Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons^™

Commentary On “Inducing A Sympathetic (Empathic) Reception For Exhortation”, Sally Jackson

OSSA Conference Archive

People often have conflicting values, goals, and beliefs, and these present special challenges for those who seek to influence them. Kauffeld and Innocenti suggest that these situations of conflictedness are opportunities for a speaker to “exhort” the audience to resolve the conflict in favor of their highest principle. Exhortation, in their view, has high-mindedness as a constitutive feature. At Cooper Union, Lincoln exhorted Republicans to face their fear of disunion and steadfastly maintain the evil of slavery—a confirming example for the Kauffeld and Innocenti account. But looking at a broader set of examples, it seems clear that exhortations do not …

Compassion, Authority And Baby Talk: Prosody And Objectivity, Leo Groarke, Gabrijela Kišiček

OSSA Conference Archive

Recent work on multimodal argumentation has explored facets of argumentation which have no obvious analogue in the written arguments which were emphasized in traditional accounts of argument. One of these facets is prosody: the structure and quality of the sound of spoken language. Prosodic features include pitch, temporal structure, pronunciation, loudness and voice quality, rhythm, emphasis and accent. In this paper, we explore the ways that prosodic features may be invoked in arguing.

Strategies Of Objectification In Opinion Articles: The Case Of Evidentials, Elena Musi

OSSA Conference Archive

This paper investigates lexical evidentials in an English corpus (30 texts) about oil drilling issues in the Adriatic Sea. Lexical evidentials (e.g. see, must, find, evidently) indicate “the kind of justification for a factual claim which is available to the person making that claim […]” (Anderson 1986: 274). They constitute a privileged viewpoint to investigate how and at which degree journalists manage to present their claims as objective since they work as argumentative indicators (Van Eemeren et al. 2007), pointing to inherently subjective (e.g. I find that x) or possibly objective (e.g. It must be …

Contesting “Obligation”: Memory, Morality, And The (Re)Construction Of Divestment Narratives, Christina Quint

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Leaders in the medical field representing organizations abroad such as the British Medical Association (BMA) and MedAct have called for health care organizations to divest from fossil fuels, on the grounds that it is hypocritical for health care leaders to take the Hippocratic Oath and be implicated in the health impacts for which the burning of fossil fuels is responsible. The emerging discourse highlighting the imperative to divest draws parallels to the health care sector’s leadership in divesting from tobacco in the 1990s on the grounds of its health implications. Even before the current fossil fuel divestment movement and the …

If We're Mocking Anything, It's Organized Religion: The Queer Holy Fool Style Of The Sisters Of Perpetual Indulgence, Christina L. Ivey

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Asking questions in and about the often rough terrain at the intersection of sexuality/gender and religion/spirituality, this dissertation seeks to excavate the concept of queer holy fool style as a fitting response to dominant Judeo-Christian narratives that marginalize LGBTQ individuals. To do so, I utilize the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (SPI), a drag performing community of “21^st Century Nuns,” as a synechdoche; pulling examples of their communication and performances as evidence of queer holy fool style. In exploring three facets of stylistic study (embodied, textual/hypertextual, and sociological), I blend queer theoretical concepts (like camp, performativity, and disciplining) with rhetorical …

Our Voice, Our Choice: Race, Politics And Community Building On The Pages Of Five Historically Black College And University Newspapers From 1930 To 1959, Sheryl Monique Kennedy Haydel

Dissertations

From 1930 to 1959, the black college student-run press was a prolific voice leading discussions about ways to eradicate racial discrimination, amass political currency, and nurture communal solidarity. Embedded in their mission was a desire to awaken their readers intellectually and emotionally to join a mounting movement toward racial liberation. Yet, historians have ignored this expansive network of black collegian editors and writers, who were a philosophical extension of the professional Black Press.

Like their mentors in the Black Press, black college student editors and writers vigorously advocated for racial equality, took a combative stance against political gerrymandering that left …

Blood-Speak: Ward Churchill And The Racialization Of American Indian Identity, Casey R. Kelly

Casey R. Kelly

After publishing a controversial essay on 9/11, Professor Ward Churchill's scholarship and personal identity were subjected to a hostile public investigation. Evidence that Churchill had invented his American Indian identity created vehemence among many professors and tribal leaders who dismissed Churchill because he was not a “real Indian.” This essay examines the discourses of racial authenticity employed to distance Churchill from tribal communities and American Indian scholarship. Responses to Churchill's academic and ethnic self-identification have retrenched a racialized definition of tribal identity defined by a narrow concept of blood. Employing what I term blood-speak, Churchill's opponents harness a biological concept …

Engaging With The Dory Fleet: A Panel Discussion On A Collaborative College And Community Oral History Project, Brenda Devore Marshall, Tyrone Marshall, Mary Beth Jones, Kathleen Spring, Jackson B. Miller

Northwest Communication Association Conference Papers & Presentations

This peer-reviewed program was presented at the annual Northwest Communication Association Conference in Coeur d’Alene Idaho on April 15, 2016. The presentation features an overview of the Launching through the Surf: The Dory Fleet of Pacific City project and includes detailed notes from each speaker.

Special thanks go to Mary Beth Jones and Brenda DeVore Marshall, who served as transcriber and editor for the detailed speaker notes.

Linguistic Qualities Of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Public Addresses: A Primary Source Based Study, Ashleigh Cox

Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.

Natural Language Processing Of Forum Data: Modeling Social Interaction And Performance In Stem Learning, Marissa Emory, Lucile Pitte

Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.

Informative Speech Assignment: “Let’S Visit… ”, Karl O. Williams

Open Educational Resources

Let's Visit is an informative speech assignment given to students in a fundamentals of public speaking class to improve global competence.

Your Face Betrays You: A Fantasy Theme Analysis Of Lie To Me, Caroline Campbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research concerning the consequences of edutainment has revealed that television shows have the capability to influence audience members. As the lines between education and entertainment are becoming increasingly blurred, viewers may not be aware of how watching such shows impacts them. Lie to Me is a popular edutainment television series that educates viewers about the power of micro expressions. Ekman has dedicated a large part of his life to the development of research related to micro expressions. The show’s main character, Cal Lightman, portrayed Paul Ekman’s special talents and knowledge through his ability to detect micro expressions. The first three …

La Reconstrucción Del Debate En Santa Cruz De La Sierra, Bolivia: Una Herramienta Para La Auto-­Descolonización Y El Desarrollo De Un Pensamiento Crítico Entre Jóvenes., Tessa Holtzman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Debate improves public speaking ability, critical thinking, and self-­‐ confidence. It also empowers students to challenge their beliefs and understand the world around them. It has been used in a variety of educational systems as a developmental tool that promotes democratic citizenship and civic engagement. In Bolivia, however, it is an under-­‐used resource. In this essay, I reflect on my experiences teaching and creating sustainable debate programs in partnership with local schools in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. Through an analysis of my successes and failures, I find that differing cultural and economic climates affect the way educators should …

Beyond Superfund: How Four Communities Market Outdoor Recreation To Overcome Stigma, Kelley Christensen

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

This paper reports on how four American towns that have active Superfund remediation underway in their communities are attempting to overcome stigma associated with the cleanup in part by promoting outdoor recreation. These towns are located in high-amenity areas and are able to market a bevy of recreational opportunities. This paper analyzes the interviews of eight people (two from each town) and print promotional materials from each community to determine rhetorical marketing techniques employed by each place. Finally, this paper uses quantitative data from a variety of sources to analyze how effective the marketing rhetoric has been in recent years.

The Liberty Counsel's : An Ideographic Analysis, Daniel M. Chick

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Ideology is a powerful means of persuasion in contemporary audience appeals. Through the means of ideographic and fragmentary analyses provided by Michael Calvin McGee (1980, 1990) and Saindon (2008), I examine the rhetorical appeals made by the Liberty Counsel, an evangelical Christian organization, which provides legal counsel for cases regarding “religious liberty.” Through an ideographic and fragmentary analysis, I conclude that the Counsel utilizes the ideograph as a superseding means of denoting its ideology. Further, I argue that is the ideograph that represents the ontological nature of the organization’s philosophy and serves as the guiding principle for many of the …

From #Blacklivesmatter To #Sayhername, Aitza B. Burgess

SEWSA 2016 Intersectionality in the New Millennium: An Assessment of Culture, Power, and Society

Sanford, Ferguson, Long Island, and Baltimore are all cities that have become known nationally and internationally in households. This attention has not been about their nature of offering reasonably priced hotel lodging for tourists visiting the neighbouring major cities, but due to the killings of black men in America. Since the election of President Barack Obama in 2009, the notion of a post-racial America has circulated. With Congress members referring to the president as a tar baby to the numerous killings of black people by law enforcement and civilians these actions contradict this notion.

Between the years of 2012-2015, America …

You Have Atomic Bombs, We Have The Martyrdom-Seekers: Ayman Al-Zawahiri’S Narrative Arc Of The Martyr, Tim Huffman

Peace and Conflict Studies

Martyrdom has an undeniable rhetorical dimension, and part of a martyr’s voice is the manner of his or her death. However, martyrdom does not stand alone. It is contextualized and constructed by the voice of ideologues. This project looks at the spoken and written rhetoric of Ayman Al-Zawahiri, leader of al-Qaeda, and seeks to understand his descriptions, attributions, and stories about martyrs and martyrdom. An analysis of 93 statements by Zawahiri was performed to identify his overarching martyr narrative and archetype. Major findings include a taxonomy of martyr attributes and a narrative trajectory of martyrdom. While pro-USA rhetoric constructs al-Qaeda’s …

The Aurality Of Rhetoric: A Critical Hermeneutic Of Cape Breton’S Rhetorical Music Community, Gregory J. Dorchak

Doctoral Dissertations

Although the field of rhetorical studies has expanded from the notion that rhetoric only applies to speeches, there has been little attention paid to the rhetoric of sound. This project focuses on the rhetoric of sound, specifically the musical rhetoric of the community of Cape Breton Island, in Nova Scotia, Canada. Cape Breton has a long history of maintaining a traditional music community, with its origins in Scotland. The fiddle music of Cape Breton is renowned as a genre of Celtic music. This project looks at the rhetorical acts of the musicians and investigates how these acts of vernacular rhetoric …

Complete Volume (41)

Speaker & Gavel

Complete digitized volume (volume 41) of Speaker & Gavel.

Points Of Stasis In The 1960 And 2000 Presidential Debates, Kevin Stein

Speaker & Gavel

The clash component of a presidential debate sets it apart from other types of campaign messages because the candidates are faced with a potential for “imminent rebuttal” not found in other types of messages, such as television spots or stump speeches. This study is a rhetorical analysis of the 1960 and 2000 presidential debates and attempts to identify the specific points of stasis (clash) where two arguments meet. These points of stasis are labeled in the classic rhetorical theory literature as conjectural, qualitative, definitional, and translative. The study tests the application of these categories as a precursor to future research …

Monticello’S Master: Sally Hemings And The Deconstruction Of The Patriot Archetype, Betsy Mccann, Desiree Rowe

Speaker & Gavel

We explore the above discrepancy by posing the question: How does the Sally Hemings controversy work to deconstruct the popular conception of Tho-mas Jefferson as American Patriot through the use of converging and conflicting frames? Kenneth Burke’s concept of poetic framing may be used to help answer this question, as Burke asserts history may be socially constructed via poetic frames which reject or accept a given social order or expectations. Historical figures are constructed as heroes, such as Abraham Lincoln, or as buffoons, such as Benedict Arnold, representing the choice to accept or reject the status quo. Burke asserts frames …

Maintaining Institutional Power And Constitutional Principles: A Rhetorical Analysis Of United States V. Nixon, R. Scott Medsker, Todd F. Mcdorman

Speaker & Gavel

In examining these implications we argue that the Court’s Nixon decision was a uniquely strategic response to a complex rhetorical situation. In fact, the elements of the situation were so fundamental to the tenor of the Court’s response that this essay’s framework is drawn from Lloyd F. Bitzer’s construction of the rhetorical situation. The use of this system will allow for deeper consideration of the context of United States v. Nixon as well as assessment of the legal text as responsive to that context.

Complete Volume (42)

Speaker & Gavel

Complete digitized volume (volume 42) of Speaker & Gavel.

To Answer, Or Not To Answer - That Is The Question Of The Hour: Image Restoration Strategies And Media Coverage Of Past Drug Use Questions In The Presidential Campaigns Of Bill Clinton And George W. Bush, Shari Veil

Speaker & Gavel

This study analyzed the relationship between image restoration strategies and media coverage, specifically, the image restoration strategies utilized by Bill Clinton in 1992 and George W. Bush in 1999 in response to questions of past drug use and the ensuing media coverage during the respective campaigns. A literature review of political apologia and image restoration strategies is presented, followed by potential explanations for the extensive media coverage of the drug issue. Articles published in 7 newspapers during the respective political campaigns were retrieved and textually analyzed to determine the candidates’ image restoration strategies. The reported presidential comments were then critically …

Winning The Peace: The "Three Pillars" Of George Bush At Whitehall Palace, Terry Robertson

Speaker & Gavel

The November, 19, 2003 speech given by George W. Bush at Whitehall Palace in Great Britain was one of the most significant in the President’s political career. Mr. Bush attempts, in the speech, to reinforce his proponents as well as negate the arguments of his skeptics. This work illustrates, through Neo- Aristotelian rhetorical criticism how the President met the rhetorical situation, how he utilized language and rhetorical devices, and critiques the means of persuasion utilized by Mr. Bush.

Nothing More Than A White Lie: An Examination Of Ethics In Extemporaneous Speaking, Ric L. Shafer

Speaker & Gavel

The majority of text books in public speaking define extemporaneous speaking as the act of delivering a speech using limited notes. Despite what we teach in our classes, however, cultural norms in competitive speech tend to reward those students that compete in the event without the use of notes. Recent research highlights erroneous source citations and outright fabrications by contestants, many of which can be attributed to the unspoken expectation that students refrain from using notes. This paper attempts to challenge that norm by questioning the educational benefits of teaching, promoting and rewarding this practice. The paper will compare what …

Kritiking As Agrumentative Praxis, Joseph P. Zompetti, Brian Lain

Speaker & Gavel

Controversies in the realm of academic debate are often assessed with the standards used for other social science confrontations. The notion of paradigms, introduced by Thomas Kuhn (1970) to describe scientific revolutions, provides a starting point for analyzing the current conflict over kritiking. Despite this, previous discussions concerning the so-called “kritik” have focused mainly on whether it should be considered a legitimate argument form in contemporary policy debate (Berube, 1996; Katsulas, 1996/1997; Morris, 1996/1997). In this way, these discussions have become embroiled in a back-and-forth squabbling. Overcoming the tendency to steadfastly proclaim the legitimacy/illegitimacy of kritiks as an argument form …

Third Party Candidates In Political Debates: Muted Groups Struggling To Express Themselves, Carolyn Prentice

Speaker & Gavel

With the rise of a multitude of political parties, some campaign debate organizers are beginning to include third party candidates in their public debates. However, these third party candidates have been ignored in campaign debate literature. This study analyzed the transcripts of three campaign debates that included third party candidates, using muted group theory to understand the impact of third party candidates in campaign debates. The analysis demonstrates that third party candidates experience the communication obstacles of muted groups.

Since World War II, party affiliation among U.S. voters and straight-ticket voting has been on the decline (Miller & Shanks, 1996). …

Is Scholarship Advancing?: An Analysis Of Fifteen Years Of Framing Research, Joseph Zachary Provencher

Dissertations and Theses

In 2011, Porismita Borah published "Conceptual Issues in Framing Theory: A Systematic Examination of a Decade’s Literature" to shed light on the status of framing research, and attempt to answer several scholars' criticisms of framing research practices (Carragee and Roefs 2004, D'Angelo, 2002, Entman, 1993). Borah argues that framing research has several areas of necessary improvement, and her prescription is for future research to be able to examine specific framing issues or effects, but also be able to connect with broader understandings of framing.

The following content analysis of framing research, conducted between the year 2000 and 2013, seeks to …

Complete Volume (43)

Speaker & Gavel

Complete digitized issue (volume 43) of Speaker & Gavel.