Earning One's Inheritance: Rhetorical Criticism,Everyday Talk,and the Analysis of Public Discourse

This article answers critical and theoretical calls for the study of ordinary talk by analyzing a transcribed speech in which Alvertis Simmons, a member of the Denver, Colorado, African American community, engaged a panel of school board officials on the topic of racial stereotypes in an elementary school science experiment. Simmons's discourse can be shown symbolically to reorganize features of integrationist and nationalist ways of speaking-two dominant strands of mid- to late-twentieth century African American public address. Building a theory of "oratorical influence" from these intertextual relationships, this essay concludes that the force of public discourse may reside less in a speaker's ability to persuade an audience than in an audience's willingness to recycle and revise figural aspects of a speaker's discourse in their everyday talk. An interpretive stance such as this can encourage rhetorical critics to expand their objects of critique, to include more ordinary ways of speaking that follow after highly styled public texts.     

The Spockian Mother: Images of the “Good” Mother in Dr. Spock’s The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care, 1946–1992

Dr. Spock’s, The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care, one of the best-selling self-help texts of all-time, “second only to the Bible in popularity” (Meakin & Tattersall, 2004) was one of the most influential childcare books in American culture. The author has been both heralded and disparaged as instrumental in the shaping of untold generations. In the present study, we address the rhetorical construction of the Spockian Mother as she is developed during Spock’s tenure from 1946–1992. We employ a feminist rhetorical perspective to examine the progression of Spock’s texts in order to understand how patriarchal images of motherhood are constructed and maintained through Spock’s lifetime and the first 46 years of its publication. We argue that Spock both reinforced and challenged the institution of motherhood; he challenged institutionalized motherhood by encouraging mothers to “trust themselves” while simultaneously conforming to a patriarchal model of motherhood which is at odds with empowered mothering.     

Interpretative presentation versus impersonative presentation

This essay attempts to explain the underlying reasons for a fundamental shift in Benjamin Franklin's pictorial representations of the British colonies in America, by exploring the hypothesis the “Magna Britannia” was both a deliberative work directed to the British Parliament and an apologetic work directed to a conservative segment of the colonial public. Although the rhetorical tradition originates in the study of public speeches about civic matters, this analysis of “Magna Britannia” illustrates how concepts from the rhetorical tradition can illuminate pictorial persuasion, so contributing to a growing body of literature that explores the interdisciplineary value of the rhetorical tradition.     

Argument schemes and the construction of social reality: John F. Kennedy's address to the Houston ministerial association

In his 1960 speech to the Houston Ministerial Association, John F. Kennedy convinced many voters that, as a Catholic president, he would act independently of the Catholic Church in such matters as federal aid to schools, human reproduction, and religious tolerance. Through detailed analysis of the schemes used by Kennedy in this address, this essay explains how he used arguments from division to distance himself from the Vatican, inclusion to align himself with the liberal American Catholic view, the rule of justice to urge equal treatment, and reciprocity to argue for religious tolerance. Because of its capacity to reveal a text's hidden agenda, the nature of its response to other texts, and the mechanisms by which it shapes audience perceptions, analysis of schemes offers an invaluable resource for rhetorical criticism.     

State of rhetoric: neoliberal discourses for education in state of the state addresses and gubernatorial press releases

ABSTRACT

Policy elites use rhetoric in speeches and press releases to provide framing that is intended to influence public opinion. These rhetorical events can be treated as instances in which speech usefully promotes particular discourses. Indeed, elected officials are able to influence how individuals think about problems and solutions through speeches and press releases. Two important rhetorical events in which political elites advance frames for social issues are annual state of the state addresses (SoSA) given by U.S. governors and gubernatorial press releases that inform media reporting about state policy. This study employed policy discourse and rhetorical analyses to examine SoSAs and press releases as rhetorical events within the context of educational policy. Our findings show that governors framed the roles of state government, governors, and educational stakeholders within a discourse that perpetuates a neoliberal version of education. In this framing, governors situated education’s purpose as being workforce and economic development, ignoring its role in addressing social issues and preparing informed, engaged participants for democratic society. Given that individuals make decisions about how to address social issues and understand public institutions based on framing provided by political elites, these findings raise implications for state educational policies and the public purposes of education.     

The plain style in early anti-slavery discourse: Reassessing the rhetorical beginnings of Quaker and Puritan advocacy

The two earliest public protests against slavery in British North America—the Germantown Quakers’ petition and Samuel Sewall’s The Selling of Joseph—are primarily discussed as rhetorical failures and have been largely reduced to entries on an anti-slavery timeline. The texts are further diminished for their lack of intensity compared with later abolitionist discourses. This essay reassesses these germinal protests as dynamic texts that engage and challenge two distinct conceptualizations of the plain style. In so doing, the texts and the plain style are both given renewed significance in the rhetorical history of the anti-slavery movement.     

Genetic rhetorical criticism: An alternative methodology for studying multi-versioned rhetorical works

This essay presents genetic rhetorical criticism as an alternative methodology for the study of multi-versioned rhetorical works. In contrast to methodologies of textual authentication, which focus on the synchronic delivery of public address, genetic rhetorical criticism focuses on the diachronic movement of writing that both precedes and exceeds the work’s introduction to public history. It does so by affirming the value of unauthorized versions of rhetorical works, which deepen the field’s understanding of both particular rhetorical works and the textual dynamics of rhetoric. To support these claims, this essay reassesses the textual histories of both Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” and Kenneth Burke’s A Rhetoric of Motives. Engaging both works simultaneously shows that there are fundamental features of textuality that unite speech-centered and writing-centered rhetorical works. It also demonstrates that the textual histories of rhetorical works can support multiple scholarly interpretations.     

修辞特点与广告英语标题翻译

在广告文本中,最为重要的是广告标题,其作用是唤起读者对整个文本的关注进而激起受众对商品的购买欲。广告英语标题中的修辞手法能否恰当使用对其能否成功达到宣传效果、促成广告产品的销售至关重要。功能翻译理论为英语广告标题中的修辞特点翻译提供了理论基础。     

Sound Bites,Spin and Social Change

Abstract

The news media is an essential player in the policy making process. Social work students learning how to scrutinize, and influence, the complex world of social policy can benefit from an educational model that incorporates the media. This article first examines the theoretical framework for understanding the media's role in public policy formation. This framework is then used to construct a classroom exercise for analyzing the public discourse using basic content analysis of media texts. A case example drawn from a study of welfare reform and the media is described. By exploring how social problems are translated into public conversations, students can enrich their knowledge of social problem formation, and learn more effective rhetorical techniques and strategies for influencing the public debate.     

奥巴马就职演说的语用研究

就职演说是一种特殊的言语交际形式,其语境特征决定了说话人的语言形式,美国新任总统奥巴马在其演说中恰当地使用了与语境相适的语用策略,成功地实现了预期的交际目的.华彩而得体的文风使其成为美国总统就职演讲的经典之作.     

论沼泽龙：烂泥、大都市及生态批评的未来

美国环境论建立在荒野保护和从城市回归田园的传统基础上,因而尚未顾及保护那些已经被污染的工业和后工业空间。这一弱点也是美国生态批评前20年的重要特征。生态批评家倾向于偏爱那些关于荒野的文本及其治愈现代性弊端的力量,但这样做的话,就意味着将受到了生态损害却又不如荒野景观壮观的城郊和城市环境搁置一旁。这一批评范式鼓励了批评家把我们当做纯洁和正义的仲裁者,而不是伤痕累累的大地上的子民。沼泽龙是一个典型的不洁、混合物和道德混淆形象,本文将通过对它进行研究来阐释上述问题。本文仔细研究了两个当代文本,即苏珊.格里芬的《女人与自然：她心中的咆哮》和罗伯特.沙利文的《牧草地：城市边缘的荒野历险》,旨在辨明一些新的术语,让我们能够学会适应工业污染及其对土地、水和文学的影响。     

浅析修辞格在《新视野大学英语》教学中的运用

修辞语言作为一种重要的语言现象,在《新视野大学英语：读写教程》的课文中大量出现。本文旨在分析常见的几种英语修辞格在教学中的运用,对这些修辞格的词义、构成和音韵等方面进行探讨。帮助学生更好地了解西方文化,更进一步地提高自身的修辞鉴赏力和根据英语修辞规律进行组词造句、布局谋篇的能力。     

“Voice” and “voicelessness” in rhetorical studies

This essay begins with the observation that the term “voice” is frequently used in rhetorical studies literature. Interestingly, rhetorical “voice” means different things to different scholars. This essay seeks to accomplish two tasks related to “voice.” First, it clarifies the conceptual confusion regarding “voice” found in the literature by relating it to a tension between “speaking” and “language.” Second, to avoid this tension, this essay presents a case study in which a notion of “voice” is posited that is constitutive of the public acknowledgment of the ethical and emotional dimensions of public discourse.     

Narrative and counternarrative in print‐mediated coverage of Milwaukee alderman Michael Mcgee

This essay mounts a counternarrative to address the mainstream print‐mediated coverage of Milwaukee alderman Michael McGee. In analyzing racialized discourse in Milwaukee, the essay highlights the importance of focusing on rhetoric marginalized in or outside of the public sphere. A clash in rhetorical style can subvert the substance of public discourse with deleterious social consequences. We contend that a true dialogue on race relations will not occur until whites assume the responsibility for engaging in and sustaining this dialogue. The essay also establishes a rationale for why it is critically important to the discipline and to our respective communities to focus on local discourse and discursive communities. Finally, we offer a number of suggestions concerning rhetorical critical practices and the roles that critics can play in bringing about social change.     

Serpents and Sheep: The Harriman Expedition, Alaska, and the Metaphoric Reconstruction of American Wilderness

This article examines one mechanism for the radical change in public perception of wilderness. The published papers of the Harriman Expedition, a scientific expedition at the end of the nineteenth century, are used to illustrate a process that I call “metaphoric reconstruction.” I argue that conceptual metaphors are one of the tools through which texts and rhetorical contexts can be mutually transformative.     

演讲修辞叙事结构策略探析

叙事可作为一种修辞手段广泛运用于演讲等非叙事语篇,即修辞叙事。演讲修辞叙事的从属性和修辞性使其建构模式违背经典的叙事结构原则。演讲者在淡化背景和事件过程的同时,又有意凸显个人的态度评价等结构成分。此外,为了简化情节,演讲者充分利用典型事件以点代面的功能,并常用概括性表达方式、从属句、甚至名词短语等来叙事。     

Harms of Hedging in Scientific Discourse: Andrew Wakefield and the Origins of the Autism Vaccine Controversy

This study reveals the discursive origins of the Autism MMR vaccine controversy through a rhetorical examination of the 1998 Wakefield et al. article. I argue the very practices of scientific publishing, specifically the tradition of hedging, help to create a scientifically acceptable text but also leave discursive gaps. These gaps allow for alternate interpretations as scientific texts pass from technical to public contexts, enabling insufficiently supported claims the standing of scientific knowledge among citizens.     

修辞格变异说略

格式是修辞格的重要标志 ,人们在修辞活动中往往会根据表达需要改变某种辞格的格式 ,这就是辞格的变异。我们欣赏文学作品 ,可以从辞格变异现象揣摩作者的艺术构思 ,深刻理解作品所要表达的思想感情和作品的美学效应 ,以提高鉴赏文学作品的能力。研究辞格变异现象 ,还有助于把握辞格变化发展的轨迹。     

A fundamental course in speech training

In September 1983, Soviet planes shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 007, provoking an exercise in crisis rhetoric by President Reagan and members of his administration. A case study of the incident illuminates the interactive nature of context, public knowledge, and rhetorical situation. Errors in argumentation strategy undermined the American position, raising doubts about U.S. complicity in the tragedy and enabling the Soviet Union to present a plausible explanation for its action.