Rhetoric = the effective use of language—：修辞是有效使用语言的—.doc

44 Rhetoric = the effective use of languageRHETORIC(1) The study and practice of effective communication. (2) The art of persuasion. Acting on another through words. (James Moffet) (3) An insincere eloquence intended to win points and manipulate others. (Politicians often use rhetoric to manipulate others.) (4) The art of analyzing all the choices involving language that a writer, speaker, reader, or listener might make in a situation so that the text becomes meaningful, purposeful, and effective. (5) The specific features of texts, written or spoken, that cause them to be meaningful, purposeful, and effective for readers or listeners in a situation.Q: Is rhetoric positive or negative? A: If you agree with the speaker, you will find rhetoric to be positive. If you disagree with the speaker or if the speaker is using several words that sound pretty but dont really say much (i.e. circumlocution) then you will find the rhetoric to be empty or negative. Every writer is trying to have her way with you. The techniques and choices she uses to get her point across or to convince you are rhetorical strategies/devices. SOAPS: Subject What is the subject of the piece? How do you know this? How has the subject been selected and presented by the author? Occasion What may have prompted the author to write this piece? What event led to its publication or development? Audience Intended audience *Purpose Intended purpose (Texts can have more than one purpose.)Speaker/ Author Is there someone identified as the speaker? Can you make some assumptions about this person? What class does the author come from? What political bias can be inferred? What gender? What are his or her qualifications? Credentials? Reputation? Experience? Rhetorical Devices/StrategiesThe building blocks: Selection of words with specific connotations Selection of detail Omission of detail Selection of authorities/quotes to cite vs. omission of authorities cited as evidence Tone (Created by word choice/diction) Syntax Arrangement Order in which ideas are placed Shift in POV, in tone, in time sequence, in place, in level of diction, in sentence length, in sentence type, etc. General Strategies: Asserting/ Espousing/ Conveying/ Expressing Recalling Questioning (Rhetorical Questions) (Questioning and answering your own question: hypophora) Sharing an anecdote Shift/ Shift in point of view; shift in time sequence; shift of place; shift in sentence length. Narrating Describing Explaining a process Reflecting Observing Using rhetorical appeals. Appeals can be logical appeals, emotional appeals, or appeals to a speakers credibility. Using specific emotional appeals: appealing to shared values (i.e. family values, religious values, national values), shared history, tradition, authority, fear, guilt, shame, pity, spite, ridicule, popularity, novelty, fun, nationalism, personal pride (perhaps through flattery), etc. Listing Restating/ Repeating Alluding Suggesting/Hinting/ Implying Pretending Lying Contradicting Arguing Reasoning Persuading Convincing Defending Refuting Qualifying Conceding Anticipating an objection Mentioning without mentioning (Apophasis) Expressing doubt as to how to begin or how to address a subject (Aporia) Analyzing/Examining Supporting Illustrating with examples or images Paraphrasing Quoting Summarizing Synthesizing Juxtaposing Comparing Analogizing Contrasting Satirizing* (See techniques of satire mentioned below and in separate handout) Exaggerating Downplaying: Understatement, Euphemism, Litotes/Meiosis Mocking Ridiculing Using humor Using verbal ironyDiscrepancy between what is said and what is meant Exposing Sermonizing, lecturing, preaching Explaining or establishing cause and effect Defining, Stipulating Terms/Redefining Clarifying Classifying/ Dividing into categories Distorting/Spinning Downplaying, Glorifying, Sweeping under the rug, Minimizing, Conveniently Ignoring, Omitting, Stretching, Taking out of context, Lying, etc. (These techniques are usually used by advertisers, politicians, political pundits a.k.a Spin Doctors or Talking Heads. The closer we get to a political election, the more spinning we hear from all interested parties). Marketing: Providing testimonial/anecdotal evidence (not necessarily authoritative) vs. scientific evidence (pseudo-scientific evidence is not reliable) Using make-believe words Heightening Awareness Pointing out Bringing to attention Managing expectations Criticizing, rebuking, scolding, admonishing, berating, Disparaging, belittling, Dismissing, ignoring Burying the issue Reassuring, consoling, encouraging Implying Insinuating Threatening/ (veiled threat or overt threat)Brutus and Anthonys funeral orations in Shakespeares Julius Caesar are excellent examples of speeches that rely heavily on various rhetorical strategies. Techniques of Satire: (See satire packet online) Irony Humor Burlesque Reductio Ad Absurdum Bombast Topsy Turvy World Bathos Parody Caricature Hyperbole LitotesDiction (See below) Concrete/Abstract Levels of diction Elevated/Lofty; Informal/Standard; Nonstandard (Dialect, Slang, Colloquial, Jargon, Vulgarity) ConnotationDenotation Image- Imagery / Vivid Description / The 5 senses Mood (atmosphere of the piece created by the imagery) Tone: (authors attitude toward the subject)Examples: didactic, satiric, ironic, harsh, bitter humorous, mocking, serious, amused, witty, farcical, objective, subjective, clinical, cold, enthusiastic, impassioned, fervent, urgent, zealous, righteous, reverent, pretentious, melancholic, formal, colloquial, ambivalent, detached, righteous, skeptical, worried, befuddled, condescending, nostalgic, wistful, childlike, etc. Irony: Dramatic, Situational, Verbal, Cosmic Figures of Speech/Figurative Language (See below)v Allusionv Paradoxv Oxymoronv Hyperbolev Understatement / Litotesv MetaphorImplied/Extendedv Similev Imageryv Symbolv Apostrophev Synecdochev Metonymy v Personification v EuphemismPoint of View: (See POV packet online) 1st Person 3rd Person (Omniscient vs. Limited Omniscient vs. Objective or Rotating) Objectivity/Subjectivity Shifts in point of view Adult looking back on childhood Adult point of view mingled with childhood perspective (Great Expectations, Jane Eyre, To Kill a Mockingbird)Syntax: Balanced sentences: Parallelismantithesis, antimetabole, chiasmus, isocolon, tricolon (See Balance packet/handout.) Loose or Periodic sentences (See below) Punctuation Repetition anaphora, epanalepsis, anadiplosis (See below) Rhetorical questions Sentence openers Sentence lengths (creates sentence variety, creates pacingpay attention to very very short sentences that follow long ones) See Pacing packet online. CoordinationSubordination Simple or complex (See handout from class) Inversion/Anastrophe Elliptical Phrasing Number of sentences, number of words, number of paragraphs2 important strategies to look out for: JUXTAPOSITION placing events, objects, scenes, side by side for the purpose of comparing and/or contrasting them. Sherman Alexies “Indian Education” /Alexie.html juxtaposes Shermans experiences with those of his peers to make a larger point. ANECDOTE - Sherman Alexiess “Indian Education” is arranged as a series of anecdotes (personal stories). These vignettes/short impressionistic sketch stories/snippets/snapshots culminate to make a larger point. Diction: All effective rhetoric relies on the use of precise diction to create text and subtext. Diction refers to both the choice and the order of words. It has typically been split into vocabulary and syntax.The difference between the almost-right word and the right word is really a large matterits the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning. Mark Twain The basic question to ask about vocabulary is Is it simple or complex? The basic question to ask about syntax is Is it ordinary or unusual? Taken together, these two elements make up diction. When we speak of a level of diction, we might be misleading, because its certainly possible to use plain language in a complicated way, especially in poetry, and its equally possible to use complicated language in a simple way. It might help to think of diction as a web rather than a level: Theres typically something deeper than a surface meaning to consider, so poetic diction is, by definition, complex. different words for the same thing often suggest different attitudes (e.g., happy vs. content) denotative vs. connotative including euphemism: e.g., dead vs. passed away NUANCE and INNUENDO. Words have different shades of meaning. Different connotations. They can imply or they can insinuate. They can mean the opposite of what they state (verbal irony/sarcasm). They can be literal or they can be figurative. concrete vs. abstract (e.g., able to perceive with 5 senses, tangible, vs. an idea or concept that exists in ones mind, intangibleloyalty, justice, etc.) cacophonous vs. euphonious (e.g., harsh sounding, e.g., raucous, croak or pleasant sounding, e.g. languid, murmur) degree of difficulty or complexity of a word level of formality of a word tone of a word (the emotional charge a word carries) the above will often create a subtext for the textFirst discuss the work in general: is the language formal, informal, vernacular? Explain and give an example from the text. Does the author use much imagery? Metaphoric and / or ironic devices? Is the language plain? Flowery? Concise? Strong? Lyrical? Does diction indicate social status, education, region? How much dialogue is used? Types of DictionDenotation vs. connotation language with exact meaning vs. language with suggested emotional meaning.Example: slender vs. emaciated / angry vs. irate Concrete vs. abstract (specific vs. general) language tangible to ourfive senses vs. language that is conceptual and philosophical.Concrete terms refer to objects or events that are available to the senses. This is directly opposite to abstract terms, which name things that are not available to the senses. Examples of concrete terms include spoon, table, velvet eye patch, nose ring, sinus mask, green, hot, walking. Because these terms refer to objects or events we can see or hear or feel or taste or smell, their meanings are pretty stable. If you ask me what I mean by the word spoon, I can pick up a spoon and show it to you. I cant pick up a freedom and show it to you, or point to a small democracy crawling along a window sill. I can measure sand and oxygen by weight and volume, but I cant collect a pound of responsibility or a liter of moral outrage.Literal vs. figurative accurate language without embellishment vs. comparative language for a pictorial or comparative effect.(See figurative language above).Levels of Diction (Levels of Articulation)High: Formal diction/elevated language language appropriate for more formal occasions; often more abstract and more figurative. Example: The Chair she sat in, like a burnished throne,Glowed on the marble, where the glassHeld up by standards wrought with fruited vinesFrom which a golden Cupidon peeped out(Another hid his eyes behind his wing)Doubled the flames of seven branched candelabra . . . T.S. Eliot from “The Wasteland”“burnished,” “wrought,” and “fruited”Middle: Informal/standard language is grammatically correct, but more casual or conversational. Words used in ordinary conversation. Sometimes referred to as Standard American English (SAE).The passage below is beautiful, but theres no word in it that couldnt easily be used in ordinary conversation:The trees are in their autumn beauty,The woodland paths are dryUnder the October twilight the waterMirrors a still sky.-Yeatss “The Wild Swans at CooleLow: Non-standard language deficient in some form or manner. Example: This passage (from Philip Larkins “This Be The Verse”) contains an example of low diction, employed for shock effect:They fuck you up, your mum and dad.They may not mean to, but they do.They fill you with the faults they hadAnd add some extra, just for you.Dialect is a nonstandard subgroup of a language with its own vocabulary and grammatical features. Reflects the way individual groups actually speak. (Regional) Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn brilliantly captures southern dialect. Slang refers to a group of recently coined words; slang is ephemeral and exclusive. Example: She is “hot.” “Swag” Colloquial are nonstandard ways of using language appropriate to informal and conversational speech and writing. Examples: Hit me up later if youre free. The characters hooked up. /(The characters were physically intimate with one another.) Can include regional expressions: Hey yall. JJargon consists of words and expression characteristic of a particular trade, profession, or pursuit (Example: gigabyte, logic board, CPU, DVD burner = computer jargon/ Financial terms: credit derivative, credit default swap/ Legal terminology: habeus corpus).Idiom -One definition of idiom: An idiom is an expression that means something other than the literal meanings of its individual words.Example: He kicked the bucket. This expression does not mean that someone literally kicked a bucket. It means that somebody died. No one is sure of the origin of the term. Here are some theories: 1. When people were led to the guillotine during the French Revolution a bucket was strategically placed to catch the severed head. The unfortunate victim would kick out, sometimes actually upsetting the bucket containing his/her head.2. Someone contemplating suicide would place a rope around a rafter, place the noose around his neck and stand on a bucket. The bucket would then be kicked away and the person would hang until dead- hence the phrase kick the bucket.Common idiomatic expressions: Kill two birds with one stone On the ball Cut corners To hear something straight from the horses mouth Costs an arm and a leg The last straw Take what someone says with a pinch/grain of salt Sit on the fence The best of both worlds Put wool over other peoples eyesVulgarity/Expletive/Invective language deficient in taste and refinement; coarse, base (anyswear word)Figurative Language -Figures of Speech (artful deviation from the ordinary mode of speaking and writingschemes and tropes)Scheme: deviation from usual meaning Trope: deviation of usual word orderCan achieve:-clarityhelp us communicate with our audience clearly and effectively -Immediacyto impact the current audiencepulling the audience into the text-*emotional appeal: stir our emotional responses-infuse vehemence and passion into argumentthey can carry truth “alive into the heart by passion”-exert a powerful ethical appeal (appeal to ethos) when they elicit admiration for the eloquence of the speaker or writer-appeals to a specific audiencein a specific context-provide one of the best ways to strike that happy balance between the obvious and the obscure-deliberate ambiguity (when you want the text to mean 2 things at the same time. You want to imply something rather than spell it outM.L. J)-creates compelling visual imagery if the imagery is fresh (not clichd)will add the attention-getting, thought-clarifying, enjoyment- adding content to the subject at handYou fit into meyou fit into melike a hook into an eyea fish hookan open eye-Margaret Atwood (b. 1939)Verbal irony/ironic tone“Southern Cop”Let us forgive Ty Kendricks.The place was Darktown. He was young.His nerves were jittery. The day was hot.The Negro ran out of the alley.And so Ty shot.Let us understand Ty Kendricks.The Negro must have been dangerous,Because he ran;And here was a rookie with a chanceTo prove himself a man.Let us condone Ty KendricksIf we cannot decorate.When he found what the Negro was running for,It was too late;And all we can say for the Negro isIt was unfortunate.Let us pity Ty Kendricks.He has been through enough, Standing there, his big gun smoking,Rabbit-scared, alone,Having to hear the wenches wailAnd the dying Negro moan.Ironic tone, understatement, metonymy, anaphora, epistrophe (symploce in every opening line)Simile Comparison between 2 unlike things using “like” or “as”Example: “Oh my love is like a red, red rose.”Metaphor - Comparison between 2 unlike things without using “like” or “as”Example: “Oh my love is a red, red rose.”Implied Metaphor The metaphor is not stated directly; it is