Rhetorical Effects Research Articles

Changes in Americans' prejudices during the presidency of Donald Trump.

The presidency of Donald Trump represented a relatively unique event in modern American history, whereby a sitting US president made numerous controversial remarks about minoritized groups yet nonetheless maintained substantial public support. Trump's comments constituted a departure from the egalitarian norms that had long characterized American political discourse. Here, we examine the potential effects of Trump's rhetoric on Americans' attitudes, predicting that these high-profile norm violations may have reshaped the personal prejudices of the American people. In 13 studies including over 10,000 participants, we tested how Americans' prejudice changed following the political ascension of Donald Trump. We found that explicit racial and religious prejudice significantly increased amongst Trump's supporters, whereas individuals opposed to Trump exhibited decreases in prejudice. Further, changing social norms appear to explain these changes in prejudice. These results suggest that Trump's presidency coincided with a substantial change in the topography of prejudice in the United States.

How sentence type influences the interpretation of Spanish future constructions

AbstractIt is well known that Spanish futurizing morphology is frequently used not to express futurity, but instead to formulate a hypothesis, i.e. express epistemic modality. Although this is possible with both synthetic or periphrastic future marking, the synthetic future tense is more likely to express an epistemic reading than the periphrastic future. This paper explores the relationship between futurizing morphology and sentence type on the basis of a quantitative analysis of aboutn = 2,700 tokens of synthetic and periphrastic ‘future’ constructions in spoken conversations from Madrid, Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile. On the basis of a bottom-up classification of these tokens regarding their potential to express modal meanings, we demonstrate that polar and partial futurizing interrogatives are more likely to display modal meanings and associated rhetorical effects than futurizing declaratives. This effect is even stronger for synthetic future constructions, due to a conventionalization of specific form-function pairings. Finally, we also document substantial dialectal variation in the use of futurizing morphology.

Fictive Motion and Its Rhetorical Effect in Chinese Novels

Fictive motion is to represent stability by motion; it is first put forward by Talmy, who divided the fictive motion into five categories, that is to say, “emanation,” “pattern paths,” “frame-relative motion,” “advent paths,” “access paths,” and “coextension paths.”. Fictive motion is not only used in English, but also widely used in Chinese, especially in Chinese literary works, in which fictive motion has an intimate relationship with the figure of speech. The use of fictive motion and figure of speech make the works vivid and interesting. This paper intends to discuss the fictive motion and its rhetorical effect in Chinese novels.

Band of Brothers or Band of Others?: Rhetoric, Veterans, and Civil Rights Fights in Germany and the United States

Research suggests that marginalized groups can use military service to win greater governmental and social acceptance by using civic republican rhetoric, however, conditions in which claims-making rhetoric is coercive are underspecified. Because rhetorical effectiveness requires sympathetic ears, we examine the influence of (1) expectations and political efforts of marginalized group members seeking greater acceptance, (2) whether majority group economic status is outpacing marginalized groups seeking improved treatment, and (3) whether marginalized groups have influential military veterans from majority groups as allies. We apply these factors to explain the claims-making failure of German Jews following the First World War and the success of African Americans after the Second World War. From the African American case, we also conclude that military service led to greater socio-political inclusion and rights based on development of future political actors through leadership development processes and inter-group contact, especially regarding Presidents Truman and Eisenhower.

Attention and counter-framing in the Black Lives Matter movement on Twitter

The social media platform Twitter platform has played a crucial role in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. The immediate, flexible nature of tweets plays a crucial role both in spreading information about the movement’s aims and in organizing individual protests. Twitter has also played an important role in the right-wing reaction to BLM, providing a means to reframe and recontextualize activists’ claims in a more sinister light. The ability to bring about social change depends on the balance of these two forces, and in particular which side can capture and maintain sustained attention. The present study examines 2 years worth of tweets about BLM (about 118 million in total). Timeseries analysis reveals that activists are better at mobilizing rapid attention, whereas right-wing accounts show a pattern of moderate but more sustained activity driven by reaction to political opponents. Topic modeling reveals differences in how different political groups talk about BLM. Most notably, the murder of George Floyd appears to have solidified a right-wing counter-framing of protests as arising from dangerous “terrorist” actors. The study thus sheds light on the complex network and rhetorical effects that drive the struggle for online attention to the BLM movement.

Homeless on the Home Front: Spaces of Emplacement and Displacement during World War II

Abstract: The metaphor of the home front reveals a spatializing logic through which the United States has historically conceptualized national belonging, producing both spaces of emplacement and spaces of displacement. I argue that these spaces emerge from the metaphor's blurring of the line between soldier and citizen within the body politic. To highlight the metaphor's rhetorical potentiality, the analysis examines FDR's 1942 Fireside Chat on the Home Front and a letter to the president regarding the bravery of an interned Japanese American Boy Scout troop. These texts showcase how the political and material effects of home front rhetoric are actualized in their most extreme and violent forms, ultimately illuminating the threshold of American belonging and democratic potential.

A Study of Culture Metaphor and Conceptual Metaphor in the Film “Zootopia”

Metaphor is a figure of speech. In order to achieve rhetorical effect, it directly uses one thing to describe another thing. It may provide (or blur) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two things. “Zootopia”, an animated film produced by Disney, has swept around the world since its release. From this story, the children enjoyed the lovely cartoon image and the power of justice. Teenagers felt the efforts for the pursuits. However in adult perspective, there are metaphors everywhere in the city of wild animals. The application of metaphors in this film will bring strong astonishment and inspiration.

Ears to Hear

This study examines the effects of deductive and inductive preaching in a church setting. A sermon fulfills Bitzer’s description of a rhetorical event in context, exigence, and nature of utterance (1968). A series of deductive and inductive sermons was preached to gauge the preferences of listeners and impact of these rhetorical events on their lives. Two focus groups, as well as six interview subjects, participated in this qualitative study through pretests, post-tests, and interviews. Findings contribute to the field of communication by exploring ramifications of inductive and deductive preaching and the effects of each in a congregation situated in an increasingly biblically illiterate culture, specifically in the context of Churches of Christ.

RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF PRESIDENT TRUMP POLITICAL SPEECH IN PALM BEACH, FLORIDA ON JANUARY 3RD, 2020 ON THE KILLING OF QASSEM SOLEIMANI

This research analyzes rhetoric which is uttered by President Trump in his political speech in Palm Beach, Florida on January 2020 on the killing of Qassem Soleimani. The analysis involves its context, arguments, and also the effects caused by his speech. The research method used is descriptive qualitative method. The data were taken from the video, the transcript of the speech and the news related to the speech. Martin theory (2014) of rhetorical analysis on political speech and Cicero`s theory in Aristotle (2008) of the classical principle of rhetoric are used to analyze the data. The research results are the rhetorical context of President Trump`s speech is to respond and clarify the killing of Qassem Soleimani; and the accusation of started a war, thus the rhetorical argument shows that the speech used all the classical principle of rhetoric and the rhetorical effect of the speech is escalating the tension in the region.

Tropes and Rhetorical Figures in Simultaneous Interpreting of Presidential Speeches

Since one of the distinctive features of presidential speeches is the use of tropes and rhetorical figures, which are employed to achieve a persuasive effect, this study aimed to find out if tropes and rhetorical figures are retained in simultaneous interpretation from English into Lithuanian and whether the omission of them in the interpretation diminishes the rhetorical effect of the speech. The research found that out of 500 tropes and rhetorical figures observed in original speeches more than a half are absent in interpretation. Based on a closer analysis of examples, it was concluded that tropes and rhetorical figures tend to cause problems for interpreters and that the omission of tropes and rhetorical figures results in a diminished rhetorical effect in the target language.

From Diversity to Dignity

This article promotes closer rhetorical analysis of the current trend in higher education to institutionalize equity, inclusion, diversity, and access (EIDA) work without routinely interrogating the orienting terms used in such efforts. It may be easy to mistake the intentions of EIDA work as determining its value, thus discouraging a critical examination of the rhetorical outcomes it produces and the rhetorical effects it invites. We suggest that one insight such analysis could offer is a better account of the rhetorical constraints of the term “diversity.” In this article, we review a range of compelling critiques that have been offered of the limitations of “diversity” as it appears in higher education discourse. We suggest “dignity” as a promising alternative to “diversity” as an alternate orienting term for EIDA work in higher education.

The Hidden Cost of Incarceration: Women of Color Pay the Price of Legislation That Allows For Exploitive Private Profits

This Article discusses the hidden costs of incarceration that most legislators, scholars, journalists, and taxpayers overlook. A recent study shows that 45 percent of Americans have or have had an immediate family member incarcerated, demonstrating that many Americans are affected by mass incarceration. The costs of incarceration of their family member’s imprisonment fall on these members specifically and their communities generally. These expenses are typically unknown by people without first-hand experience with incarceration, whether they have been or are incarcerated, or have a family member who has been or is incarcerated. I will use my first-hand experience to explore the costs—what they are, why they exist, and who pays them.Further, this Article draws a link between the War on Drugs—which was designed to impact and did impact mostly people ofcolor—to the identity of the people who pay the costs. The Article also connects further links the War on Drugs, mandatory minimum sentencing, and the Three Strikes law and how these three features of our criminal justice system work together to be the largest contributors to the systemic incarceration of people of color, particularly men. In fact, the supposed connection between minorities, drugs, and crimes became the highlight for President Reagan’s War on Drugs, with a clear undertone of racial regime. Near-hysteria around the War on Drugs prompted Congress to pass mandatory minimum sentencing, which subjected Brown and Black men to long prison terms and created an unprecedented rise in America’s prison population. The ripple effects of this racial rhetoric have continued to impact people of color at rates disproportionate to their white counterparts, as the realities of incarceration and the nature of the costs have severe consequences for many communities of color.

Classical Rhetorical Analysis on Paul’s Character in His Speech at Miletus (Acts 20:18–35)

In his speech at Miletus (Acts 20:18–25), Paul talks about himself repeatedly. Such emphasis on the character of Paul inevitably raises some questions regarding the function of the emphasis. This article attempts to understand the function of the emphasis on the character of Paul in the Miletus speech. The method used to analyze the speech is the classical rhetorical method. Classical rhetoric follows the convention of ancient Greco-Roman rhetoric to examine how a speech persuades the audience to act according to what the speaker intends. In studying the Miletus speech, the author will investigate several elements from classical rhetoric, such as the rhetorical invention, with particular discussion to ethos (character), pathos (emotion), and logos (the logic of the argumentation), the rhetorical species, the rhetorical arrangement, and the rhetorical effectiveness. The main argument of this article is that the emphasis on Paul’s character functions as the basis for the accountability of Paul’s ministry and the basis for his exhortation to the elders of the Ephesian church.

Hythlodaeus' Second Marathon Sentence of 926 Words and the “Contextual Launch” of the Utopia

This article is a follow-up to a previous one in Moreana 51 (2014), which provided a detailed analysis of the immediately preceding 464-word sentence. The two sentences placed near the end of Utopia I work together to illustrate the political wisdom (in both domestic and foreign affairs) which the fictional Hythlodaeus has acquired in his travels, and at the same time encourage readers of Utopia to look forward to, and to accept the wisdom of the Utopians way of life as a positive model for Europe. There is an undoubted harmony between the sensible practices of the “Achorians” and “Macarians” and More's political philosophy as revealed in his epigrams. Nevertheless, the two long sentences also function as praeambula to the full-length account of the Utopians, and they are meant to guide our interpretation. The details of their structure, here analyzed, bring about certain rhetorical effects. In a crescendo of irony, the long sentences establish a rather peculiar character for Hythlodaeus as the sole narrator of Utopia II: he is an independent, utterly frank witness to this fictional “reality” of More's creation, and by the end of Utopia I we readers are prepared to listen to Utopia II with very critical ears indeed.

(Un)Expected effects of policy rhetoric: value framing of policy proposals and voters’ reactions to subsequent information

(Un)Expected effects of policy rhetoric: value framing of policy proposals and voters’ reactions to subsequent information

Strategies to Mitigate the Effects of Negative Political Rhetoric on Service Providers: A Study in Two Refugee-serving Organizations

ABSTRACT This paper explores the strategies that staff at two refugee-serving organizations found helpful in mitigating their increased distress from negative political rhetoric aimed at their clients. Results point to the importance of organizational acknowledgment of the distress. Additionally, staff perceived that intentionally focused organizational interventions can mitigate the emotional impacts of negative rhetoric. Finally, strategies employees used to lessen their distress and regain a sense of efficacy included recommitment to the mission, advocacy for refugees among family and friends, strong reliance on religious faith in coping, and an avoidance of the rhetoric by decreasing engagement with news and social media.

When Evaluative Adjectives Prevent Contradiction in a Debate

This paper argues that some words are so highly charged with meaning by a community that they may prevent a discussion during which each participant is on an equal footing. These words are indeed either unanimously accepted or rejected. The presence of these adjectival groups pushes the antagonist to find rhetorical strategies to circumvent them. The main idea we want to develop is that some propositions are not easily debatable in context because of some specific value-bearing words (VBWs), and one of the goals of this paper is to build a methodological tool for finding and classifying these VBWs (with a focus on evaluative adjectives). Our study echoes the importance of “cultural keywords” (as reported by Wierzbicka, Understanding cultures through their key words: English, Russian, Polish, German, and Japanese, 1997) in argument (as reported by Rigotti & Rocci, Argumentation in practice, 2005), but is rather based on a German approach developed by (as reported by Dieckmann, Sprache in der Politik: Einführung in die Pragmatik und Semantik der politischen, 1975), (as reported by Strauss and Zifonun, Der politische Wortschatz, 1986), and (as reported by Girnth, Sprache und Sprachverwendung in der Politik: Eine Einführung in die linguistische Analyse öffentlich-politischer Kommunikation, 2015) about “Miranda” and “Anti-Miranda” words that is expanded and refined here. In particular, our study tries to understand why some statements, fueled by appreciative (Tseronis, 2014) or evaluative adjectives, have such rhetorical effects on a pragmatic level in the particular context of a vote on the Swiss popular initiative called “for more affordable housing”. This context is fruitful since two parties offer reasons for two opposing policy claims: namely, to accept or to reject an initiative. When one party uses arguments containing such universally unassailable adjectival groups to defend a “yes” vote (in our example, pleading for more affordable housing rents), the opposing party cannot use a symmetrical antonym while pleading for the “no” vote. The methodological tool that is proposed here could shed light on the use of certain rhetorical and referential strategies in conflicting policy proposition contexts.

Clarifying the use of Theodosius Dobzhansky's and E. O. Wilson's evolutionary maxims: A guide for psychologists

I argue that Theodosius Dobzhansky's (1973b, p. 125) famous claim that “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution” and E. O. Wilson’s (1978, p. 167) popular remark that “Genes hold culture on a leash” have come to function dogmatically as maxims. I examine the context of these statements and provide examples of how they have been used for rhetorical effect in evolutionary literatures in the behavioral sciences. Dobzhansky's maxim is simply the title of a brief article in a journal that specializes in the teaching of biology. Wilson's maxim appears in a book that addresses critiques of his sociobiology, and which discusses the problem of altruism. Despite the popularity of these maxims in evolutionary biology and psychology, neither Dobzhansky nor Wilson seem to mean these statements as unassailable general truths. I conclude with some remarks concerning the relevance of Dobzhansky and Wilson to contemporary evolutionary metatheory.

On the Sublime: A Field Model for Understanding the Affective-Rhetorical Event

ABSTRACT This essay re-reads Longinus’ On the Sublime via Deluzian affect theory, uncovering an implicit model that aids scholars in the analysis of intensely affective sparks and their subsequent rhetorical events. This model teaches scholars to analyze the field of potential for the generation of affect, determining the limits of that field by considering the rhetorical flaws that preclude the affect’s occurrence. The model extends beyond sublimity to other affects and thereby offers insights for critics who focus on the affective aspects of texts and contexts. Supplementing these foci, the model instructs critics to begin with affect in order to diagram the range of rhetorical moves within which different affects become potentialized. The example of soccer star Megan Rapinoe’s “audacious” statement about visiting the White House illustrates the model’s usefulness for understanding rhetorical emergence and consequence. The essay concludes by arguing for the import of similar sparks and of the field model for helping to understand rhetorical circulation today.

‘Boris’

‘Boris’