elocution
Definition: The skill of clear and expressive speech, especially of distinct pronunciation and articulation; a particular style of speaking.
Origin: Late Middle English (denoting oratorical or literary style): from Latin elocutio(n-), from eloqui ‘speak out’ (see eloquence).
elocution,
Although it is meant to be a snide remark about rhetoric only being about elocution, it's important to remember how important elocution is to the successful orator!
er tone is usually not aggressive or ago-nistic, but rather light and charming;
Similar to the elocution that Douglas acquired or the feminine tone in which Stewart spoke.
No phrase can convey the idea of surprise so vividly as opening the eyes and raising the eye-brows
Elocutionary connections.
''womanly" woman, with the special spirituality, purity, and love of home and children that nineleenth•century ideologies of "woman's sphere" deemed appropriate for the sex
Brings the idea of audience up again for me. For this particular situation she found that being a "womanly woman" succeeded in moving the crowd her way. It is interesting to see as the other speakers we have read took the opposite approach, denying society's picture of a woman. By using her womanly tactics, the men they were simply "entertaining" her ideas.
He cautions against reading-pronunciation (e.g., pronouncing "often" with the "t")
I remember David Crystal having quite a bit to say about 18th-19th Century standardization of pronunciation, particularly Sheridan (he does not like him). He emphasizes how big a deal Sheridan's lectures were (estimates he brought in £150k in 2004 dollars [Stories of English 406]), and how he influenced John Walker, the guy who codified Received Pronunciation. Pretty much the father of prescriptivism for elocution, which means you definitely already have opinions on him.