Elocutio

This chapter is particularly important for individuals who find the use of the English language problematic for their speeches. While I won’t deal with syntax or grammar per se, I’ll be explaining how the correct use of language, context and rhetorical figures will help you be an eloquent speaker. 

Usually when we invoke the Latin noun elocutio, another word comes to mind - style. It is common for these terms to be interchangeably used. But there’s also a slight problem with mixing the two together. For the benefit of my OCD etymologists, the following is a brief explanation. 

The Latin verb eloqui means “to speak” or “to articulate”. Ancient Romans mastered eloqui to become silver-tongued speakers that could persuade a cow to bleat. Skipping a few centuries and we reach the period of Middle English whereby the term “style” was used to explain literary expressions. These expressions ranged from acatalectic versus to Zappai methods of composition. 

However, the term “style” is now loosely synonymous to the ways or methods of public speaking, which includes the use of vocal modulation and body language. Thus the concept is no longer just about the system of speech writing but also includes pitch, tone and facial expression. We need to know that paralinguistic eloquence is not literary eloquence. The more conservative rhetoricians get hives when we directly translate elocutio as style.  

So just keep in mind that when we use “style”, we don’t mean the modern connotation of physical gesticulation or prosody. We mean very specifically the structure and logic of speech writing. 

This development of speech logic and structure was made famous by Aristotle’s student, Theophrastus, and later carried forward by his protégé, Demetrius. The aim of this section is to focus on Theophrastus’ theory on elocution, which precedes Cicero’s work on rhetoric. In this chapter, we’re going back to the source of public speaking’s grand design. 

Theophrastus’ 4 Virtues of Style

What do we mean when we say Virtues? Simply put, Virtues are qualities that we find admirable and praiseworthy in a speech. Usually we attach the word “virtue” to a person’s moral character. But in rhetoric, Virtues are qualities we attach to the actual speech writing itself, not the person per se. 

As John Quincy Adams (1810), the 6th President of the United States and professor on rhetoric eloquently puts it, “invention may be said to furnish the matter, disposition the order, and elocution the manner” (p.144). Remember what was written in Chapter 1 and 2? Invention of a speech is about what we want to talk about; the matter of discussion, basically. Arrangement is how we put it together (the order of things). And when we’ve completed the first two processes, we can then focus on the manner in which those ideas will be written. Manner is style and style is elocutio, which is fundamentally about how we can structure our speeches more elegantly. 

Theophrastus has a formula of 4 rules to persuade and convince the public of what we wish to say (see Long, Fortenbaugh and Huby, 1985). They are: correct language, lucidity, appropriateness and ornamentation. Let’s first have a look at what he means when he asks us to use language correctly for public speaking. 

Correct Language  

To my dear teachers, 

Remember that last essay your student wrote that required the Da Vinci Code to decipher? Remember how you cursed violently at the grammatical stupidity of the new generation while your spouse quietly finishes breakfast in the toilet? And let us not forget that perpetual frown that now describes your normal expression because you have spent half your life correcting “anyways” and a 100-word sentence. 

Welcome to the hell of correct language. 

As much as we would like to contend that the argument matters more than the grammar, I would like to remind readers that it’s the same as saying that the driver matters more than the car. I challenge any self-loving person to drive without brakes. 

They’re both important and that’s the truth that all learners of public speaking must come to terms with. The fact is really quite straightforward: If no one understands what we’re saying, then what we say doesn’t matter. 

So what constitutes the correctness of language? I won’t go into grammatology but it’s really about how we rightly use the rules of language to convey our intended meanings. Let’s take punctuation, for example. Read the two phrases below:

The panda eats shoots and leaves.

VS

The panda eats, shoots and leaves. 

It’s a punctuation error but one that seriously transformed the panda. In the first sentence, it’s a perfectly normal omnivore chomping away on its comfort food. The second sentence, however, placed the comma after “eats”. This “minor” grammatical fault morphed the cuddly fat bear into a Tim Burton psychopathic terrorist. 

A well-written script adheres to the conventions of language and such conventions are linked to the choice of words, its careful arrangement and how they shall be decorated. 

Unfortunately, it is difficult to explain how to use grammar without extending the book by 5 more chapters. But we can employ two guiding points to make sure that the speaker is on the right track. 

The rest of the chapter will explain Theophrastus’ Virtues with lots of modern examples so that the proper use of language will be made easy to the learner. In the section on ornamentation, we will truly understand the function and power of using rhetorical devices for persuasion and transformation of audience emotions.