gallant men will remain often
in my thoughts and in my prayers
always.”
MacArthur
Epimone: frequent repetition of a phrase or question;
dwelling on a point.
(Pronunciation: "eh PIM o nee") [Gk. "tarrying, delay"]
-"Who is here so base that would be a bondman? If
any, speak; for him I have offended. Who is here so
rude that would not be a Roman? If any speak; for
him have I offended."
(Shakespeare, Julius Caesar III.ii)
Euphemism: substitution of an inoffensive
term for one considered offensively explicit.
"Ground beef" for "ground flesh of a dead
cow"; "veal" for "tender dead flesh of a baby
cow."
Litotes: understatement, for
intensification, by denying the contrary of
the thing being affirmed.
“A few unannounced quizzes are not
inconceivable.”
“War is not healthy for children and other
living things.”
“One nuclear bomb can ruin your whole
day.”
Metaphor: a comparison achieved
through a figurative use of words; the
word is used not in its literal sense,
but in one analogous to it.
“Life's but a walking shadow; a poor
player,
That struts and frets his hour upon
the stage.”
Shakespeare, Macbeth
Oxymoron: apparent paradox
achieved by the juxtaposition of
words which seem to contradict one
another.
“I must be cruel only to be kind.”
Shakespeare, Hamlet
Paradox: an assertion seemingly
opposed to common sense, but that
may yet have some truth in it.
“What a pity that youth must be
wasted on the young.”
George Bernard Shaw
Personification: attribution of
personality to an impersonal thing.
“England expects every man to do
his duty.”
Lord Nelson
Polysyndeton: the repetition of conjunctions in a
series of coordinate words, phrases, or clauses.
“I said, "Who killed him?" and he said, "I don't
know who killed him but he's dead all right," and
it was dark and there was water standing in the
street and no lights and windows broke and
boats all up in the town and trees blown down
and everything all blown and ...”
Hemingway, After the Storm
Simile: a comparison between two things using
'like' or 'as'
“My love is as a fever, longing still
For that which longer nurseth the disease,”
Shakespeare, Sonnet CXLVII
Tautology: repetition of an idea in a
different word, phrase, or sentence.
“With malice toward none, with charity
for all.”
Lincoln, Second Inaugural
The 3 Appeals
Relating to the audience/reader
through…
• Ethos
• Logos
• Pathos
Ethical Appeal: Ethos
Sense of credibility
or trustworthiness
that an author
establishes in
his/her writing.
•Relates to the
Greek term “ethics”
Rational Appeal: Logos
Refers to systems of
reasoning. Appeals to
patterns, conventions,
and modes of reasoning
that the audience finds
convincing and
persuasive.
•Translates into “word” or
“reason”
Emotional Appeal: Pathos
Persuades
audiences by
using emotions