Definition of rhetoric - What it is, Meaning and Concept

The rhetoric is the discipline that studies and systematizes the language used in the different fields of knowledge (such as natural sciences, narratology, political sciences and educational sciences), allowing The communication in each field achieves the objectives that are proposed, both communicative and aesthetic.

This discipline allows that in each field the language used (either oral or written) allows the simple association of concepts and, at the same time, that meets the three fundamental requirements of communication: delight, move and persuade .

It is said that the rhetoric is "the art of good saying" or also "the technical ability to express itself in the proper way" since it has a system of resources that serves for the discursive construction and enrichment of the message .The elements used in the speech, in turn, are closely related to each other.

It is important to clarify that the rhetoric does not only study the effectiveness of communication, but also the aesthetic aspects of it .This means that, from the point of view of the rhetoric, the speech seeks something more than the simple act of communicating.

The basis of the current rhetoric is based on the structure imposed by the ancient Greeks.For them, the composition of the speech consisted of two major phases: the invention ( He analyzed the contents of a preset repertoire-which could be in his memory or belong to society in general-and established them as contents of his speech) and the device (the way in which organized those contents).At the same time, they structured the discourse into four parts: the exordium (the initial part that tried to get the attention of the listener and present the structuring of the contents), the narratio (the exposition of the subject and the thesis), the argumentatio (the presentation of the reasons that supported the thesis) and the peroratio (the summary of what was said ).

What are the Rhetorical Figures?

Those resources that allow to alter the syntax to give a certain meaning to the statement are known as rhetorical figures.They serve to divert the interlocutor to a figurative sense of what is being expressed, preventing it from focusing in the literal sense or in the real order of the words.

There are four types of Rhetorical Figures.

Diction Figures : by altering the composition of words or phrases a certain effect can be achieved in the interlocutor.The diction figures can be of transformation or metaplasms (the words are changed and not the meanings), of repetition (the repetition of certain words is used in the same speech), of omission (certain elements are eliminated) and of position (certain elements are changed within the same sentence).

Tropes : one expression is replaced by another to give it a figurative meaning to the sentence.Among the best known tropes are the metaphor (a comparison in which the comparative element is not named), the allegory (representation of an idea using human, animal or everyday objects), the hyperbole (exaggeration of the truth to give it a weight m ayor or less than it actually has), the emphasis (use of a term in a specific and restricted sense) and the irony (expression that allows us to understand otherwise to what is being said).

Repeating figures : through the repetition of a sound, word or sentence, the message can be given a certain weight.Among the best known figures are the alliteration (the same sound is repeated to cause a certain sensation), the concatenation (repetition of words that are united in the speech to give a certain rhythm or color to it) and the epiphora (repeats a word that has already been used in the speech to close the paragraph causing a certain impression).

Construction Figures : consists of add or remove certain words or sounds to the speech without causing a break in the sense.One of the best known is the repetition , which can be used at different times of speech to emphasize and achieve that the interlocutor understands the meaning of the message, through the constant repetition of certain discursive terms and structures.