Teoría del discurso retórico aplicada a los nuevos lenguajes. El complejo predominio de la elocutio

Abstract

This article consists of two parts. The first deals with theory as we advance through a historical framework leading to a new proposal. The second is analytical and serves to exemplify our proposal. We begin by explaining the vicissitudes of the third rhetorical operation elocutio throughout history. Although the rhetorical method of construction of the different types of public discourse was based on the classical division of five rhetorical operations (inventio, dispositio, elocutio, memoria and actio or pronuntiatio), over time attention came to be focused exclusively on elocutio until, with the advent of 20th century New Rhetoric, the complete rhetorical mechanism was restored and all the operations involved in the construction of discursive texts (inventio, dispositio and elocutio) once again became the object of equal interest and attention. However, in the 21st century a significant clarification needs to be made concerning the belief that these three operations are on equal footing. In this paper we formulate the complex yet unquestionable predominance of elocutio over the other two linguistic rhetorical operations (inventio, dispositio). In order to exemplify the importance of elocutio in different creative discourse genres in different time periods, the second part of the article offers an analysis of two television commercials, by which we stress the importance of taking the elocutionary aspects of discourse into account in the study of persuasive efficiency.