Language and Power (AMA) Flashcards
What is Power?
Power = the ability or capacity to do something in a particular way, or to direct and influence the behaviour of others or the course of events.
What are the 2 main types of Power?
- Instrumental Power = power with the authority to tell someone what to do. Failure to comply with this can lead to punishment or other consequences.
- Influential Power = power with the ability to persuade or influence. They cannot tell us what to do or impose consequences, but they can use strategies to make us believe what they say.
What are the 3 main sources of Power?
- Political = it comes from the State or government.
- Personal = it comes from my role (e.g. a parent)
- Social / Social Group = it comes because I belong to a particular social group linked by factors such as gender, age, social class, ethnicity and culture.
What are Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Power?
- Symmetrical Power = participants in an encounter have equal power
- Asymmetrical Power = participants in an encounter have unequal power
What did Norman Fairclough suggest?
Fairclough suggested that many interactions are ‘unequal encounters’, with one communication participant (e.g. speaker, writer) seen as the more powerful.
What does an opiniated article have?
An opiniated article will have a carefully planned discourse structure, to help guide the reader through the writer’s ideas and arguments.
What is Asynchronous Written Communication?
Asynchronistic Communication is one way communication, with no obvious response.
What is an Auxiliary Verb?
An auxiliary verb accompanies (usually precedes) the main verb and helps to create its tense.
What is a Modal Auxiliary Verb?
A modal auxiliary verb accompanies the main verb and expresses a sense of necessity or possibility.
What are the 10 Modal Auxiliary Verbs?
- Could
- Should
- Would
- Might
- May
- Must
- Can
- Will
- Ought
- Shall
How do Modal Auxiliary Verbs and Power link?
Modal Auxiliary Verbs can help to convey a text’s instrumental or influential power.
What are Epistemic Modal Auxiliary Verbs?
Epistemic Modal Auxiliary Verbs express degrees of necessity or possibility based on evidence, reasoning or beliefs.
What are Deontic Modal Auxiliary Verbs?
Deontic Modal Auxiliary Verbs express degrees of necessity, possibility or permission based on a set of rules or desires.
What is Advertising?
Advertising draws our attention to products or concepts that will supposedly benefit our lives.
What type of power does advertising usually hold?
Influential power
What 3 elements did Fairclough identify in advertising?
Fairclough (2001) identified 3 elements of advertising:
1. Synthetic Personalisation
2. Creating an image of the product to suggest a particular lifestyle
3. Building the consumer
What is Rhetoric?
Rhetoric is the use of language and structure to persuade or move a listener or a reader.
What are the 2 types of Discourse Structures?
- Problem-Solution = the speaker convinces the audience that they have a problem, then provides a solution
- Desire-need fulfilment = the speaker convinces the audiences that there is something they desire, then promises they can have it)
What is a Triadic Structure?
It’s the rule of three sentence structure
What is Polysyndeton?
Polysyndeton = adding conjunctions to a sentence where they would normally be replaced with a comma (e.g. and, and, and)
Who was Aristotle?
A Greek Philosopher.
What did Aristotle come up with?
Aristotle’s 3 types of rhetorical appeals, or the “3 proofs”, that a writer / speaker should use as means of persuasion.
What are the 3 Proofs of Aristotle?
- Ethos = character, ethics. How a party builds their credibility and trustworthiness.
- Logos = logic, reasoning. The claim itself; the reasoning the author uses; the logical evidence
- Pathos = emotion, pity, selfishness. Words or passages used to activate emotions.
What are each of the effects of the 3 Proofs of Aristotle?
- Ethos helps the audience to see the author / company as reliable and credible
- Logos, if done properly, the audience understands the logic behind the speech
- Pathos helps persuasion by evoking an emotional response like fear, sympathy or anger
Types of Ethos Appeals
- A popular celebrity or spokesperson to represent the product / idea
- The use of a credible looking figure
- Appearing sincere or morally / ethically likeable
- Appropriate use of language and grammar
- The author’s professional background
Types of Logos Appeals
- Hard Data
- Theories / Scientific Facts
- Citations from experts and authorities
- Real Life Examples
- Sharing of Informed Opinions
Types of Pathos Appeals
- Emotionally loaded language
- Vivid descriptions or graphology
- Anecdotes, testimonies, narratives or real life examples
- Emotional Tone
- Emotional Examples
Why do speakers and writers use rhetorical language?
They use it because its structure and style makes it seem powerful and persuasive. It makes audiences feel moved and inspired.
Who is George Orwell?
Orwell is a 20th Century writer.
What did George Orwell say about Rhetoric?
George Orwell, in his 1946 essay, “Politics and the English Language” said that:
‘Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.’
This means that rhetoric must be viewed critically rather than being accepted at face value.
What is an Euphemism?
A euphemism is a word or phrase used to hide or disguise the unpleasant connotations of language, remove mental pictures or weaken its emotive force.
Why might a euphemism be used?
- To avoid saying something taboo (e.g. passing away instead of dead)
- To partially hide the unpleasant truth of something (e.g. someone was let go from work rather than sacked or fired)
- To avoid a word which has acquired negative connotations (someone is different rather than disabled)
What are the 7 types of Emotional Appeals?
- Appeal to Self Esteem = manipulates our need to feel good about ourselves
- Appeal to Social Fears = carries an implied threat of ostracism or social rejection
- Appeal to Authority or Experts = authority figure is quoted or used to prove a point
- Appeal to Pity = where a person tries to make you do or buy something because they will be sad if you don’t
- Appeal to Force = where a person tries to make you do or buy something because they will hurt you if you don’t agree
- Plainfolks = an attempt to make you think the persuader is just ‘like you’ or ‘regular folk’
- Associations = where the persuader uses a positive symbol to endorse the product they want you to buy
