英语修辞学Teaching material 3 for Ss

Chapter 3 The 4 Levels of Rhetorical Devices

Rhetoric involves choice of sounds and rhythm, words, sentence patterns, figures of speech, organization of paragraphs and composition, etc. This process can be broken down into four basic levels of options:

?Phonetic devices

?Lexical devices

?Syntactic devices

?Discoursal devices

3.1 Phonetic devices and prose rhythm

3.1.1 Introduction

All languages have sound. Orators in ancient times knew how to use the sounds of their language for maximum rhetorical effect, and classical rhetoric had a number of sound devices based on the "echoing" or the rhyming of sounds. Modern English has inherited some of these devices.

Speech has rhythm, and since prose is really speech in written form (with modifications), it has rhythm too.

Native speakers of the language inherit this awareness of rhythm from young, from hearing stories read to them or told to them, and from hearing the rhythm of English spoken in its natural setting, just as Chinese children learn from young the rhythm of Chinese speech.

A knowledge of some English phonetic devices, and of English prose rhythm is therefore helpful not only to students of EFL as writers, but also as readers of English prose, for only when they can read fluently with the proper rhythm prose of whatever kind can they write fluently and effectively, with an intuitive sense of rhythm of the written word.

3.1.2 Phonetic devices

1. General Remarks

A. Phonetic qualities

The phonetic qualities of vowels :

1. They are all voiced.

2. They may be long or short.

3. They may be spread or rounded.

4. They may be closed or open.

5. They may be lax or tense.

6. They (diphthongs, triphthongs) glide.

The phonetic qualities of consonants :

1. They may be voiced or voiceless.

2. They may be nasal or non-nasal.

3. Some are stopped sounds, e.g. all the

plosives.

4. Some are fricatives.

5. Some are affricates.

6. Some are liquids流音or glides, because

they are produced with little obstruction

of air. The liquids are [l], [r] and glides

are [j], [w].

B. sensory qualities of English sounds

Apart from the phonetic qualities, the vowels and the consonants have also some sensory

qualities, which suggest certain impressions. These sensory qualities are not the product of any systematic or scientific study or theory; rather, they are recognized as such through long association between the sounds of words and the meaning of words. As such they are subject to wide and varied individual interpretation.

For example, the short, lax, spread vowel [i] is supposed to convey bright, light, fleet轻快的, happy impressions, as in the following poem:

Spr i ng, the sweet Spr i ng, i s the year's pleasant k i ng;

Then blooms each th i ng, then maids dance i n a r i ng,

Cold doth not st i ng, the pretty birds do s i ng,

Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!

(T. Nash: "Spring")

The rounded, long or short open or half-open vowels are supposed to convey solemn, dignified impressions, as in the following:

The curfew t o lls the knell of parting day,

The l o wing herd winds sl o wly o'er the lea ,

The pl ou ghman h o meward pl o ds his weary way,

And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

......

The b o ast of heraldry, the p o mp of p o wer ,

And a ll that beauty, a ll that wealth e'er gave

Awaits alike th' inevitable h ou r，

The paths of gl o ry lead but to the grave.

The sounds [o] and [a:] are considered more pleasant to the ear than [o :] or [^], as for example when cot, doll and holiday are compared with caw, war and raw ) and when lark , dance, hearty are compared with cut, dunce, rough. This, of course, is rather subjective and arbitrary. We can't say [^] is not pleasant in sun, love or fun, or that [a:] is pleasant in hard, last or aghast.

This arbitrariness applies to most interpretations of the sensory qualities of sounds, vowels or consonants. Most people feel that the consonants [k], [g] and their clusters [kl], [kr], [gl], [gr] are suggestive of unpleasantness or ugliness, as in kick, kill, clack, crack, glut, groan, haggle, anger, etc.

All this goes to show that, unlike phonetic qualities, sensory qualities of English sounds are neither fixed nor scientific. Their interpretation is subject to the intuitive and imaginative faculties of individual poets and writers, and to their rich knowledge of words and their meanings.

2. Some important devices

1) Alliteration

This device is extremely popular with both poets and writers for artistic purpose. In this device the same consonant sound is repeated at intervals in the initial position of words, as in "m ad-M arch days " or "a c argo of Tyne c oal." As a rhetorical device, however, alliteration has much more significant uses.

Example 1

The f air b reeze b lew, the white f oam f lew,

The f urrow f ollowed f ree;

We were the f irst that ever burst

Into that s ilent s ea.

(T. S. Coleridge: "Rime of the Ancient Mariner““古舟子咏”)

Example 2

Before the R oman came to R ye or out

to Severn Strode,

The r olling English drunkard made the

r olling English r oad.

A r eeling r oad, a r olling r oad, that

r ambles r ound the shire,

And after him the parson r an, the

sexton and the squire;

(G. K. Chesterton: "The Rolling English Road")

《起伏的英国路》

?Rye: historic market town in East Sussex, southeastern England, and a Cinque Port since 1350. ?Severn: longest river in Britain, rising in Wales and flowing into the Bristol Channel. Its estuary is crossed by two suspension bridges.

?Parson: a member of the clergy, an parish minister

Example 3

"…Father? is rather vulgar, my dear. The word 'Papa', besides, gives a pretty form to the lips. P apa, p otatoes, p oultry, p runes and p risms, are all very good words for the lips; especially prunes and prisms." (Dickens: Little Dorrit <小杜瑞特>)

Alliteration, though, is not always used for such artistic purposes. It can also be used simply to impress something on one's memory through sheer repetition of like initial sounds. For instance, we remember proverbs and wise sayings like "P enny wise, p ound foolish" and "P ractice makes p erfect" because they are short and the sounds easy to remember.

In present-day journalistic writing and in advertisements, writers make use of this aspect of alliteration quite frequently. In one issue of Time (Nov. 18, 1981), for example, the following instances of alliteration were found:

(Titles of articles)

-- B ye, B ye, b alanced b udget

-- G unk G rounds the S econd S huttle

-- S ky S woop

-- S ix Misters, S een by a S eventh

-- He W recks to W in

(Advertisements)

-- C &. C-- The C omputer and C ommunication C ompany helps you get the most out of "digital. "

-- For c omfort, c onvenience, s uperb s ervice and more flights to Japan-YOU CAN DEPEND ON US. Cathy Pacific

2) Assonance

Assonance is the "echoing" or "resemblance" of vowel sounds in the stressed syllables of a sequence of words, as in "a h o t c o pper sky " or " children just let l oo se from sch oo l. "

?In poetry, poets of all ages have used this device effectively to convey various sensory impressions.

Example 1

Thou still unravished br i de of qu i etness,

Thou foster ch i ld of s i lence and slow time.

(Keats: "Ode on a Grecian Urn")

你，未被劫掠的“恬静”的新娘，

你，“寂静”和“悠悠岁月”的养子，

Example 2

I shall never see her more

Where the reeds and rushes qu i ver,

Sh i ver, qu i ver;

Stand beside the s o bbing r i ver,

S o bbing, thr o bbing, in the f a lling

To the sandy lonesome sh o re.

(Jean Ingelow; "The High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire (1571)")

(The short [i] sound in river, quiver, shiver contrasts sharply with the rounded [o] sound in sobbing, throbbing. We can imagine how the reeds and rushes sway with sorrow beside the mourning sounds of the rushing water. )

?In prose, especially descriptive prose, assonance also serves to emphasize the quality of some person, scene or feeling. In the passage below note how the rhetorical effect is achieved through the use of assonance:

Example 3

And they stand still and watch the potatoes fl oa t by, l i sten to the screaming p i gs being k i lled in a d i tch and covered with qu i cklime, watch the m ou ntains of o range sl o p d ow n to a putrefying ooze. . . (John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath)

The long [ou] sound is used to show the potatoes slowly moving down the river; the short [i] invokes an image of pigs being quickly slaughtered and buried ; and the [au] and [o] sounds echo the tons of oranges being dumped.

3) Onomatopoeia

This device makes use of imitation of sounds for effect. These sounds may be those made by a person, animal or thing, or associated with some action or movement. For example,moo, meow, bow-wow, hiss, roar and baa are respectively imitative of the cries or calls of cows, cats, dogs, snakes, lions and sheep. In the same way, trains toot;doors bang, windows rattle, fire crackles, machines clang, and racing cars go vroom-vroom.

It is a device much used in poetry and prose to add vividness or vitality to description or narration.

3.1.3 PROSE RHYTHM

1. General Remarks

All prose has rhythm. The rhythm of English prose involves prosodic features such as stress, pitch (tone), volume (loudness), pause and tempo, apart from the usual intonation patterns.

These features, in different combinations, produce different rhythmic patterns, which may be stylistically significant. Any prosodic feature alone would not produce much of an effect. Of all these features, however, stress plays the most important role, and this will be discussed in some detail below.

2. Stress

By stress, we mean both word stress and sentence stress.

1) Word Stress

English words contain syllables. A word containing a single syllable is a monosyllabic word; one

containing two or more syllables is polysyllabic.

In speech, this main-stress syllable is enunciated clearer, louder, and with higher pitch than the other syllables, giving a word its own characteristic rhythm of strong stress, and weak stress, and of main stress and secondary stress for words of more than three syllables. If strong stress is marked by ' and weak stress by - , the rhythm of words will look like this:

profile '-

antique -'

identity -'--

melancholy '---

diplomatic --'-

2) Sentence Stress

Stress patterns in sentences are roughly comparable to those in polysyllabic words in that some words, instead of syllables, are stressed and others are not. There is a difference, however, in the placing of the main stress. There is no fixity in the stressing of words in sentences. Where the main stress is placed depends entirely on the intended meaning of the sentence, and more than one word may be main-stressed.

E.g. (stressed word in capital letters)

THIS bag is new. (not that one)

This BAG is new. (not this hat)

This bag IS new. (no doubt about it)

This bag is NEW. (not old)

TOM says this bag is NOT new. (Tom

said so, not me)

I don't aGREE with Tom's oPInion.

While any word may be stressed in a sentence according to intended meaning, it is the general practice to place the stress on such content words as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and as the situation requires, on demonstrative pronouns. Form words like auxiliary verbs, conjunctions, prepositions, pronouns, dative pronouns, and articles are seldom stressed, except for emphasis.

There are, however, certain situations where weak forms are not used, and it is important to remember this, as it concerns rhythm and meaning. These situations are:

1. When the verb forms am, are, be, can, could, have, has,had, do, does, is, was, were, must, shall, will and would appear in the final position of a sentence, they retain their strong forms.

E.g. Must you go? I MUST.

2. Prepositions in final position in sentences are also not weakened:

E.g.

What are you looking FOR?

Who are you waving TO?

I won't be laughed A T.

Put it back where you took it FROM.

Unlike form words, monosyllabic content words, whether stressed or unstressed, retain their full vowel quality, but if unstressed, the pitch and volume of their enunciation is modified. For polysyllabic content words, all unstressed syllables are weakened, to some extent.

3. Pitch

Rises and falls in the pitch of the voice give rise to the familiar term intonation patterns. As far as prose rhythm is concerned, changes in pitch or intonation have two main functions:

1) to signal the prominence or significance of the word(s) or syllable(s) carrying the higher pitch;

2) to distinguish between statements and questions: A sentence uttered with a falling intonation is a statement, while if uttered with a rising intonation is a question. The rising tone may also indicate something unfinished, or continuative.

Apart from these two main functions, a change in pitch might also indicate a speaker's emotional attitude towards something, e.g. surprise, doubt, contempt, approval, etc. V ariations in pitch level indicate variations in degree of emotion.

E.g.

He painted this ↘picture. (Falling tone; factual)

He painted this ↗picture. (Rising tone; disbelief; surprise)

Pitch or intonation patterns vary with context and situation, and the voice may rise or fall in different combinations of pitch level, to convey meaning and attitude or emotion. Prose read without pitch variation is flat, monotonous, and boring. Worse, meaning is lost, as well as emotional impact. 4. Pause and Tempo

English is considered a stress-timed language in that in continuous speech or prose, the stressed words or syllables of words occur at fairly regular intervals of time. Between each unit of stress-and-unstressed syllables, there is a slight pause. This pause may coincide with a breath-length, or a sense-group. If there are few pauses between stressed units, the tempo of the prose is fast; if there are many, the pace is slow, even languid. In between these two extremes, there are many variations.

By manipulating stress, pitch, and pause in sentences, writers can achieve different rhetorical effects in their prose.

Example 1

When ALL is DONE/HUman LIFE is / at the GREAtest and the BEST / but like a FORward CHID / that must be PLAYed with / and /HUmoured a little / to keep it QUIET / till it FALLS aSLEEP,/ and then the CARE is Over.

(Sir William Temple)

Example 2

CANS. // BEER CANS. // GLINting on the VERGes / of a MILlion MILES of ROADways, / L Ying in SCRUB, / GRASS , /DIRT, /LEAVES , /SAND, /MUD, but NEVer Hidden.

(Mary Mannes: "Wasteland")

3.1.

4. Summary

The writing of rhythmic prose is a skill and an art that has to be cultivated. The feeling for rhythm, for the harmony of words in sentences, paragraphs, is based on extensive reading and familiarity with good effective writing, with an appreciation of rhetorical and stylistic devices. We can find countless examples of effective harmonious prose in the works of the great masters of the English language like Charles Dickens, Jane Austin, the Bronte Sisters, John Steinbeck, and many others.

Non-literary writing also has rhythm, only differing in kind. Academic writing, formal writing, legal writing, and other forms of functional writing may not be as rich in form and imagery as literary writing, but the rhythm of the sentence, of the language as a whole should not be sacrificed.