Abstract and Key Words

Abstract: This article aims to investigate the application of typical rhetorical devices to English speeches. Comparisons in terms of different figures of speech lead to the effects of various rhetorical devices. Corpus-based experimental investigations are carried out in this article to test the effects of the different rhetorical devices. The results show that parallelism enjoys higher preference than others in English speeches; however, other rhetorical devices are also properly used which still matter a great deal in English speeches. The paper concludes that various figures of speech play different roles in English speeches. They help improve the beauty and momentum of the English language, which leaves a deep impression on audience.

Key words: rhetorical devices; English speech; parallelism; effect

摘要：  本文旨在分析典型英语演讲文本中英语修辞手法的运用，通过分析比较来研究其英语修辞的运用效果，从而提高我们对英语修辞手法及其功效的认识。研究表明排比结构修辞手法最受英语演讲者的青睐，然而在英语演讲中，其它英语修辞手法也常有合理运用，使语言增色不少。本文认为在英语演说中不同的英语修辞手法所起作用各不相同，其对英语语言的修饰和润色效果给读者留下了极其深刻的印象。

关键词：修辞手法；英语演讲；排比；效果

1.    Introduction
Rhetoric is an art used to express a kind of feeling through words. It is not only a phenomenon of social language, but also a cultural phenomenon. It is originated in ancient Greek. With the development of the society and human civilization, rhetorical devices are keeping up with the whole society in the process of communication, showing its communicative function. According to history, the relationship between rhetorical devices and speech is deep. In the period of mid-century and Renaissance, rhetoric was an important weapon for churches. In the 18th and 19th centuries, being a single subject, rhetoric declined. But with the rise of democracy and parliament, political speeches appeared in Britain, France and America. Thus rhetoric has been valued and studied since then. In recent years, since the appearance of modern linguistics and some new branches of linguistics, it has enlarged the border of the rhetoric, promoting the development of linguistics. According to the history of western rhetoric, speech is the origin of rhetoric and also rhetoric is a technique to study speech. Therefore, during the process of giving speeches, we should consider how to put figures of speech into them, using different rhetorical devices to strengthen the power of speeches.