Refutation the Part of a Discourse Wherein a Rhetor Anticipates Opposing Arguments And

refutation The part of a discourse wherein a rhetor anticipates opposing arguments and answers them. -"There will be those who say 'Go slow.' Don't upset the status quo. No doubt we will hear this from competitors who perceive that they have an advantage today and want regulation to protect their advantage. Or we will hear from those who are behind in the race to compete and want to slow down deployment for their own self interest. Or we will hear from those that just want to resist changing the status quo for no other reason than change brings less certainty than the status quo. They will resist change for that reason alone. (William E. Kennard, Chairman of the FCC, 27 July 1998) rhetor Greek term for "orator." Anyone who composes discourse that is intended to affect community thinking about events. rhetoric (1) The study and practice of effective communication. (2) The art of persuasion. (3) An insincere eloquence intended to win points and manipulate others. rhetorical criticism A collection of critical approaches or points of view united by a single general assumption that a communicator's intentional use of language or other symbols, a receiver's response, and the situation or context in which communication takes place all interact to change human thought, feelings, behavior, and action. The triadic relation of speaker/writer, discourse/text, and environment (including the audience/reader) generates the diverse approaches available to rhetorical critics: some focus primarily on the discourse or text and its role in persuading an audience; some on the role of the communicator; some on the communication context; others on the audience itself. Various ratios or combinations of focus produce a complex set of critical goals and methodologies. rhetorical distance Metaphor for the degree of physical and social distance created between a rhetor and an audience by creation of an ethos. rhetorical question A figure wherein rhetors ask questions to which they and (presumably) the audience already know the answers. A question asked merely for effect with no answer expected. -"How long, Catiline, will you abuse our patience?" (Cicero) -"Was this ambition?" (Mark Antony in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar) rhetorical situation The context of a rhetorical act; minimally, made up of a rhetor, an issue, and an audience - occurs when a rhetor, audience, medium (such as text or speech) and a context converge to create a rhetorical act, such as an act of writing or speaking. rhetorician Someone who studies or practices or teaches the art of rhetoric. running style Opposite of periodic, sentence style that appears to follow the mind as it worries a problem through. Mimics the "rambling, associative syntax of conversation" (Richard Lanham, Analyzing Prose). -"It was about eleven o'clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn't care who knew it." (Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep) sign Facts or events that usually or always accompany other facts or events. -"The way an iguana bobs its head can tell a lot about what it's trying to say. Generally, the head bobbing motion is a way iguanas let everyone and everything around them know that they are in charge and in a way, tells them that this is its territory and not theirs. Males usually bob more than females, especially after they have become sexually mature. Many females bob their heads as well, but usually not as often or as distintively as males. A slow, up and down bobbing usually means that it is just letting you know that it knows you are there and it wants you to know that it's there. This slow bobbing is very normal and common for male iguanas and should be expected. A faster motion indicates that it may be agitated and could be a sign of aggression. Another form of head bobbing is a rapid side to side motion, commonly called the shudder bob, that is usually a pretty good sign that it doesn't want to be messed with. If the bobbing motion is very fast, moving side to side and up and down, this is usually a clear sign that the iguana is extremely irritated. With larger iguanas, especially males, it's important to use extreme caution when it displays this kind of head bobbing." (Green Iguana Society, 2005) simile A stated comparison (usually formed with like or as) between two fundamentally dissimilar things that have certain qualities in common. -"He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow."(George Eliot, Adam Bede) simple sentence A sentence with one independent clause and no other clauses. "A really good detective never gets married."(Raymond Chandler) situated ethos Proof from character that depends on a rhetor's reputation in the relevant community. . sophist In ancient times, name given to any rhetor who taught by example; when capitalized, refers to any of a group of rhetoric teachers who worked in and around Athens in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. i. e. wisdom made from knowledge. It was a complimentary term, applied to such early philosophers as the Seven Wise Men of Greece. Eventually, it came to refer to a school of philosophy whose practitioners taught the arts of debate and rhetoric. sprezzatura The rehearsed spontaneity, the well-practiced naturalness, that lies at the center of convincing discourse of any sort - the art of doing something so gracefully that it looks easy. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the term as "Ease of manner, studied carelessness, nonchalance, esp. in art or literature-"Float like a butterfly; sting like a bee." (Muhammed Ali) -"Never let 'em see you sweat." style Narrowly interpreted as those figures that ornament discourse; broadly, as representing a manifestation of the person speaking.

Syllepsis A kind of ellipsis in which one word (usually a verb) is understood differently in relation to two or more other words, which it modifies or governs. -"He lost the bet and his temper." -"Bryant Gumbel's well-publicized memo ticked off the Today show's troubles-and other personalities on the top-rated show." -"You held your breath and the door for me." (Alanis Morrissette, "Head Over Feet") syllogistic progression "Type of form in which, given certain things, certain other things must follow, the premises forcing the conclusion." (Kenneth Burke, Counter-Statement). - the name for deductive argument in logic.Premise 1: If A Then B Premise 2: Affirm A Conclude B The premises in an argument of this form will always lead to the conclusion. This will be the case even when the premises are not true: P1 If a person has blue eyes, then she has a green nose.. P2 I have blue eyes. C I have a green nose.. --"On Meet the Press, Bush handled questions about his service in the National Guard during Vietnam the same way. Russert reminded Bush, 'The Boston Globe and the Associated Press have gone through some of their records and said there's no evidence that you reported to duty in Alabama during the summer and fall of 1972.' Bush replied, 'Yeah, they're just wrong. There may be no evidence, but I did report. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been honorably discharged.' That's the Bush syllogism: The evidence says one thing; the conclusion says another; therefore, the evidence is false."(William Saletan, Slate, Feb. 2004) synathroesmus The piling up of adjectives, often in the spirit of invective. (pronounced "si na TREES mus") [Gk. "collection"] -"He's a proud, haughty, consequential, turned-up-nose peacock."(Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby) -"He was a gasping, wheezing, clutching, covetous old man."(Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol) synecdoche Substitution of a less inclusive for a more inclusive term to describe something--or the other way around. Most commonly, synechdoche involves the use of a part to represent the whole. A form of metonymy. (pronounced "si NEK doh kee") -"All hands on deck." -"Take thy face hence." (Shakespeare, Macbeth V.iii) -"I should have been a pair of ragged claws Scuttling across the floors of silent seas." (T. S. Eliot's "the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock") -"England won the soccer match." tapinosis Undignified language that debases a person or thing. "rhymester" for "poet" -shrink for psychiatrist tenor The underlying idea or principal subject which is the meaning of a metaphor or figure. -In the first stanza of Abraham Cowley's poem “The Wish,” the tenor is the city and the vehicle is a beehive: "WELL then! I now do plainly see This busy world and I shall ne'er agree. The very honey of all earthly joy Does of all meats the soonest cloy; And they, methinks, deserve my pity Who for it can endure the stings, The crowd and buzz and murmurings, Of this great hive, the city." (Abraham Cowley, "The Wish") tetracolon climax Series of four members. -"Out of its wild disorder comes order; from its rank smell rises the good aroma of courage and daring; out of its preliminary shabbiness comesthe final splendor. And buried in the familiar boasts of its advance agents lies the modesty of most of its people."(E. B. White, "The Ring of Time") -"I do not believe in recovery. The past, with its pleasures, its rewards, its foolishness, its punishments, is there for each of us forever, and it should be."(Lillian Hellman, Scoundrel Time) testimony A person's account of an event or state of affairs. topics Both the stuff of which arguments are made and the form of those arguments. tricolon Series of three members. -"A happy life is one spent in learning, earning, and yearning." (Lillian Gish) trope Rhetorical device that produces a shift in the meaning of words-- traditionally contrasted with a scheme, which changes only the shape of a phrase. Sixteenth-century rhetorician Peter Ramus identified four major tropes: metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony. understatement Figure in which a rhetor deliberately makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is.-"The grave's a fine and private place, But none, I think, do there embrace." (Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress") vehicle In a metaphor, the figure itself. A metaphor carries two ideas: the vehicle and the tenor, or underlying idea. voice Often used synonymously with persona and ethos in a text. Also, the persuasive use of loudness and tone of voice. zeugma Use of a word to modify or govern two or more words although its use is grammatically or logically correct with only one. (Corbett offers this distinction between zeugma and syllepsis: in zeugma, unlike syllepsis, the single word does not fit grammatically or idiomatically with one member of the pair. Thus, in Corbett's view, the first example below would be syllepsis, the second zeugma.) [Gk. "a yoking"] -"Here thou, great ANNA! whom three realms obey, Dost sometimes counsel take--and sometimes tea." (Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock) -"He carried a strobe light and the responsibility for the lives of his men." (Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried)