Mastering the Rhetorical Situation in Communication

1. The Rhetorical Situation

2. The Real World Contextsfor Communication • Authors have a purpose for writing. • They have a subject, assigned or chosen. • They use a medium (language, words, or images). • They may have a specific, real audience they are writing for. • They write within a specific context.

3. World of the Text Subject Voice, Persona, Role, Presentation of Self Audience- Target Implied, or Assumed Medium Language Images

4. Aristotle’s Terms LOGOS (presentation of the subject) ETHOS (of the speaker) PATHOS (affecting the audience)

5. Aristotle’s Appeals • Ethical appeal: “good person speaking well”; authority of the speaker • Logical appeal: focus on the subject, logical argument • Pathetic appeal: move the audience through emotions

6. Different Genres • Emphasis on Author: Writing for oneself in a diary or journal • Emphasis on Subject: Science, journalism • Emphasis on Language: Poetry • Emphasis on Audience: Advertisements, popular fiction or movies

7. Author in the Text • Voice • Persona • Presentation of Self • Role • Narrator (in fiction especially) who may be Reliable or Unreliable • Narrative Point of View—first person, omniscient, etc.

8. Rhetorical Terms: Tone • Sense of distance between the author and the audience • Sense of the attitude of the author toward the audience and the subject • Terms: Intimate, casual, formal, lofty, friendly, condescending, ironic, etc.

9. Rhetorical Stance • The author’s positioning himself/herself in relationship to the other elements to achieve a specific purpose within a specific context. • The author chooses language, organization, and other elements to suit a particular situation and audience.

10. Audience in the Text • Target Audience • Intended Audience • Assumed Audience • Implied Audience • Should be distinguished from the REAL Audience