Key Public Speaking and Rhetoric Terms Defined
Posted on Apr 2, 2025 in Pedagogy
Key Public Speaking & Rhetoric Terms
- Ethos
- Ethical appeal; relates to the speaker’s credibility.
- Pathos
- Persuading through emotional appeal.
- Logos
- An appeal that is rational and reasonable, based on the evidence provided.
- Mythos
- Appealing to the audience’s cultural identity by showing how a claim aligns with shared values or stories.
- Oratory
- The art or practice of formal and eloquent public speaking.
- Delayed Feedback
- Audience response received after the speech is performed.
- Internal Previews
- Extended transitions that inform the audience, in general terms, about the next points to be covered.
- Ethnocentrism
- The belief that one’s own culture is superior to other cultures.
- Attitudes
- Predispositions to act in a particular way that influence our responses to objects, events, and situations.
- Beliefs
- Represent a mental and emotional acceptance of information; judgements about the truth or probability that a statement is correct.
- Values
- Socially shared ideas about what is good, right, and desirable; deep-seated abstract judgements about what is important to us.
- Rhetoric
- The art of persuasive speaking or writing.
- Monologic Communication
- A communication perspective where the audience is viewed as an object to be manipulated. The speaker may display qualities such as deception, superiority, exploitation, dogmatism, domination, insincerity, pretense, coercion, distrust, and defensiveness.
- Dialogic Communication
- Communication that demonstrates an honest concern for the welfare of the listeners, fostering a two-way exchange.
- Listener
- One who perceives through sensory levels and interprets, evaluates, and responds to what they hear.
- General Purpose
- The broad goal of a speech, typically one of three: to inform, to persuade, or to entertain/inspire.
- Specific Purpose
- A statement defining the precise response desired from the audience.
- Adoption
- A persuasive goal where you want your audience to start doing something.
- Slippery Slope
- A logical fallacy claiming that a particular action will inevitably lead to a chain reaction ending in a dire consequence.
- Opposed Audience
- An audience that disagrees with the speaker, is not friendly or sympathetic, and actively looks for flaws in the argument.
- Supportive Audience
- An audience that already agrees with the speaker’s position or message.
- Attacking (Ad Hominem)
- A fallacy where a speaker attacks the person making the argument rather than the substance of the argument itself.
- Red Herring
- A fallacy where a speaker attempts to divert the audience’s attention from the main issue by introducing an irrelevant topic.
- Inductive Reasoning
- Reasoning that generalizes from specific examples to draw broader conclusions based on observation.
- Deductive Reasoning
- Reasoning that draws specific conclusions based on the logical connections between general statements (premises).
- Articulation
- The clear and precise verbalization of distinct sounds to form words.
- Rate
- The pace or speed at which a person speaks.
- Pronunciation
- Knowing how to say a word and saying it correctly according to standard usage.
- Non-fluencies
- Meaningless words or sounds (e.g., “um,” “uh,” “like”) that interrupt the smooth flow of speech; also known as filled pauses or filler words.
- Denotation
- The literal, objective dictionary definition of a word.
- Connotation
- The emotional or cultural meaning ascribed to a word, framed by personal experience and association.
- Imagery
- Creating vivid descriptions through language that appeals to one or more of the five senses.
- Jargon
- Specialized or technical terminology unique to a particular activity, profession, or group.
- Slang
- Informal words and expressions not considered standard in a speaker’s language, often specific to a group or time period.
- Euphemism
- A mild or indirect word or phrase substituted for one considered too harsh, blunt, or unpleasant.
- Cliché
- An overused phrase or expression that has lost its original impact; a trite phrase.
- Anaphora
- The repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses, sentences, or lines.
- Pie Graph (Circle Graph)
- A visual aid showing how parts relate to a whole, represented as slices of a circle.
- Line Graph
- A visual aid used to illustrate trends or changes over time.
- Calculated Ambiguity
- A speaker’s intentional effort to be vague, sketchy, or abstract, often for strategic purposes.
