Rhetoric Device in English Speech 英语演讲中的修辞手法

Rhetoric Device in English SpeechABSTRACTSpeech, a formal talk that a person presents to the audiences, to express his/her views or emotions on a specific issue, or to conduct propaganda activities so as to achieve inspiring the audience and promote its action as a information-sharing activities.Rhetoric is one kind of important expressive device in language. It refers to interpreting abstract and complex ideas or processes through simple and concrete methods. Since rhetoric is full of imagination, it can promote the transmission and communication of emotions and ideas.Rhetoric exists in writings with various styles, especially, in speech. Rhetoric plays a very important role in English speech, acting as a key element for the success of a speech. The thesis, based on the respective studies of the definition of speech and rhetoric, makes a careful analysis of the use of main rhetorical devices in English speech, including simile, metaphor, parallelism, alliteration, repetition, antithesis, rhetorical question and so on, targeting at better appreciating English speech, and learn more about the language skills in speech, so as to promote the further understanding of speech.Key Words：English speech; rhetoric; function英语演讲中的修辞手法摘 要演讲，是在听众面前就某一问题表达发表自己的见解,抒发情感，或进行宣传鼓动从而达到感召听众并促使其行动的一种信息交流活动的正式演说。修辞是一种重要的语言表达手段，是用简单具体且充满想象的方法将抽象复杂的思想或进程阐释出来，能够促进情感的传递和思想的表达。修辞存在于各种文体之中，尤其在演讲中起着极为重要的作用，是影响英语演讲成败的关键。论文从分析演讲及修辞的定义和功能出发，认真研究了主要修辞手段在英语演讲中的作用，包括明喻、暗喻、排比、头韵、重复、对偶和设问等修辞手段，旨在更好地欣赏演讲，并学习一些演讲中的语言技巧，从而对演讲进一步理解。关键词：英语演讲 ; 修辞 ; 功能 ContentsABSTRACTI摘 要IIForeword11Speech.21.1 The Definition of Speech.21.2 The Function of Speech.22Rhetoric.32.1 The Definition of Rhetoric32.2 The Function of Rhetoric.43. An Analysis of Rhetoric in English Speech.43.1 Simile43.2 Metaphor63.3 Parallelism73.4 Repetition93.5 Alliteration113.6 Antithesis123.7 Rhetorical question144Conclusion15Bibliography16Acknowledgements17IVForewordA speech is not only a simple formal talk but a kind of encouraging language with artic charm by using all kinds of lingual skills. Speech is a unique style. It expresses thoughts, feelings, and ideas orally to audience through a series of well-organized, well-prepared words or sentences with the aim of evoking some feelings of the listeners. Therefore, to make a successful speech, one ought to use formal, vivid languages as well as many figures of speech. The success of a speech is often attributed to the skill of the orator, with merit being given to orators who are confident, articulate, knowledgeable and able to deliver a speech with conviction. Persuading an audience to take action involves more than a speaker sharing what he knows about a topic. Speeches are intended to get listeners to accept a particular point of view, and then motivate them into action. The challenge in writing this kind of speech is in delivering a message that will win others over in sharing the same principles as the speaker. You must use words in such a way as to convince listeners that the speakers opinion is reliable. The art of giving a persuasive speech is as much about using language effectively as it is about communicating a convincing argument.Obviously, one of the major factors to be a good or a bad speech is whether the use of rhetoric is appropriate or not. It can be found that the use of rhetoric plays a very important role in content. The definition of rhetoric is applying many language materials and various expressive devices to manifest the orators purpose appropriately. Without the use of rhetoric, absolutely, there is no good content. Therefore, it is necessary to make an analysis and study on this subject.The whole thesis is concerned about the use of rhetoric in English speech, and the thesis is divided into three parts. The first part talks about the definition and function of speech. The second part illustrates the definition and function of rhetoric. The third part makes a carefully study on the use of main rhetorical devices in English speech, such as, simile, metaphor, parallelism, alliteration and repetition, antithesis , rhetorical question and so on.1Speech1.1 The Definition of Speech One of the definitions of speech which is a formal talk that a person gives to the audiences, to express his/her views or emotions on a specific issue, or to conduct propaganda activities so as to achieve inspiring the audience and promote its action as a information-sharing activities.The benefit of a speech is obvious mass communication. Orators want to engage audiences attention, convey their ideas in a logical manner and use reliable evidence to support their point.Speech can be made in a small event as a marriage or a little party as president of a country make it to be closer his people. The opportunity arises in everybodys life to give a speech. In its simplest form, a speech is a retelling of events. It can be overwhelming to an introverted individual to think about giving a speech, so knowing the four types of speeches and their purposes can help alleviate some of the pressure. An inspirational speech inspires, an informative speech informs, a persuasive speech persuades and special occasion speeches vary, but only due to the special occasion. 1.2 The Function of Speech Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. This is part of a two-minute speech given by Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg. He knew that speeches were more than just a bunch of words. Some believe that the power of life and death are in the tongue. This speech was powerful.The purpose of making a speech can range from simply transmitting information, to motivating people to act, to simply telling a story. Good orators should be able to change the emotions of their listeners, not just inform them. Making a speech can also be considered a discourse community. Interpersonal communication and speeches have several components that embrace such things as motivational speaking, leadership/personal development, business, customer service, large group communication, and mass communication. Speeches can be a powerful tool to use for purposes such as motivation, influence, persuasion, informing, or translation.All kinds of speech have one common aim: to convince people to take a form of action. Therefore, they are called speeches of action, and the best way to accomplish that is through motivation. Another purpose to be accomplished through speech is to reinforce listeners existing attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, opinions, or values. You would simply reiterate a few powerful arguments to reassure our listeners and strengthen their position.A third purpose of making a speech is to convince people to change their attitude toward a particular subject. In your speech, try to capture their goodwill immediately. You would follow with some strong arguments for your position and elaborate on them. Then you might introduce statistics and other evidence accompanied by visual aids as you discuss your argument.Anyone who goes to church understands the effects that speeches are capable of producing. Sermons are always given to change, or reinforce, personal lifestyle. When a man is ready to propose, he writes and rehearses the words he chooses to win the heart of a woman. People of high social status use speeches to influence others. Words are the most powerful medium on this planet and can crush or heal self-esteem. A single phrase can mean different things by adding elements like raised or lowered pitch and volume, or by emphasizing different words in the phrase. All of these are important aspects to giving a speech.2Rhetoric 2.1 The Definition of Rhetoric What is rhetoric? There have been many studies from scholars as the human civilization reaches this advanced and highly developed society. Rhetoric originated in speaking. Aristotle, in the 4th Century BC, first defined rhetoric is rhetoric as the art of persuasion. He said, “Rhetoric is the counterpart of the dialects.” In Athens, the centre of western civilization, great orators, by exercising their rhetoric, gained following and support, and eventually, political power. John Locke, English philosopher of the late 17th century, described rhetoric as “the science of oratory,” or “the art of speaking with propriety, elegance and force.” This explains why the word “rhetoric” refers to “speaking” in many European languages, such as Greek, Latin, French, etc.In present day, the meaning of rhetoric has been extended. Rhetoric assumes the following characteristics, that is, the elaborated and exaggerated language, the art of using language effectively and persuasively, the skills of using language effectively, the structure of verbal communication.No matter for speaking or writing, rhetoric emphasizes its importance in the effective communication. American linguists Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn therefore wrote in their Modern Rhetoric, “Rhetoric is the art of using language effectively.” In the dictionary Oxford Advanced learners English-Chinese Dictionary (6th edition) the definition for rhetoric is “the skill of using language in speech or writing in a special way that influences or entertains people.” Rhetoric is an art to use language effectively with special aims.2.2 The Function of Rhetoric Rhetorical devices are variations of literal or ordinary forms of expressions. Their function is to make the thought more striking and effective. A fresh and suitable rhetorical device appeals to the imagination, creates mental pictures and makes the speech or writing vivid, impressive and interesting. Rhetorical devices can make language more vivid by using the simple words to express complex meanings. By the use of rhetoric, even abstract ideas can become concrete. Rhetoric can make the modified subjects more prominent, distinctive, and specific. By the use of rhetoric, the language can give people more space to imagine. Whereas, without the use of rhetoric, the language is boring and there is no vigor in the language.For example:Light as a breeze, soft as a cloud.In the sentence, the writer used a kind of rhetorical devicessimile. Simile is a figure of speech in which two essentially unlike subjects are compared. Simile often signals itself by “like” or “as”. By using simile, it helps the writer to better communicate with his readers. It is easy for the readers to understand and remember the sentence.3 An Analysis of Rhetoric in English SpeechSpeech can arouse peoples attention and profound feeling to take action. Languages should be used properly in specific situations and occasions. Figures of speech are ways of making our language figurative. When we use words in other than their ordinary or literal sense to lend force to an idea, to heighten effect, or to create suggestive imagery, we are said to be speaking or writing figuratively. Hence, it is quite necessary for us to learn rhetoric, which serves as a helper to us in writing and speaking different kinds of styles. Through learning rhetoric, we may be in a position to express ourselves more eloquently and properly.Several kinds of rhetorical devices are frequently used in speech, and it is necessary to study them one by one by giving definitions and making illustrations. 3.1 SimileA simile is a direct comparison between two objects or attributes that, although essentially different, do have some similarity. These direct comparisons are easy to identify, as they use words such as like or as to denote the comparison being made. The simile helps to create the clear image, much easier for the others to accept.A simile is made up of four parts: “the tenor”, “the vehicle”, “the comparing word” and “the ground”. “The tenor” is the subject of simile. “The vehicle” is the thing compared to or the part transported. “The comparing word” is the simile marker such as, “like, as, than, as if, similar to.” “The ground” is the common properties owned by “the tenor” and “the vehicle”.For example:“No, no, we are not satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”This sentence is from Martin Luther Kings “I have a dream” speech, It can be found that, in this sentence, “justice”, “righteousness” are “the tenor” and “waters” , “a mighty stream” are “the vehicle”. The word “like” signals this sentence makes use of the rhetoric devicesimile. Thus by using simile, this sentence makes this two words-“justice” and “righteousness” more vivid and lively. It means that we will not quit until justice is as plentiful as water and is raining on all of us and the force of its power to enforce equality and fairness is as powerful and inevitable as the force of a large river. This simile is effective because it communicates not only the extent of his hope but also the passion he has for the fulfillment of his expectations to become a powerful force that will not be stopped.Another example: “America is not like a blanket - one piece of unbroken cloth, the same color, the same texture, the same size. America is more like a quilt: many patches, many pieces, many colors, many sizes, all woven and held together by a common thread.”This sentence is from Jesse Jacksons 1984 Democratic National Convention Address. In this address, “the tenor” is “America”, “the vehicle” are “blanket” and quilt. The word “like” is the simile marker in this sentence. More examples,“It hates Israel because of the West - because it sees Israel as an outpost of freedom and democracy that prevents them from overrunning the Middle East.” (Binyamin Netanyahu, Speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee)“I look forward to hearing the truth, exactly where they are. They could still be there. They could be hidden, like the 50 tons of mustard gas in a turkey farm.”(George W. Bush, Prime Time Press Conference on Iraq War)“The very many times own body occupies as if in a stage, the criticism and the opposition sit under looked I perform, they meet do not stop throw the tomato and the egg to me But this time I was only thinking how develops own role.”(Clinton)“The Chinese held that “one should be as inclusive as the ocean, which is vast because it admits hundreds of rivers” and called for drawing upon the strength of others.”(ChinesePresidentHuJintaosRemarksatYale)“These great national problems are not for your professional participation or military solution. Your guidepost stands out like a ten-fold beacon in the night: Duty, Honor, Country.”( General Douglas MacArthur, Sylvanus Thayer Award Acceptance Address)“Those two things the Almighty said to be necessary - I should say He knew to be necessary, or else He would not have so prescribed that the property would be kept among the general run of the people and that everyone would continue to share in it; so that no one man would get half of it and hand it down to a son, who takes half of what was left, and that son hand it down to another one, who would take half of what was left, until, like a snowball going downhill, all of the snow was off of the ground except what the snowball had.”(Huey P. Long, Every Man a King - Radio Speech to the Nation)“Indians, Chinamen, Filipinos, Japanese and representatives of any other dark race can find hotel accommodations, if they can pay for them. The colored man alone is thrust out of the hotels of the national capital like a leper.”(Mary Church Terrell, What It Means to be Colored in Capital of the U.S.)3.2 MetaphorMetaphor can also transfer qualities from one thing to another. There is a formal difference between metaphor and simile, however, in metaphor the word like or as do not appear. A metaphor, like a simile, also has a comparison between two unlike elements, but unlike a simile, this comparison is implied rather than stated. This means the words like or as are omitted. For instance, You are like the sun is a simile, but You are my sunshine is a metaphor.Metaphor is not explicitly signaled, so they are more difficult to identify. In metaphor, one thing is directly compared to another thing, without the marker“like” or “as”. Thus the relationship between them is implied in other words is unstated. The use of metaphor in rhetoric is primarily to convey to the audience a new idea or meaning by linking it to an existing idea or meaning with which the audience is already familiar. By making the new appear to be linked to or a type of the old and familiar, the person using the metaphor hopes to help the audience understand the new.The following is a good example:Franklin Roosevelt used this technique in his 1933 inaugural address when he stated that, to cite one example, the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side.One would not immediately compare factories with a forest; but by doing so, Roosevelt suggests to his audience that the bleak autumn of the Great Depression would eventually turn back into spring. By using metaphor, the image is more vivid. Another example of metaphor is this passage attributed to a speech by Abraham Lincoln about a political adversary in which Lincoln said that his adversary had dived down deeper into the sea of knowledge and come up drier than any other man he knew.This attributed quote uses a body of water as a metaphor for a body of knowledge with the ironical idea of someone who gained so little from his education that he achieved the impossible of jumping into a body of water and climbing back out without getting wet.More examples,“With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.” (Martin Luther King, Jr. I Have a Dream) In this sentence, King used “the mountain of despair” as a metaphor for the system of apartheid, “a stone of hope” for the racial equality society, the “the jangling discords” for racists advocacy for white people, and “a beautiful symphony of brotherhood” for the peace propaganda toward Washington. Through using metaphor, his speech, was deeply inspired the audience.“And, if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavor not a new balance of power, but a new world of law where the strong are just, and the weak secure, and the peace preserved.”(John Kennedy, Inaugural Address)Kennedy used “a beachhead of cooperation” as a metaphor for the peaceful contact and negotiation between America and The Soviet union at that time, “the jungle of suspicion” for the distrust of both sides. The image of metaphor tactfully struck a chord with his audiences.3.3 ParallelismParallelism structure is the most commonly used in English speech is an important rhetorical tool, its a common rhetorical devices which grammatical structure symmetry (including the same or similar word, phrase or word) to highlight the significance. Parallelism is syntactic over-regularity. It means exact repetition in equivalent positions. It differs from simple repetition in that the identity does not extend to absolute duplication, it “requires some variable feature of the pattern-some contrasting elements which are parallel with respect to their position in the pattern”. To put it simply, parallelism means the balancing of sentence elements that are grammatically equal. In parallel construction it is necessary to balance word for wor