Abstract：Probing into the history of western rhetoric, it is clear that rhetoric originally came from public speaking, and public speaking was the practice of rhetoric. Therefore, rhetorical devices in speeches are always attached much importance to. However, the researches made today are mainly on the speeches given by presidents or famous speeches in history. This dissertation will choose TED talks, which were very popular in recent years as its subject. With short articles and refined words, TED talks showed people new ideas, hot spots of society and so on. Their influence is becoming deeper and deeper. To a great extent, the success of TED talks is attributed to the proper use of rhetorical devices.
In this dissertation, 20 pieces of TED talks in different areas – technology, entertainment, design, culture, art and global issue were selected as data. After analyzing the examples, it was possible to sum up 11 important figures of speech used in TED talks and conclude their functions, as well as the effect they had brought to the talks. This research has its practical significance such as making better application of rhetorical devices so as to improve the speaker’s ability of organizing language and increase the effectiveness of the speech.
Key words: rhetoric; TED talks; rhetorical devices
摘要：探究西方修辞学史，不难发现修辞学的产生源于演讲，而演讲则是修辞学的实践。演讲中的修辞手法总是被放在非常重要的位置。然而，当今的研究大多把研究对象放在总统演讲或历史著名演讲上，本论文则选择近年来广受欢迎的TED演讲作为研究对象。该演讲篇幅短小，语句精炼，向人们展示了新奇观念，社会热点等，其影响也逐步扩大。它的成功很大程度上取决于修辞手法的正确运用。
本论文以20篇不同领域的TED演讲为研究对象，包括科技，娱乐，设计，文化，艺术和全球问题，归纳出TED演讲中11种重要修辞格，并总结其功能及作用。本研究具有其现实意义，包括深化修辞手法的运用，以提高演讲者的语言组织能力及演讲的表达效果。
关键词：修辞学；TED演讲；修辞手法
Just like many other dissertations, this one is not perfect. It also has limitations. First of all, the TED talks cover many different areas, and these 20 pieces of them are so limited that cannot probe deeply into one area. What had been done is an overall research about TED talks, showing the most frequently used figures of speech. What’s more, the usage of some figures of speech may be so variable that it is impossible to list all kinds of usages. The examples are all selected form the 20 pieces of talks. Keep it in mind that when analyzing a figure of speech, people have to consider the context, which will help to distinguish it correctly. These listed limitations are the suggestions for the following researches.
