Editing Elocution (section)

{{short description|Study of formal speaking in pronunciation, grammar, style, and tone}}
{{Redirect|Elocutionist|the racehorse|Elocutionist (horse)}}
{{Distinguish|Electrocution}}
{{more footnotes|date=May 2019}}
[[File:The Strand Magazine vol. 2, no. 9, pg. 263 - An Accomplished Elocutionist.png|thumb|"An accomplished elocutionist", an illustration of elocutionist performing an open-air recitation, published in ''[[The Strand Magazine]]'' in 1891|alt=A man in a hat recites with his hand raised upwards. Two children watch.]]

'''Elocution''' is the study of formal speaking in [[pronunciation]], [[grammar]], style, and [[Tone (linguistics)|tone]] as well as the idea and practice of effective speech and its forms. It stems from the idea that while communication is symbolic, sounds are final and compelling.<ref name="vannini2010">{{Cite journal|last1=Vannini|first1=Phillip|last2=Waskul|first2=Dennis|last3=Gottschalk|first3=Simon|last4=Rambo|first4=Carol|date=2010-05-18|title=Sound Acts: Elocution, Somatic Work, and the Performance of Sonic Alignment|journal=Journal of Contemporary Ethnography|volume=39|issue=3|pages=328–353|doi=10.1177/0891241610366259|issn=0891-2416|s2cid=143049089}}</ref><ref name="williams2017">{{Cite journal|last=Williams|first=Abigail|date=January 2017|title="A Just and Graceful Elocution": Miscellanies and Sociable Reading|url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:eddaa485-ae97-478b-a032-b079aff5d697|journal=Eighteenth-Century Life|volume=41|issue=1|pages=179–196|doi=10.1215/00982601-3695990|issn=0098-2601|s2cid=151986399|url-access=subscription}}</ref> 

Elocution emerged in [[England]] in the 18th and 19th centuries and in the [[United States]] during the 19th century. It benefited  men and women in different ways; the overall concept was to teach both how to become better, more persuasive speakers, standardize errors in spoken and written [[English language|English]], and the beginnings of the formulation of argument were discussed.