Language is an invention of the Stone Age, but it has taken center stage in human activity and has become one with humanity. If language-dependent speech cannot be separated from its physio-physical properties, then the psycho-social mechanism on which it depends is rhetoric. Rhetorical wisdom plays a key role in promoting language development, constructing national culture, and promoting exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations.
Commonly used and always new: rhetoric makes the tree of language evergreen.
Aristotle said, "Man is essentially a social animal." "Sociality is human nature. The "dialogism" revealed by King proves that communication is a fundamental property of human language. While some scholars in the past have argued that the greatest use of language is to think, contemporary scientists have found that human language is primarily used for communication, just like the grooming behavior of animals. It is through language that humans are able to efficiently maintain social networks, maintain group unity, and continuously expand the size of groups. If language is only a tool for thinking, then perhaps rhetorical issues need not be considered. However, once language is used in everyday communication and assumes the important task of connecting society, then it naturally enters the field of rhetoric and becomes a rhetorical activity. Rhetoric is the key to the deep roots of the tree of language.
It is possible for a language to circulate only in groups of less than 100 people at first, and when the group expands to a certain size, there is a division of classes and groups, and variation will occur naturally. The listening reader is not a passive recipient of the words, but influences the communication from the very beginning. "Han Feizi" emphasizes that "knowing the heart of speaking" should be good at adjusting words according to the psychology of the object. According to the Analects, Confucius spoke in completely different styles on different occasions. The ideal state of language is to preserve a form for a meaning and a meaning for a form. Rhetoric is precisely the configuration and adjustment of semantics in response to changes in contextual parameters. The rhetorical requirements of "one form and one meaning" promote the differentiation of lexical functions (such as synonyms with different degrees of formality), the transfer of grammatical structures and expressive functions (such as the "grammatical metaphor" of interrogative sentences without interrogative expressions).
The progress of civilization has led to the constant creation of new things, and the constant conflict of new requirements for expression and language systems. This also pushes writers to be willing to experiment with and disseminate rhetorical language innovations. For example, the nouns "opinion" and "view", and the adjective "sweet and sour", etc., have realized the metaphorical transformation from the senses, sensations, and mental and emotional realms. For another example, the verb "eat" goes from being paired with food to continuing with "ticket" and "red light".The verb "open", from dominating doors and windows to activating "mobile phones" and "browsers", etc., is to expand its application scenarios step by step through the complex mechanism of metaphor and metonymy.
In order for language to be descriptive, to express novelty, and to adapt to changing times, it must rely on the innovative power of rhetoric. Because of rhetoric, language is constantly adapting in communication, often used and new, and developing in tandem with human society. At present, the increase in rhetorical innovation and the iterative growth rate of buzzwords are also manifestations of the vitality of our society.
Students at Fubei Primary School in Handan City, Hebei Province, show their greeting cards on November 21, 2023. (*From the light**).
Witty discourse: Rhetoric is the essence of linguistic civilization.
For thousands of years, many people have regarded rhetoric as a modification, a deviation or even an abnormality, and this concept is deeply rooted and shared in China and abroad. Confucius advocated "just words" and opposed "lobbying" and "clever words".Descartes, Locke, and Kant were scathing critics of rhetorical language.
Rhetoric is not a deviation but the norm. Chinese rhetoric attaches great importance to distinguishing between negative rhetoric and positive rhetoric. Negative rhetoric is not without rhetoric, and it takes a lot of effort to make it clear and clear. Positive rhetoric is to break the old cognition and old rules, and use the traditional discourse heritage to bring forth the new, uphold integrity and innovation. Rhetoric is an active exploration that uses "all the possibilities of language and writing" to give full play to the maximum effectiveness of language expression and tap its greatest potential. "Abnormal" in one style is "often" in another.
Anti-rhetoricians are primarily targeting the case of speech. They hated the practice of listing more than 100 kinds of words at every turn, and called for a drastic streamlining of them. At present, the two types of simple metaphor and metonymy are more popular, and the extreme is even simple as a metaphor. In the author's opinion, the three schemes of metaphor, metonymy and anti-metaphor (i.e., metaphor, substitution and rhetoric) are relatively reasonable, because these three types of words roughly correspond to the three elements of communication: the writer, the language and the listener, and are more representative.
The case is not "the defect of the language itself", but rather to make up for the "defect of the language itself", which is also evident in these three cases. Metaphor, for example, is the creation of new connections. Aristotle said in the Rhetoric that metaphor is "witty words" and that "only a discerning man can discern the similarities between things that are far apart." Metaphorical imagery is more effective in enhancing the image color of language. Metonymy can "save the day" when symbols are missing. For example, when mobile phones first appeared as a new communication tool, the name "Big Brother" was widely used in Chinese-speaking places, which was a transition from "people" to "things". Metaphors increase the tension of language comprehension and neutralize the polarization tendency of language. It can be seen that metaphor reflects the cognitive innovation of the speaker, the metaphor is the symbolic innovation of the language itself, and the anti-metaphor is the expression innovation that takes care of the subjective feelings of the listener.
It used to be said that rhetoric is the "flower of language", but this is not a lie. Rhetorical innovations filter through time and enter the popular language system. The linguistic innovations of the previous generation will become the norm for the next. Language itself is a layered pile of rhetorical innovations. Rhetoric is the most intelligent and vital part of language, the essence of language civilization. In the language of **, it is difficult to find fragments without metaphors. Solidified borrowing and rhetoric are everywhere in the language. The Shanghainese dialect "buy and burn" is a commonly used borrowed pronoun, which can refer to all housework, and can also be used to refer to people who do housework (often harmonized as "Ma sister-in-law");"Help" and so on are not really asking for help, but rhetoric. Interpreting these figures of speech can help us gain insight into the culture of a particular period and region.
Every language is in fact a rhetorical community. Because of the duality of linguistic synchronicity and diachronicity, the original rhetorical meaning has been difficult to receive. For the contemporary, language is nothing but convention and arbitrariness. Therefore, Western scholars lamented, "The biggest obstacle between us and our ancestors is rhetoric." "To gain an in-depth understanding of a people and culture, it is necessary to know its specific rhetorical activity, its way of speaking at a particular time and on a particular occasion (greetings, salutations, greetings, humility, taboos, euphemisms, etc.), rhetorical techniques, and discursive heritage. The history of language is the history of rhetoric. At present, the research on the history of rhetoric and comparative rhetoric in various languages is still very weak and should be strengthened urgently.
Promote communication: Rhetoric is the universal language of mankind.
The wisdom of rhetoric lies in promoting communication and promoting harmony. Rhetoric is the study that focuses on the communicative function of language and explores the wisdom of rhetoric. Aristotle's theory of persuasion appeals to character (the speaker), language, and emotion (the listener), respectively, to the two sides of the communication and to the media.
The so-called rhetorical techniques, which rhetoric has long focused on, are essentially tools that actually help communication. Parables can inspire understanding in figurative language. Because I already understand that mental representations are not necessarily verbal, but in order for others to understand, sometimes we have to use metaphors. Liu Xiang recorded in "Shuo Yuan" that King Hui of Wei Liang asked the eloquent Hui Shi to "speak directly about words and things" and not to use metaphors. Hui Shi unceremoniously taught the King of Wei and said: "The husband who speaks will make others know what he does not know." Now the king says that if there is no excuse, it is not to be done. "Borrowing pronouns often has a certain sense of color, which can effectively control and regulate communication. For example, a self-proclaimed "teacher" can be used for self-humility, while he calls it contemptuousIn diplomatic language, "Your Excellency" and the like have a sense of respect;In the restaurant, it is said that "buns go inside" (cross talk "awkward words"), although it is convenient to use products to name customers, it is easy to cause unhappiness. Irony embodies the pragmatic "principle of politeness" and can effectively distinguish whether it is "one's own person" or not according to whether it can be correctly interpreted.
Rhetoric is against "false emptiness" because it ultimately hinders communication;Advocating "truth, goodness and beauty" is the common pursuit of human beings. Cultural exchange is first and foremost a linguistic exchange, and rhetoric is a language that all humans can understand. **In his speech at UNESCO Headquarters in 2014, the General Secretary quoted two famous Western sayings, one of which was said by Victor Hugo, "The widest in the world is the ocean, wider than the ocean is the sky, and wider than the sky is the human mind." One sentence was Napoleon's saying, "There are two forces in the world: the sword and the mind."In the long run, the sword is always defeated by thought. In these two sentences, the former is a metaphor, and the latter is a borrowing. Because the speech was held in Paris, these two famous quotes were more likely to resonate with the audience.
Confucius said, "Words are not meritorious." "In cultural exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, full attention should be paid to the power of rhetoric. Rhetoric means equal communication, elegant response, peaceful dialogue, and embodies a calm demeanor and rational communication. Only by understanding the rhetoric of a nation can we truly understand the culture, psychology and demands of a nation. "Rhetoric and sincerity" shows our frank and sincere national character. We should take the lead in sincerity, actively understand the rhetorical culture of various countries, use rhetorical wisdom to create new concepts, new categories and new expressions that integrate China and foreign countries, communicate our hearts, eliminate mustards, enhance consensus, and constantly expand our circle of friends. (End) (Original title: Rhetorical Wisdom and Mutual Learning of Civilizations).
Written by Huo Sitong.