Verbal and Visual Parallelism

Abstract

This study investigates the practice of presenting multiple supporting examples in parallel form. The elements of parallelism and its use in argument were first illustrated by Aristotle. Although real texts may depart from the ideal form for presenting multiple examples, rhetorical theory offers a rationale for minimal, parallel presentation. The form for presenting data can also influence the way it is observed and selected, as the case of the Linnaean template for species grouping illustrates. Parallel presentation is not limited to verbal phrasing. Arranging data in tables, typical in scientific discourse, satisfies the same requirements for minimal, equivalent presentation of evidence. Arranging representational or iconic images in rows or arrays is yet another mode for the parallel presentation of evidence, although this mode has a recent history. A cognitive rationale can perhaps explain the use of parallelism to present multiple supporting examples.

Visual Invention and the Composition of Scientific Research Graphics: A Topological Approach

“…We have theories of verbal/visual interaction in the argumentation of textbooks and STEM journal articles (cf. Fahnestock, 2003;Gross, 2009). We have studies of how visual genres encode norms of practice within STEM communities (cf.…”

Rhetorical figures, arguments, computation

“…Some figures work together; some work against each other. Figures of parallelism, in particular, like isocolon and parison, seem to have a special role in augmenting other figures[18], while tropes can get in the way of other figures, sometimes degrading coherence. Example 18, for instance, includes antanaclasis, a trope in which a signans repeats but with a different signatum.…”

“…There are at least two morals here, in the story of @OmarjSakr's tweet, about the role of rhetorical [17][18], it also guarantees a stability of reference. Endings and beginnings not only give textual elements presence, they also play crucial syntactic roles (which, of course, vary with the syntactic conventions of languages, but vary with considerable predictability).…”

Parallelism in constant comparison analysis

“…Here, painting, sewing, and jogging all represent activities, and these activities are all presented in the form of gerunds. Focused on visual parallelism, Edward R. Tufte (1997, p. 103) described it as “enforce(ing) contrasts and comparisons … collat(ing) like with like.” An example of visual parallelism is the vertical or horizontal arrangement of images of the same size, shape, color, and orientation (Fahnestock, 2003).…”

“…Here, form is not like content making it difficult to understand what the writer wants to communicate. The reader's “immediate expectation”—that the two items following self‐directed perspective will be like it—is not satisfied (Fahnestock, 2003, p. 148). Unclear is whether the analyst wants to communicate three mutually exclusive perspectives toward the same object, three mutually exclusive demeanors, three mutually exclusive practices, or none of these.…”