Logics,rhetoric and ‘the blob’: Populist logic in the Conservative reforms to English schooling

A lot has been written about the lasting implications of the Conservative reforms to English schooling, particularly changes made by Michael Gove as Education Secretary (2010–2014). There is a lot less work, however, on studying the role that language, strategy and the broader political framework played in the process of instituting and winning consent for these reforms. Studying these factors is important for ensuring that any changes to education and schooling are not read in isolation from their political context. Speeches particularly capture moments where intellectual and strategic political traditions meet, helping us to form a richer understanding of the motives behind specific reform goals and where they fit into a political landscape. This article analyses speeches and policy documents from prominent politicians who led the Conservative education agenda between 2010–2014 to illustrate how politicians mobilised a deliberate populist strategy and argumentation to achieve specific educational goals, but which have had broader social and political implications. Concepts from interpretive political studies are used to develop a case analysis of changes to teacher training provision and curriculum reform, illustrating how politicians constructed a frontier between ‘the people’ (commonly teachers or parents) and an illegitimate ‘elite’ (an educational establishment) that opposed change. This anti-elite populist rhetoric, arguably first tested in the Department for Education, has now become instituted more widely in our current British politics.     

On using humor to market higher education: at whose expense is the clowning?

This essay examines the deliberately humorous approaches undertaken in two recent higher education marketing endeavors: The American Council on Education's ‘Solutions for Our Future’ campaign and Stanford's ‘Hail, Stanford, Hail’ initiative. Three television commercials from each project are described and discussed in light of a view of comedy advanced by philosopher Kenneth Burke. Specifically, this essay identifies among each trio of videos a markedly different ‘clown’ – a figure at whom the audience is encouraged to laugh yet ultimately redeem. In turn, higher education marketing professionals and leaders are invited to reflect on choices associated with employing humorous messaging strategies.     

《周夫人》的修辞维度

施蛰存小说名篇《周夫人》的解读存在两种主要观点,一是着意于它所描写的周夫人的“变态恋爱”,以为揭露了“一个守寡的年轻妇女内心的深沉痛苦”;一是着意于它感伤的抒情氛围,一种从“惘然”到“惆怅”的感旧情怀。但这两种观点都忽略了小说的修辞维度：叙事者“我”与“周夫人”一样,都有着寂寥的境况,也都经受着情欲压抑的苦闷,而“我”与“周夫人”在文本中的同情之理解,这或者就是这篇小说的修辞意图。     

拈连和比拟

拈连和比拟是提高语言表达效果的两种重要修辞方式,在现代汉语中,使用频率相当高。构成拈连的被拈连体与拈连体必须明确、清晰、必须具有拈连词,构成比拟则重要三个条件：本体、拟体、拟辞。它们共同的心理基础是联想。两种辞格形式有些相似,因而常常纠缠,给修辞辞格的研究和教学增加了不少麻烦和困难。     

汉语修辞三格证解

本文载记的是汉语修辞错觉、悖句、离合三格的研究成果。笔者于现存文学艺术文本及民间艺术现象流传中,觉得此三种修辞样式值得广为应用,经大量取证、分析、归纳、论证后,确认了其修辞格的本质特征。     

陈望道论离合

陈望道的离合研究，是与其析字研究联系在一起的。他的析字体现了他重视汉字修辞的理论主张。以析字命名来源于顾炎武，把析字分为三大类来源于王观国。在此基础上，他广集例证后归纳了九个小类，离合则成为其中的一类。陈望道第一次明确地揭示了离合与析字的关系，而且他所列例证及其分析体现了离合中“作者离，读者合”的结构形式，同时也指出了离合的替代功能。但是，陈望道关于离合的研究存在着明显的不足：把离合看做析字的一个小类，把《郡姓名字诗》这首综合运用离合与减笔的诗作为离合的典型例证，没有体现离合的另一种形式“作者合，读者离”。     

《春秋》笔法:句义成分关联与限定成分增添示褒贬

<春秋>经文均以标题式单句行文,作者充分利用句子层面的潜在能力在组句表意的同时,蕴含了丰富复杂的言外之意.本文集中描写了其中的句义成分与称谓变化关联和限定成分增添两种手段,以数据统计和比对的方式系统地展现了<春秋>笔法典型的规则性表现.     

语言哲学视域下思想政治教育的新思考

语言哲学为思想政治教育提供了新的思路和方法。以语言哲学视域考察思想政治教育也为思想政治工作提供了新的着力点:思想政治教育要凸显语言的作用并注重思想政治教育者语言修辞素养的培养。     

Legitimizing the Wound: Mapping the Military's Diagnostic Discourse of Traumatic Brain Injury

Following reports spanning from the beginning of the OEF (Operation Enduring Freedom) and OIF (Operation Iraqi Freedom) conflicts to the early 2010s, this rhetorical investigation analyzes the U.S. military's diagnostic practices used to identify mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in blast-affected troops. Considering the notion of “wound/injury” as a possible boundary object, this paper discusses how the conceptual framing of “invisible” injuries may produce interruptions of distrust that inhibit effective diagnosis.     

汉英数词修辞功能对比研究

数词是人类最早认识和使用的词类之一,不少数词在语言的发展过程中获得了十分丰富的语言意义。本文从数词修辞功能的角度出发,通过汉英对比的方法,尝试对汉语和英语中数词的修辞功能进行了初步的探讨。