Purpose: Extemporaneous speech tasks provide an ecologically valid sample to examine speech acoustics, but differing methodologies exist in the literature for segmentation. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the utility and reliability of a segmentation approach for extemporaneous speech specified by systemic functional…

Argues that ideology is a type of rhetoric that escapes, rather than challenges, contradiction through the joint use of false consciousness and rational discourse. Contends that critics necessarily take an ideological position when criticizing ideology, and offers a perspective for overcoming the tendency to advance self-interest as "truth." (SR)

Identifies five features of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial that may account for its deep universal appeal. Suggests the memorial's effectiveness may recommend it as a model for contemporary anti-war rhetoric. (MS)

Explores the tension between critical rhetoric's "doxa" and a modernistic "episteme." Develops a revised conception of doxa positioned within a critical rhetoric, which is contrasted to episteme. Advances a conception of prudence (practical wisdom) that uses doxa as its underpinnings. Argues that the actions of the agent may be…

Examines the rhetorical function of the 1945 photograph of the flag raising at Iwo Jima as it is appropriated in a number of recent editorial cartoons. Builds upon rhetorical theory addressing repetitive form and visual metaphor to propose a concept of representative form. Argues that the parodied Iwo Jima image operates as an instance of…

Examines the act of protest suicide as a form of rhetoric, and studies three representative cases of protest suicide for insight into the act. Claims that viewing protest suicide as a form of "symbolic inducement," reveals it to be a rhetorical act whose motivation, form, and impact can be understood. (SKC)

Examines the emergence of social documentary photojournalism in the 1930s and its ideological implications. Examines James Agee and Walker Evans's "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" as representative of the tensions between individualism and collectivism at the heart of liberal democracy. (SR)

Argues that key documents of the Chicano movement--El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan and El Plan de Santa Barbara--can best be understood through their expression of ideographs. Suggests that these plans were deployed to secure support for the movement and to sustain a particular ideology. Suggests that the plans express the deep cultural roots of the…

Invites rhetorical critics to reappraise the way they study discreet social movements and pay isolated tribute to woman's rights figures. Examines how Mary Wollstonecraft, Margaret Fuller, and Angelina Grimke each co-opted the ideational and stylistic rhetorical characteristics of pre-existing social movements (the enlightenment,…

Presents basic research on the concept of rhetorical coherence, analyzing an actual welfare interview emersed in controversy. Suggests a pentad of criteria necessary for the achievement of rhetorical coherence. (SR)

Reviews criticism of Philip Wander's 1983 article, "The Ideological Turn in Modern Criticism." Shows how critics of Wander's "ideological criticism" subscribed to an essentialist notion of rhetoric, adopted a theory of innocent reading, and displayed unexamined prejudices about canonical texts. Urges academic rhetoricians to acknowledge that all…

Notes that the rhetoric of Frances E. Willard relied primarily on "womanhood" arguments, making her uniquely successful at promoting woman suffrage with conservative audiences. Concludes that the popularization of Willard's strategies represented a transformation of the symbolic context of the suffrage movement. Examines the implications…

Contributes to scholarship on rhetorical theory by examining the rhetorical aspects of spontaneous shrines that develop on the sites of public tragedies. Compares two contemporary shrines to private mourning rituals of the last century, revealing a common cultural metanarrative that promises continuity and certainty in a time of chaos. (SR)

Examines public address in the post-bellum South (focusing on the years 1865 to 1900) as a form of epideictic speaking, in order to illuminate both the genre and the Southern mind. (SR)

Traces the rhetorical relationship between the ritual path taken by each rhetor and the types of messages they leave behind at the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial in Washington D.C., especially in the rhetoric "as addressed" to an audience. Reveals the interplay of ritual choice and message. (MS)