Abstract:

Traditional contrastive rhetoric treats English rhetoric as the standard paradigm opposite to non-English rhetoric. Thus, it is criticized for its emphasis on the superiority of English rhetoric. Some Western scholars have attempted to defend Chinese rhetoric, based on the assumption that Chinese and English rhetorical modes are similar. However, their arguments have ignored rhetorical features particular to Chinese. This paper adopts a comparative rhetoric perspective to investigate the rhetorical modes of Chinese expository paragraphs. The data includes paragraph-writing instruction in middle and high school Chinese textbooks, as well as the paragraphs in the full-score compositions of College Entrance Examinations. The results of this study show that no systematic theory or instruction on paragraph-writing appears in the Chinese textbooks. The formulation of topic sentences in Chinese compositions is different from that in English rhetoric and writing, and most of the written paragraphs are neither deductive nor inductive. In addition, figurative language is preferred in Chinese exposition, but it is least emphasized in English exposition. The conclusion can be drawn that the modern Chinese rhetorical paradigm still has its own features, and is accordingly different from English at paragraph level. The status of Chinese rhetoric cannot be elevated in the world only by emphasizing the similarities between Chinese and English rhetoric. Instead, the particularity of Chinese rhetoric should be acknowledged.

Keywords: comparative rhetoric; Chinese rhetoric; expository writing; rhetorical mode; English writing instruction

摘要：

传统对比修辞学研究把英语修辞作为典范,强调英语修辞地位高于非英语修辞,因而遭到学者们的普遍反对。有些西方学者虽然认为汉英修辞模式具有同等地位,但在其试图为汉语语篇修辞地位辩护的过程中,往往片面强调两种修辞模式趋同,而忽略了汉语特有的修辞特征。本文从比较修辞学视角出发,对汉语段落的修辞模式进行了研究。研究内容包括我国初、高中语文教材中的段落写作指南和学生汉语论说文作文中的段落。研究结果显示：我国中学语文教材中没有包含系统的段落写作理论及指南;汉语作文中的“主题句”不同于英语,段落多为非归纳演绎式,且运用了较多的情感化语言。由此,本文认为,当今汉语论说文写作仍然具有特殊性,其修辞范式并未与英语相接近。提高汉语的修辞地位不能依靠强调其与英语修辞的相似性,应该正视两者之间的差异性。

关键词: 比较修辞学, 汉语修辞, 论说文写作, 修辞模式, 英语写作教学