Definition:
The art of effective public speaking. In classical rhetoric, one of the traditional rhetorical canons: elocutio, or what is now called style.
Etymology:
From the Latin, "utterance, expression"Examples and Observations:
- "The word elocution means something quite different to us from what it meant to the classical rhetorician. We associate the word with the act of speaking (hence, the elocution contest). . . . But for the classical rhetorician, elocutio meant 'style.' . . .
"All rhetorical considerations of style involved some discussion of choice of words, usually under such headings as correctness, purity . . ., simplicity, clearness, appropriateness, ornateness.
"Another subject of consideration was the composition or arrangement of words in phrases or clauses (or, to use the rhetorical term, periods). Involved here were discussions of correct syntax or collocation of words; patterns of sentences (e.g. parallelism, antithesis); proper use of conjunctions and other correlating devices both within the sentence and between sentences . . .
"A great deal of attention was paid, of course, to tropes and figures."
(Edward P.J. Corbett and Robert J. Connors, Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student. Oxford Univ. Press, 1999) - Elocution (elocutio) . . . is the proper exposition of the appropriate words (idonea verba) and thoughts (idoneae sententiae) suitable to the things invented and arranged (res inventae et dispositae).
"Its principal parts are elegance, dignity, and composition . . .. Elegance is sensed most frequently in words and thoughts; dignity in the brilliance of the figures of words and thoughts . . .; and composition in the joining of words, in the period, and in the rhythm."
(Giambattista Vico, The Art of Rhetoric (Institutiones Oratoriae), 1711-1741, trans. G. A. Pinton and A. W. Shippee, 1996)
Pronunciation: e-leh-KYU-shen
Also Known As: elocutio, style
