过去那些世纪里人们提出的定义是众多的,有时甚至没有明显的关联。它们既反映了当时人们的关注点,然而也反映了它们被记载其中的意识形态语境。一项具体的用法最终都决定了整体。这样,修辞学就接受了各种不同的定义,但是任何定义最终都未能以决定的方式浮现出来。如同20世纪学术界所想象的那样,它是语言的某种现象吗?大概是,但是它并非仅是 The definitions made by people over the past centuries have been numerous, and sometimes have no apparent relevance. They reflect not only the people’s concerns at the time, but also the ideological context in which they are recorded. A specific usage ultimately determines the whole. In this way, rhetoric has accepted a variety of different definitions, but ultimately any definition can not emerge in a decided way. Is it a linguistic phenomenon, as the 20th century academia imagined? Probably, but it is not just