The Story of Writing: From Classical Rhetoric to Rhetoric and Composition

Written to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the rubric “Academic Writing and Research Competences” established by the journal’s late editor-in-chief Mikhail Sapunov, the paper focuses on the origins of academic writing and traces its development in terms of rhetoric. The five stages of classical rhetoric are interpreted as five key components of academic writing: research, logic, culture, knowledge, and language. This approach helps visualize academic writing as a wholesome model composed of cognitive and linguistic elements, describe the impact of this model on the rhetorical and publishing conventions of the global academic discourse, and define the problems in knowledge construction as deviations from the model’s unity in various sociocultural contexts. The study concludes that the low quality of an academic text may result from either losing the predominance of the first two stages of rhetoric (invention and arrangement) or of the other three (style, memory, and delivery). The former signifies an ideological pressure on researchers to substitute their own rhetoric with quotes from canonized sources, whereas the latter provokes them to disregard language and style as inferior to research, because of which texts diminish in clarity. In either case, communication lacks in efficiency. The study of academic writing in the historical perspective contributes to better understanding of the latest trends in its development and elicits the problems which impede the quality of Russian scholarly and academic texts.

Classical Rhetorical Analysis on Paul’s Character in His Speech at Miletus (Acts 20:18–35)

In his speech at Miletus (Acts 20:18–25), Paul talks about himself repeatedly. Such stress on the character of Paul inevitably raises some questions regarding the function of the emphasis. This article attempts to understand the function of the emphasis on the character of Paul in the Miletus speech. The method used to analyze the speech is the classical rhetorical method. Classical rhetoric follows the convention of ancient Greco-Roman rhetoric to examine how a speech persuades the audience to act according to what the speaker intends. In studying the Miletus speech, the writer will investigate several elements from classical rhetoric, such as the rhetorical invention, with particular discussion to ethos (character), pathos (emotion), and logos (the logic of the argumentation), the rhetorical species, the rhetorical arrangement, and the rhetorical effectiveness. The main argument of this article is that the emphasis on Paul’s character functions as the basis for the accountability of Paul’s ministry and the basis for his exhortation to the elders of the Ephesian church.

A Reflection on the Digitization of Classical Rhetoric for Pedagogical Uses

In today's world, the traditional means of the dissemination of knowledge have become replaced by advanced digital platforms. This, alongside the context of the global pandemic that has propelled the usage of technological tools in the classroom, has created a conducive environment for innovative pedagogy. In this paper, a case for the digitization of classical rhetorical texts for pedagogical purposes is presented. To do this, principles of digital rhetoric are brought up followed by various examples of how the digital has been embraced (in the context of the wider principles of digital rhetoric) already in the pedagogical sphere. Finally, a potential proposal for an extension of the present work was put forward. Digitization and technology widely are the norms of our day and age. In viewing these elements from a pedagogical perspective, what can be seen is that there is an enormous opportunity not only in teaching the students that will walk through our doors but in preserving the rhetorical tradition that intrigues and fascinates the larger community of scholarship.

From Disruption to Dialog: Days of Judaism on Polish Twitter

While social media platforms afford visibility to marginalized voices and enable dissemination of alternative narratives, their own “power laws” can make few users responsible for most of the attention. New power users can redirect discussion away from those who initiate a conversation. The aim of this study is to examine relations between the network “gatekeepers” and “gatewatchers” following the announcement of the Days of Judaism celebrated by the Polish Episcopate every January. Two methodological approaches were taken over two consecutive years: social network analysis (SNA), and linguistic analysis of social media discourse. The linguistic analysis confirmed importance of classical rhetoric effects on Twitter. The social network analysis revealed that a balanced, personal statement given by users with high network standing outside of the Twittersphere can ignite constructive dialogue in the spirit of the inter-religious exchange that the idea behind Days of Judaism stands for. Our conclusion is that a careful social media policy of the Church, a controlled engagement in the public conversation, possibly by lay sympathizers of high standing in the real public life, have the potential for dispensing with the infamous toxicity of Twitter, and for turning conversation on any topic, even the most controversial, into positive exchange within the community of believers.

The Specialist in Athenian Written Rhetoric During the Classical Period: A Reconsideration of Technical Rhetoric and Rhetorical Iconography

This essay argues that technical rhetoric in ancient Athens is neither well nor fully understood in its present historical characterization but rather is best realized as occupying a position on a spectrum of literate skills ranging from an art to a craft. The dismissive views of technical writing advanced by Plato and Aristotle should be reconsidered and specialized literate practices be recognized as an important feature of rhetoric in Athens’ classical period. A review of discursive and material (archaeological) evidence reveals that technical writing was evolving into a craft-skill in Athens as early as the archaic period and, by the classical period, would be regarded as a respected “rhetorical” profession of artistic expression. This essay urges readers to reconsider the restrictive characterization of rhetoric advanced by some historians of rhetoric and include the specialist craft-skills of writing as a manifestation of technical rhetoric that both illustrates, and more accurately represents, the range of classical rhetoric in ancient Athens.

The Rhetoric ­of­ Medicine: Lessons­ of­ Professionalism from ­Ancient Greece by Nigel Nicholson and Nathan R. Selden

This is not a book about formal or classical rhetoric in medical writing. The authors’ approach to “rhetoric” has more to do with examining the ethical elements found in the sociocultural conceptualizations and self-presentations of physicians, particularly in respect to ancient Greek physicians of the sixth and fifth centuries bc and modern physicians. Reviewed by: Todd A. Curtis, Published Online (2021-08-31)Copyright © 2021 by Todd A. CurtisThis open access publication is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (CC BY-NC-ND) Article PDF Link: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/aestimatio/article/view/37725/28727 Corresponding Author: Todd A. Curtis,University of Texas at AustinE-Mail: [email protected]

Russian Polyptoton: Grammatic Form and Rhetorical Content

The article uses a narrow understanding of polyptoton (repetition of a word in different cases), which goes back to classical rhetoric. This allows to consider the specifics of the polyploton in the Russian language with its developed case system. The Russian polyptoton can be reduced to four types. We distinguish an intensive polyptoton, an extensive polyptoton, a contrasting polyptote and a descriptive set type. All these types express the category of plurality in different ways. A good example of intensive polyploton is biblical phrases like “song of songs”. Such a polyptot is called a genitive superlative. There is also a way of expressing superlativeness in Russian with the help of the instrumental case like дурак дураком. Intensive polyptoton can also express the meaning of reflexivity: слово о словах, каталог каталогов. The extensive type of polyptote coincides with a figure called an epimone. Unlike the other three types of polypoton, it is not associated with binomials and can form a rather long row with a word in different cases. The contrasting polyptoton is the antithesis within one word, as in the Latin proverb: homo homini lupus est. Polyptoton describing a set - a phenomenon not yet studied in Russian grammar. The Russian polyptoton is interesting in that it manifests itself in different inflections. Therefore, the widespread understanding of a polypoton as a repetition of words with one root is not relevant for the Russian language. Russian polyptoton is as far as possible from paranomazia, pun. Its grammatical nature is strongly expressed.

The Language of Argumentation: A Book Review

The Language of Argumentation by Ronny Boogaart, Henrike Jansen, & Maarten van Leeuwen (Eds). Switzerland: Springer Nature Switzerland AG. 2021 aims to provide important theoretical insights to the international community of argumentation theorists by informing them of recent developments in the field. Some aspects of argumentative texts may emerge as a result of the argumentation process. This book covers different types of argumentative procedures and enthymematic argumentation, argumentation structures, argumentation schemes, and fallacies. Specifically, contributions are solicited from authors trained in informal or formal logic, modern or classical rhetoric, and discourse analysis or speech communication.