Speech Terms: information taken from Division of Classics

1. Speech Terms:information taken from Division of Classics

2. 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

3. Trivium: grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic (or logic) • Quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music

4. 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."

5. 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."

6. 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. 

7. 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)

8. 5 Parts of Rhetoric (from Mrs. Wagner's Homepage, James F. Byrnes High School) • Inventio • Dispositio • Elocutio • Memoria • Pronuntiatio

9. Inventio • The Latin term for invention or discovery concerned with a system or method for finding arguments • Logos, Pathos, Ethos

10. 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)

11. 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.)

12. Memoria • Concerned with memorizing speeches 

13. Pronuntiatio • The theory of delivery

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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.

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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)

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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"

24. Assonance:similarity in sound between internal vowels in neighboring words. -"Strips of tinfoil winking like people" (Sylvia Plath)

25. 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

26. 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) 

27. Cacophony: harsh joining of sounds. “We want no parlay with you and your grisly gang who work your wicked will.” W. Churchill

28. 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

29. 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)

30. 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."

31. 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.”

32. 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

33. 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

34. 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

35. Personification: attribution of personality to an impersonal thing. “England expects every man to do his duty.” Lord Nelson

36. 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

37. 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

38. Tautology: repetition of an idea in a different word, phrase, or sentence. “With malice toward none, with charity for all.” Lincoln, Second Inaugural

39. The 3 Appeals Relating to the audience/reader through… • Ethos • Logos • Pathos

40. Ethical Appeal: Ethos • Sense of credibility or trustworthiness that an author establishes in his/her writing. • Relates to the Greek term “ethics”

41. 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”

42. Emotional Appeal: Pathos Persuades audiences by using emotions