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…

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)

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)

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)

Argues that (1) Chaim Perelman's philosophy and the New Rhetoric project reflect his Jewish heritage and Talmudic habits of argument; and (2) because Perelmanian philosophy enacts Jewish and Talmudic thought, the New Rhetoric charts a "third way" between Enlightenment metaphysics and the more extreme expressions of postmodernism,…

Explains sharp inconsistencies in Edmund Burke's rhetorical abilities by exploring two distinct conceptions of rhetoric: rhetoric as an instrument of prudential reason and as an existential means of constituting oneself. Examines Burke's private correspondence to show how this struggle between rhetorical prudence and rhetorical heroism generated…

Traces the evolution of the enduring rhetorical genre of apologia from the Greek period to the present. Argues that apologia has undergone significant changes in form because its function has changed throughout history, producing five "subgenres." Examines implications for the continued feasibility of apologia, as well as the critical…

Argues that the field of rhetoric is relevant to the study of two functions of communication (transmission and influence). Asserts that the rise of communications technology has again made the study of rhetoric possible and even socially necessary. (MS)

Argues that the African-American rhetorical tradition is worthy of more consistent scholarly attention in the field of speech communication. Describes research into localized rhetoric in southern communities (Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963) as a case in point. (SR)

Finds (1) no clear instances of generic "he" in conversation but (2) that speakers use "they" as an unmarked singular generic pronoun. Finds some possibly-generic uses of "he" situates these within controversies about gender-fair references to women and men and concludes that conversational uses of "he" seem more various and complex (and perhaps…

Based on an investigation of 207 of United States Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas's opinions concerning the First Amendment, this paper argues for the existence of a rhetorical genre grounded in the jurisprudence known as "legal realism." The paper begins with an overview of the philosophy of legal realism that leads to a…

Approaches the issue of whether rhetoric and science are incompatible through a historical narrative of the speech tradition. Draws morals and applies them to the ever-emerging communication discipline. (RS)

Responds to topics addressed in several essays in the same journal issue. Explores the bias in academia against discussing the spiritual dimension of discourse. Discusses the difference between power and spirit and the sources of spirit. (SR)

Examines an approach to generic embodiments that rehistoricizes a rhetorical act once it has been identified as an instance of a particular genre. Uses Barry Goldwater's 1964 campaign rhetoric, which embodied a Jeremiad, and Ronald Reagan's subsequent recovery and revaluation of that rhetoric to illustrate the approach. (SR)