This study, entitled, "Texture and textuality in Political Discourse: A Study of Cohesive Devices in President Goodluck Jonathan's Inaugural Address-May, 2011" was an analysis of the lexical cohesive devices employed by Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan in crafting his May, 2011's Presidential Inaugural Address (PIA). Guided by the…

John Milton employs classical rhetorical techniques in "Paradise Lost" to accomplish Satan's temptation of Eve which begins on line 524 and ends with line 732 of Book 9; however, Satan's oration resembles pejorative sophistry and Milton uses Ciceronian arrangement for Satan's argument. Milton envisions Satan as a clever, cunning creature…

A study developed an analytical tool for the critiquing of FCC legal arguments in the dimensions of purpose and quality. The supposition of the study was that law is an inherently rhetorical activity. The model elaborated was a situational matrix created out of the classical typologies of rhetorical occasions and oratory: the forensic,…

Rhetorical norms of early McCarthyist discourse reveal a reliance upon images of chaos and the body. Through such metaphors, rhetors crafted a model of discussion that feminized "democracy" and "tolerance" to support anti-Communist measures and de-legitimize their opponents. Political variety was coded as deviant to national…

Building from scholarly works on persuasion and compliance-gaining, a study investigated magazine query letters that attempt to persuade an editor to buy the article offered, examining what message elements make them successful. Forty magazine editors provided copies of 100 recently accepted magazine query letters, which were compared with 50…

Analyzes the events of July 23, 1993, when Carol Moseley-Braun was involved in two rhetorical events in the United States Senate dealing with racial issues and the rhetorical culture of the Senate. Concludes that the reactions are as telling as the actions, revealing a United States Senate fundamentally unprepared for such a subject and such a…

Maintains that all rhetoric is "loaded" connotatively, that such loading is neither ethical nor unethical, and that it ought to be used purposefully; revised version of a paper presented at annual convention of National Council of Teachers of English (Atlanta, November 28, 1970). (Editor/RD)

This paper examines and explains the elements of the paranoid style in rhetoric (first noted by Richard Hofstader in 1966) employed by Leonard Jeffries, Chairman of the Black Studies Department at City College of New York, in his July 1991 speech at the Empire State Black Arts and Cultural Festival in Albany, New York. The paper also suggests that…

This paper discusses the rhetoric of American educators to show that rhetorical analyses can be used to highlight assumed concepts and values within educators' discourses, policies, and practices, and to suggest that greater awareness of their rhetoric can help educators make their communications congruent with their purposes. The paper describes…

Examines structuralist, phenomenological, and constructivist views of discourse and applies them to rhetorical criticism. Structuralist criticism analyzes elements of the text and their interrelationships; phenomenological criticism stresses the influence of the situation on discourse; and constructivist criticism incorporates both methods,…

While little attention has been given in historiography to the language of historical narrative, and the role language plays in portraying history, the discipline of linguistics, and particularly the subdisciplines of discourse analysis and functional linguistics, have given increasing attention to the discourse of history. Recently, a group of…

Describes a method for helping students evaluate ethical issues in a systematic way, based on Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development. Recommends the case-study approach for creating social constructs in which students face ethical dilemmas, and outlines a case-study ethics unit using Kohlberg's model. (MM)

An analysis of scholarly publications in applied linguistics focuses on the use of such publications as "dialogue" between applied linguists to promote social responsibility in the application of their work. A review of 40 citations representing 63 papers is presented and results are discussed. Common strategies found for dispelling misconceptions…

A discourse technique, re-framing a dispute in terms favorable to the speaker, is discussed as it has implications for lawyering and legal education. Literature on this approach to argument is reviewed, addressing such issues as constructive and destructive forms and avoidance of confrontation; and several discourse models are outlined. The…