Weekly Vocabulary Assignments Due Thursday
Vocabulary Quizzes are Every Friday
Rhetorical Terms and Figures of Speech
*The rhetorical terms vocab test will be split up
ad hominum- euphemism
ethos-oxymoron
paradigm-zeugma
cumulative
Quizzes and test will contain definitions and examples
Ad hominum- The character attack. Logicians and the argument-averse consider it a bad thing, but in rhetoric it’s a necessity
2. Alliteration- Repetition of an initial consonant sound. This is a sound device.
3. Allusion- A brief, usually indirect reference to a person, place, or event, real or fictional
4. Anadiplosis- A figure that builds one thought on top of another by taking the last word of the clause and using it to begin the next clause. ("Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."(Yoda in Star Wars)
5. Analogy- Reasoning or explaining from parallel cases. A simile is an expressed analogy; a metaphor is an implied one. Adjective: analogous.
6. Anaphora- A figure that repeats the first word in succeeding phrases or clauses. It works best in an emotional address before a crowd. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity” (A Tale of Two Cities)
7. Anthropomorphism- A logical fallacy-it attributes human traits to a non-human creature or object. Common to owners of pets.
8. Anticlimax- an abrupt shift from a noble tone to a less exalted one—often for comic effect.
9. Antithesis- The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases. (Juxtaposition is when ideas or images are placed side by side, especially for comparison or contrast.)
10. Aporia- Doubt or ignorance-feigned or real-used as a rhetorical device
11. Apostrophe- Breaking off discourse to address some absent person or thing, some abstract quality, an inanimate object, or nonexistent character
12. Assonance- similarity in sound between internal vowels in neighboring words. Ex: She slipped into the cool pool.
13. Begging the question- Logicians know this as the fallacy of circular argument, or tautology. In common usage it refers to speech that leaves out a beginning explanation.
14. Chiasmus- The crisscross figure (“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country”.)
15. Circumlocution- Talking around an issue to get to the point.
16. Concessio- Concession. You seem to agree with your opponent’s point, only to use it to your advantage.
17. Connotation- The emotional implications and associations that a word may carry.
18. Deliberative rhetoric- One of three types of rhetorical persuasion (the other two are forensic and demonstrative). Deliberative rhetoric deals with arguments about choices. It concerns itself with matters that affect the future; its chief topic, according to Aristotle, is the “advantageous”---what’s best for the family, community, company, or country. Without deliberative rhetoric, democracy is impossible.
19. Demonstrative rhetoric- Persuasion that deals with values which bring a group together. It usually focuses on matters in the present, and its chief topic is right versus wrong. This is the language of sermons, funeral speeches, and national anthems.
20. Denotation- The direct or dictionary meaning of a word, in contrast to its figurative or associated meanings.
21. Dialectic- The purely logical debate of philosophers. Its purpose is to discover truth through dialogue. Logical fallacies are forbidden in dialectic, but allowed in rhetoric.
22. Enthymeme- Taking a commonly accepted premise and linking it to a conclusion. For instance, “Girls like guys who can dance. You should learn to dance.” A small piece of logic.
23. Equivocation- This appears to say one thing while meaning the opposite, and it occurs when a word has multiple meanings.24. Eristic- A competitive argument for the sake of argument.
25. Euphemism: The substitution of an inoffensive term for one considered offensively explicit. Ex: “passed on” instead of “died”
26. Ethos- Argument by character, one of three “appeals” (along with pathos and logos).
27. Example- The foundation of inductive logic. Aristotle listed three kinds: fact, comparison, and fable (story).
28. Fable- A short narrative meant to teach a moral lesson.
29. Forensic (legal) rhetoric- Argument that determines guilt or innocence. It focuses on the past.
30. Hyperbole: An extravagant statement; the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect. This is often used in humor.
31. Hypophora- A figure that asks a
rhetorical question and then immediately answers it. The hypophora allows you
to anticipate an audience’s skepticism and nip it in the bud. EX: "What makes a king out of a slave? Courage! What
makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage! What makes the elephant charge his
tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his
musk? Courage!"
(The Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, 1939)
32. Idiom- Inseparable words with a single meaning. (It’s Greek to me; the whole ball of wax; in a pickle; quit cold turkey)
33. Innuendo- The technique of planting negative ideas in the audience’s head.
34. Irony: The use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning. A statement or situation where the meaning is contradicted by the appearance or presentation of the idea.
35. Jeremiad- Prophesy of doom.
36. Litotes- The figure of ironic understatement, usually negative. (For instance, Queen Elizabeth II gave a speech about the year in which three of her children were divorced or separated and in which there was a serious fire at Windsor Castle by saying ,“…1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure.”)
37. Logos- Argument by logic (see ethos and pathos)
38. Metaphor- A figure that makes something represent something else.
39. Metastasis- A figure of thought that slips over an awkward matter. (“Traffic was horrible. I got in a little fender bender, no big deal, but I got you that shirt you wanted.”)
40. Metonymy- This makes a part stand for a whole, and vice versa. (“The White House is against that bill.”)
41. Neologism- A new word.
42. Non sequitor- Something that literally does not follow. It is a logical fallacy.
43. Onomatopoeia- This figure imitates a sound to name a sound (“Boom!”)
44. Oxymoron: A figure of speech in which incongruous or contradictory terms appear side by side.
45. Paradigm- A rule that follows from examples.46. Parable: a short and simple story that illustrates a lesson
47. Paradox- A statement that contradicts itself and yet seems true. (For instance, Oscar Wilde’s statement, “I can resist anything except tempation.”)
48. Parallelism- Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.
49. Pathos- Argument by emotion (see ethos and logos).
50. Persona- Voice or mask that an author or speaker or performer puts on for a particular purpose.
51. Personification- A figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstraction is endowed with human qualities or abilities.
52. Post hoc ergo propter hoc- A happened before B; therefore, A caused B.
53. Proverb- Short, pithy statement of a general truth, one that condenses common experience into memorable form.
54. Pun- A play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words.
55. Red herring- The fallacy of distraction. This is often used in detective novels; both the detective and the reader are distracted by a clue that leads nowhere, usually causing them to suspect the wrong individual.
56. Reductio ad absurdism- Taking an opponent’s argument to its illogical conclusion. This is a fallacy in formal logic, but an effective tool in rhetoric.
57. Rhetoric- The art of persuasion.
58. Simile- A stated comparison (usually formed with “like’ or “as”) between two fundamentally dissimilar things that have certain qualities in common.
59. Slippery slope- The fallacy of dire consequences. It assumes that one choice will necessarily lead to a cascading series of bad consequences.
60. Straw man fallacy- instead of dealing with the actual issue, it attacks a weaker version of the argument.
61. Syncrisis- A figure that reframes an argument by redefining it. “Not manipulation. Instruction.”
62. Synechdoche- This substitutes a part for a whole (“All hands on deck!”) It is a form of metonymy.
63. Trope- Rhetorical device that produces a shift in the meaning of words--traditionally contrasted with a scheme, which changes only the shape of a phrase.
64. Understatement- A figure of speech in which the writer or speaker deliberately makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is (see litotes).
65. Zeugma- Use of a word to modify or govern two or more words although its use may be grammatically or logically correct with only one.
