Literary Devices In Public Speaking

Assignment No 2

Submitted By: Nabeel Riasat

Submitted To: Ma’am Misbah Rizwan

Roll No: S2F18BSEN0029

Subject: Rhetoric And Public Speaking

Topic: Literary Terms In Public Speaking

University Of Central Punjab Sheikhupura.

Contents
Rhetorical Devices:...........................................................................................................................................4
Rhetorical schemes:......................................................................................................................................4

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 Literary Devices In Public Speaking
The Rhetorical Tropes:.................................................................................................................................4
Manipulation through Words. A Definition:....................................................................................................4
The Public Speech as Rhetorical Discourse:................................................................................................5
Introduction:.............................................................................................................................................6
Body;.........................................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion:...............................................................................................................................................6
Preparations for Public Speech:........................................................................................................................7
1. The Locutor’s Audience-Awareness:....................................................................................................7
2. Introductory Formulas / Appellatives:...................................................................................................7
3. Appellatives That Address the Whole Audience:..................................................................................7
4. Appellatives That Address Specific (Categories of) Listeners:.............................................................7
5. Appellatives That Address Both Specific (Categories of) Listeners and the Whole Audience:...........8
Rhetorical Devices:...........................................................................................................................................8
1. Expletive:...............................................................................................................................................8
Examples And It’s Use:................................................................................................................................8
2. Polysyndeton:........................................................................................................................................9
Examples And Uses:.....................................................................................................................................9
3. Understatement:.....................................................................................................................................9
Examples And Uses:.....................................................................................................................................9
4. Litotes:....................................................................................................................................................10
Examples And Uses:...................................................................................................................................10
5. Parallelism:.............................................................................................................................................10
Examples And Uses:...................................................................................................................................10
Or parallel verbs and adverbs:................................................................................................................10
Or parallel verbs and direct objects:.......................................................................................................11
6. Chiasmus:...............................................................................................................................................11
Examples and Uses:....................................................................................................................................11
7. Antithesis:...............................................................................................................................................11
8. Anaphora:...............................................................................................................................................11
Anaphora.........................................................................................................................................................11
9. Repetition:...............................................................................................................................................12
Phonetic Repetition: Alliteration, Consonance and Assonance.................................................................12
Lexical, Morphological and Syntactic Repetition:.....................................................................................13
Anaphora:...............................................................................................................................................13

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 Literary Devices In Public Speaking
Examples:...............................................................................................................................................13
10. Epiphora:..............................................................................................................................................13
11. Polyptoton:...........................................................................................................................................14
Examples:...................................................................................................................................................14
12. Enumeration:........................................................................................................................................14
Examples:...................................................................................................................................................14
13. Accumulation:......................................................................................................................................15
Examples:...................................................................................................................................................15
14. Anadiplosis:.........................................................................................................................................15
Examples:...................................................................................................................................................15
15. Conduplication:....................................................................................................................................16
Examples:...................................................................................................................................................16
16. Hypophora:..........................................................................................................................................16
Examples:...................................................................................................................................................16
17. Procatalepsis:.......................................................................................................................................16
Examples:...................................................................................................................................................16
18. Amplification:......................................................................................................................................17
Examples:...................................................................................................................................................17
19. Apophasis:...........................................................................................................................................17
Examples:...................................................................................................................................................17
20. Metanoia:.............................................................................................................................................17
Examples:...................................................................................................................................................17
21. Intertextuality as a Rhetorical Device..................................................................................................18
Quotations:......................................................................................................................................................18
Quotations from Religious Texts:...................................................................................................................19
Literary Quotations:........................................................................................................................................19
Quotations from Unacknowledged Sources:..................................................................................................19
The Arbitrariness of Truth in Public Speeches:..............................................................................................20
 A Definition of the Terms:..................................................................................................................20
The Logic of Speaking and the Logic of Thinking. Logical Fallacies in Political Speeches:........................20
Conclusion:.....................................................................................................................................................20
References:.....................................................................................................................................................21

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 Literary Devices In Public Speaking

Rhetorical Devices:
In any analysis of linguistic style similar to that advanced in the current course, a number of rhetorical
devices are worth considering because they are “important generators and qualifiers of meaning and effect”.
Although such devices can be employed at times in spontaneous common uses of language, they are
especially the mark of figurative language. Therefore, they are used in texts in which the language is or
can be used figuratively: literary texts, rhetorical discourses - such as political speeches, sermons, legal
speeches - also the news discourse, etc. What all these types of texts have in common, beside the
‘permission’ to use the language figuratively, is the fact that their creation involves a process of deliberate
organisation of the linguistic material, a process that allows the locutor, be it a speaker or a writer, to select
the means of linguistic formulation that best serve his or her ideas, emotions, attitudes, on the one hand, and
aims, on the other. Whether the figures of speech are selected consciously or not, the way in which they are
given shape in any type of text is a matter of individual creativity.
The rhetorical devices are generally divided into two categories: schemes (or figures), and tropes.

Rhetorical schemes:
Rhetorical schemes “describe the arrangement of individual sounds (phonological schemes),
the arrangement of words (morphological schemes), and sentence structure (syntactical schemes)”. The
main phonological schemes are: alliteration, assonance, consonance, and onomatopoeia. Among the
most frequent morphological schemes there can be mentioned: accumulation, anadiplosis (or
reduplicatio), anaphora, enumeration, epiphora (or epistrophe), epizeuxis, gradatio (or climax),
polyptoton, symploce, etc. The syntactical schemes include: asyndeton, ellipsis, hypotaxis, inversion,
parallelism, parataxis, polysyndeton3, etc. To this list of rhetorical devices I add three other categories,
which can also be considered rhetorical strategies: the introductory formula / appellative, the collateral
circumstances of place, of time, of issues and of persons, and the illustration. These rhetorical artifices
can make use of any of the devices mentioned above. As these categories are specific to rhetorical
speeches, their aspects will be analysed in more detail in the present course.

The Rhetorical Tropes:

The rhetorical tropes, most frequently referred to as figures of speech, represent “a deviation from the
common main significance of a word or phrase (semantic figures) or include specific appeals to the
audience (pragmatic figures)”4. Although the dictionaries of literary terms include a far wider range of
figures of speech, the most frequent such devices are: euphemism, hyperbole, litotes (as a special type of
meiosis or understatement), metaphor, metonymy, oxymoron, paradox, personification, pun (or
paronomasia), simile, synecdoche, tautology, etc.

Manipulation through Words. A Definition:

In everyday life, when people use the verb to manipulate and its nominal and adjectival derivatives, more
often than not they associate them with some skills, abilities, tactics that enable a person, a group of people
or an institution to get what they want from other people and institutions, or to handle certain objects in
nature.

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 Literary Devices In Public Speaking
According to various dictionary definitions7, these words develop some negative connotations, as the aim
of the processes that they describe is one of controlling, deceiving, influencing, handling people. At the
same time, they develop positive connotations, too, as such terms as skill, ability, dexterity, knowledge are
used to explain the physical and intellectual qualities in a person actively engaged in the process of
manipulation.
The etymological definition below resolves this apparent semantic contradiction by revealing the processes
of extension and of degradation of meaning the word manipulation has been subject to from its initial
neutral meaning, through an intermediate stage when it carried positive connotations, to its current
figurative meaning, loaded mainly with negative connotations.

The Public Speech as Rhetorical Discourse:

Public speeches are a specific sub-genre of public texts, which are products of the publically discourse.
The term discourse in this formulation is used according to Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse
Analysis integrative approach. This means that their form and content, i.e. the linguistic structures and the
message ‘transmitted’ by the publically texts, “are related to larger contexts of communicative settings and
public functions”.
Although a vague term, a public speech is generally seen as a rhetorical product created and delivered in a
political context: “Political texts are a part of and / or the result of public, they are historically and
culturally determined”.
Such a speech can be described in terms of target audience and informational content, in terms of pragmatic
function, etc.
When the audience and the informational content are considered the main classification criteria, one can
distinguish between political speeches that address:
 Specialised Audiences:
The participants in the so-called internal political communication process, which usually takes place in
well defined settings), a case in which their informational content is mainly about politics itself, namely,
“the functioning of politics within political institutions, i.e. governmental bodies, parties or other
organizations”, and they discuss “political ideas, beliefs, and practices of a society or some part of it”.
 The General Public:
Non-politicians (i.e. the participants in the so-called external political communication process, which can
take place in a particular setting), and their informational content may be about various other topics of
general interest: human and civil rights, morality and religion, social, cultural, economic, political, military
issues of national and international interest that should be shared with the whole nation or parts of it, etc.
Useful for my forthcoming analysis is the classification of Public speeches in terms of their main
pragmatic function, i.e. to its locutor’s intention. According to this criterion, the public speech as a type of
rhetorical discourse can be labeled as:

Persuasive:

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 Literary Devices In Public Speaking
This type of speech focuses on the informational content and its logical argumentation, rather than on the
linguistic ornaments. By addressing the recipients’ mind, the locutor aims to make them believe in the truth
value of his or her words.

Seductive:
This type focuses on the linguistic form in terms of rhetorical and stylistic ornaments. By addressing the
recipients’ emotions, the locutor aims to make them have the same feelings as s/he does towards the topic
of the speech.

Inciting or inflammatory:
This type of speeches address the recipients’ will. They are meant to change the recipients’ behaviour in the
way the locutor wants them to.
The political speech as a type of rhetorical discourse has an outline similar to any other such discourse. It
consists of:

Introduction:
 Greeting and Attention Gatherer. This is the part at the beginning of the speech in which the locutor
greets and capture the attention of the listeners.
 Thesis. This is a sentence in the introduction specifying the purpose and the subject of
the speech.
 Authority. This part refers to the process of introducing oneself to the audience, if
necessary, and to the locutor’s establishing credibility to persuade the audience that s/he is trustworthy
enough to speak about the subject.
 Summary. This is an overview of the main points of the speech.
 Important Answer. Now the locutor mentions, as an answer to an implicit question, why the speech
will be useful or valuable to the audience.

Body;
 Transition. This is a sentence that signals to the audience the end of the introduction and the beginning
of the main part of the speech.
 Main Points. The locutor provides a detailed presentation of the main points and ideas of the speech
along with a description of the supporting ideas and illustrative examples to explain and clarify the
main points.

Conclusion:
 Transition. This takes the form of a sentence that signals to the audience the end of the body part of the
speech and the beginning of the concluding part of the speech.
 Paraphrasing of the Main Points. The locutor restates, usually using a different wording, the main
points and ideas and emphasises on those parts of the speech that s/he wants the audience to remember.
 Closing Statement. This is a final sentence where the locutor emphasises the key statement. It can be
followed, but not necessarily, by

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 Literary Devices In Public Speaking
 The Taking Leave Statement. This is a sentence that marks the end of the whole speech. The locutor
may use a classic salutation formulation or he may invoke God’s help for the audience’s wellbeing and
for a good course of the future events.

Preparations for Public Speech:

1. The Locutor’s Audience-Awareness:
Attracting the audience’s benevolence from the outset has always been one of the most difficult tasks that
orators have had to undertake in their art of speech delivery. The success or failure of their speeches
depends to a great extent on their fame, their charismatic attitude and pleasant appearance, but the first
words they utter in front of their listeners are crucial in this respect.

2. Introductory Formulas / Appellatives:

Irrespective of the topic of the speech, finding the appropriate introductory words is one of the golden keys
to the listeners’ minds and hearts. Among the rhetorical strategies that politicians use at the beginning of
their speeches, the introductory noun-phrases in the Nominative of Address are commonplace. Out of
138 speeches listed in the Annexe 1, 95 begin with such a formulation.

3. Appellatives That Address the Whole Audience:

Employing familiar formulas that address the whole audience at the beginning of a speech has the effect of
reducing the distance between the orator and the audience; the psychological barriers between the rostrum
and the audience, i.e., between ‘I’, the famous and more knowledgeable figure, and ‘you’, the large mass of
indefinite common people, are broken down to a great extent. Many times these formulations sound
colloquial as they do not single out any specific category of listeners. They are preferred by orators
especially when issues of national and social importance are tackled. The main aim of such speeches is that
of persuading large masses of listeners about the importance of these issues and of the steps to be taken
from then on as far as they are concerned. Getting closer to the listeners’ minds and hearts is one effective
way of persuasion as friendly advice is followed more goodwill than orders. Moreover, ideas presented in a
language familiar to everybody both in terms of complexity and of register are more likely to be understood
and adopted by those addressed.

4. Appellatives That Address Specific (Categories of) Listeners:

In the following examples, one or several high officials or remarkable persons in the audience are addressed
individually, without any other reference to the rest of the audience:
i. Your Honor…
ii. Mr. President…
iii. Mr. Chairman…
iv. Reverend Meza, Reverend Reck, I’m grateful for your generous invitation…
v. Your Eminences, Your Excellencies, Mr. President…
vi. Mr. Speaker…
vii. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman,…
viii. Thank you, President and Mrs. Clinton and Chelsea..
Thanks very much, Barbara Mikulsky, for your very eloquent, your eloquent introduction.

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5. Appellatives That Address Both Specific (Categories of) Listeners and the Whole
Audience:
The greatest majority of introductory formulas consist of examples in which the locutor first addresses one
or several most important officials present and then the rest of the audience collectively, sometimes using
two or more plural noun phrases.

Literary Devices / Rhetorical Devices:

Alliteration Antithesis Climax Epizeuxis Metanoia Polysy

Allusion Apophasis Conduplicatio Eponym Metapho Procata
r Rhetori
Amplification Aporia Diacope ExemplumMetonymy
Questio

Anacoluthon Aposiopesis Dirimens ExpletiveOnomatopoeia Scesis

Copulatio Onoma
Anadiplosis Apostrophe DistinctioHyperbaton Oxymoron Sentent
Analogy Appositive Enthymeme HyperboleParallelism Simile
Anaphora Assonance Enumeratio Hypophora Parataxis Symplo
Antanagoge Asyndeton Epanalepsis Hypotaxis Parenthesi Synecd
Antimetabole Catachresis Epistrophe Litotes sPersonification Unders
Antiphrasis Chiasmus Epithet Metabasis Pleonasm Zeugm

1. Expletive:
Expletive is a single word or short phrase, usually interrupting normal syntax, used to lend emphasis to the
words immediately proximate to the expletive. (We emphasize the words on each side of a pause or
interruption in order to maintain continuity of the thought.) Compare:

Examples And It’s Use:

 But the lake was not drained before April.
 But the lake was not, in fact, drained before April.
Expletives are most frequently placed near the beginning of a sentence, where important material has been
placed:
 All truth is not, indeed, of equal importance; but if little violations are allowed, every violation will in
time be thought little. --Samuel Johnson
 But sometimes they are placed at the very beginning of a sentence, thereby serving as signals that the
whole sentence is especially important. In such cases the sentence should be kept as short as possible:

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A common practice is setting off the expletive by commas, which increases the emphasis on the
surrounding words, though in many cases the commas are necessary for clarity as well and cannot be
omitted. Note how the expletive itself is also emphasized:
 He without doubt can be trusted with a cookie.
 He, without doubt, can be trusted with a cookie.
Transitional phrases, accostives, some adverbs, and other interrupters can be used for emphasizing portions
of sentences, and therefore function as kinds of quasi-expletives in those circumstances.
 We find a few people, however, unwilling to come.
 "Your last remark," he said, "is impertinent."
 There is nothing, Sir, too little for so little a creature as man. --Samuel Johnson.

2. Polysyndeton:
Polysyndeton is the use of a conjunction between each word, phrase, or clause, and is thus structurally the
opposite of asyndeton. The rhetorical effect of polysyndeton, however, often shares with that of asyndeton
a feeling of multiplicity, energetic enumeration, and building up.

Examples And Uses:

 They read and studied and wrote and drilled. I laughed and played and talked and flunked.
 The water, like a witch's oils, / Burnt green, and blue, and white. --S. T. Coleridge
 [He] pursues his way, / And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies.--John Milton
The multiple conjunctions of the polysyndetic structure call attention to themselves and therefore add the
effect of persistence or intensity or emphasis to the other effect of multiplicity. The repeated use of "nor" or
"or" emphasizes alternatives; repeated use of "but" or "yet" stresses qualifications. Consider the
effectiveness of these:
 And to set forth the right standard, and to train according to it, and to help forward all students towards
it according to their various capacities, this I conceive to be the business of a University. --John Henry
Newman

3. Understatement:
Understatement deliberately expresses an idea as less important than it actually is, either for ironic
emphasis or for politeness and tact. When the writer's audience can be expected to know the true nature of
a fact which might be rather difficult to describe adequately in a brief space, the writer may choose to
understate the fact as a means of employing the reader's own powers of description. For example, instead of
endeavoring to describe in a few words the horrors and destruction of the 1906 earthquake in San
Francisco, a writer might state:

Examples And Uses:

 The 1906 San Francisco earthquake interrupted business somewhat in the downtown area.
 Henry and Catherine were married, the bells rang, and everybody smiled.
 Last week I saw a woman flayed, and you will hardly believe how much it altered her person for the
worse. --Jonathan Swift.

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 Literary Devices In Public Speaking
Understatement is especially useful in dealing with a hostile audience or in disagreeing with someone,
because the statement, while carrying the same point, is much less offensive. Compare:
 The second law of thermodynamics pretty much works against the possibility of such an event.
 The second law of thermodynamics proves conclusively that that theory is utterly false and ridiculous.

4. Litotes:
a particular form of understatement, is generated by denying the opposite or contrary of the word which
otherwise would be used. Depending on the tone and context of the usage, litotes either retains the effect of
understatement, or becomes an intensifying expression. Compare the difference between these statements.

Examples And Uses:

 Heat waves are common in the summer.
 Heat waves are not rare in the summer.

Johnson uses litotes to make a modest assertion, saying "not improperly" rather than "correctly" or
"best":
 This kind of writing may be termed not improperly the comedy of romance.

Occasionally a litotic construction conveys an ironic sentiment by its understatement:

 We saw him throw the buckets of paint at his canvas in disgust, and the result did not perfectly
represent his subject, Mrs. Jittery.

Usually, though, litotes intensifies the sentiment intended by the writer, and creates the effect of
strong feelings moderately conveyed.
 Hitting that telephone pole certainly didn't do your car any good.
 If you can tell the fair one's mind, it will be no small proof of your art, for I dare say it is more than she
herself can do. --Alexander Pope
 A figure lean or corpulent, tall or short, though deviating from beauty, may still have a certain union of
the various parts, which may contribute to make them on the whole not unpleasing. --Sir Joshua
Reynolds..

5. Parallelism:
Parallelism is recurrent syntactical similarity. Several parts of a sentence or several sentences are
expressed similarly to show that the ideas in the parts or sentences are equal in importance. Parallelism also
adds balance and rhythm and, most importantly, clarity to the sentence.

Examples And Uses:

Any sentence elements can be paralleled, any number of times (though, of course, excess quickly becomes
ridiculous). You might choose parallel subjects with parallel modifiers attached to them:
 Ferocious dragons breathing fire and wicked sorcerers casting their spells do their harm by night in the
forest of Darkness.

Or parallel verbs and adverbs:

 I have always sought but seldom obtained a parking space near the door.
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 Literary Devices In Public Speaking
 Quickly and happily he walked around the corner to buy the book.

Or parallel verbs and direct objects:

 He liked to eat watermelon and to avoid grapefruit.
It is also possible to parallel participial, infinitive, and gerund phrases:
 He left the engine on, idling erratically and heating rapidly.
 To think accurately and to write precisely are interrelated goals.
 She liked sneaking up to Ted and putting the ice cream down his back, because he was so cool about it.

6. Chiasmus:
Chiasmus might be called "reverse parallelism," since the second part of a grammatical construction is
balanced or paralleled by the first part, only in reverse order. Instead of an A,B structure (e.g., "learned
unwillingly") paralleled by another A,B structure ("forgotten gladly"), the A,B will be followed by B,A
("gladly forgotten"). So instead of writing, "What is learned unwillingly is forgotten gladly," you could
write, "What is learned unwillingly is gladly forgotten." Similarly, the parallel sentence, "What is now
great was at first little," could be written chiastically as, "What is now great was little at first."

Examples and Uses:

 He labors without complaining and without bragging rests.
 Polished in courts and hardened in the field, Renowned for conquest, and in council skilled. --Joseph
Addison
 For the Lord is a Great God . . . in whose hand are the depths of the earth; the peaks of the mountains are
his also. –Psalm.
Prepositional phrases or other modifiers can also be moved around to form chiastic structures. Sometimes
the effect is rather emphatic:
 Tell me not of your many perfections; of your great modesty tell me not either.
 Just as the term "menial" does not apply to any honest labor, so no dishonest work can be called
"prestigious."

7. Antithesis:
Establishes a clear, contrasting relationship between two ideas by joining them together or juxtaposing
them, often in parallel structure. Human beings are inveterate systematizers and categorizers, so the mind
has a natural love for antithesis, which creates a definite and systematic relationship between ideas:
 To err is human; to forgive, divine. --Pope
 That short and easy trip made a lasting and profound change in Harold's outlook.
 That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. --Neil Armstrong
Note also that short phrases can be made antithetical:
 Every man who proposes to grow eminent by learning should carry in his mind, at once, the difficulty of
excellence and the force of industry; and remember that fame is not conferred but as the recompense of
labor, and that labor, vigorously continued, has not often failed of its reward. -- Samuel Johnson
8. Anaphora:
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 Literary Devices In Public Speaking

Anaphora is the repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses,
or sentences, commonly in conjunction with climax and with parallelism:
 To think on death it is a misery,/ To think on life it is a vanity;/ To think on the world verily it is,/ To
think that here man hath no perfect bliss. -- Peacham
 In books I find the dead as if they were alive; in books I foresee things to come; in books warlike affairs
are set forth; from books come forth the laws of peace. --Richard de Bury
 Finally, we must consider what pleasantness of teaching there is in books, how easy, how secret! How
safely we lay bare the poverty of human ignorance to books without feeling any shame! --Ibid.
 The wish of the genuine painter must be more extensive: instead of endeavoring to amuse mankind with
the minute neatness of his imitations, he must endeavor to improve them by the grandeur of his ideas;
instead of seeking praise, by deceiving the superficial sense of the spectator, he must strive for fame by
captivating the imagination. --Sir Joshua Reynolds
 Slowly and grimly they advanced, not knowing what lay ahead, not knowing what they would find at
the top of the hill, not knowing that they were so near to Disneyland.

9. Repetition:
The repetition of a sound, of a word, or of a morpho-syntactic structure helps the speaker to lay
emphasis on a certain idea that otherwise may pass unnoticed by the listeners.

Examples of repetition are found in abundance in speeches, where it also has a didactic function: listeners
‘learn’ and, as a consequence, will remember more easily what the speaker repeats. The repeated structures
are usually considered catch phrases that the listeners leave home with and it is these phrases that continue
to work on their minds, therefore, to affect them in one way or another and may produce attitudinal and
behavioural changes in the listeners long after the speech has been delivered to them.

Phonetic Repetition: Alliteration, Consonance and Assonance

Alliteration is “the repetition of the same sounds – usually initial consonants of words or of stressed
syllables - in any sequence of neighbouring words.” 130 A similar figure of speech is consonance, which
repeats “identical or similar consonants in neighbouring words whose vowel sounds are different”.
Consonanace “may be regarded as the counterpart to […] assonanace”131, which is another stylistic sounds
figure that repeats “identical or similar vowel sounds in the stressed syllables (and sometimes in the
following unstressed syllables) of neighbouring words” whose “consonants differ although the vowels or
diphthongs match.”
The following few excerpts illustrate these stylistic devices with rhetorical effects that are discussed in
each example:
 Let us go forth to lead the land we love.”
The effect of the alliteration of the voiced lateral alveolar sound /l/ in three one-syllable words that can be
remembered easily, lead, land, love, is increased by the consonance of the voiced alveolar plosive /d/, by
the progressive opening of the vowel sounds that the three alliterative words contain:
/i:/ → /æ/ → /٨/, and by the cadenced alternation of one stressed and one unstressed syllables, ending in a
stressed syllable, a rhythm that renders the idea of hope for the expressed wish to come true.
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 Literary Devices In Public Speaking
 We shall pay any price, bear any burden.
In the example above, the two alliterations of the bilabial plosives /p/ and /b/, respectively, in two binary
constructions identical in terms of structure: V + Direct Object (or one consonance of these two voiced and
voiceless plosive bilabial sounds) add to the locutor’s tone of determination to keep his promise against all
possible obstacles rendered by the informational content of the formulation, determination that he wants to
instil in those present, too (which is also clear from the use of the personal pronoun we as the Subject of
both verbs in this sentence).
 Let us strive on…to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace..
Here, the consonances of the voiceless affricate palato-alveolar sound /t∫/ and of the voiceless fricative
alveolar /s/ combined with /st/ achieve a musically pleasant effect which is added to by the alternative
stressed and unstressed syllables in the final part of the sentence: a 'just and 'lasting 'peace. The stressed
syllable at the end of the sentence renders the idea of hope and triumph.

Lexical, Morphological and Syntactic Repetition:

Anaphora:
Known as the repetition of a word at the beginning of successive phrases, or of a phrase at the beginning of
successive clauses or lines, anaphora143 is by far the most frequent means of amplification used by orators
in their speeches. The reason why this is so is mainly of a psychological nature. Because the first words in a
sentence or sequence of phrases usually bear the thematic accent and are pronounced in the highest pitch
tone, they have the greatest impact on the recipients of the message transmitted. In short, they are very
likely to be the most memorable ones to the majority of listeners. When these words are repeated for
several times in a row at the beginning of consecutive sentences or groups of phrases, this effect increases.
In the first four examples in this section, the anaphoric repetitions of constructions from one- word phrases
to one-clause structures illustrate various seductive or inciting undertones of this rhetorical device, whose
first and most important function is that of laying emphasis on the particular details at the beginning of the
sentences in which they occur.

Examples:
 I feel it is my first duty to make an unprecedented compact with my countrymen. Not an inaugural address, not a
fireside chat, not a campaign speech – just a little straight talk among friends.”
 But we will not be humiliated.
 We will not be defeated.
 We will not allow American men to be killed.

10. Epiphora:
In contrast to anaphora, epiphora is the repetition of the same word or phrase at the end of successive
sentences159. Sometimes it is used alone, as in example below, but most of the times it combines with other
rhetorical devices, such as anaphora and polyptoton.
 Norman Lamont…has been making some of the most effective speeches of all. They’re quite short
speeches.”160
 “This is not just America’s fight. This is the world’s fight. This is civilization’s fight. This is the fight of
all who believe in progress and pluralism, tolerance and freedom.”(the underlined words illustrate the
anaphora in this example, the italics, the epiphora).
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In all the fragments above, the stress laid on the reiterated words and phrases gives the speakers’
argumentation a tinge of determination. The short clauses that ended in this way also contribute to this
underlying meaning. In example this determination is doubled by the use of short elliptical sentences. All
the italicised epiphorae also show that besides being very determined about what they are saying, these
speakers shoulder full responsibility for their affirmations, a characteristic with highly persuasive effects
which is meant to win their credibility in front of the listeners.
As with anaphora in the preceding section, some locutors seem to have a predilection for the use of
epiphora as well. The next few examples illustrate this tendency. They are all taken from the same speech
of a very productive political orator whose inflammatory speeches have become memorable especially
because of his artful manipulation of figures of speech among which epiphora stands out clearly.

11. Polyptoton:
Polyptoton is “a figure of speech in which a partial repetition arises from the use in close proximity of two
related words having different forms”. In example in the previous section, and in the first three examples
below, polyptoton illustrates the double use in the same sentence of the same noun in the Nominative and
the Accusative cases. Its rhetorical effects in speeches are similar to those rendered by anaphora and by
epiphora: marking the importance of the meaning of a certain word or phrase by repeating it in the same
sentence.

Examples:
 “It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.”
 “and what we shall do is to deserve victory and victory will be ours.”
 “their destiny is tied up with our destiny. Their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.”
 “We may agree to agree; or agree to disagree on issues.”

12. Enumeration:
By means of enumeration, speakers reveal various facets of the ideas they state in order to persuade
listeners of the complexity of these ideas. The terms enumerated belong to the same lexical or
morphological class, or they have identical syntactic structure, but their form as a whole differs. These
terms are constituent parts of the same sentence and in writing they are separated by commas. Many times
these three types of enumeration are combined so that the cognitive and the emotional effects that the
argument achieves be increased.

Examples:
 There are laws against fraud, laws against dangerous goods, laws enforcing contracts, laws setting
standards for health and safety at work, laws protecting the consumer, laws to prevent monopolies and
laws covering private property.”
 “Let every nation know … that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any
friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”
 “But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.”
 “We’ve seen the unfurling of flags, the lighting of candles, the giving of blood, the saying of prayers.”

In the last example above, the Rhetorical Effect Of Alliteration combines with that of the
juxtaposed morpho-syntactic enumeration of Direct Object verbal-noun phrases, all determined by the
definite article. These Direct Objects have the same syntactic structure, a feature that makes them

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memorable: verbal noun + analytical Genitive. The nouns in the Genitive case in this fragment are
symbolic details that describe the humanitarian help given by the Americans following the WTC
catastrophe. The verbal nouns present the actions in full progress as they have not ended yet. All these
phonetic, morpho-syntactic and semantic features grant this sentence a great seductive auditory effect on
the audience whose members are implicitly encouraged to go on providing their support in the future.

13. Accumulation:
Accumulation as a rhetorical device is similar to enumeration in that it puts together a number of
linguistic structures. However, between the two devices there are some differences. Whereas enumeration
links, in the same sentence, structures identical from a morpho-syntactic point of view and similar
semantically, accumulation may link – for a remarkable number of times, at some distance from one
another in the same linguistic context - a variety of structures that only partially share syntactic and
semantic resemblance. However, it may repeat, at regular intervals, the same linguistic structure, a case in
which this structure is perceived as a refrain in the context in which it occurs. A borderline case between
the two may be considered the situation in which a large number of identical structures are enumerated.

Examples:
The following excerpts illustrate accumulations of enumerations of various structures
(counting from three to twelve terms):
 “It is not astonishing that, while we are plowing, planting, and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical
tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper,
silver, and gold; that while we are reading, writing and ciphering, acting as clerks, merchants, and
secretaries, having among us doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators, and teachers; that we are
engaged in all the enterprises common to other men – digging gold in California, capturing the whale in
the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hillside, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in
families as husbands, wives, and children, and above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian God,
and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave – we are called upon to prove that we
are men?”
 “Then there’s this plan of Labour’s for smaller, more de-centralised government – which would contain
two brand ministries, a couple of new departments of state, nine different bodies in each region, a
hundred new committees, heaven knows how many councils and commissions on top, and a great herd
of great herd [sic; my note] of quangos thundering up Whitehall. A mere 2012 new bureaucratic bodies
in all.”

14. Anadiplosis:
Anadiplosis repeats the last word of one phrase, clause, or sentence at or very near the beginning of the
next. it can be generated in series for the sake of beauty or to give a sense of logical progression.

Examples:
 Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,/ Knowledge might pity win, and pity
grace obtain . . . . --Philip Sidney
 They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that
can hold no water. --Jer. 2:13
 The question next arises, How much confidence can we put in the people, when the people have elected
Joe Doax?
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 This treatment plant has a record of uncommon reliability, a reliability envied by every other water
treatment facility on the coast.
 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. --John

15. Conduplication:
Conduplication resembles anadiplosis in the repetition of a preceding word, but it repeats a key word
(not just the last word) from a preceding phrase, clause, or sentence, at the beginning of the next.

Examples:
 If this is the first time duty has moved him to act against his desires, he is a very weak man indeed.
Duty should be cultivated and obeyed in spite of its frequent conflict with selfish wishes.
 The strength of the passions will never be accepted as an excuse for complying with them; the passions
were designed for subjection, and if a man suffers them to get the upper hand, he then betrays the liberty
of his own soul. --Alexander Pope
 She fed the goldfish every day with the new pellets brought from Japan. Gradually the goldfish began to
turn a brighter orange than before.

16. Hypophora:
Hypophora consists of raising one or more questions and then proceeding to answer them, usually at
some length. A common usage is to ask the question at the beginning of a paragraph and then use that
paragraph to answer it.

Examples:
 There is a striking and basic difference between a man's ability to imagine something and an animal's
failure. Where is it that the animal falls short? We get a clue to the answer, I think, when Hunter tells
us.
 What behavior, then, is uniquely human? My theory is this . . . . --H. J. Campbell
 But what was the result of this move on the steel industry? The annual reports for that year clearly
indicate.
 How then, in the middle of the twentieth century, are we to define the obligation of the historian to his
facts?..... The duty of the historian to respect his facts is not exhausted by . . . . --Edward Hallett Carr
 But it is certainly possible to ask, How hot is the oven at its hottest point, when the average temperature
is 425 degrees? We learned that the peak temperatures approached .

17. Procatalepsis:
Procatalepsis, by anticipating an objection and answering it, permits an argument to continue moving
forward while taking into account points or reasons opposing either the train of thought or its final
conclusions. Often the objections are standard ones.

Examples:
 It is usually argued at this point that if the government gets out of the mail delivery business, small towns
like Podunk will not have any mail service. The answer to this can be found in the history of the Pony
Express.

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 To discuss trivialities in an exalted style is, as the saying is, like beautifying a pestle. Yet some people
say we should discourse in the grand manner on trivialities and they think that this is a proof of
outstanding oratorical talent. Now I admit that Polycrates [did this]. But he was doing this in jest, . - . and
the dignified tone of the whole work was itself a game. Let us be playful..... [but] also observe what is
fitting in each case.

18. Amplification:
Amplification involves repeating a word or expression while adding more detail to it, in order to
emphasize what might otherwise be passed over. In other words, amplification allows you to call attention
to, emphasize, and expand a word or idea to make sure the reader realizes its importance or centrality in the
discussion.

Examples:
 This orchard, this lovely, shady orchard, is the main reason I bought this property.
 Even in Leonardo's time, there were certain obscure needs and patterns of the spirit, which could
discover themselves only through less precise analogies--the analogies provided by stains on walls or the
embers of a fire. --Kenneth Clark
 Pride--boundless pride--is the bane of civilization.
 He showed a rather simple taste, a taste for good art, good food, and good friends.

19. Apophasis:
Apophasis (also called praeteritio or occupatio) asserts or emphasizes something by pointedly seeming to
pass over, ignore, or deny it. This device has both legitimate and illegitimate uses. Legitimately, a writer
uses it to call attention to sensitive or inflammatory facts or statements while he remains apparently
detached from them.

Examples:
 We will not bring up the matter of the budget deficit here, or how programs like the one under
consideration have nearly pushed us into bankruptcy, because other reasons clearly enough show.
 Therefore, let no man talk to me of other expedients: of taxing our absentees . . . of curing the
expensiveness of pride, vanity, idleness, and gaming of learning to love our country . . . .--Jonathan
Swift
 If you were not my father, I would say you were perverse. --Antigone
 I will not even mention Houdini's many writings, both on magic and other subjects, nor the tricks he
invented, nor his numerous impressive escapes, since I want to concentrate on.
 She's bright, well-read, and personable--to say nothing of her modesty and generosity.

20. Metanoia:
Metanoia (correctio) qualifies a statement by recalling it (or part of it) and expressing it in a better, milder,
or stronger way. A negative is often used to do the recalling.

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Examples:
 Fido was the friendliest of all St. Bernards, nay of all dogs.
 The chief thing to look for in impact sockets is hardness; no, not so much hardness as resistance to shock
and shattering.
 And if I am still far from the goal, the fault is my own for not paying heed to the reminders--nay, the
virtual directions--which I have had from above. --Marcus Aurelius
 Even a blind man can see, as the saying is, that poetic language gives a certain grandeur to prose, except
that some writers imitate the poets quite openly, or rather they do not so much imitate them as transpose
their words into their own work, as Herodotus does. –Demetrius

21. Intertextuality as a Rhetorical Device

According to Chris Baldick’s Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms, the term intertextuality was “coined
by Julia Kristeva to designate the various relationships that a given text may have with other texts”,
relationships that “include anagram, allusion, adaptation, translation, parody, pastiche, imitation, and other
kinds of transformation”. He further adds that “The term intertext has been used variously for a text
drawing on other texts, for a text thus drawn upon, and for the relationship between both.”
As compared to these definitions, Michael Riffaterre is more specific when he defines the notion of
intertext as “one or more texts which the reader must know in order to understand the work of literature in
terms of its overall significance.”He suggests that in a work of literature the author may use some
references, such as quotations and allusions to other previous texts, references that have to be detected and
deciphered by the reader in order to grasp the overall meaning of the text.
I consider that such references may occur in any type of text or discourse, either spoken or written, of any
length, not only in works of literature. For instance, in everyday conversation, in a very short sentence such
as “You are my Juliet”, the addressee has to detect the allusion to the Shakespearean story if she is to
understand what the speaker means.
In this section the concept of intertextuality is used to describe the connection between an allusive text
and the referent text - or intertext in Riffaterre’s terminology - that the interpreter has to make in order to
understand the message.
The examples for analysis are taken from political speeches. I will point out, in due time, the connections
between the allusive text and the referent text that the locutor, in this case a politician, expects the
audience to make, and the possible reasons why intertextuality is used. It is worth mentioning that, most of
the times, the locutors themselves lead their audience to the interpretation of an allusion they make or of a
quotation they give, by incorporating an explanation in their speeches. However, in some cases, the
intertextual connections are left for the listeners to find.

Quotations:
Among the rhetorical devices that politicians employ in their attempt to persuade their audiences, providing
relevant evidence and building a clear and appealing argumentation are the most important ones. Some of
the Gricean maxims of the co-operative principle of conversation are applicable here too, even if the
political discourse is a monologue; in order to persuade, politicians have to be clear, brief, orderly, to say
the truth or at least to make their words sound true, to give the right amount of information so as to make

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their point credible, and, more importantly, not to say something for which they do not have enough
evidence. Sometimes it is very difficult to provide personal details or expertise to support the argument. As
people have always looked up to religion and the great minds of history, resorting to authoritative sources
by means of quotations from the Bible and other religious texts, from famous political speeches and
scientific works, by quoting words of wisdom, or literary texts written by renowned authors has proved
to be a very economical and effective rhetorical device in the art of persuasion The way in which a certain
quotation is approached and integrated in the argument is a matter of each locutor’s ingenuity and oratorical
talent.

Quotations from Religious Texts:

Fragments from religious texts are quoted by political speakers mainly in times of conflict and distress to
calm down the spirits, to relieve the pain, and to raise hopes in a more serene future. The authority of God
is the strongest authority to the majority of people, and the truth value of His words, expressed in the Holy
Bible, is hardly ever questioned. Therefore, they are considered metaphysical truths and are taken for
granted: there is no need for the locutor to provide any other earthly or logical explanation.

Literary Quotations:
The good poets and writers of fiction have long been considered among the brightest minds of the world.
Their authority in this respect is impossible to deny. Therefore, literature is a vast source of wisdom to
which people turn in their attempt to find answers in all ways of life.
Politicians too are aware of this and they sometimes use literary evidence in their argumentation. As the
ancient Greeks are the beacon of universal spiritual culture, both in terms of literature and of philosophy,
they are referred to and quoted in various public speeches. Their words are taken for granted due to various
reasons: their works are known throughout the world (the principle of fame), these works are very old and
have survived the passing of time (the principle of old age or seniority) and have also been referred to as
valuable in the majority of works along the history of the human kind. In addition to these, referring to
them is considered a sign of erudition. The same is true about any other famous writer who contributed to
the development of the spiritual culture of the world: as the spatial conceptual metaphor ERUDITION is
UP is universally present in the human brain, the practice of resorting to the words of a famous, therefore,
more credible figure, to replace one’s own words is very likely to ensure the locutor’s credibility among
listeners or readers.
Being loaded with so many positive and highly valued connotations, it is easy to understand why public
speakers resort to this rhetorical device. Robert F. Kennedy in the fragment below uses this device when he
delivers his speech on the death of Reverend Martin Luther King, who has just been assassinated.

Quotations from Unacknowledged Sources:

On many occasions, locutors choose not to provide any details about the origin of the referent text. The
reasons why they give quotations without mentioning their author are various: sometimes the referent text
is so famous among the listeners that such a detail is not necessary; other times, its author is not known to
the audience; other times, greater emphasis is laid on the quote itself as it is the informational content of the
words that counts rather than the source; some other times, however, even though the original author of the
quoted words may be known by the listeners, the locutor chooses to not popularise his name in order not to
humiliate him.

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The Arbitrariness of Truth in Public Speeches:

 A Definition of the Terms:
The title of the present section contains a euphemistic expression. In order to explain why such a
formulation sounds better than the corresponding straightforward term, lying, in what follows I will dwell
upon the dictionary definitions of the terms truth and lie.
Generally, whenever the concept of lie is referred to, the concept of truth is present in the background. This
is to say that, sociologically and philosophically, the phenomenon of lying could not exist independently of
what is called truth. Moreover, the term lie is placed not only in a relationship of semantic opposition, or
antonymy, to that of truth, but also in a temporal one to it: that of posteriority. This philosophical
dependence is deeply rooted in the archetypal collective subconscious237, thus in the mental-cognitive
mechanisms of ontological perception. What is interesting is that this opposition is only one-directional; the
concept of truth does not necessarily require a direct reference to lying. Ontologically speaking, in any
situation there could be only one truth, but the number of lies that can be made up around it is practically
infinite. This is so as truth is understood as a concept rendering the “correspondence between our
knowledge and the objective reality”; it is “a faithful representation of the objective reality in the mind”; it
refers to “that which has actually happened or actually exists”.

The Logic of Speaking and the Logic of Thinking. Logical Fallacies in

Political Speeches:
Linguistics and Logic as sciences have different objects of study. However, both language and logic share
common features. Firstly, they are both products of the human mind. Secondly, logic is articulated and
manifests itself by resorting to language. Thirdly, in everyday life a linguistic discourse that does not follow
the basic rules of logical thinking can hardly be conceived.
Despite this last feature, there are situations in which there is not a 100% overlapping between the logic of
speaking and the logic of thinking. There are people who seem very logical in what they say without this
necessarily implying fairness or correctness of thinking. There are also people whose thinking is very
logical, still they cannot express themselves accordingly.

Conclusion:
Whoever desires for his writings or himself, what none can reasonably condemn, the favor of mankind,
must add grace to strength, and make his thoughts agreeable as well as useful. Many complain of neglect
who never tried to attract regard. It cannot be expected that the patrons of science or virtue should be
solicitous to discover excellencies which they who possess them shade and disguise. Few have abilities so
much needed by the rest of the world as to be caressed on their own terms; and he that will not condescend
to recommend himself by external embellishments must submit to the fate of just sentiments meanly
expressed, and be ridiculed and forgotten before he is understood.
Good speaking depends upon more than making a collection of statements worthy of belief, because
writing is intended to be read by others, with minds different from your own. Your reader does not make
the same mental connections you make; he does not see the world exactly as you see it; he is already

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flooded daily with thousands of statements demanding assent, yet which he knows or believes to be false,
confused, or

deceptive. If your writing is to get through to him--or even to be read and considered at all--it must be
interesting, clear, persuasive, and memorable, so that he will pay attention to, understand, believe, and
remember the ideas it communicates. To fulfill these requirements successfully, your work must have an
appropriate and clear thesis, sufficient arguments and reasons supporting the thesis, a logical and
progressive arrangement, and, importantly, an effective style.

References:

http://www.wikipedia.com
http://www.slideshare.com
http://www.study.com
http://www.scribed.com

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