Rhetoric

The art of analyzing all the language choices that a writer, speaker or reader might make in a given situation so that the text becomes meaningful, purposeful, and effective --- Hephizibah Roskelly

and David A. Jolliffee, Everyday Use

The Rhetorical Triangle

• The Author (Rhetor) creates a persona

• The Audience brings their knowledge, ideas, attitudes and beliefs

• The Subject is debatable and supported

www.drw.utexas.edu/.../rhetorical_triangle.png

Appeals to the AudienceAristotle aught that persuasion happens because a rhetor makes

three kind of appeals to the audience through his/her text.

• Logos : by offering a clear, reasonable central idea (or set of ideas) and developing it with reasoning, examples or details

• Ethos: by offering evidence that s/he is credible, knowledgeable, and good person who has the audience’s best interest in mind.

• Pathos: by drawing on the emotions and interest of the audience so they will be sympathetically inclined to accept his or her ideas and arguments

• Establishes a relationship with audience based on trust

• Highlights the rhetor’s character and credentials

• Suggests that rhetor and audience share common values or beliefs

• Reveals that rhetor is a good, honest person

• Invokes credible testimony

Pathos

• Emotions are immediate and sensory, and the audience will respond more readily

• While dramatic, they can be dangerous

• Aristotle said rhetors should understand the emotions, “to know their causes and the way in which they are excited.”

• Know thyself – and the audience

How does the text affect you emotionally? What parts? Why?

Logos: Logical Arguments

Examine the author’s support

• Statistics, charts, graphs

• Factual evidence

• Support from authorities

Examine the author’s Claim: Is it reasonable?

Reasoning

• Inductive: from the specific to the general

• Deductive: from the general to the specific

Inductive Reasoning

• Provides a number of examples (the specific) and draws a claim, in the form of a conclusion (generalization), from them.

• The audience is expected to accept the group of examples as adequate. Can you make the leap from the examples (the specific ) to the general conclusion

Deductive ReasoningIf something is true of a class of things in general, this truth

applies to all legitimate members of that class

Syllogism

1. Every X has the characteristic Y.

2. This thing is X.

3. Therefore, this thing has the characteristic Y.

Frogs are amphibians

The coqui is a frog native to Peru

The coqui is an amphibian

ContextRhetorical transactions always take place in a context – time, place, events and motivating forces – that influences how the rhetor understands, analyzes and generates the persona, the appeals and the subject matter material.

Purpose(aim, purpose)

• A rhetor’s intention is what he or she wants to happen as a result of the text, what he or she wants the audience to believe or do after hearing or reading the text.

• It may be announced at the beginning, it may develop, or it may be implied.

Patterns of Development:Arrangement of Argument according

to Purpose

• To compare and contrast?

• To narrate an event?

• To define a term?

There are 8 logical ways to organize an entire text, or more likely, individual paragraphs

Organizational Strategies• Narration: telling a story or recounting events• Description: using details that emphasize the senses• Definition: exploring or defining the meaning of a term• Exemplification: providing a series of examples• Cause and effect: analyzing the causes that lead to an

effect or the effects from a cause• Comparison and contrast: juxtaposing two things to

highlight their similarities and differences• Process analysis: how something works or how to do

something• Classification: creating categories, breaking down into

parts

(Usually a combination)