Rhetorical Figures: The Argumentative “Ornament”

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Main author: Yuan, Ying
Other authors: Jiang, Yan
Format: Journal Article           
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id eprints-26444
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
topic P Language and Literature
description This essay attempts to demonstrate, via surveying 10 classics in the history of rhetoric, that “ornament” collocated with rhetorical figures is widely viewed as inventional or argumentative, especially from ancient Greece to the Renaissance. Further, 5 representative dictionaries illustrate that this term gives priority to useful function in and before the medieval time but turns increasingly aesthetic from the Enlightenment downwards. In a historical-linguistic perspective, the semantic change of “ornament” is discovered to involve two tendency types: “Narrowing” and “Pejoration”, which can be attributed to psychological or cognitive factors, cultural impact and language contact. This rectification of “ornament” justifies from etymology and history of rhetoric that rhetorical figures, deserving a fairer repute, are indeed our flashing argumentative equipment.
format Journal Article
author Yuan, Ying
author_facet Yuan, Ying
Jiang, Yan
authorStr Yuan, Ying
author_letter Yuan, Ying
author2 Jiang, Yan
author2Str Jiang, Yan
title Rhetorical Figures: The Argumentative “Ornament”
publisher Horizon Research Publishing Corporation
publishDate 2018
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/26444/

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