Problems Of Document Rhetoric

Document, which is stipulated by national authority institutions or social organizations, refers to official writ, with legal efficacy and canonical format. For a long time, people only focus on elements of content and formal format, but neglect the language rules of documents. Language, as a social phenomenon, is changing with the development of society. In the new times, document language shows its vivid characteristics basing on these basic characteristics: accuracy, brevity, formality, gravity, simplicity, fixation, brightness and times. It requires that we should pay attention to the choice and application of figure of speech.There is a stable relationship between language format and rhetorical method. The paper analyses document language and literary language by contrasting and elaborates the rules of document language in choosing rhetorical method and the characteristics of figure of speech. There are some differences between document language and literary language in choosing rhetorical method for their different writing aims and different expressive efficacies. Literary language has a tendency to choose variance of words, while document language has a tendency to choose those conventional methods. Document language mainly chooses sound, word, sentence pattern, parallel structure and metaphor, etc. Literary language has visible characteristics, which mainly embody on its vividness, meaning, color, humor and exaggeration. Document language has invisible characteristics, which mainly embody on perspicuity, brevity, simplicity, courtesy, elegance, gravity and accuracy. The paper also analyses the different rhetorical characteristics between business document and administrative document.The paper elaborates the concrete application, methods and rhetorical characteristics in choosing rhetorical methods. Document language borrows the swing characteristics in phonetic aspect, and chooses words with level and oblique tones, which form some couple sentences, such can embody the tide beauty and rhyme beauty of document language; in the aspect of words, document language mainly applies words breviary, obscurity, classical Chinese, idiom, modifier and the omission of particles, such can embody elegant and simple characteristics in document language; in sentence pattern aspect, document language mainly applies the inversion, the combination of whole and loosen sentences, the combination of long and short sentences, the combination of positive and negative sentences, such can embody orderly and accurate characteristics in document language; in figure of speech aspect, document language mainly applies parallel structure, contrast and antithesis, which make document language fluent and bright; metaphor, personification and metonymy make document language vivid and natural; the warning sentences, question and rhetorical question make problems in document significant; quotation and resound can give us a reference in expression and meaning, which form an aesthetic feeling and meaningful content.