Transcript Document 7299625

Rhetoric in our Lives
Definition of Rhetoric: the art humans use to
process messages sent and received
• Rhetoric=Language is not accidental
• Use experiences to make rhetorical choices
• Unconscious, conscious, individual, universal,
continuous use
• Negative assumptions: just used by
professional speakers to manipulate message
and coerce audience, lack of sincerity, deliberate
falseness, unclear communication, ethically
questionable
Rhetor: writer, speaker,
reader, listener
• “a good person speaking well” Quintilian,
Roman rhetorician
• Art of analyzing all language choices in
any given situation, so text has meaning,
purpose, effect
• Features of texts that give meaning,
purpose, effect in a situation
Skill at rhetoric means
• Making good speeches, writing good papers,
having a discerning eye and ear for others’
works
• Reading beyond the meaning to analyze rhetor’s
decisions to accomplish a purpose for an
audience
• Planning and writing good compositions
• Determining what has already been said, what is
yet to be resolved, and what might persuade
audience to take action
• Using full menu of choices judiciously to select
most effective option
Rhetorical Triangle
Speaker or writer
Audience
Subject
Rhetorical triangle explanation:
(Aristotelian triad from fourth century BCE)
A person creating or analyzing a text needs
to consider:
• Speaker or writer, personal character or
persona (mask or character he wants to
portray)
• Subject and kinds of evidence used to
develop it
• Audience: their knowledge, attitudes,
ideas, and beliefs and decides to be
persuaded
Understanding Persona
• Ethos: rhetor can get the audience to
perceive him as distinct, considerate,
educated, trustworthy, and well-intentioned.
• Inferences: rhetor can make inferences
about another writer/speaker’s character
• Voice: rhetor’s tone/attitude affects
audience’s beliefs through diction (word
choice), syntax (word arrangement), choice
of ideas and details
Understanding Appeals
(Aristotelian)
Rhetor makes three appeals to audience:
• Logos: clear, reasonable central idea
(thesis/argument), developing it with reasoning,
examples, details
• Ethos: credibility of sender (author or narrator),
ethical knowledgeable, believable
• Pathos: emotions and interests of audience
creates sympathy for rhetor’s idea (appeals to
self interest)
• Often simultaneous
Purpose vs. Exigence
• Exigence: Why is the author writing this?
Think context. (What gets the author's
goat/upsets him?)
• Audience: To whom is the author writing?
• Purpose: What does the author want his
audience to do? (The author obviously
wants the audience to share his exigence,
but what else does the author want the
audience to do?)
Aristotle said rhetoric is useful
because “things that are true and
things that are just have a natural
tendency to prevail over their
opposite.”
Web of Rhetorical Analysis
Exigence
Audience
Purpose
Logos
Ethos
Pathos
Organization/Whole Text Structure
Diction
Syntax
Imagery
Figurative Language
*A reader can enter a text at any point/level to get to another point/level.
Understanding Subject Matter
• Topic: must be open to interpretation,
analysis, argument
• KWL: give more info to satisfy curiosity
• Thesis: claims and support
• Invention: rhetor responsible for providing
ample support
Modified Rhetorical Triangle
Speaker or writer
Context and genre
Intention, aim,
purpose
Audience
Subject
Outside of Triangle
• Context: time, place, people, events,
motivation, outside influence that help
audience understand material
• Purpose/intention: Every rhetorical
transaction needs to have it.
• Genre: chosen by rhetor to accomplish
purpose
Understanding context
• Immediate situation/current events 
immediate boundaries
• Historical background  distant
boundaries
• Persona/identity of rhetor
• Knowledge/beliefs of audience
• Rhetor knows context to use to help
audience understand his position and to
connect positively with his argument
Understanding Intention
• What rhetor wants to happen
• What rhetor wants audience to believe or do
• Begin with intention: find evidence and present
it fairly
• Begin with topic: discover intention through
research and writing
• Reader draws on context, personal experience
to discover rhetor’s intention and the success of
the piece.
Understanding Genre
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Context + Intention  Genre
What in the context calling for?
Who needs to know my intention?
What is the best genre?
5 paragraph essay not always appropriate