Daniel Kies Department of English College of DuPage
Composition 2 English 1102		Contact Form

Suasive Diction

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One of the remarkable features of human language is that it can convey both fact and feeling simultaneously. Humans use language to convey opinion as well as to express facts. Often the two are intertwined and inseparable. Such being the case, the use of a clever word, or a compelling turn of a phrase, can often sway readers to interpret ideas in one way or another. In the political arena, people who are adept at such maneuvers are called "spin doctors." In business, those people are called corporate communications officers, press relations specialists, or advertisers.

The language of advertising has received the most attention from academicians, the media, and ordinary folks alike since advertising is ubiquitous in our lives. Yet all writers convey judgments about their subject and thereby "slant" the subject toward one opinion or another. Suasive diction is language that is used to persuade a reader by the clever manipulation of vocabulary.

Jeffrey Schrank's "The Language of Advertising Claims" describes wonderfully the most common techniques to use suasive language in advertising:

1. the weasel claim,
2. the unfinished claim,
3. the "we're different and unique" claim,
4. the "water is wet" claim,
5. the "so what" claim,
6. the vague claim,
7. the endorsement or testimonial,
8. the scientific or statistical claim,
9. the "compliment the consumer" claim, and
10. the rhetorical question.

Example of Pronouns of Power Word we/us/our Example May 2, Dear Mr. Smith: Thank you very much for applying to our school, Northern Anywhere University, as a transfer student beginning the Fall Semester of . We are sorry to inform you that your application has been rejected. However, we are certain that you will have no trouble continuing your education at another institution of higher education. Thank you again for considering us at Northern Anywhere University. Sincerely, Department of Admissions

Pronouns of Power and Solidarity

Plural pronouns like we, us, our, they, them, and their for example have the ability to suggest group or institutional authority. Those pronouns can lend a certain degree of authority to an individual writer by suggesting that the individual has the authority to speak for the entire group or institution as a whole. When a writer uses a plural pronoun to foster a sense of authority in the readers' minds, those pronouns are called the pronouns of power. Sometimes simple membership in a group is sufficient to garner group authority for a writer. (My website, for example, once was housed on the College of DuPage server, but the College is very careful to ensure that visitors to my website do not think that I speak for the college itself. That is why my course homepage had a link to a disclaimer at that time.)

In a landmark study published in 1960, Brown and Gilman described many of the ways that simple words like pronouns can serve to persuade and influence a reader. Consider the example rejection letter on the right. Here the writer (a single individual in the admissions office) has co-opted the power of the institution by using the pronouns we, us, and our in this rejection letter. A reader of that letter is less inclined to challenge the decision, a decision that may in fact have been made by a single individual in the admissions department, simply because the letter sounds as if the entire university is rejecting the application.

Like pronouns of power, the pronouns of solidarity refer to a use of the plural pronouns to create a sense of closeness and camaraderie with the readers. Perhaps the best way I can explain the use of pronouns of solidarity is to tell you a story. Some years ago, a close friend of mine worked at a university that had "rising Junior" exams in mathematics and writing. (These exams were mandatory exams that all students needed to pass in order to achieve Junior standing within the school.) My friend was coordinator of the writing exam. As coordinator, he was responsible for developing the exams themselves, training the faculty who volunteered to read the exams, reading exams with the faculty, and speaking with students who had questions about the exams and their scoring. Occasionally, students would fail the writing exam and call my friend to find out why. Sometimes those students were very angry — extremely angry. Invariably, he would ask the student to come to his office and would offer to go through the essay exam with him or her. When he would meet the student for the first time, he always said, "Why don't we read your essay together so that we can find out why they [referring to himself and the other faculty] marked it as they did."

When I asked him once if he felt that it was dishonest to take that approach, he said, "If I don't get past the student's anger, then the student will not be able to hear what I have to say so that he can do better on a second attempt. The fastest way to put the student's anger to rest is to make the student think I am on his side." My friend uses we, as a pronoun of solidarity, to suggest to the student that they are "on the same side."

Examples of the Language of Certitude Word or Phrase Example certain/certainly Everyone certainly needs to review the changes in the code before trying the exam. obvious/obviously Obviously the democrats will have a hard time raising money for the next election. clear/clearly The evidence clearly points to the fact that the defendant is guilty. natural/naturally It is only natural that men behave in this manner. of course Of course the Roman Empire was doomed from the start.

The Language of Certitude

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To use words like certainly, obviously, and clearly is to use the language of certitude. With the language of certitude, a writer hopes to build a sense of absolute certainty and confidence within a reader's mind. That sense of confidence can then be exploited by making the reader believe something is true when in fact the writer has presented no evidence in favor of the claim.

When I was a young man, I worked summers for the Alton Boxboard Company making corrugated paper boxes so that I could pay for college in the fall. It was, needless to say, hard work, but I learned a lot there about people, and work, and life, and dreams. The plant where I worked was divided into two parts — the factory and the warehouse. Although we were given regular breaks, all the workers knew a little trick to take an extra break if they needed one: leave the machine in factory for a short while and take a walk through the warehouse. One day, I decided I would take advantage of an "unauthorized" break, so I went strolling through the warehouse myself.

Since it was my first venture through the warehouse, I was amazed at how effortlessly the forklift operators could navigate through tight passageways and pull down pallets loaded with hundreds of pounds of paperboard from shelves twenty feet or more in the air. As I was walking around, I happened to pass a co-worker who said, "Look, kid, it's OK if you want to take a break, but walk through here like you're looking for something; otherwise the foreman'll know you're goofing off." And he was right. Appearances do count. If I looked like I was busy, the foreman would think I was busy.

There is an equivalent in language too: if you sound like you know what you're talking about, some people will think you really do know what you are talking about. That is the core principle of the language of certitude. If you sound certain enough, if the tone of your writing is confident and absolute, then you have a good chance to persuade some people without having to give them evidence or reason. The language of certitude is deception akin to the magician's sleight of hand. We might called it, then, sleight of tongue. Words and phrases like natural(ly), certain(ly), obvious(ly), and clear(ly) appeal to those who wish to persuade without the required evidence to support the claim. Generally speaking, become really suspicious if anyone tells you that something is "obvious." The critical reader will take this as a clue to examine the evidence even more carefully.

Slanting, Slogans, and Clichés

To slant one's vocabulary means to choose words that will elevate or denigrate the subject in the minds of the readers. Consider the words highlighted in red in the table to the right. Each of those highlighted words expresses not only the facts about the occupation under discussion but also expresses the writer's feelings about that occupation.

Examples of Slanted Language
Elevating diction	Neutral diction	Degrading diction
Jan's a physician.	Jan's a doctor.	Jan's a quack.
Jan's an attorney.	Jan's a lawyer.	Jan's a shyster.

Slanted diction does not apply just to people though. We express our feelings about any subject through our choice of vocabulary. In a discussion of film, words like cinema, film, and flick express the writer's underlying feelings about the significance of film as art. Words reveal our emotional attitude toward the subject in addition to the factual information we have to share about the subject. This is why diction is one of the major components of tone.

Slogans are the use of a catch phrase to help the reader remember the writer's message succinctly. Slogans are most often associated with politics and advertising. In an interview with Brian Lamb on the C-Span show Booknotes, William Lutz, Professor of English at Rutgers, explains the power of slogans and "doublespeak" in detail with wonderful examples. George Orwell's famous essay "Politics and the English Language" is still one of the best discussions ever to articulate the problems of the cliché, the slogan, and the dead metaphor in political and academic writing. Orwell provides us all with an example of how to read and write critically and effectively.

Reference

Brown, R. and A. Gilman. "The Pronouns of Power and Solidarity." In Ed. T. A. Sebeok. Style in Language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1960. 253-277.

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