American Rhetoric: Rhetorical Devices in Sound

Rhetorical Figures in Sound is a compendium of 200+ brief audio (mp3) clips illustrating 40 different figures of speech. Most of these figures were constructed, identified, and classified by Greek and Roman teachers of rhetoric in the Classical period. For each rhetorical device, definitions and examples, written and audio, are provided. Audio examples are taken from public speeches and sermons, movies, songs, lectures, oral interpretations of literature, and other media events. Some artifacts have been edited further to make the devices easier to detect. In the interest of diversity, I have included a range of voices and perspectives.

A webliography below indicates source material for the terms and their definitions.

Material in audio and streaming video formats requires a digital-audio player. If necessary, click on one of icons below for a free player.

Primary Sources: Terms & Definitions

Bullinger, E.W. (1968). Figures of speech used in the Bible. Baker Books: Grand Rapids, MI.

Corbett, E.P. & Connors, R.J. (1999). Classical rhetoric for the modern student (4th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

Harris, R. (2003). A handbook of rhetorical devices. Retrieved April 16 2003, from http://www.virtualsalt.com/rhetoric.htm

Lanham, R.A. (1991). A handlist of rhetorical terms (2nd ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press.

Young, G. (2003). Silva rhetoricae. Retrieved April 16 2003, from Brigham Young University website: http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/silva.htm

Audio References

http://www.audiobible.com

http://WavCentral.com

http://www.moviesounds.com

http://www.historychannel.com/

http://lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/audiofiles.html

http://www.ashbrook.org/events/lecture/

http://www.dailywav.com

http://www.earthstation1.com/

http://www.historyplace.com/

http://www.pbs.org/

http://www.loc.gov/

Alliteration	Allusion	Anadiplosis	Analogy
Anaphora	Anesis	Antimetabole	Antithesis
Aposiopesis	Appositio	Assonance	Asyndeton
Catachresis	Climax	Conduplicatio	Diacope
Distinctio	Enthymeme	Enumeratio	Epanalepsis
Epistrophe	Epitheton	Epizeuxis	Euphemismos
Exemplum	Expletive	Hyperbole	Hypophora
Metaphor	Oxymoron	Paradox	Parallelism
Personification	Polysyndeton	Rhetorical Question	Scesis Onomaton
Sententia	Simile	Symploce	Synecdoche

Rhetorical Figure of the Moment

Asyndeton: Figure of omission in which normally occurring conjunctions (and, or, but, for, nor, so, yet) are intentionally omitted in successive phrases, or clauses; a string of words not separated by normally occurring conjunctions.

"This is of course the big event of show business and the atmosphere here is pure electricity. But as a television show, it does tend to go slightly "off the boil," particularly as we drift into the third and fourth hour. What can we do about it? Firstly, winners, when you make your speech, it's a good tip to remember the three Gs: Be Gracious, be Grateful, Get off."

-- Paul Hogan, Remarks at the 59th Annual Academy Awards

Flash Figures in Sound

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