The rhetorical imprint from a constructivist perspective
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Date
2014
Authors
Cawood, Stephanie
De Wet, Johann C.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State
Abstract
The rhetorical imprint, ideal for probing the rhetoric of a single rhetor, is defined
as a unified set of characteristics that function at the manifest and latent levels of
rhetoric. From a constructivist viewpoint, this concept is indicative of individual
conceptual processes and structures. The constructivist lens is derived from
George Kelly’s construct theory and his conception of a personal construal system
governing human cognition and communication. Constructs develop from primitive
constructs derived from human biology, while construct development is bound to
embodied experience where the body mediates individual experience and provides
content to the primitive constructs. The personal construal system resides in the
cognitive unconscious and has a deep-seated and complex metaphorical structure,
which is reproduced in the rhetorical imprint. A rhetorical imprint is dynamic and
will evolve in concert with the personal construal system to make sense of the
world, while remaining internally coherent. In a constructivist understanding of
communication, sophisticated personal construal systems produce sophisticated
communication, a crucial element of the rhetorical imprint. The rhetorical imprint
corresponds to the classical canon of inventio where habitual topoi, metaphorical
mental common-places from where available means of persuasion are sought,
leave an indelible impression of a rhetor’s individuality in rhetoric.
Description
Keywords
Rhetoric, Constructivism
Citation
Cawood, S., & Johann, C. (2014). The rhetorical imprint from a constructivist perspective . Communitas, 19, 60-79.