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."

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

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)

InventioDispositioElocutioMemoriaPronuntiatio   

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 chairSome 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 sandwichWith 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 stillFor 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