Persuasion in modern political and economical discourse

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION..........................................3

CHAPTER ONE. PERSUASION AS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF MEDIA

DISCOURSE.............................................5

1.1. General notion of Persuasion...................5

1.2. Linguistic means of Persuasion.................9

1.3. Persuasion in media discourse.................15

Conclusions to Chapter One.........................18

CHAPTER TWO. STRATEGIES AND TACTICS OF PERSUASION IN

MODERN MEDIA DISCOURSE...............................19

2.1. The notion of discursive strategies and tactics

...................................................19

2.2. Persuasion in modern media political discourse 21

2.3. Persuasion in economic media discourse........26

Conclusions to Chapter Two.........................29

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS..................................30

RESUME...............................................32

LITERATURE CITED.....................................34

LIST OF ILLUSTRATION MATERIALS.......................35

3

INTRODUCTION

Persuasion is defined as those linguistic choices

that aim at changing or affecting the behavior of

others or strengthening the existing beliefs and

behaviors of those who already agree, the beliefs and

behaviors of persuaders included (Kinneavy 1980: 211;

Jucker 1997:122).

Perelman sees persuasion as part of the more

general notion of argumentation and writes:"[...]

argumentation [...] covers the whole range of discourse

that aims at persuasion and conviction, whatever the

audience addressed and whatever the subject matter"

(1982:5).

Simons’ definition of persuasion that characterizes

persuasion as “human communication designed to

influence others by modifying their beliefs, values, or

attitides” (Simons 1976: 21) implicitly identifies

4certain instances of communication as persuasion (while

excluding other cases from the category of persuasion).

Effective persuasiveness is brought about by many

linguistic variables that powerful communicators use as

a tool to make the listeners accept their ideas. A

skilled communicator, with a high social position can

impose his power on those with less. In this respect,

discourse is dependent on both the context of the

conversation and the vocabularies that are acquired

over the course of social, professional, and vocational

training.

Whenever a writer or speaker in the media – in

newspaper, on the radio or television, on the internet

– presents a point of view, they too use a range of

techniques to convince readers or listeners to agree

with them.

Persuasive language can be used in all media forms,

for example quite obviously in advertisements or in

much more subtle ways.

Persuasive strategies and tactics are deliberately

chosen to influence and persuade viewers and readers.

The relevance of the theme: As the integration of

the world has increased significantly in recent years

as nations of the world have become increasingly

economically and politically interconnected – diverse

5peoples and cultures are coming into contact through

interpersonal interaction as well as Mass Media

messages. The persuasion and manipulation of modern

English media discourse becomes key component in

international cooperation. That is why strategies and

tactics of persuasion in modern media discourse can be

considered as relevant question.

The research aim: bringing to light the notion of

persuasion, provide the analysis of strategies and

tactics of persuasion by the example of media texts.

The research matter: persuasion in modern media

discourse.

The research object: strategies and tactics of

persuasion in modern media discourse.

The tasks of research work are:

1. To perform the literature review on notion of

persuasion.

2. To consider linguistic means of persuasion.

3. To indicate persuasion in media discourse.

4. To specify the notion of discursive strategies

and tactics.

5. To analyze techniques of persuasion in

political and economic media discourse.

6Material base: the articles from the newspapers The

Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Morning Star, BBC News, The

Sun.

7CHAPTER ONE. PERSUASION AS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF

MEDIA DISCOURSE

1.1. General notion of Persuasion

Yet, already in Rhetoric, Aristotle implied that

persuasion is a dynamic, interactive process - a view

later made explicit in Modern Rhetoric. Aristotle wrote:

"[,..] persuasion may come through the hearers, when the

speech stirs their emotions. Our judgments when we are

pleased and friendly are not the same as when we are

pained and hostile" (Aristotle 1984: 25). Therefore, even

though it is rather Modern Rhetoric than Classical

Rhetoric that looks at the "rhetor-audience relationship"

as "dialogic" (Lunsford and Ede 1984: 38), the importance

of the audience for persuasive communication has always

been acknowledged.

There are four main factors that the writer or

speaker has to take into account in the process of

persuasion: audience, purpose, form and language

(including images).

Iris Breuer consolidated the main parameters of these

four factors in the graphic that is provided on Figure

1.1. (Breuer and Breuer 2008:1)

8

Figure 1.1

Writers aiming to persuade you to accept their

viewpoint have a deliberately get you to “come on side”.

This can be done heavy-handedly or subtly or in myriad

ways in between. Writers have to position you to agree

with them – to share their point of view. This means that

they use language, stories, evidence and arguments to

manipulate your responses.

The aim is to create a particular effect on you,

which means that your emotions are targeted as well as

you use of logic and reason. For example, a personal

anecdote might cause you to feel sympathetic towards the

writer, and therefore to be more inclined to agree with

their point of view. Or the writer might use strong

language to attack opponents, positioning you to share

the writer’s rejection of alternative viewpoint.

9A primary and fundamental social faculty is the

ability to distinguish one's intimates from the stranger

and outsider, his strange appearance, behaviour and

sounds.

Equality of codes (equanimity in the notional

visualization of reality including emotional altitudes)

is especially suggestive of equality, at least of

comparability of worlds and this will manifest itself in

similar communicative behaviour. Conviction is the

primary aim of persuasion, which depends on the

parallelism of presuppositions and expectations, of

referential, associative and affective meaning, and,

consequently is supposed in lead lo coordinate, similar

active behaviour. Thus persuasion will be most effective

when following similar affective/evaluative motivations,

and when it is based upon parallel or coordinated

connotations, expectations, preferences and aversions.

This is probably as stated above, the most powerful

factor responsible for effective persuasion. Persuasive

use of language does not so much appeal to reason but to

the recipient's expectations and emotions. As its purpose

is not so much to inform as to make people believe, and

in the end to act upon their beliefs, he/she who sounds

like one of us is the one we most easily trust. If two or

more people share the same connotative bias in their

10semiotic and communicative behaviour they most likely are

– simply by this fact – forced lo find their mutual

partner a most agreeable person indeed, and thus have no

difficulty in identifying themselves with her/him.

Similarity and comparability of meaning(s)

referential and especially connotative, can be suggested,

or counterfeited by a similar surface structure of

communicative behaviour; in the case of linguistic

imitation it is especially elements on the phonological

and lexical level that are predominantly utilized.

The reason why equality of speech-code, even if only

pretended or alleged, is apt to create or trigger off the

impression of equality and equanimity in other fields of

experience, expectation and evaluation, may bе found

along the following line (subconscious) reasoning:

language, especially group-language, is the badge par

excellence of belonging: nothing anyone could say (and

mean) is more convincing in group identity than the

familar ring of how somebody says what he need not really

mean.

As opposed to the strategy of using exotic and marked

forms to arouse attention and feign the sound of

scientific language, home-spun unmarkedness is apt to be

identified with naturalness, honesty and intimacy.

Consequently, from similarity of speech one may infer

11that there must be some kind of equanimity of mind.

Needless to say, if two people perchance should not think

quite along the same lines, one of them always has a

chance to try and simulate equality of mind (and in-group

identity) by imitating similar language use. This is a

point that has received little treatment in the

literature – perhaps because of its very indirectness and

implicitly or because it is used predominantly in spoken

discourse. In any case, it is a very familiar way of

soliciting credibility for the partner’s argument and

trustworthiness: “...the other direction of accent is

convergence 'downwards'... by losing prestige ... the

speaker might well gain in terms of the listener's

approval within the dyadic situation because of increased

similarity” (Giles and Powersland 1997: 235).

One could try to bring yet another distinction to

bear upon the phenomenal under discussion by

distinguishing between persuasion that attempts to

convince somebody on the one hand, and seduction on the

other hand. The difference is not merely one of degree,

since seduction is an attempt to make people do things as

if іn their own impulse but really upon instigation from

outside. Seduction has at least one important and

frequent preliminary move: mimicry, or rather flattery by

mimicry, which means getting somebody to see himself and

12to look at things from another, seemingly more agreeable

angle, which of course involves a change of perspective.

Whereas the mechanisms of convincing and conviction

obviously work mainly along cognitive argumentative

lines, seduction, instead of trusting in the truth and/or

credibility of arguments, rather exploits the outward

appearance and seeming trustworthiness of the persuader.

Seductive persuasion tries to manipulate the relationship

that obtains or is to be established between the speaker

and his listener:

Friendliness. We built a bank on it (Yorkshire Bank).

In fact, even being convinced of the truth of an

argument or an idea may mean having, at some time or

other, changed one's mind, or having had one's mind

changed, deliberately and/or consciously.

In order to study the notion of persuasion more

deeply we should pay attention to interlude on

intelligibility.

Intelligibility is a prerequisite of persuasion. This

might at first sight seem to be a very trivial statement:

of course one has to understand what somebody says in

order to be influenced by what he has meant. What one

should have in mind here is the fact that in order for

language to be effective, e.g. in acts of persuasive

communication, the person to be convinced would have to

13understand every bit of information and every strand or

associative meaning that is being transmitted to him.

This would mean that not only referential-denotative

features, conditioned by presuppositions, would have to

be parallel in both parties, but also degrees of semantic

intensity and expressiveness, and above all the

connotative meaning potential, attitudinal aspects, fears

and expectations.

There is one expectation to this desirable

parallelism: the person to be persuaded must not

recognize the rhetorician's actual persuasive intention;

persuasive speech acts are characterized by the fact that

the condition of sincerity is suspended.

In fact, the communicative biographies of the

partners ought to be practically the same in order to

guarantee mutual understanding and trustworthiness, since

parallel semiotic backgrounds are necessary to effect the

persuader's main task, i.e. to lure the recipient into

identifying with the persuader's perspective. This is why

in my view understanding in general and (persuasive)

communication in particular has to do with

identification: he who listens adjusts his view to that

which is being insinuated; he always identities himself

to some degree with his partner. This again is why

persuasion works best among people who speak the same

14language. People who share similar communicative

biographies can achieve understanding and agreement with

a minimum of verbal activity (Wodak 1989: 97-98).

The seductive mechanism that employs similarity of

communicative behavior may well be seen in contrast to

coercive strategies which serve a similar purpose, viz.

to make the recipient adjust his behavior to that

suggested or demanded by the persuader, in this case,

however, mutual understanding is not the aim; the victims

know that they are being conditioned and controlled

against their will instead of acting upon their own

decisions.

Thus, different ideologies may employ similar

strategies, although they would concentrate on different

aspects of behavior depending on what is regarded as

reasonable, respectable, and righteous.

On the other hand, similar purposes, ideological

rhetoric or other, may be served by quite different

semiotic surface structures.

1.2. Linguistic means of Persuasion

When talking about linguistic means of persuasion

one should remember some features observable in these

linguistic patterns:

15- repetition and redundance – as a message is

repeated, over and over, more and more receivers get to

understand it. If receivers are not thinking very

carefully about the persuasive appeal, a cliché draws

their attention and makes them think;

- authoritative appeal or even appeal to fear;

- fixed topic & syntax, non-fluctuating meaning;

- evidence – is something that somebody else

created, that a source uses as a means of persuasion.

The effects of evidence are so robust and so strong

that they should not be overlooked.

Taking into consideration all these opinions, we

may say that there are some elements, which the encoder

and the decoder of the message have in common in order

to interact. The persuasive communication process

depends on a series of factors: social relationships

are negotiated and controlled through such means. A

speaker's choice of linguistic means can signal his/her

perception of the interactional context, including the

elements of formality, acquaintance etc. The elements

that facilitate communication with linguistic activity

having a persuading goal are: solidarity, fatic

communion, social relationship / social status, the

same culture, proper decoding of the context of

situation.

16The proverbs and sayings, comparisons, idioms,

quotes can be mentioned as different types of

linguistic means that have the function of persuading

the listener into doing something without any

particular contextual specification.

For example, we can think of proverb such as: An

apple a day keeps the doctor away! The meaning of this

statement is not achieved by identifying the semantical

value of each word but by interpreting it as a whole.

It is meant to induce the idea that eating an apple

every day can help to keep you healthy; another

interpretation can be that a small preventive treatment

wards off serious problems. When trying to convince a

child to eat healthy food, the technique of using a

proverb instead of explaining in many words the

importance of a particular behavior, might be very

efficient because nobody thinks of denying the truth

implied in this proverb.

Growth in language abilities takes place as a

result of planned language experiences. The ability of

using and correctly decoding the idioms proves that

language develops in use. The words are used so as to

get the receiver to go along with what the speaker

intends, perhaps without him or her having to really

make a full case.

17A third type of repeated discourse aimed at

persuasion is the category of traditional comparisons,

which are largely used by speakers in order to give

their message a certain degree of authority. For

example, nobody questions the truth of the saying 'as

blind as a bat'. Such structures have invaded other

languages, preserving the same strategy to reach their

persuasive goals. These cast an issue in a favorable or

unfavorable light, or can highlight or suppress certain

aspects. They work by suggesting a likeness between a

character and the listener, or a situation and the

listener's. What is emphasized or suppressed is key.

The nest linguistic means of persuasion is quotes.

When discussing the quotes we should firstly state that

they can be of different derivation (i.e. literary,

political, etc.). Wolfgang Iser (1988: 213) explains

what happens when quotes are inserted in a discourse.

“The text provokes certain expectations which in turn

we project onto the text in such a way that we reduce

the polysemantic possibilities to a single

interpretation in keeping with the expectations

aroused, thus extracting an individual, configurative

meaning”.

18It is obvious that quotes like the ones presented

below have a strong impact on the receiver due to their

redundancies.

God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God (Bible,

Matthew 5:8).

We know what we are, but know not what we may become (William

Shakespeare).

Argumentation is the main linguistic means of

persuasion. At the top of the list of the more or less

outspoken rhetorical devices there are explicit

announcements to introduce argumentative steps, such as

I’ll explain this to you, shell I?

You (really) must admit…

Look here…

These are usually followed by assertive statements

of varying logical relevancy; the listener is invited

to adjust his perspective to that of the speaker.

In the list of linguistic means of persuasion can

be put measures like the passive voice, which serve

either to camouflage the author of an action or to

diminish the credibility of a statement, as is achieved

by the subjunctive mood, e.g. in reported speech.

In advertising the product often takes the part of

the agentive subject of a sentence: "Product x will help you

to...".

19Any utterance in a semiotic system is essentially

vague and incomplete as a result of the intrinsic and

necessary instability, or rather variability of the

communicative systems in general. This means that every

message has to be decoded; i.e. the recipient is

expected to take it upon himself to decipher the

message, i.e. to complete what has been left unsaid; to

bring light into obscurities; to verbalize the

implicit, etc.

Any kind of elision or deletion is the linguistic

means of persuasion. Such omissions as in sentences

without a verb, or verbs lacking a subject or object

("Coca Cola is it"), i.e. utterances that allegedly and

seemingly can do without a full wording, endow a

statement with a certain kind of general validity and

acceptability. Elliptic language forces (he recipient

to complete the utterance and through this mental

activity where be busies himself with what somebody

else may have meant, he/she is lured into identifying

himself / herself to a degree with the speaker. This is

simply a natural consequence of the incompleteness and

vagueness of statements whose comprehension and

acceptance is liable to misunderstanding and depends on

the recipient's conscious and voluntary cooperation.

The more you fly – (Lufthansa).

20Where the quality still matters (luggage).

Philips simply years ahead.

Another consequence of the intrinsic indirectness

of any linguistic (and semiotic) interaction is that

anybody who is able to decipher a message the content

and purpose of which are not manifest and cannot in

fact be gathered from its surface structures, has

proved by accomplishing this deciphering task that

he/she "belongs" to those who can receive and process

messages without having to be told everything

explicitly in so many words. The point in question is

the fact that anybody who completes another's statement

– by this very act of participation, and identification

not only with the propositional content of the

speaker's presumed message but also with its

illocutionary intent and perlocutionary purpose – takes

upon himself the responsibility for what he himself has

said in his own words.

Phonetics can be used as strategy of persuasion.

Every language is equipped with phonetic elements,

which enable it to signal affective reactions,

aggressive as well as those representing amicable

attitudes. These can play good role in persuasion.

Among the explicit means to direct and shift social

relationships, the different forms of address play an

21important role. In addition to the pronouns of

solidarity (Brown and Gilman 1960: 253-276), the use of

first names as a signal solidarity, or rather as a

means of chumming up to somebody should be mentioned:

Ronald and Rudolf (Austria's Kirchschlager).

I like Ike.

Moreover, the pronoun of the 1st person plural

("Let's be reasonable...") is frequently used as a pronoun of

(feigned) solidarity: it is a kind of WE with

socializing force, which I shall call the "nurses'

plural". Forms of address like this, which include the

speaker and the person addressed (Вrown and Levinson

1987) are very likely to create that atmosphere and

feeling of shared situational assessment, mutual

understanding, and common destiny required for

persuasion. It is this atmosphere of mutual

trustworthiness and suspended wariness which is the

basis and background of chumminess. The creation of

this feeling and the atmosphere of being buddies, of

belonging and being accepted, is the central and most

effective instrument of persuasion.

Karl Sorning attempts to advocate the concept of

semantic transformation in considering the means of

persuasion. Compared with this, semantic

transformations can be visualized as springing from the

22deliberate selective focusing of components, i.e. the

selection, or rather restriction of selection rules,

directed by certain choices from co-textual

environment. Semantic transformation starts with those

components which are easiest to shift because of their

instability and ephemeral quality, viz. components

carrying connotative, especially affective and

evaluative semantic content. Manipulation of meaning

can follow two main strategies: replacement of words,

or rearrangement and focusing of semantic components.

A means similar to the persuasive, sometimes even

convincing force of apodictic assertions, is the use of

tautological expressions ("A rose is a rose") which, as R.

Barthes (Barthes 2005: 27) remarked, always have an

aggressive effect. What Barthes obviously has in mind

is the subtle aggressiveness that is, for example,

exercised by making somebody listen to one and the same

argument over and over again. This is a method quite

popular in advertising and one that reminds us of the

trick Cato the Elder used to annoy the Roman senate

with. Needless to say, excessive resort to tautological

manoevres can also backfire.

Paraphrase is the next means of persuasion. The

replacement of words, metaphorical and otherwise, is

one of the devices by which evaluative semantic

23components can be focused on or obscured (as need

arises). Sometimes paraphrases, and consequently

semantic change, is explicitly stated. But usually

paraphrase is not stated and passes more or less

unnoticed as in the following examples:

Katharina Blum whose friends describe her as "a very

intelligent, cool, level-headed person" turns out to be "ice cold and

calculating" when discussed in the not so benevolent

gutter press (Böll, LHKB: 82).

Euphemism is by far the most widely used

paraphrastic manipulation on the lexical level. Words

are replaced by others whose evaluative components are

more agreeable.

Euphemism, as well as paraphrastic manipulation in

general, is motivated by the assumption that a change

of name can also impart new and different qualities to

a thing or a person, i.e. that the nature of notions,

things and persons can be altered by baptism.

Frequently, by a manipulative linguistic means very

similar to euphemism, a word with a concrete meaning is

replaced by one whose meaning is more generic. This de-

concretization results in a deflation of referential

(and connotational) content and therefore can serve as

a semantic camouflage for persuasion:

24"We had a problem" said Sepp Wille, from the Austrian

Socialist Party, when asked about the 400.000 öS

missing from the Trade Union funds which had been

entrusted to Karl Sekanina, Austria's Minister of

Transport.

Seductive persuasion may use the means of flattery by

mimicry. This linguistic means of persuasion gets

somebody to see himself and to look at things from

another, seemingly more agreeable angle. Here are some

examples of persuasion by means of flattery by mimicry:

When your travel in Aqualene, you've arrived.

The magazine anyone who is anyone reads (Der Spiegel).

If you have good judgment you own one (Rover).

Jaguar. For the very few.

1.3. Persuasion in media discourse

The goal of most media messages is to persuade the

audience to believe or do something.

The media messages most concerned with persuading

us are found in advertising, public relations and

advocacy. Commercial advertising tries to persuade us

to buy a product or service. Public relations "sells"

us a positive image of a corporation, government or

organization. Politicians and advocacy groups try to

25persuade us to vote for or support them, using ads,

speeches, newsletters, websites, and other means.

These "persuaders" use a variety of techniques to

grab readers’ and listeners’ attention, to establish

credibility and trust, to stimulate desire for the

product or policy, and to motivate us to act (buy,

vote, give money, etc.). Identifying the persuasion in

public discourse is important because the consequences

of that discourse are so significant – war and peace,

justice and injustice, freedom and oppression, and the

future of our planet.

According to Daniel J. O’Keefe (2002: 12) mass

media persuasion takes three primary overt forms:

commercial advertising (of consumer products and

services), pro-social advertising, and political

advertising.

Advertising is commonly one part of a larger

marketing effort involving decisions about pricing,

product distribution, market segmentation, sales force

management, and so forth. Pro-social communication

campaigns (sometimes termed “social marketing,” because

such campaigns apply familiar marketing tools to pro-

social ends) aim to forward environmental or charitable

causes or to advance health-related ends such as

26encouraging people to exercise, quit smoking, and so

forth.

Society’s beliefs and behavior can be influenced by

media persuasion. There is also direct empirical

evidence of the media’s influence over political

opinions.

Empirical support for this assumption comes in many

forms. Political candidates spend a great deal of money

on advertising.

Persuasion in media discourse works in two main

ways: by appealing to our emotions and by appealing to

our reason. Some techniques that appeal primarily to our

emotions are inclusive language, appeals to fear or a

sense of justice and emotive language. Appeals to our

reason often involve the use of logic and argument, and

techniques such as metaphor, analogy and the use of

statistics.

Writers in media discourse will often appeal to both

their audience's reason and their emotions. They will

take into account the sort of persuasive approach that

their audience is most likely to respond to (Lee et al.

2009: 132).

Writers in media discourse use many persuasive

language devices to convince readers of their

arguments. But there are three key elements of any

27piece of writing: main contention (what the writer is

saying), tone (how the writer feels about the topic;

their attitude to the issue), style (how the writer

presents their point of view) (Breuer and Breuer 2008:

70).

While these are not actually persuasive techniques,

they are always used by writers when they seek to

position and persuade readers. They play an important

part in influencing how readers or viewers will respond

to the writer’s attempts to persuade them.

Tone is the mood or feeling of a piece of writing

and reflects the writer's attitude towards the subject

matter. A helpful way of judging the tone of written

text is to read it aloud – if read appropriately, the

manner of reading should convey the tone.

Let’s consider how tone persuades. A writer uses a

particular tone in order to generate an emotional

response and position the audience to share a point of

view.

Here is the example of ton’s analysis.

Genetic testing is a serious subject, one requiring sound advice and

effective processes.

The writer uses a calm and serious tone in

addressing the issue of genetic testing. By recognizing

the issue as 'serious' the audience is positioned to

28listen attentively. 'Sound advice' and 'effective

processes' further emphasize the seriousness of the

issue, leading the audience to engage closely as they

anticipate more information and reasons to support this

viewpoint.

Style refers to those features of written or spoken

language relating to the form of expression rather than

to the content of the text. Unlike tone, a particular

style of writing does not convey emotion but is

selected according to context and audience. For

example, the style of a conversation between a game

show host and a contestant would be informal and

chatty. In contrast, an interview by the host of a

current affairs program with a foreign head of state

would be more formal with carefully prepared questions.

The main contention in media discourse states the

central point or argument of a piece of text or speech.

It reveals the point of view of the creator (writer,

speaker, artist, photographer), and often sets the tone

of the piece – it may be authoritative or shocking,

assertive or emotional.

The main contention is usually made clear from the

outset: for example, in the opening sentence of a

written piece or the first few remarks of a speech.

However, in some text types, such as an opinion piece

29or editorial, the main contention might only be stated

at or near the end (Lee et al. 2009: 154).

In order to make their writing more persuasive,

writers and speakers of media discourse select and

arrange their material in particular ways. They can:

- give selected information – a little or a lot –

that helps to sway you to believe and agree;

- omit important information because they feel it

will undermine their case, or because they are poorly

informed on an issue, or because have chosen to ignore

the opposing side to be more persuasive;

- declare their viewpoint up-front and then present

evidence, a series of assertions and other techniques

to persuade listener / reader to agree;

- overtly set out to persuade / coerce listener /

reader to agree by strongly favoring one point of view

on the issue (opinion articles, letters to the editor);

- give a balanced account, but still aim to

convince listener / reader that one viewpoint has more

validity than any other (editorials);

- present a carefully structured argument with any

number of highly persuasive devises.

Conclusions to Chapter One

30In this Chapter the definition of notion of

persuasion was provide. Persuasion is a symbolic

process in which communicators try to convince other

people to change their attitudes or behaviors regarding

an issue through the transmission of a message in an

atmosphere of free choice. The analysis of linguistic

means of persuasion showed the variety of such means.

In process of research of persuasion in media

discourse, it was found out that persuasion works in

two main ways: by appealing to our emotions and by

appealing to our reason. There are three key elements

of any piece of writing: main contention, tone, style.

The following persuasive strategies and tactics were

examined: argumentation, elision or deletion,

paraphrase etc.

CHAPTER TWO. STRATEGIES AND TACTICS OF PERSUASION

IN MODERN MEDIA DISCOURSE

2.1. The notion of discursive strategies and

tactics

Discourse is the way in which language is used

socially to convey broad historical meanings. It is

language identified by the social conditions of its

use, by who is using it and under what conditions.

31Language can never be 'neutral' because it bridges our

personal and social worlds (Henry and Tator 2002: 12).

According to Jane Ogden discourse is mainly used to

describe verbal reports of individuals. In particular,

discourse is analyzed by those who are interested in

language and talk and what people are doing with their

speech. The term discourse is also used to refer to

meanings at the more macro level. This approach does

not study the individual words spoken by people but the

language used to describe aspects of the world, and has

tended to be taken by those using a sociological

perspective (Ogden 2002: 53).

Gee uses Discourse to refer to socially recognised

ways of using language (reading, writing, speaking,

listening), gestures and other semiotics (images,

sounds, graphics, signs, codes), as well as ways of

thinking, believing, feeling, valuing, acting/doing and

interacting in relation to people and things, such that

we can be identified and recognised as being a member

of a socially meaningful group, or as playing a

socially meaningful role (Gee 2008: 42). To be in, or

part of, a Discourse means that others can recognise us

as being a 'this' or a 'that' (a pupil, mother, priest,

footballer, mechanic), or a particular 'version' of a

this or that (a reluctant pupil, a doting mother, a

32radical priest, a 'bush' mechanic) by virtue of how we

are using language, believing, feeling, acting,

dressing, doing, and so on.

Discursive strategies and tactics as communication

consist of a relationship or connection between at

least two individuals speaking on a topic in a

particular location. One should pay attention to the

audiences mental state – be it one of anger, calmness,

or friendliness – so there should be concern for more

than just the rhetor. Speakers need to understand how

the minds of their listeners work, and in the process

we come to understand something of who we are and why

we do what we do (Kennedy 1996: ix). Seeing the

available means of persuasion (pisteis) involves a

complex understanding of ethos, pathos, and logos – the

familiar triad of speaker's character, audience's

emotion, and the logic or proof of the subject or

argument itself.

Ethos as discursive / verbal strategy means

credibility, or ethical appeal, means convincing by the

character of the author. We tend to believe people whom

we respect. Pathos is emotional discursive strategy

means persuading by appealing to the reader's emotions.

Logos is appeal based on logic or reason.

33The persuaders have to use ethos, pathos, and logos

in the construction of their messages. Ethos is used to

support the credibility of the item or person described

by making it / he appear to be a respectful one. Pathos

is used to appeal to the emotions of the readers /

listeners by pulling at their ethical strings. Logos is

used to appeal to the logical side of the addressee by

pushing the fact that the discussed person or event is

good or bad depending on the purpose of a discourse.

Effective discourse requires an interplay of these

three means of strategies, requiring the rhetor to

determine the amount and style of each according to the

situation. In effect, this view suggests that the

discursive situation requires diversity; only through

the interactions between ethos, pathos, and logos can

effective – or healthy – discourse emerge.

Seen as a whole, discursive strategies and tactics

as communication is both diverse and contextual,

suggesting that each discursive situation is an

ecosystem of ideas, arguments, characters, and tropics.

The capacity to discover the "right thing to say" in a

given situation suggests that rhetors need to be able

to read and understand the environment in which their

discourse will exist, and the degree to which their

34utterances will be persuasive depends on this ability

(Dobrin 2002: 169).

352.2. Persuasion in modern media political discourse

Writers and speakers in media political discourse

can use different techniques and strategies. Writers

aim to deliberately persuade people when they:

- appeal to listener’s / reader’s emotions by

playing on listener’s / reader’s feelings, desires,

needs and prejudices:

It says much of what you need to know about Brand Boris (BBC,

29 November 2012).

You cannot be a Sunni Muslim, I feel sorry for your husband and

children with a wife and mother like you (BBC, 26 March 2012).

- use strong tone of voice to engage listener /

reader, make him like or dislike someone or something,

retain listener’s / reader’s interest and give

cohesiveness to the writing:

Gen Musharraf adopted a conciliatory tone and spoke of the strong

ties between the two countries (BBC, 12 August 2007).

- use overstatement and exaggeration to manipulate

listener’s / reader’s feelings, amuse and entertain

them, make the incident or issue sensational and

increase the importance of something in listener’s /

reader’s minds:

In Mumbai, we had Kevin Pietersen's sensational innings as he

catapulted England from a solid foundation to a commanding lead (BBC,

27 November 2012).

36- use generalization that make what is true for one

or a few, appear to be true for everyone:

So, this is a day for everyone to celebrate our shared history and

look forward to our future prosperity together (BBC, 30 November

2012).

It is true that more Muslims, Croats and Albanians were killed

than Serbs (BBC, 30 November 2012).

- use experts, statistics, reports, graphs and so

on to help convince listener / reader that something is

fact, not just opinion:

Experts say such a low number of homicides is highly unusual for a

US city of eight million people (BBC, 29 November 2012).

The statistics show a dramatic reduction in pirate attacks off

Somalia (BBC, 29 November 2012).

A teenage boy among the dead may have detonated explosives near

Mullah Nazir's car, reports say (BBC, 29 November 2012).

One of the basic persuasive means in modern media

political discourse is to use strongly emotive words

like evil, horrendous, rude, great, triumphant:

The Americans are not electing the future in an optimistic way but in

an atypical way they are only electing the lesser evil (BBC, 6 November

2012).

Steve Radband, parish councillor in nearby Bampton, said noise

levels were still "absolutely horrendous" (BBC, 13 November 2012).

37Andrew Mitchell has quit as government chief whip after being

criticised for making rude remarks to police officers at the gates of

Downing Street (BBC, 19 October 2012).

A dream of presidential candidate Mitt Romney ripping into President

Barack Obama, delegates going wild, triumphant and happy as the levees

break, thousands flee in misery and New Orleans sinks beneath the waves

(BBC, 28 August 2012).

Writers and speakers can include listener / reader

in their approach with “we” and “us” to get them on

side:

An Ofqual spokeswoman said: “While there are many external factors

that will be driving this, we know that schools are concerned about the

quality of marking and we are listening to them” (BBC, 28 November

2012).

"What we agreed to is a situation where Malian forces will do most

of the job securing their country," he said (BBC, 15 November 2012).

The use of rhetorical questions engages listener /

reader and positions them to see the answer as so

obvious that one can only agree:

Could that mean having to further water down the traditional party

brand to attract more Catholic support, if not for it, then for the Union?

(BBC, 29 November 2012).

After the last fiasco, can the government really expect us to believe

that they know what they’re doing now? (Morning Star, Jan. 12,

2010).

38The use of metaphors is important language means of

political persuasion. This is intended to make a

picture of a person, group or incident more graphic and

memorable. Metaphors are comparisons that describe one

thing in terms of another.

State media heaped praise on the "Great Successor", describing him

as a "lighthouse of hope" for a country awash in a "sea of tears and

grief" (BBC, 20 December 2011).

Emma Gowing described her "beautiful sister" as the "light of my

life" during an appeal for help at a news conference on Thursday (BBC,

19 October 2012).

Overstatement / exaggeration / hyperbole are

frequent language means of persuasion realization. In

these cases the author uses dramatic, forceful language

to exaggerate the true situation.

It's a fight to the death between arch-enemies Collingwood and

Carlton (Daily Telegraph, 12 May 1996).

The persuasive effect of these means is arousing of

emotion in the reader, provision of ‘worst-case

scenarios’ that can play on reader’s fears.

Puns are next persuasive language means. It is play

on words that gives one word or phrase multiple

meanings.

Two-drink limit hard to swallow (Courier-Mail, 22 January

2008).

39The convincing effect: often humorous, gain the

reader attention and emphasize the writer's point, use

connotations of words to convey writer's point of view.

The following language means of persuasion to be

considered is clichés. It’s a familiar but overused

expression that carries a range of associations.

If Jo Blow had been found with that amount of cocaine it would have

been a jail sentence for sure. But it seems our sportspeople these days get

away with murder (Morning Star. Apr. 21, 2011).

The using of clichés provides the following

persuasive effects: convey meaning in an economical way

and can help readers feel more comfortable with an

idea.

Analogy is to be considered as persuasive

techniques in English political media. Analogy compares

one thing or situation with another. This technique

provide the following effect: explains a complex point

in more familiar terms, makes a contention look simple

and obvious.

Self-regulation for chemical companies is like putting students in

charge of making their own exams (Daily Telegraph, 15 May

2008).

Appeal to sense of justice is usual technique for

political media. It speaks to people’s belief that

everyone deserves fair treatment. It provides the

40effect of positioning the reader to agree that

punishment should fit the crime and arousing anger at a

perceived injustice.

Mandatory detention of refugees is punishment for a crime they

didn’t commit, and an attack on the most vulnerable group in our society

(“Morning Star” Dec. 11, 2008).

Appeal to family values can also convince the

readers. It is based on the belief that traditional

family arrangements are the best foundation for

individuals and society.

I blame the ease of divorce nowadays, which results in fractured and

fatherless families, for the spiralling crime rate (“Morning Star” Dec.

13, 2008).

This appeal leads readers to view traditional

families as the most desirable arrangement and

positions the reader to feel that other arrangements

threaten the 'moral fabric' of society.

The next persuasive technique in English media to

be discussed is appeal to fear. It portrays worst-case

scenarios as likely; emphasizes the need to take

preventative action.

With so many predators about, not to mention reckless drivers, it's a

foolish parent who would allow their child to walk to school

unaccompanied these days (The Sun. Oct. 19, 2008).

41The persuader gets the following effect of this

technique: it causes the reader to respond emotionally,

especially with feelings of anxiety and unease, leads

the reader to want to take action to protect themselves

and their loved ones.

Appeal to group loyalty is one more persuasive

technique. It uses the desire of people to belong to a

group in order to persuade them to agree with a

viewpoint or take action.

It was heart-warming to see so many in our community joining forces

to prevent the new freeway destroying our town (The Guardian,

October 14, 2010).

The convincing effect we get here is: writer can

play on people's guilt, sense of obligation, fear and

sentimentality, convinces people that they should act

to support the group.

Appeal to patriotism is the persuasion technique

that draws on national pride and people’s loyalty to

their nation.

Our national flag has seen us through two world wars, social

upheavals and the change of millennium (The Guardian, September

27, 2010).

The effects of the appeal to patriotism are the

following: it positions readers to feel that they would

be disloyal to their country to disagree with the

42writer and arouses strong emotions of pride, guilt,

loyalty; sometimes anger and fear.

Reason and logic is a persuasive strategy that

involves a clearly stated main contention and an

argument that is supported by evidence or deduction.

If you choose to forfeit your right to participate in the democratic

process by not voting, you forfeit all right to complain about the result.

This strategy gives the writer's viewpoint

credibility for being apparently objective and can

consider opposing viewpoints and argue logically

against them.

432.3. Persuasion in economic media discourse

Persuasion in economic media discourse uses almost

the same techniques as Mass Media.

Below is the example how the speaker tries to

convince a listener in his economic position by playing

on his desires and needs:

As you know we all share your desire to resolve this issue

pragmatically and cost effectively (BBC, 1 April 2012).

When Iraq's Deputy Minister for Social Affairs has

an intention to assure that he and his staff are doing

their best, in difficult economic circumstances, he

uses the following constraction. In the below quotation

the author also creates persuasive effect by

repetition:

We need laws and we need money from the ministry of finance to

deal with the problem (BBC, 28 November 2012).

Economic media discourse often use generalization

for persuasion. The persuader wants to point out what

is true for many people to whom he appeals.

Here is the example how the shadow chief secretary

to the Treasury, Rachel Reeves, criticizes a fresh

squeeze on benefits announced by Chancellor George

Osborne:

44I just don't think it can be right to be cutting the support for those

people on modest incomes and those people who through no fault of

their own have lost their jobs (BBC, 5 December 2012).

The authors of economic media articles usually

refer to experts’ opinions and statistics or reports

data in order to have convincing effect on listeners

and readers. The passage about York drain repairs is

the confirmation of the relevance of mentioned

strategy:

It could cost millions to upgrade the drainage system to reduce the

risk of flooding in York, a report says (BBC, 3 December 2012).

The example of using experts’ facts in persuasive

strategy is in economic confrontation over National

Health Service spending in England:

But the head of the Statistics Authority says clearly and

unequivocally that hasn't happened (BBC, 5 December 2012).

Here also adjectives with persuasive effect were

used: clearly, unequivocally.

When opposing accuser Mr. Cameron replied using set

phrase 100% which has convincing aim:

He's 100% wrong. We are increasing spending on the NHS, and we

are cutting the deficit (BBC, 5 December 2012).

The next persuasive technique in English economic

media discourse is analogy. It is usually used when

45specialist needs to explain a complex issue in common

words.

The situation with new plans for UK taxation can be

the example:

Trying to solve the UK's deficit without tackling tax evasion and

artificial tax avoidance is like trying to run a bath with the plug out

(BBC, 5 December 2012).

The advertisement is specific type of economic

media discourse. Appeal to being modern and up-to-date

is widespread persuasive technique here. It is based on

people's desire to have the latest information and

products and to belong to the 'in-crowd'.

Finally, with the latest versions of iPhones or Blackberries, we can

keep up with all of the latest issues, locally and globally, because we are

connected with events as they happen (The Sun, May 12, 2012).

This technique positions the readers to feel that

they would be left behind and less informed than those

around them if they don't embrace new technology and

makes people want to acquire the products, information

or attitudes being discussed.

The strategy which involves appeal to reason and

logic is the next persuasive strategy in economic

discourse. A persuader manipulates by drawing a

conclusion from something generally known or assumed to

be true.

46The example can be seen in attempt of Public

Accounts Committee chairwoman Margaret Hodge to assure

that there was a danger for corporation tax:

All we are saying is that if you have economic activities in the UK you

are making profits and tax is payable on that (BBC, 3 December

2012).

Extravagant and emotive use of adjectives has the

function of modifying the head noun. Adjectives deeply

affect people’s emotion by describing nouns. The use of

such evaluative adjectives helps build a perfect and

nice or negative and irrational picture of the item in

reader’s mind, making them agree with the writer.

The one statement President Obasanjo has made about future

economic policy is a grandiose promise of achieving 7% growth by 2007

despite the fact that the economy actually shrank last year (BBC, 14

April, 2003).

The persuaders in economic field often use pronouns

“we” and “us” to get listener / reader on side:

We hope as things pick up that men can be taken back on, but we do

understand the economic pressures the owners are under. We hope to

minimise job losses in discussions with the owners over the next few weeks

(BBC, 4 September 2012).

Metaphor is rather often persuasive technique in

economic media discourse. The persuasive effect of

metaphors includes capitalizing on associations with a

47vivid image, evoking of emotion in the reader which

matches that of the writer.

Love of money is a cancer that is eating away at our society (The

Sun. Oct., 27, 2008).

The repetition of words, phrases or ideas for

emphasis is one more persuasive strategy in economic

media discourse. This strategy emphases the writer’s

viewpoint and captures attention, it also makes the

point more memorably.

House prices are up, fuel prices are up, grocery prices are up (The

Sun. Oct. 19, 2012).

48Conclusions to Chapter Two

The analysis of strategies and tactics of

persuasion in modern media discourse was carried out in

this chapter. The specifity of persuasive techniques

and language means of persuasion realization in English

media discourse were studied.

Persuasion is symbolic, utilizing words, images

etc. It involves a deliberate attempt to influence

others. Methods of transmitting persuasive messages can

occur in a variety of ways. A ‘good’ persuasive

strategy means a communication strategy that influences

other agents to act, or have an opinion, in accordance

with writer’s own preferences.

49

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS

Persuasive speaking or writing is all about

achieving a specific outcome. It is aimed at getting an

audience to take certain action. But to succeed, one

must first either change their attitudes and beliefs or

reinforce attitudes and beliefs they already hold.

Strategies and tactics of persuasion are used to

convince others to agree with writer / speaker facts,

share his values, accept his argument and conclusions,

and adopt his way of thinking.

The theoretical chapter discussed four main factors

that the writer or speaker has to take into account in

the process of persuasion. They are audience, purpose,

form and language (including images). In the Chapter 1

the difference between persuasion that attempts to

convince somebody and seduction was showed.

Describing the characteristics of linguistic

strategies of persuasion the following strategies were

50picked out: argumentation, any kind of elision or

deletion, camouflage of author’s persuasion aim by use

of passive voice, subjunctive mood, reported speech. It

was shown that phonetics can be used as strategy of

persuasion. Among the explicit means of persuasion, the

different forms of address play an important role. The

pronoun of the 1st person plural is frequently used as

a pronoun of feigned solidarity with the aim to

persuade someone. The use of tautological expressions

is a strategy that has persuasive, sometimes even

convincing force. The next strategy of persuasion

described is paraphrase. Euphemism and de-

concretization are the most widely used paraphrastic

manipulation strategies on the lexical level.

The analysis of strategies and tactics of

persuasion in modern media discourse was carried out in

practical chapter. The research of specifity of

persuasive techniques in English political and economic

media discourse found out the following: appeal to

listener’s / reader’s emotions, use of strong tone of

voice, use of overstatement and exaggeration, reason

and logic, use of generalization. It was shown that the

following strategies and tactics of persuasion can

provide persuasive effect in media texts: anecdotes,

analogy, appeal to sense of justice, appeal to being

51modern and up-to-date, appeal to family values, appeal

to fear, appeal to group loyalty, appeal to patriotism,

appeal to self-interest.

The study of language means of persuasion

realization in English media discourse provided the

opportunity to reveal more manipulating and convincing

techniques. They are strongly emotive words; the usage

of pronouns “we” and “us” to get listener / reader on

side; the use of rhetorical questions; use of

metaphors; alliteration; repetition of words, phrases

or ideas for emphasis; overstatement, exaggeration,

hyperbole; puns; clichés.

52

RESUME

Темою даної роботи є «Стратегії та тактики

переконання в сучасному медіа дискурсі».

Переконання спосіб вербального (словесного)

впливу, який включає систему аргументів, що збудовані

за законами формальної логіки і обґрунтовують тезу, що

висувається індивідом. Успішне переконання веде до

прийняття і подальшого включення нових відомостей в

систему поглядів і переконань, що склалася, до певної

трансформації світогляду, а значить, і мотиваційної

основи поведінки.

Актуальність роботи пов’язана з тим, що за останні

роки поглибилися процеси світової інтеграції, політичні

та економічні зв’язки націй світу посилилися, різні

люди та культури вступають в контакт шляхом

міжособистісної взаємодії, а також за допомогою засобів

масової інформації. Переконання та маніпуляція в

53сучасному медіа дискурсі стають ключовим компонентом в

міжнародній взаємодії. Саме з цієї причини стратегії та

тактики переконання в сучасному медіа дискурсі можна

вважати актуальним питанням.

Ціллю дослідження є освітити поняття переконання,

надати аналіз стратегій та тактик переконання на

прикладі медіа текстів.

Предметом дослідження є переконання в сучасному

медіа дискурсі. Об’єктом дослідження були обрані

стратегії та тактики переконання в сучасному

політичному та економічному медіа дискурсі.

В роботі були виконані наступні завдання:

1. Зробити літературний огляд з питання

переконання.

2. Розглянути лінгвістичні засоби переконання.

3. Виявити переконання в медіа дискурсі.

4. Визначити поняття дискурсивних стратегій та

тактик.

5. Проаналізувати техніки переконання в політичному

та економічному медіа дискурсі.

Аналіз проводився на матеріалі газет «Гардіан»,

Дейлі Телеграф, Морнінг Стар, Сан та Бі-Бі-Сі новин.

Робота складається з вступу, двох розділів,

висновків, резюме та списку літератури.

54Ключові слова: переконання, стратегії та тактики

переконання, медіа дискурс.

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