Elocution's the study of formal speaking in pronunciation, grammar, style, and tone. History In Western classical rhetoric, one of the five core disciplines was pronuntiatio, which was the art of delivering speeches. Orators were trained not only on proper diction, but on the proper use of gestures, stance, and dress. (Another area of rhetoric, elocutio, was unrelated to elocution and, instead, concerned the style of writing proper to discourse.) Elocution emerged as a formal discipline during t… (More on Elocution)