Rhetorical Analysis Flashcards

Flashcards covering Rhetorical Analysis lecture notes.

Exigence

The thing that inspires, stimulates, provokes, or prompts writers to create a text.

Rhetorical Situation

Consists of Exigence, Author, Audience, Context, Message, and Purpose.

SOAPS

A strategy for written analysis including Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, and Subject.

Rhetorical Strategies

The umbrella term for the use of rhetoric; speakers and writers employ these to effectively present their arguments.

Methods of Appeal

Techniques used to persuade the audience, including Ethos, Pathos, Logos, and Kairos.

Ethos

An appeal to ethics. The speaker or writer’s own image and/or reputation creates this appeal. Concerned with the speaker or writer’s trustworthiness, morals and knowledge.

Pathos

An appeal to emotion. An appeal that is created through the use of devices that evokes feelings and emotions in readers or listeners. Concerned with the audience’s emotions and prejudices.

Logos

An appeal to logic. An appeal created through the use of logic and fact (what people know or believe to be factual). Concerned with the use of evidence, data, and universal truths.

Kairos

The speaker or writer's effective use of timing: timeliness.

Claims

Statements of what the author believes to be true and intends to prove with evidence and appeals.

Diction

Author/speaker’s word choice that helps establish the tone.

Connotatively Charged Words

Positive or negative words used to create tone (the writer/speaker’s attitude about the topic) and/or mood (the feelings evoked in the reader). Associations can be emotional, cultural, and/or personal

Jargon

Language associated with a specific group or profession.

Testimonials

A statement made in support of something or someone, coming from first- or second-hand sources from what is believed to be a credible source.

Examples

References from one's own life, literature, history, the media, etc. that support a claim.

Data/Statistics

Facts and statistics collected together for reference or analysis.

Open Questions

Questions that are intended for the audience to have a detailed answer used to get the reader to ponder possibilities, make connections, or draw conclusions.

Rhetorical Questions

Questions asked without the expectation of a response, worded so that only one answer is obvious, designed to lead the listener closer to the speaker/writer’s point of view.

Hypophoric Questions

A writer/speaker raises a question and then immediately answers it.

Anecdote

A short and usually amusing personal story or experience told to make a point.

Repetition

Repeating or emphasizing certain sounds or words for effect.

Juxtaposition

A side-by-side placement of two elements for comparative purposes used to show the differences between two elements in order to convey or support an argument.

Syntax

Sentence Structure

Multi-layered Sentence

Many dependent clauses are linked to a central meaning (Complex sentences or compound-complex sentences)

Periodic Sentence

A sentence which has been deliberately structured to place the main point at the end.

Emphatic Sentence

A short sentence written among long, complicated sentences, used to draw attention to or emphasize a specific point.

Parallel Structure

Repetition of the same pattern of words or phrases for emphasis that helps organize ideas, make text/speech easier to understand, and/or create satisfying rhythm.

Anaphora

The deliberate repetition of a word or words at the beginning of a series of phrases, clauses, or sentences to appeal to the emotions of the audience in order to persuade, inspire, motivate, and encourage.

Epistrophe

The deliberate repetition of a word or words at the end of a series of phrases, clauses, or sentences. Used to appeal to the emotions of the audience in order to persuade, inspire, motivate, and encourage.

Polysyndeton

The deliberate repetition of conjunctions in phrases, clauses, or sentences to slow down the rhythm.

Asyndeton

The deliberate omission of conjunctions in phrases, clauses, or sentences.

Figurative Language

Language that goes beyond the literal meanings of the words.

Simile

A comparison between two seemingly unrelated things, using connecting words such as like or as in the comparison.

Metaphor

A comparison of two different things that seem to have no connection but actually do, that does not use connecting words like a simile does.

Hyperbole

An exaggeration or absurdity.

Litotes

An understatement used to make a point.

Paradox

The juxtaposition of a set of seemingly contradictory concepts that reveal a hidden and/or unexpected truth.

Imagery

Words or phrases that appeal to the senses and conjure up mental images by using sensory detail and/or figurative language.

Allusion

An indirect reference made to a famous person, place, or event which conjures up complex images, ideas, or emotions.

Personification

Giving human qualities or actions to something that is not human.

Irony

A figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words.

Sarcasm

Meant to mock, often with satirical or ironic remarks, with a purpose to amuse and hurt someone, or some section of society, simultaneously.