英语修辞学论文Analysis on Certain Speech of Aristotle’s Ethos, Pathos and Logos
修辞手法的英语作文
修辞手法的英语作文The Power of Metaphor in Literature。
Metaphor is a powerful and evocative literary devicethat has been used by writers and poets for centuries to convey complex ideas and emotions. It allows readers to see the world in a new light and understand abstract conceptsin a more tangible way. In this essay, we will explore the power of metaphor in literature and how it enhances the reader's experience.Metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two unlike things by stating that one thing is another. It is a formof analogy that creates a vivid image in the reader's mind and helps them to understand the deeper meaning of the text. For example, in William Shakespeare's famous line "All the world's a stage," he compares the world to a stage, suggesting that life is like a play with different acts and characters.One of the key benefits of using metaphor in literature is that it allows writers to convey complex ideas and emotions in a more accessible way. By comparing abstract concepts to concrete objects or actions, writers can make their writing more relatable and engaging for readers. For example, in George Orwell's novel "1984," he uses the metaphor of Big Brother to represent the oppressive power of the government, making it easier for readers to understand the dangers of totalitarianism.Furthermore, metaphor can also create a deeper emotional impact on the reader. By using vivid and evocative imagery, writers can evoke strong emotions and create a more immersive reading experience. For example, in Emily Dickinson's poem "Hope is the thing with feathers," she compares hope to a bird, suggesting that it is fragile yet resilient, which creates a powerful and poignant image for the reader.In addition, metaphor can also be used to create layers of meaning in a text, allowing readers to interpret the writing in different ways. By comparing one thing toanother, writers can imbue their writing with symbolic and allegorical meanings that add depth and richness to the text. For example, in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter," the scarlet letter "A" is a metaphor for the protagonist's sin, but it also represents her strength and resilience in the face of adversity.In conclusion, metaphor is a powerful literary device that enhances the reader's experience by making abstract ideas more tangible, creating a deeper emotional impact, and adding layers of meaning to the text. It allows writers to convey complex ideas and emotions in a more accessible way, making their writing more relatable and engaging for readers. As readers, we can appreciate the beauty and power of metaphor in literature and the way it enriches our understanding of the world.。
谈谈英语的修辞格的论文
肯尼迪就职演讲修辞分析
4.And，if abeachheadof cooperation may push back thejungleof suspicion，let both sides join in creating a new endeavor……(Para 19)
6.……wherethe strongare just，andthe weaksecure, andthe peacepreserved。(Para 19）
Reiteration
重复
1。Let every nation know，whether it wishes us well or ill，that we shall payanyprice，bearanyburden, meetanyhardship, supportanyfriend，opposeanyfoe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.（Para 4)
4.Let both sides, for the first time，formulate serious andprecise proposalsfor the inspection and control of arms……(Para 16)
5。Can we forge against these enemies agrandandglobalalliance，North and South, East and West，that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind?（Para23)
用修辞写作文英文
用修辞写作文英文I am a college student . I am studing in the first grade in a economical administration institude in the Gorgoes professinal technology university..I major in electrical calculation department .I am in Class 4.I like music and Linjunjie is my favorite singer star. There are four people in my family and they are my father,my mother ,my little brother and I . My family all live in the countryside and I like my hometown very much.In my spare time I like sleeping,listening to music and do some sports。
I am a college student . I am studing in the first grade in a economical administration institude in the Gorgoes professinal technology university..I major in electrical calculation department .I am in Class 4.I like music and Linjunjie is my favorite singer star. There are four people in my family and they are my father,my mother ,my little brother and I . My family all live in the countryside and I like my hometown very much.In my spare time I like sleeping,listening to music and do some sports.。
英语演讲稿作文有修辞
英语演讲稿作文有修辞When it comes to writing an English speech, one of the most important aspects is the use of rhetoric.修辞是英语演讲中不可或缺的要素之一。
Rhetoric adds depth, emotion, and persuasiveness to a speech, making it more engaging for the audience.修辞为演讲增添了深度、情感和说服力，使其更具吸引力。
There are several types of rhetorical devices that can be used in a speech, such as similes, metaphors, hyperbole, and repetition.演讲中可以使用多种修辞手法，比如比喻、暗喻、夸张和重复。
These devices can help to enhance the overall impact of the speech and make it more memorable for the listeners.这些手法有助于增强演讲的整体影响力，使其更具有记忆点。
Incorporating rhetorical devices into a speech requires a thorough understanding of how they work and when to use them.将修辞手法融入演讲中需要深刻理解它们的运作方式以及何时使用它们。
Each device has its own unique purpose and effect, and knowing how to effectively deploy them can greatly improve the effectiveness of a speech.每种手法都有其独特的目的和影响，了解如何有效地运用它们可以极大地提高演讲的有效性。
运用修辞的英语作文范文
运用修辞的英语作文范文Rhetoric is the art of using language effectively to persuade, inform, or entertain an audience. It is a powerful tool that can be employed in various forms of written and spoken communication, from political speeches to literary works. In the realm of academic writing, the skillful use of rhetorical devices can elevate an essay, transforming it from a mere collection of facts and ideas into a compelling and impactful piece of work.One of the most fundamental rhetorical techniques is the use of repetition. Repetition can serve a variety of purposes, from emphasizing a key point to creating a rhythmic cadence that engages the reader. Consider the famous words of Martin Luther King Jr. in his "I Have a Dream" speech: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." The repetition of the phrase "I have a dream" creates a powerful and memorable refrain that underscores the speaker's vision.Another powerful rhetorical device is the use of metaphor and analogy. By drawing comparisons between seemingly unrelated concepts, writers can help readers better understand complex ideas or abstract notions. In his essay "Politics and the English Language," George Orwell famously likened the English language to "a worn-out used vehicle," suggesting that it had become bloated and ineffective. This metaphor vividly illustrates Orwell's argument that the English language had been corrupted by political and bureaucratic jargon, and that writers should strive to use clear, concise, and accessible language.Rhetorical questions are another effective tool in the writer's arsenal. By posing a question to the reader, the writer can engage the audience, prompt reflection, or even challenge a prevailing assumption. In his essay "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience," Henry David Thoreau asked, "Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience, then?" These questions serve to challenge the reader's assumptions about the relationship between the individual and the state, and to encourage critical thinking.The strategic use of diction, or word choice, is also a crucial aspect of effective rhetoric. Writers can carefully select words that evoke specific emotions, create vivid imagery, or convey a particular tone. In her essay "The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl NamedMaria," Judith Ortiz Cofer masterfully employs diction to paint a vivid picture of her experiences as a Latina woman in the United States. She writes, "I am the great-granddaughter of a female pirate, a woman who dressed like a man, drank like a fish, and spoke with a Spanish accent." The vivid language and evocative imagery in this passage draw the reader into Cofer's world and help to convey the complexities of her identity.Rhetorical devices can also be used to structure an essay in a way that enhances its persuasive power. The use of parallel structure, for example, can create a sense of balance and emphasis. In his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, Martin Luther King Jr. employed parallel structure to great effect: "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'" The repetition of the phrase "I have a dream" and the parallel construction of the sentences create a powerful and memorable rhetorical structure.Ultimately, the skillful use of rhetorical devices can transform a well-researched and informative essay into a truly compelling and impactful piece of writing. By carefully selecting and employing these techniques, writers can engage their audience, convey complex ideas, and ultimately, persuade and inspire. Whether crafting a politicalargument, a literary analysis, or a personal reflection, the mastery of rhetoric is a crucial skill for any aspiring writer.。
英语论文—肯尼迪就职演讲修辞分析
IntroductionStylistics is the study of language style with modern linguistic theories and approaches. Functional stylistic theory is one of the most influential theories in recent years, when linguistics lays much emphasis on the social-cultural context. The American Presidential Inaugural Address (APIA) is a very important variety with worldwide influence and long-lasting significance. In the address the speaker makes great efforts to make his policy known to the public and to persuade the public to accept and support his policies. To achieve the aims, the address has to resort to lots of language skills among other things. Therefore, a stylistic study on APIA is extremely meaningful. In the paper, the writer attempts to apply the theories of functional styl istics into the analysis of American president Kennedy’s address, trying to find out the linguistic characteristics of the particular discourse and explain and evaluate them with the theories.1.An Introduction to American Presidential Inaugural AddressThe inaugural address is the speech delivered by the president-elected on the inauguration day.In the speech, for the first time, the newly elected president will officially announce that he will take up that the responsibility as the highest executive of the country in the next four years. Inaugurals mark the end of the election campaign and at the same time the beginning of a new administration. Although the inaugural address is not required by the constitution, it is made every four years by all the presidents before they take office. It has already become a tradition set by the first president—George Washington. As a rule, the new administrator’s philosophy of politics and the outline of his policy will be announced in his inaugural address. The inauguration is held as a celebration witnessed by many audiences.Inaugurals are of great significance because of what they reveal about the fundamental political values, particular political principles, and enactment of a presidential persona. Their political meanings thus become clear. Inaugural addresses attempt to persuade the citizens ofthe nation on that the newly elected president is fit for the political role and that he is entitled to achieve his programmatic objectives. The addresses, then, cast muc h light on the legitimacy of political power and the worldviews of presidents. Their political intention is to call for support and loyalty to a political regime from both other power-holders in the political system and the public at large during their administration.2. An Introduction to Functional StylisticsThe functional linguistic theory advocated by British linguist, M. A. K. Halliday has been prevailing since the 1970s. It is widely used in stylistic analysis. Functional stylistics has three features: first, stressing the relationship between the text and the context of the situation, and advocating studying the style in the social--cultural context; second, adopting systematic-functional grammar in stylistic analysis; third, summarizing the foregrounding theory systematically. Systematic-functional grammar is a very useful approach to stylistic analysis to some extent, and the theory about context is widely accepted.“Context of situation”is originally suggested by Malinowski and subsequently elaborated by Firth in his 1950 paper Personality and language in society. Essentially what this implies is that language comes to life only when functioning in some environment. According to Halliday, the situation is the environment in which the text comes to life. The type of the language, which is selected as appropriate to the type of situation, is a register. He said, “A register can be defined as the configuration of semantic resources that the member of a culture typically associates with a situation type. It is the meaning potential that is accessible in a given so cial context.” (Halliday, 2001:111) He further distinguishes three social variables that determine the register: field of discourse, tenor of discourse, and mode of discourse.The field is the social action in which the text is embedded; it includes the subject-matter, as one special manifestation. The tenor is the set of the role relationships among the relevant participants; it includes levels of formality as one particular instance. The mode refers to the medium or way that the communication between people goes. People usually see speaking and writing as the medium.As far as APIA is concerned, the field of the APIA is political since the newly inaugurated president often uses this address to lay out goals and principles, address the nation’s divisions, beliefs, achievements, domestic and world-wide situations, and project American’s place in the world or future expectation.The tenor of the APLA can be displayed in the following way. The participants in the event are the President of the United States, as an addresser, and all the government officials and all the citizens in the country and even people all over the world, as the addressee.The mode of the APLA is also distinct in the situation. In the situation, every word in the address plays a constitutive role. The speech has to fulfill some functions, or convey the president’s attentions, i.e. to make his government policies known to the public and persuade the public to accept and support his government. So the language used in the context is mainly informative and persuasive.3.A Stylistic Study on Kennedy’ s Inaugural AddressThe following analysis aims to reveal the stylistic features of the American presidential inaugural address. It is mainly based on M. A. K. Hallid ay’s functional stylistic theor ies, especially on his theories about “context”. It also adopts some other commonly accepted linguistic theories. Systematic investigation of the linguistic data is a characteristic of this paper. The analysis is mainly concerned with the lexical level, syntactic level, textual level and rhetorical devices. Because of the close relation between speech skill and rhetorical devices, the analysis on the rhetorical device is also a part of this paper.3.1 The Stylistic Features on the Lexical LevelWord is a basic grammatical unit, which is smaller than sentence. This analysis will begin with the analysis on the lexical level.3.1.1Word StructureStylisticians usually set six letters or three syllables in a word as a standard to analyze the length of the words. The words with more than six letters are usually regarded as long words. These long words may be words of Latin, French or Greek origin, which are usually formal words. And they may also be derivation or compounding words, which have relatively complicated structure.John · Fitzgerald · Kennedy’s inaugural speech has a total vocabulary of 1595, of which there is 438 words with more than six letters, accounting for 26%. In English，the words of more than six letters or three syllable are often seen as big. These words often come from the Latin, Greek or French, or have a complex internal structure. “The percentages in daily conversation, instant commentary, and even advertisement are not more than 20%”.( Wang Zuoliang, 1987:235) So comparatively speaking, the words used in inaugural address of Kennedy are quite formal and the structures of the words are more complicated. There are two reasons for this. First, the president deliberately uses formal words to make his speeches more serious. E.g.: prosperity, discrimination, obligation.Then, the intrinsic structures of the words are quite complicated. There are many derivational or compounding words. The derivation from verbs to nouns is a characteristic of the language in the addresses. We can find many such words: affirmation, aggression, celebration. These derivations not only help to form long words with more complicated structures, but also make the words in the address more formal.There is a long lasting dispute that whether public speaking is a spoken variety or a written one. The above analysis on the lexical level shows clearly that as one type of public speaking, American presidential address embodies more features of a written variety, whic h is characteristic of long, complicated, formal words. These features correspond with the tenor of discourse: both consultative and formal, and mode of discourse: written to be spoken.Besides that, in Kennedy’s address we can find m any abstract nouns with such suffixes as: -tion, -ment, -cy, -ty, for they usually refer to the state, quality, cause or result of an action. This phenomenon is determined by the field of discourse. American presidential inaugural address is one type of public political speaking. Its field of discourse is political. Manypolitical terms are abstract. It is natural for Kennedy to use many abstract nouns in his address.3.1.2Word ClassThe choice of word class is determined mainly by the tenor.The functional tenor of inaugural address is both persuasive and informative. In the inaugural address, the speaker is not only to make his government policies known to the public, but also to persuade the public to accept and support his policy. So like advertisements, inaugural address belongs to a loaded language, which triggers emotional reaction. It should have great persuasive power. So the words used in the inaugural address us ually contain emotional color. This is reflected especially in the use of adjectives and the first-person pronoun.AdjectivesThe use of adjectives in the address is mainly determined by the functional tenor of the language. In the address of Kennedy, there are 105 adjectives, accounting nearly 7.8% in the total words of 1342. This percentage is obviously higher than that instant commentary, which is 5%. (Wang Zuoliang，1987:221) Most of the adjectives are subjective and emotional words, such as: fruitful, peaceful, great, powerful, solemn, hard, steady.This is determined by the functional tenor of the presidential address. In these address the speaker is expected to make their government policies known to the public and to persuade the public to accept and support his policy. In order to achieve these aims, the speaker often resorts to emotional appeal among other things. Adjectives are very useful in expressing one’s emotion, so the speaker uses so many adjectives in the address. Comparatively, there are fewer adjectives in the instant commentary, which is more objective than the inaugural address.On the other hand, the percentage of adjectives is much smaller than that of the advertisement, which is about 30%. (Qin Xiubai, 2002: 309) This is because as a political address with worldwide influence, American presidential address is much more serious thanadvertisements. Preaching political views is different from promoting goods. It should seem more subjective and could not be too garish.The First-person PronounAnother noticeable fact in the presidential address is the use of the first-person pronouns, which is determined by the personal tenor of the inaugural address.The most frequently used pronouns are the first-person pronouns:I, we and their derivational forms: me, us, and our etc. In most of situation, Kennedy used lots of first-person pronouns to substitute the second-person pronoun you.(1) We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution.(2) Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of thisAdministration, nor even perhaps in our life time on this planet. But let us begin.Because the speaker usually mentions himself and his opinions, it is very natural for him to use I or me frequently. We or us in English are the form referring to both the speaker plus the audience. In the inaugural address, the speaker frequently uses we, us, and our instead for you or yours. This creates some special effects.First, the inclusive pronouns unite the speaker and the audience. They are helpful to build a sense of closeness between the speaker and the audience. The American president appears to be one member among ordinary American citizens. Thus the speech becomes more intimate, and more acceptable.Second, the first person plural can encourage a sense of group unity, a feeling of cohesiveness. “This practice minimizes differences within our group, and emphasizes between group members and those on the outside”. (Lucas, Stephen E, 2004:98) For example in Kennedy’s address, he said,“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friends, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” The first person plurals: we, us in this sentence distinguish American people from the other nations, encourage a sense of group unity, awaken a sense of national pride and responsibility, thus make the speech very inciting.In addition, “the first-person plural in declarative structure can also perform an imperative function”. (Wang Zuoliang，1987:267) This indirect imperative form is implicit and much easier to accept. For example, “We dare not forget today that we are the heirs ofthat first revolution.” If we rewrite the above sentences with imperative sentences, they may sound more like orders than requests, and then widen the gap between the speaker and the audience. Thus the inciting effect cannot be achieved.3.2The Stylistic Features on the Syntactical LevelTraditionally, a sentence is seen as a sequence of words. How words are combined to form sentence to achieve the stylistic effects in APIA of Kennedy will be discussed in this part. The discussion will include the sentence structure, the postmodification in noun phrase, tense in verb phrase, and imperative sentences.3.2.1Sentence StructureThe average sentence length of different variety is different. According to Wang Zuoliang’s analysis, “the average sentence length of daily conversation is less than 12 words per sentence”. (Wang Zuoliang, 1987:247)The sentence length of legal document is much longer. Most sentences in legal document contain more than 40 words. Generally speaking, the longer the sentence length is, the more formal the variety is. “The average sentence length of all varieties is 17.8 words per sentence”. (Wang Zuoliang, 1987:245) Short sentence is the characteristic of spoken language.From the sentence length in terms of John F. Kennedy in his inaugural speech of 1342 words, with a total sentence of number 52, the average sentence length of 25.8 words. Of these, the number of sentences containing 1-9 words is 7, accounting for 13.5 percent of the total number; with 10-19 words of the sentence has 13, accounting for 25%; with 20-29 words of the sentence has 17, accounting for the total number of 32.7%; with 30-39 words of the sentence there are five, accounting for 9.6%; containing more than 40 words sentence 10. These figures indicate that the average sentence length of Kennedy’s address is longer than that of daily conversation, but shorter than news report, much shorte r than legal document. And it is near the average sentence length of all varieties.Judging from the types of sentences, simple sentence has 20, accounting for 38.5 percent sentence of the total number; compound sentence has four, accounting for 7.7%; complex sentences are 28, even up to 53.8%. The above data show that Kennedy's speech is mainly based on the complex sentences, followed by a simple sentence, compound sentence the least.From the above statistics about the length and type of the sentences, we can conclude that the sentence structure of American presidential address is characteristic of formal written language while exhibiting features of spoken language.This is determined by its tenor of speech. American president delivers the inaugural address to the people at home or abroad when he takes office. He has good education background, and the situation of inauguration is quite formal. In the address the orator are expected to make his government policy known to the public and to persuade the public to accept and support his policy. These personal tenor and functional tenor determine that inaugural address should not be as casual as daily conversation, and it is unnecessary to be as serious as news report and legal document.It is also influenced by the mode of the speech. The address is well prepared in advance in the form of written language, so it is possible to make long and well-structured complicated sentences, which manifest the characteristics of written language. On the other hand, the address is to be spoken. Then, too long and complicated sentences, such as the sentences with more than 40 words, may make trouble for the orator to speaker and for the audience to understand. So most sentences in the address are in middle-length with 10-30 words per sentence.Short sentences are usually emphatic, whereas long sentences are capable of expressing complex ideas with precision, because it may contain more modifiers. Involving such amount of short sentences, long sentences in the address is not only helpful to stress the ideas that should be stressed, but also helpful to achieve a variety of sentence pattern, length and rhythm, thus avoid monotony.3.2.2Postmodification in Noun PhraseThe majority of noun phrases consist of a head noun plus one or two optional elements. These optional elements refer to premodifier and postmodifier. Premodifier refers to the determiners, numbers, pronouns, and adjectives, or nouns with an adjectival function, which appear to the left of the head noun. Postmodifier refers to the phrases or clauses that appear to the right of the head noun. Most of the premodifiers are simple, thus save space. Some types of text, such as adverts, newspaper headlines, frequently use premodifications. The postmodification keeps the head noun in the front of part of the noun phrase, thus making it prominent. In addition, the postmodification supplies more space for accurate expression. The long and complicated postmodification, especially the one with relative clause, appears more frequently in formal texts.In Kennedy's speech, there are 282 nouns; about 32.6% nouns are postmodified. These postmodifiers are infinitive phrases, prepositional phrase, participle phrase, etc. The postmodification makes the expression more serious and emphatic. In addition, the postmodification provides more space for more information, and also make the inaugural address more formal. All these are determined by the tenor of discourse.3.2.3TenseThe use of tense is related to the field of discourse. In American preside ntial inaugural address the president make his government policy known to the public. They need to review the past, summarize the present, and then forecast the future.The tense in the APIA of Kennedy mainly concerns simple present, perfect present, and future tense. 80.8% of sentences in the address are in simple present. 7.7% of sentences are in present perfect. 11.5% of sentences are in future simple. But the simple past tense is even not used.This model of tenses in the American presidential address is quite unique. Because the normal tense used in other literary works, especially in fictional narrative is the simple past tense. Even in other public speaking.In the address, the address makes his government policy known to the public. The policyis planned to be adopted in future. So the future simple is frequently used. And the policy is based on the present situation, explain the reason for the reform, and thus persuade the public to support the policy. The simple present tense is frequently used. Although they need to mention something in the past, the emphasis is its influence to the present situation. So instead of using the simple past, the present perfect is used, which emphasizes the influence of the past events to the present situation.A noticeable phenomenon is that in the address of Kennedy, the simple past tense is not used at all, which is determined by the special social context in his time, and his special personal tenor.When John Kennedy took office in 1961, he was only 44 years old. As the youngest president of America, Kennedy had much confidence in his own governing policy, and was hopeful of the future. It was natural for him to neglect the past and stress the present state and the future plan. So in his address, the simple past tense was not used either.3.3The Stylistic Features on the Textual LevelThe text refers to a unified sentence groups composed by a series of sentences, spoken or written. The stylistic analysis on the textual level is actually to analyze the stylistic features of the textual cohesion, which is also called as the semantic consistency. Moreover, the semantic consistency is dependent upon the socio-cultural context. As a result, the semantic structure and socio-cultural context will be discussed in the following.3.3.1 The Semantic Structure“The text is a sense unit, not a grammar unit paralleled with sentence and clause. Language has mechanism to make any stretch of spoken or written discourse into a coherent and unified text and make a living message different from a random list of sentences. The mechanism is just the semantic structure of the text.”(Zhang Delu, 1998:336) Generally, thetextual function in the context is realized by a certain semantic structure.“A well-organized speech is more easily understood and more positively evaluated than a disorganized message.”(Lucas, Stephen E, 2004:110) Research has shown that a clear organization is positively associated with audience’s understanding and retention; it may influence audience’s perceptions of the speaker’s credibility, and the speech effect is also greatly influenced by organization. The structure of a speech should follow the way people naturally see and arrange in their minds. A well- structured speech has good form, symmetrical and orderly.Inaugural speech is to be delivered to the people both at home and abroad. Every newly elected president attaches much importance to it. And every inaugural speech is well prepared beforehand. Thus not only is the language effective, but the structure is also well organized. Generally speaking, the American presidential inaugural address follows the following pattern:(1)T o greet the audience(2)To declare to take office(3)T o make known the government policy and to persuade the public to accept andsupport his policy(4)T o say the prayersThe third part is the most important part of the whole address. Let’s take Kennedy’s address to have a detailed analysis:(1)T o state the basic policy goals(2)T o address different groups of allied nations or would-be allies(3)T o speak to his enemy(4)T o appeal to his countrymen for support and sacrificeHere, the orator makes the speech clear and proper to show his aims that the new generation of American will do their best to assure the survival and the success of liberty. It follows the process of human thinking and leads the listeners step by step to the desired action.3.3.2 Socio-cultural ContextLanguage is a communicative means of human beings, but any effective communication must be based on a specific social circumstance. Otherwise, the intended function of the text cannot be attained. In other words, text can not fulfill their goals without the necessary context. “Context can mean the history, culture, conventional customs and views on the value of the two sides of communication, so it is also named as socio-cultural context, that is, the so-called background of society and culture”. (Zhang Delu, 1998:340)It has been long recognized that language is an essential and important part of a given culture and the impact of culture upon a given language is something intrinsic and indispensable. Study of languages in socio-cultural context is exactly what Halliday and many other modern linguists advocate. Public speaking, which bears much political color and influences the public ideology, inevitably expresses and embodies cultural and social reality.Religion is a very important part of the westerner’s life. Most of the westerners believe in Christianity. Their thoughts and actions are greatly influenced by the doctrines of Bible. Many public speakers make best use of this to make their speeches more inciting. The American presidential addresses are inevitably characteristic of much religious color.First, at the beginning of the inaugural, the newly elected president must put his hand on the Bible and swear the oath. Kennedy say, “For I have swore before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarte rs ago.”Second, when he finishes his address, the president usually says prayers: “Let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.”Third, the speaker tends to quote directly some words from the Bible to illustrate or support his political views. We can find a quotation from the Old Testament: “Let both side unit to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah—to undo the heavy burdens…and to let the oppressed go free.”Then, Kennedy uses Biblical language in some place to add solemnity to some of his weightier sayings. For example: “Let the word go forth from this time and place……”Religion is a product of its social development. The speaker makes use of this and preaches his own idea in the name of God. The religious color in the inaugural address is very helpful to make the address more inciting.3.4Rhetorical Features“The history of stylistics can be traced back to the rhetoric in the ancient Greek, whe n rhetoric refers to the skill of public speaking”. (Hu Zhuanglin，2000：11-24). Rhetorical devices are closely related to the skill of public speaking. And according to Halliday, many rhetorical devices, such as alliteration, parallelism, simile, and metaphor, may have some stylistic effects. So the analysis of the rhetorical features in American presidential inaugural address is not only necessary but also important.The object of a political speech is to explain, convince and persuade the audience that what the speaker is saying and planning to do best represent their interests so they should support him. In inaugural address, the president of the USA has to appeal not only to the American people but also to the different groups of nations in the international community. The address should be moving, forceful, and effective. To do this successfully, the speaker must employ suitable rhetorical devices, such as parallelism, metaphor, and alliteration. Kennedy’s inaugural address is generally regarded as one of the best delivered by an American president. Here we’ll take his address to have a detailed analysis of the rhetorical devices.3.4.1 Syntactical Rhetorical Device“Parallelism is a syntactic rhetorical device. It refers to a structural arrangement of parts of a sentence, paragraphs, and larger units of discourse by which one element of equal importance with another is similarly developed and phrased”. (Feng Cuihua, 2004:31) In parallel construction it is necessary to balance word for word, phrase with phrase, clause withclause, sentence with sentence, or paragraph with paragraph.(1) …not because the Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, butbecause it is right.(2) Let the world go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that thetorch has been passed to a new generation of Americans, born in this century,tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancientheritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of these human rightsto which his nation has always been committed, and to which we are committedtoday at home and around the world.V ery often, repetition is used with parallelism to emphasize the equal importance and weight of the parallel parts. The same sentence appears repeatedly in order to display intense emotion and impression; it is one of the common rhetoric tactics ---- Repetition. Most of the above parallelisms are repetitions too. As for repetition of important words we have: “all force”and “belief”, “committed”, “good”and “free”. Repetition has been proven to increase recall and comprehension, particularly if the message is complex.Another rhetorical device used with parallelism is climax. Climax refers to the arrangement of phrases or sentences in ascending order of importance. The elements in the parallel constructions are usually arranged in climactic order in order to add force. For example, in Kennedy’s inaugural address, “Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our life time on this planet.”“Antithesis is the deliberate arrangement of contrasting words or ideas in balanced structural forms to achieve force and emphasis”. (Feng Cuihua, 2004:35) Antithesis is different from parallelism, because it not only needs neat sentence structure but also requests the meanings to be opposite or relative.(1) United , there is little we cannot do…D ivide, there is little we can do…(2) If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who arerich.Parallelism, repetition, antithesis, and climax all involve regular, consistent expressions. Owing to its balanced structure, neat rhyme, parallelism plays an important role in making the inaugural address emphatic, forceful, thus making it a successful appeal to the emotion.。
修辞学大学英语小论文
Rhetorical Functions of Accuracy and Vagueness Vagueness, clearly, is a matter of degree, depending upon the extent of the possible differences between different systems represented by the same representation. Accuracy, on the contrary, is an ideal limit.1Generally speaking, vagueness is a language attribute, so we should bear it in mind that accuracy as well as vagueness is a comparative definition. However, as two important ways of expression, they both possess rhetorical functions.First of all, accuracy enables a speaker or writer to express ideas exactly and to the point while vagueness allows him or her to carry on the communication smoothly.Speech and writing are always man’s important methods of communication, which requires people to convey information and ideas in the exact degree. In other words, accuracy ensures exact expression in communicative function. Hereafter is an example about the British General Churchill, who highly stressed accuracy. During the WWII, an officer working in Department of Chief of General Staff of the British Army once reported that his troop had been fighting with the Germans at a small village in Italy. Back came Churchill’s copy that “We do not fight with Germans. We fight either for or against them.”In this example, the officer had expected to convey the information of fighting against enemies but failed to express it exactly, which aroused ambiguity in meaning.Thought it’s of great importance to adhere to accuracy, when one finds it impossible to be accurate or suddenly is at a loss about expressing something in a exact way, he or she may resort to a vague term to carry on the communication smoothly.. “Oh…in the trade somewhere round fifteen thousand dollars. But if it was bought on Fifth Avenue, I shouldn’t be surprised to hear that anything up to thirty thousand was paid it.”W. Somerset Maugham, Mr. Know-AllIn the example above, the expressions like “somewhere round”are vague 1Bertrand Russell, Vagueness, 2007reference because the speaker can hardly tell how much and where. By doing so, he was able to let the topic move on in a smooth and natural way.Secondly, accuracy allows no ambiguity, so accurate expression is always grand and direct. On the other hand, vagueness can fulfill a useful function of tactful expression.. “Could you do me a favor”“Sorry, I simply can’t promise.”In this example, “simply can’t”shows the speaker’s straightforwardness and frankness about refusal. Thus accuracy here conveys his attitude directly towards the other’s request for help.As to the function of vagueness, when one finds it unnecessary or unwise to be very accurate, he or she may make deliberate use of vagueness. In this respect, what people call “tactful expression” are most commonly used.. TV reporter: “Would you mind telling me frankly what do you think of our programs ”One of the audience: “Well, some are interesting, some could be better, and some are almost sort of rubbish.”In this dialogue, although the questioner was evidently trying to get some frank opinions, the answer was full of vague terms like “some…some…and some…”. The reason is that the person questioned didn’t want to hurt the reporter. Instead, he chose a tactful way of vagueness to show his opinion about the programs.Last but not least, accuracy features the function of persuasion while vagueness serves as a device for emphasis.. “You’ll be surprised to hear that Mrs. Ramsay bought that string at a department store the day before we left New York for eighteen dollars.”W. Somerset Maugham, Mr. Know-AllIn this example, the expressions like “the day before we left New York” and “for eighteen dollars”are accurate and exact reference to numbers and time. These definite terms not only show the speaker’s confidence but also add convictive evidence to his speech. In other words, accuracy here strengthens the persuasivepower of the speaker.Although vagueness usually blurs the idea, appropriate use of vague expression can help to emphasize expressions.. ThanksThanks a million.In the example above, “a million”are the vague expression. Compared with “Thanks”, “Thanks a million” strongly emphasizes the degree of one’s appreciation. In a word, vague elements can be found in rhetorical figures of hyperbole and understatement to function as emphasis.In conclusion, accuracy focuses on exact, direct and persuasive conveyance of ideas, attitudes and argumentations. Then vagueness speaks highly of smoothness, tact and emphasis in expression and communication. Therefore, both accuracy and vagueness give full play to their functions in communicative rhetoric exact, direct, smooth and tactful expressions as well as in aesthetic rhetoric persuasive power and figure of hyperbole.。
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Analysis on Certain Speech of Aristotle’s Ethos, Pathos
and Logos
1009班叶鹏2010103010901
Whether a person is writing a letter or giving a speech, the goal of any argument is to persuade. The philosopher Aristotle created a way for an individual to persuade or convince his intended audience that his thoughts and ideas are valid and believable. The means of persuasion——or appeals, as Aristotle called it——is divided into three areas: logos, ethos and pathos. One of the finest examples of these three appeals in play is in the essay titled Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Ethos is a Greek word that means ‘character’ and refers to the trustworthiness or credibility of the author. So this first type of appeal deals with you as the writer of the essay. Let's review how Dr. King utilized ethos in his letter.
We find the first appeal using ethos in the salutation of the letter, which reads ‘My Dear Fellow Clergymen.’ Here we see Dr. King letting the reader understand him in his role of rel igious leader. This tends to be a position in which the person is seen as overall moral, trustworthy, honest and credible. The overall point is that Dr. King was using the ethos appeal in reminding the reader about his role as a religious leader, rather than another role that would have been equally valid. Another important thing to note is this letter was written during a time of racial turmoil, and the response was to religious leaders that were white. So Dr. King calling them 'fellow clergymen' was also using an ethos appeal of being an equal in status and stature. This was particularly important because Dr. King was in jail at the time in which the letter was written.
Logos is a Greek term meaning 'word' and refers to using logic and reasoning as your appeal. Logos are the words we use, the clarity of the message itself, the credible arguments used and the supporting evidence on which our arguments are built. Returning to our Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Dr. King uses logos as an appeal throughout his letter. Here is an excerpt that show his use of logos:
‘In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action.’
Here we see Dr. King providing a logical step analysis of any social activist campaign, not just one confined to the civil rights arena.
Pathos is a Greek word meaning 'suffering' or 'experience,' and it appeals to the reader's emotions, utilizing story, sensory-based details and vivid language. Pathos appeals bring human experience into the argument. While logos may touch the mind, pathos touches the heart. Again,
we return to our Letter from a Birmingham Jail to find the use of pathos. ‘… When you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky …’
It's hard to not be touched by the words penned by Dr. King in this paragraph. Who can find an argument to combat a father looking into the eyes of his daughter and explaining injustice? Pathos takes readers from the page and transports them to the experience. It makes the words real and makes them come to life. Not all pathos appeals need to be as dramatic, as potent, as shocking as the ones penned by Dr. King. Even telling a humorous story can have readers shaking their head in agreement and reminding themselves of their human side and experiences.
While each appeal is valid in its own right and can be used individually, being able to utilize all three appeals appropriately within an essay can provide a very powerful and memorable experience for the reader.
References:
①Aristotle.修辞学，罗念生，上海人民出版社，2006年。
②Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Letter from a Birmingham Jail，人民教育出版社，2000年。