A Study On The Verbal Taste Of Chinese Language And Characters In Application

Verbal taste as a rhetorical terminology was firstly mentioned in Introduction to Rhetoric by Chen Wangdao. In my opinion, verbal taste is a form of language which includes the adjustment, process and modification of language by making full use of characters, pictures, symbols and so on, in order to make the language charismatic but irregular, and to meet esthetic needs and improve the expressive effect. Verbal taste has two basic features: firstly, it possesses great charm as a figure of speech; secondly, there are no laws to be found. Verbal taste doesn't have fixed structure, we can discriminate it from the other positive figure of speech. Verbal taste is different from speech rules or speech style for its charm. Drawing a clear line between the two is the precondition of system construction and language application. The classification of verbal taste is based on its content, involving the sound, form as well as the sense of language. So we can devide it into three types: sound taste, sense taste and form taste. The sound taste, formed by sound inscapes'clever constitution, strengthens the speech charm or taste from our ears directly. The sense taste comes from the words'multiple meanings. The form witnesses by the characters'form, writing patterns, pictures, punctuations and so on. These three tastes can be further classified. The classification of verbal taste is very important for systematic rhetoric work and the establishment of a scientific rhetorical system. Verbal taste keeps in touch with traditional culture. On the one hand, the uniqueness of Chinese characters and language is the basis of verbal taste. The sound features of Chinese characters are the basis of sound taste; the form features are the basis of form taste, and word multiple meanings are the basis of sense taste. On the other hand, the way of thinking of Chinese tradition readjusts language use, which has an important upon verbal taste.