Glossary
From RhetorClick
Contents |
A-D
- Adumbration: the act of providing vague advance indications of a concept to come; also known as "prefiguration" (see Burke, Kenneth "Definition of Man")
- Aesthetics: study of the mind and emotions in relation to the sense of beauty (see Perelman, Chaïm "The New Rhetoric: A Theory of Practical Reasoning")
- Affective fallacy: coined by Wimsatt and Berdsley, the mistake of confusing a rhetorical artifact with its result; evaluating literature by its affect on the reader (see Richards, I.A. "How to Read a Page")
- Agency: the ability to act and communicate (See Moeller, Ryan and David Christensen "System Mapping: A Genre Field Analysis of the National Science Foundation's Grant Proposal and Funding Process")
- Aleatoric: chaotic; random; according to chance (see Ede, Lisa S. and Andrea A. Lunsford "On Distinctions between Classical and Modern Rhetoric")
- Ancillary: providing necessary but secondary support to an organization, institution, or industry (see Burke, Kenneth "Definition of Man")
- Animism: the spiritual belief, subscribed to by Aristotle, that all objects have souls (see Ede, Lisa S. and Andrea A. Lunsford "On Distinctions between Classical and Modern Rhetoric")
- Antistrophos: counterpart; opposite companion (see Ede, Lisa S. and Andrea A. Lunsford "On Distinctions between Classical and Modern Rhetoric")
- Antithetical: in direct and unequivocal opposition (see Saussure, Ferdinand de "Nature of the Linguistic Sign")
- Antilogy: a contradiction in terms or ideas (see Perelman, Chaïm "The New Rhetoric: A Theory of Practical Reasoning")
- Aphorism: a pithy observation that contains a general truth(see Foucault, Michel "What Is an Author?")
- Apodictic philosophy: something demonstrated therefore true (see Perelman, Chaïm "The New Rhetoric: A Theory of Practical Reasoning")
- Architectonic: productive, a mode of learning rather than merely observation (see McKeon, Richard “The Uses of Rhetoric in a Technological Age: Architectonic Productive Arts”])
- Articulation: a connection or linking of parts to form a unity. (see Hea, Amy C. Kimme "Riding The Wave")
- Articulation Theory: is well-suited to examinations of technology because it addresses a range of cultural concerns manifest in the design, development, production, circulation, and consumption of technologies. (see Hea, Amy C. Kimme "Riding The Wave")
- Axiological: relating to the study of values (see “The Cultural Role of Rhetoric” by Richard Weaver)
- Axiom: a self-evident truth that requires no proof (see Perelman, Chaïm "The New Rhetoric: A Theory of Practical Reasoning")
- Backing: in the Toulmin Model of Argument, a fact or set of facts that support an argument's warrant (see Toulmin, Stephen "The Layout of Arguments")
- Bombast: pretentious or inflated speech or writing
- Bricolage: in art or literature, construction or creation from a diverse range of available things (see April 5 Class Notes)
- Canonical: accepted as being accurate and authoritative (see Foucault, Michel "What Is an Author?")
- Casuistry: the practice of applying general moral principles to specific cases; also known as case ethics (see Toulmin, Stephen "The Layout of Arguments"; Casuistry)
- Categorical imperative: the philosophical concept proposed by Immanuel Kant that moral obligations are binding in all circumstances, regardless of positive or negative consequences (see Perelman, Chaïm "The New Rhetoric: A Theory of Practical Reasoning")
- Chariot allegory: Socrates compares the soul to chariot horses and their rider. He believes the soul (chariot rider) is immortal and consists of one good horse and one bad horse. The soul is in constant struggle balancing and choosing between the two horses. Through the good soul only, the chariot can make it to eternity or heaven (see “The Cultural Role of Rhetoric” by Richard Weaver)
- Classical rhetoric: theory of persuasive discourse (see Perelman, Chaïm "The New Rhetoric: A Theory of Practical Reasoning")
- Close reading: meticulous, word-level interpretation, rather than general analysis; has greatly influenced modern criticism (see Richards, I.A. "How to Read a Page")
- Compendia: a brief summary of a larger work or of a field of knowledge (see Ede, Lisa S. and Andrea A. Lunsford "On Distinctions between Classical and Modern Rhetoric")
- Comprehensive Sampling: small enough to code every item (see Blythe, Stuart "Coding Digital Texts and Multimedia")
- Constraints: The elements that affect the rhetorical response to exigence. (see Bitzer, Lloyd "The Rhetorical Situation")
- Continuum: a continuous spectrum; a sequence in which the extremes are quite distinct while individual adjacent elements are similar (see Burke, Kenneth "Definition of Man")
- Convenience Sampling: readily available item(s) with little credibility alone (see Blythe, Stuart "Coding Digital Texts and Multimedia")
- Criterion Sampling: texts meet certain criteria such as textual features, author attributes, intended audience, or types of media (see Blythe, Stuart "Coding Digital Texts and Multimedia")
- Data coding: the act of sorting and classifying artifacts to quantitatively assess certain aspects of it; a five-step process including identifying a set of artifacts, defining a unit to be analyzed, creating codes to classify instances of that unit, testing the reliability of the work, and publicizing results (see Blythe, Stuart "Coding Digital Texts and Multimedia")
- Death of the Author: Roland Barthe's essay argues that the author's personal background should be irrelevant to interpretation of his or her writing; the concept proposed in the essay (see Barthes, Roland "Death of the Author")
- Deictic: denoting a word or expression whose meaning is dependent on the context in which it is used (see Foucault, Michel "What Is an Author?")
- Diachronic: relating to phenomena, often literary or cultural, as they occur or change over a period of time (see Saussure, Ferdinand de "Nature of the Linguistic Sign")
- Dialectic: two-sided dialogue, formal argumentation system, conversation (see Ede, Lisa S. and Andrea A. Lunsford "On Distinctions between Classical and Modern Rhetoric")
- Dialectical reasoning: moving back and forth between contrary lines of reasoning examing both arguments (see Perelman, Chaïm "The New Rhetoric: A Theory of Practical Reasoning")
- Dialogic: interpretation or understanding of a text based on an interpretation or understanding of other related texts (see Bakhtin, Mikhail "Toward a Methodology for the Human Sciences")
- Dispositio: the system used for the organization of arguments in Western classical rhetoric (see Ede, Lisa S. and Andrea A. Lunsford "On Distinctions between Classical and Modern Rhetoric")
- Doxa: constantly evolving day-to-day knowledge; "popular belief" (see Ede, Lisa S. and Andrea A. Lunsford "On Distinctions between Classical and Modern Rhetoric")
E-H
- Ecriture: the idea that a text's author becomes a "transcendental anonymity"; the French word for "writing"(see Foucault, Michel "What Is an Author?")
- Elocutio: the mastery of stylistic elements in Western classical rhetoric and comes from the Latin loqui, "to speak" (see Burke, Kenneth "Definition of Man")
- Endoxa: commonly held knowledge among a community and its leaders; a more reliable counterpart of doxa
- Entelechy: a realization or actuality as opposed to a potentiality; the actualization of form-giving cause as contrasted with potential existence (see Burke, Kenneth "Definition of Man")
- Enthymeme: abbreviated form of a syllogism which assumes one of two premises is a given (see Ede, Lisa S. and Andrea A. Lunsford "On Distinctions between Classical and Modern Rhetoric")
- Episteme: knowledge of the absolute, eternal truth (see Ede, Lisa S. and Andrea A. Lunsford "On Distinctions between Classical and Modern Rhetoric", Plato, Sophism , Aristotle, )
- Esperanto: an artificial international language based as far as possible on words common to the chief European languages (see Saussure, Ferdinand de "Nature of the Linguistic Sign")
- Ethos: the persuasive appeal of one's character, credibility, or apparent trustworthiness, especially how this character is established by means of speech or discourse (see Ede, Lisa S. and Andrea A. Lunsford "On Distinctions between Classical and Modern Rhetoric"
- Etymology: the study of the history of words and their evolution over time (see Burke, Kenneth "Definition of Man")
- Evidentials: a form of metadiscourse used to express attitudes toward knowledge (see Blythe, Stuart "Coding Digital Texts and Multimedia")
- Existentialism: a philosophical theory emphasizing the individual as a free and responsible agent determining his or her own development through acts of the will (see Perelman, Chaïm "The New Rhetoric: A Theory of Practical Reasoning")
- Exegesis: interpretation of a text often exploring its historical context and seeking to identify its cultural significance (see Foucault, Michel "What Is an Author?"
- Exigence: A problem that needs to be addressed and resolved by rhetoric. (see Bitzer, Lloyd "The Rhetorical Situation")
- Exordium: the introduction, especially of a discourse or treatise (see Perelman, Chaïm "The New Rhetoric: A Theory of Practical Reasoning")
- Fallacious: containing or based on a fallacy (see “The Cultural Role of Rhetoric” by Richard Weaver)
- Forensic speaking: use of rhetoric to attack or defend someone in a judicial setting; defined by Aristotle as one of three forms of rhetoric (see Perelman, Chaïm "The New Rhetoric: A Theory of Practical Reasoning")
- Gaze: to see, accidentally or on purpose, behind the curtain of public disclosure and into the private lives of research subjects. (see Sidler, Michelle "Playing Scavenger and Gazer with Scientific Discourse: Opportunities and Ethics for Online Research")
- Genre: a continuous and structured activity; anything that a large group of people do similarly (see Moeller, Ryan and David Christensen "System Mapping: A Genre Field Analysis of the National Science Foundation's Grant Proposal and Funding Process" )
- Genre agents: documents and websites which offer key information involved in the genre process (see Moeller, Ryan and David Christensen "System Mapping: A Genre Field Analysis of the National Science Foundation's Grant Proposal and Funding Process" )
- Genre field: everything that goes into making a genre (see Moeller, Ryan and David Christensen "System Mapping: A Genre Field Analysis of the National Science Foundation's Grant Proposal and Funding Process")
- Heteroglossia: the qualities of a language (such as ideology, perspective, etc.) that are extralinguistic but common to all languages (see The Dialogic Imagination)
- Historicity: the shared historical foundation underlying cultures and texts (see Weaver, Richard "The Cultural Role of Rhetoric)
- Homonymy: the relation between two words that are spelled the same way but differ in meaning (see Foucault, Michel "What Is an Author?")
- Hypertext: non-sequential, often digital, writing; writing "in which the logical connections between elements are primarily associative rather than syllogistic" (see Slatin, John M. "Reading Hypertext: Order and Coherence in a New Medium")
I-L
- Intentional fallacy: the concept that an author's words alone, not intent, should be examined because an author's mind can never be truly known (see Richards, I.A. "How to Read a Page")
- Interpretant: how a person perceives a sign or representation (see Triadic signs)
- Inter-textual variations: differences in the way texts are structured through alphanumeric cues (headings and numbers), spatial cues (horizontal and vertical distribution of text) and graphic cues (bullets, arrows, lines, etc.) (see Rhetoric of Text)
- Intra-textual variations: changes in typography and design within a document (see Rhetoric of Text)
- Inventio: the system or method used for the discovery of arguments in Western rhetoric (see Ede, Lisa S. and Andrea A. Lunsford "On Distinctions between Classical and Modern Rhetoric")
- Isomorphous: being of identical or similar form, shape, or structure (see Bakhtin, Mikhail "Toward a Methodology for the Human Sciences")
- Instrumental value judgment: an argument that uses values as a means to alread accepted ends, or as obstacles to their attainment (see Perelman, Chaïm "The New Rhetoric: A Theory of Practical Reasoning")
- Intuitionism: the theory that primary truths and principles, especially those of ethics and metaphysics, are known through intuition rather than learning (see Perelman, Chaïm "The New Rhetoric: A Theory of Practical Reasoning")
- Kairos: the oportune time and/or place; the right or appropriate time to say or do the right thing (see Sophism, Aristotle, Isocrates, Kairos
- Krisis: point of judgment, moment of decision (see Ede, Lisa S. and Andrea A. Lunsford "On Distinctions between Classical and Modern Rhetoric")
- Langue: the underlying structures of a language, which are time-ignorant and related to synchronic linguistics (see Saussure, Ferdinand de "Nature of the Linguistic Sign")
- Latent content: content that is subjective or relevant because of its implied, rather than immediately apparent, meaning (see Blythe, Stuart "Coding Digital Texts and Multimedia")
- Lexia: parts of a text that are separated from the meaning of the work as a whole to show the multiplicity of meaning and references
- Logology: study of language and symbols (see Burke, Kenneth "Definition of Man")
- Logomachies: a dispute over or about words
- Logos: the logical appeal that attempts to persuade the audience using intellect and reason (Persuasive appeals: Ede, Lisa S. and Andrea A. Lunsford "On Distinctions between Classical and Modern Rhetoric")
- Logical empiricism: the school of philosophy that combines empiricism (the idea that observational evidence is indispensable for knowledge of the world) with a version of rationalism incorporating mathematical and logico-linguistic constructs (see Perelman, Chaïm "The New Rhetoric: A Theory of Practical Reasoning")
M-P
- Manifest Content: observable in a text, easy to spot, measured quantitatively (see Blythe, Stuart "Coding Digital Texts and Multimedia")
- Method: procedures and techniques, such as content, discourse, and genre analysis (see Blythe, Stuart "Coding Digital Texts and Multimedia")
- Methodology: assumptions and theories; “the underlying theory and analysis of how research does or should proceed” – Kirsch and Sullivan (see Blythe, Stuart "Coding Digital Texts and Multimedia")
- Modal Qualifiers: terms such as "probably" and "presumably," which indicate an author's level of certainty (see Toulmin, Stephen "The Layout of Arguments")
- Monologism: interpretation of a text without relation to other influencing texts (see Bakhtin, Mikhail "Toward a Methodology for the Human Sciences"
- Monotonic reasoning: reasoning in which adding new information does not change the outcome (e.g., "Socrates has brown hair" does not change the outcome of the example syllogism "Socrates is a man; all men are mortal; therefore, Socrates is mortal") (see Toulmin, Stephen "The Layout of Arguments")
- Natura naturans: nature doing what nature does (see Bakhtin, Mikhail "Toward a Methodology for the Human Sciences")
- Natura naurata: nature already created (see Bakhtin, Mikhail "Toward a Methodology for the Human Sciences")
- New Criticism: a movement that viewed texts as completely autonomous (see Richards, I.A. "How to Read a Page")
- New Rhetoric: theory of argumentation (See Perelman, Chaïm "The New Rhetoric: A Theory of Practical Reasoning")
- Node: any object which is linked to another object (see Slatin, John M. "Reading Hypertext: Order and Coherence in a New Medium")
- Nominalism: the belief that universals are mere names without any reality (see “The Cultural Role of Rhetoric” by Richard Weaver)
- Non-monotonic reasoning: reasoning in which adding new information changes the outcome (see Toulmin, Stephen "The Layout of Arguments")
- Nonverbal units: physical communication such as gestures and facial expressions or characteristics of speech such as volume, pitch, and speed (see Blythe, Stuart "Coding Digital Texts and Multimedia")
- Narrative paradigm: Walter Fisher's theory that all forms of communication are a type of storytelling and that all human experience evolves as a type of "narrative"; contrast to the "Rational World Paradigm" (see Fisher, Walter "Narration as a Human Communication Paradigm")
- Organon: an instrument for acquiring knowledge; specifically, a body of principles of scientific or philosophic investigation (see Ede, Lisa S. and Andrea A. Lunsford "On Distinctions between Classical and Modern Rhetoric")
- Orthographic: a projection of a single view of an object onto a drawing surface in which the lines of projection are perpendicular to the drawing surface (see Saussure, Ferdinand de "Nature of the Linguistic Sign")
- Parlance: a particular way of speaking, especially a way common to those with a particular job or interest (see Burke, Kenneth "Definition of Man")
- Paradeigma: use of example or anecdotal evidence to prove a point (see Ede, Lisa S. and Andrea A. Lunsford "On Distinctions between Classical and Modern Rhetoric")
- Parole: the use of language, which is time-conscious and related to diachronic linguistics (see Saussure, Ferdinand de "Nature of the Linguistic Sign")
- Pathos: the appeal to emotion and shared values; often used in advertising and thought to be manipulative but also extremely effective (Persuasive appeals: Ede, Lisa S. and Andrea A. Lunsford "On Distinctions between Classical and Modern Rhetoric"
- Pejorative: a word or phrase that has negative connotations or that is intended to disparage or belittle (see Ede, Lisa S. and Andrea A. Lunsford "On Distinctions between Classical and Modern Rhetoric")
- Perennial: continuing without interruption (see Burke, Kenneth "Definition of Man")
- Phoneme: a unit of the phonetic system of a language that corresponds to a set of similar speech sounds perceived to be a single distinctive sound in the language (e.g., the velar \k\ of cool and the palatal \k\ of keel) (see Saussure, Ferdinand de "Nature of the Linguistic Sign")
- Pisteis: proofs, persuasive appeals: (logos, ethos, pathos); artistic (logical, logos, nonlogical, ethos and pathos) and inartistic (tangible evidence) (see "On Distinctions between Classical and Modern Rhetoric" by Andrea A. Lunsford and Lisa S. Ede)
- Play theory: the theory that any and all activities have rules, specific outcomes, and some sort of strategy to win (See Moeller, Ryan and David Christensen "System Mapping: A Genre Field Analysis of the National Science Foundation's Grant Proposal and Funding Process" )
- Player agents: people involved in the process of play theory (See Moeller, Ryan and David Christensen "System Mapping: A Genre Field Analysis of the National Science Foundation's Grant Proposal and Funding Process" )
- Poeis: fine arts (see Ede, Lisa S. and Andrea A. Lunsford "On Distinctions between Classical and Modern Rhetoric")
- Polyglossia: the hybrid nature of language (see Mikhail Bakhtin and The Dialogic Imagination
- Positivist empiricism: emphasizes role of experience and evidence especially sensory perception (see Perelman, Chaïm "The New Rhetoric: A Theory of Practical Reasoning")
- Priori: relating to or derived by reasoning from self-evident propositions (see Saussure, Ferdinand de "Nature of the Linguistic Sign")
- Promulgation: making known by open declaration; proclaiming formally or put into operation (as in a law, decree of a court, etc.) (see Burke, Kenneth "Definition of Man")
- Proofs: Justification, reasoning, argumentation. (see Perelman, Chaïm "The New Rhetoric: A Theory of Practical Reasoning")
Q-T
- Random sampling: the process of collecting data by assigning a number to each element in the overall set, then use a random number generator to select units of data from the set (see Blythe, Stuart "Coding Digital Texts and Multimedia")
- Rationalism: the theory that truth is intellectual, not sensory, and can only be known through deductive reasoning (see Perelman, Chaïm "The New Rhetoric: A Theory of Practical Reasoning")
- Rationalistic idealism: the theory that a criterion of truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive (see Perelman, Chaïm "The New Rhetoric: A Theory of Practical Reasoning")
- Rediscovering: the effects of analogy or isomorphism with current forms of knowledge that allow the perception of forgotten or obscured figures (See Foucault, Michel "What Is an Author?")
- Replicability: in research, the ability of others to yield the same or similar results as those in a completed study (see Rickly, Rebecca "Messy Contexts: Research as a Rhetorical Situation")
- Representamen: the object that something, often a sign, represents, creating in the mind an equivalent sign, or perhaps a more developed sign (see Triadic signs)
- Rhetoric: (see Definitions of Rhetoric)
- Rhetorical Situation: the context of a rhetorical event that consists of an issue, an audience, and a set of constraints. Two leading views of the rhetorical situation exist today. One argues that a situation determines and brings about rhetoric, while the other proposes that rhetoric creates “situations” by making issues salient. (see Lloyd Bitzer, Richard Vatz, Rhetorical Situation Wikipedia)
- Rhetorical units: equivalent texts or portions of texts with the same author, intended audience, and purpose (see Blythe, Stuart "Coding Digital Texts and Multimedia")
- Salience: The emphasis of value in certain events and aspects that the rhetor decides. (see Vatz, Richard "The Myth of the Rhetorical Situation)
- Semantic: of or relating to meaning in language (see Bakhtin, Mikhail "Toward a Methodology for the Human Sciences")
- Semiology: the study of signs (see Saussure, Ferdinand de "Nature of the Linguistic Sign")
- Signified: the mental concept of an object being represented by a word or sign (see Saussure, Ferdinand de "Nature of the Linguistic Sign")
- Signifier: the material (or physical form) of the sign (see Saussure, Ferdinand de "Nature of the Linguistic Sign")
- Spatiotemporal: belonging to both space and time or to space-time (see “The Cultural Role of Rhetoric” by Richard Weaver)
- Syllogism: a logical, deductive conclusion drawn from two related premises (see Ede, Lisa S. and Andrea A. Lunsford "On Distinctions between Classical and Modern Rhetoric")
- Supra-textual structuring: visual cues that create coherence between elements of a document, e.g., headers, indentation, page orientation, white space, placement of extra-textual elements such as data display and pictures, icons, page color, and lines (see Rhetoric of Text)
- Synchronic: relating to language or other phenomena at a specific period; opposite of diachronic (see Saussure, Ferdinand de "Nature of the Linguistic Sign")
- Suasory: intended to persuade (see Burke, Kenneth "Definition of Man")
- Subjectivism: the theory that that knowledge is subjective and that there is no external or objective truth (see Perelman, Chaïm "The New Rhetoric: A Theory of Practical Reasoning")
- T-units: “consist of a principle clause and any subordinate clauses or non-clausal structures attached to or embedded in it” – Geisler (see Blythe, Stuart "Coding Digital Texts and Multimedia")
- Tautology: the use of different words to say the same thing twice; a statement that is true because of its logical form (see Perelman, Chaïm "The New Rhetoric: A Theory of Practical Reasoning")
- Techne: an art or craft, rather than a knack (see Ede, Lisa S. and Andrea A. Lunsford "On Distinctions between Classical and Modern Rhetoric")
- Telos: an ultimate end (see Burke, Kenneth "Definition of Man")
- Trivium: an introductory curriculum at medieval universities involving the study of grammar, rhetoric, and logic (see Bryant, Donald C. "Rhetoric: Its Functions and Its Scope")
- Tropism: growth toward or away from external stimulus (see Burke, Kenneth "Definition of Man")
U-Z
- Validity: in research, the ability of data to answer the question being studied (see Rickly, Rebecca "Messy Contexts: Research as a Rhetorical Situation")
- Verbal units: words, phrases, and clauses that help identify how an author orients a reader to other phenomena (see Blythe, Stuart "Coding Digital Texts and Multimedia")
- "Vir bonus dicendi peritus": "a good man speaking well"; Quintillian's definition of rhetoric as entwined with the author's moral character
- Warrant: in the Toulmin Model of Argument, an often implicit assumption that supports the inference of the claim from the data/evidence (see Toulmin, Stephen "The Layout of Arguments")
