› Media language serves two main functions: to report facts and information, and to persuade audiences towards a particular viewpoint. › There are various rhetorical techniques used in persuasive media including lexical choices, tropes, sound patterning, framing, and metaphor. › News and advertising both use language and techniques of persuasion to present information, but they have different goals. News aims to present events while advertising aims to promote products and services.

2. Two main functions of Media Language
› makes truth-claims: it reports facts or gives
information
› Persuades us towards some particular
viewpoint, belief or course of action

3. Information - a content or raw material for perception or
interpretation
a matter of representation that are calculated to
achieve persuasive or rhetorical effects.
Persuasion - the act or activity of persuading people.
Information and Persuasion are connected because
media uses some information to persuade the people in
what they convey or in advertisements to buy their
products.
Information and Persuasion

4. › used to describe analysis of and training in
how to persuade
› It is from the Greek word “rhêtorikê” (art of
speech). It is not just a speech, it is a
persuasive public speech.
Rhetorics

5. Aristotle and his followers – an important and
necessary aspect of all human language.
Plato – it is a manipulative language.
Different views of “Rhetoric”

6. › Ethos: they believe the speaker to be fair and
honest.
› Pathos: based on the emotion aroused by
what is said
› Logos: based on the reasoning contained in
an argument conveyed by the speech.
Three ways that an audience can be persuaded (Aristotle)

7. Can be categorized into three main areas:
› Lexical Choices: (choices of words )
Factors: who the speaker is, context and goal
of the utterance.
› Tropes/ Figurative Language: can alter and
enrich the meaning
› Ex. Metaphor and Metonymy
› Sound Patterning: repeated patterns of sounds
Ex. Alliteration, Assonance and Rhyme
Devices in Persuasive Discourse

8. Lankoff and Johnson: “The essence of
metaphor is understanding and experiencing
one kind of thing in terms of another”(1980)
It can involve more extended, socially
established patterns in how we see things.
Metaphor

9. “Frames are mental structures that shape
the way we see the world. […] Reframing is
social change. […] Reframing is changing the
way the public sees the world. It is changing
what counts as commonsense. Because
language activates frames, new language is
required for new frames”. [Lankoff, 2004:xv]
Framing
Prepared by:
AB English 4B
Fayne Delarmino
Shekinah Hopilos

10. C5

11. › Political speech
› Advert
Persuasive Techniques in Information Media

12. › Inform
› persuade
› manipulate
› influence
› control
It can make a major difference to public opinion
and affect the speaker's popularity.
In political speech:

13. (An abridged version)
Election Night Victory Speech
Grant Park, Illinois
November 4, 2008
If there is anyone out there who still doubts
that America is a place where all things are
possible; who still wonders if the dream of our
founders is alive in our time; who still questions
the power of our democracy, tonight is your
answer.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA'S
ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

14. 5 It’s the answer told by lines that stretched
around schools and churches in numbers this nation
has never seen; by people who waited three hours
and four hours, many for the very first time in their
lives, because they believed that this time must be
different; that their voice could be that difference.
10 Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native
American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled –
Americans who sent a message to the world that we
have never been a collection of Red States and
Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United
States of America. It’s the answer that led those who
have been told

15. 15 many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of
what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of
history and bend it once more toward the hope of a
better day.
It’s been a long time coming, but tonight,
because of what we did on this day, in this election,
at this defining moment, change has come to
America.
20 I just received a very gracious call from Senator
McCain. He fought long and hard in this campaign,
and he’s fought even longer and harder for the
country he loves. He has endured sacrifices for
America that most of us cannot begin to

16. imagine, and we are better off for the service
rendered by this brave and selfless leader. I
congratulate him and Governor Palin for all
25 they have achieved, and I look forward to
working with them to renew this nation’s promise in
the months ahead. I would not be standing here
tonight without the unyielding support of my best
friend for the last sixteen years, the rock of our
family and the love of my life, our nation’s next First
Lady, Michelle Obama. Sasha and Malia, I
30 love you both so much, and you have earned
the new puppy that’s coming with us to the White
House.

17. 30 love you both so much, and you have earned
the new puppy that’s coming with us to the White
House. And while she’s no longer with us, I know my
grandmother is watching, along with the family that
made me who I am. I miss them tonight, and know
that my debt to them is beyond measure.
But above all, I will never forget who this victory
truly belongs to – it
35 belongs to you.
I was never the likeliest candidate for this office.
We didn’t start with much money or many
endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in

18. the halls of Washington – it began in the backyards
of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and
the front porches of Charleston.
40 It was built by working men and women who dug
into what little savings they had to give five dollars and
ten dollars and twenty dollars to this cause. It grew
strength from the young people who rejected the myth
of their generation’s apathy; who left their homes and
their families for jobs that offered little pay and less
sleep; from the not-so-young people who braved the
bitter
45 cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of
perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans

19. who volunteered, and organized, and proved that more
than two centuries later, a government of the people, by
the people and for the people has not perished from
this Earth. This is your victory.
I know you didn’t do this just to win an election
50 and I know you didn’t do it for me. You did it because
you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead.
For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the
challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of
our lifetime – two wars, a planet in peril, the worst
financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here
tonight, we know there are brave
Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the

20. 55 mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for
us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie
awake after their children fall asleep and wonder
how they’ll make the mortgage, or pay their
doctor’s bills, or save enough for college. There is
new energy to harness and new jobs to be created;
new schools to build and threats to meet and
alliances to repair.
60 The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be
steep. We may not get there in one year or even
one term, but America – I have never been more
hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I
promise you – we as a people will get there.[...]

21. 65 America, we have come so far. We have seen
so much. But there is so much more to do. So
tonight, let us ask ourselves – if our children should
live to see the next century; if my daughters should
be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper,
what change will they see? What progress will we
have made?
This is our chance to answer that call. This is
70 our moment. This is our time – to put our people
back to work and open doors of opportunity for our
kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of
peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm
that fundamental truth – that out of many, we are
one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we

22. are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell
us that we can’t, we will
75 respond with that timeless creed that sums up
the spirit of a people:
Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and
may God Bless the United States of America.

23. As Sacks put it," Words are essential to democracy ,
where the power if persuasion must always defeat
the threat of coercion ... victory goes to the leader
who can speak the anxieties of the age ,
constructing for generation, a compelling narrative
of hope.'
That could be why Obama won.

24. › very little verbal material
› uses a number of rhetorical devices (metaphor,
repetition, onomatopoeia and the list of three)
Please refer to page 156 of the book Language and
Media
ADVERT

25. In the said advert there 's a need of:
1. linguistic knowledge
2. cultural knowledge
3. pragmatic knowledge

26. › Persuasive media Techniques plays a part in
presenting information and viewpoint across a
wide variety of fields
› Rhetorical techniques and persuasion plays a
significant role in the design of information
campaigns and news.
› Rhetorical techniques serves the purpose of
promotional advocacy.
Prepared by:
AB English 4B
Cybel T. Ganate
Joedy Ann S. Gesulgon

28. › News
Two Influential Fields of Media
› Advertising

29. News is an event or actions in the world.
NEWSPAPER, MAGAZINE, MEDIA REPORT AND
SOCIAL MEDIA.
There is a CONSTRUCTED REPRESENTATION of
every events and actions.
News as events or as accounts of events?
₪HOW THEY ARE ORGANIZED
₪HOW STORIES ARE SELECTED
₪HOW THEY ARE REPRESENTED

30. "DOG BITES MAN" vs "MAN BITES DOG“
The preliminary stage of how information is turned
into story is investigated in media and journalism
studies, under the heading of news value.
What constitutes news?

31. ◼The conventional topic areas that contribute to a
new story's genre characteristics.
◼The characteristics or attributes of events and
actions that make a story newsworthy
◼The sources, or underlying materials
Three linguistically relevant aspects of news value:

32. (Hartley 1982) describes main kinds of news material or
news content typically found across media news outlet:
Politics ─ government (Whitehall/Whitehouse), parliament
(Westminster/Capitol Hill) and the policies, personalities
and disputes that make up the context of decision-making.
Topic Areas

33. The economy defined as (a) companies and the City – their
performance, their figures and their management; (b)
‘government figures out tonight’ – a statistical model of
trade figures, imports and exports, etc.
Foreign Affairs – the relations between governments and
especially those involved in an issue concerning ‘us’
Topic Areas

34. Domestic [national] news – fall into hard and soft stories.
Hard stories are characterized by conflict (violence). Soft
stories include humour and human interest (often defined
as having a ‘woman’s angle’.
Occasional stories– Stories about disasters, celebrities, the
Royal Family and topical talking points of the day.
Sport Accented towards male, professional, competitive
sport; football in winter, cricket in summer, with a league-
table of ‘other’ sport in season
Topic Areas

35. › Main function appears to be to persuade consumers
to buy, achieving this partly by differentiating brands
from one another in the marketplace that may not
have obvious differences.
› Conveys information so that consumers know what
is available, who makes it, and where and how they
can get it.
Advertising

36. › How are consumers desire created?
› Do consumers react to advertising on a
reasoned, logical basis, or are they motivated by
other kinds of desire and aspiration?
› Are consumers entertained by advertising or
manipulated by it?
Such investigation needs to connect with wider social
questions:

37. › Characteristics of the brand name; of the
headline, tagline or strapline that often offers
memorable endorsement of product or values
associated with it.
› Descriptive material (such as price information,
or stipulations that terms and conditions apply)
that accompanies more obviously rhetorical
copy.
The Register of Advertising

38. The language of advertising have often focused on
creative use of conventionally poetic devices. Such
devices include:
› Sound Patterning such as rhyme and consonance
(‘Beanz Meins Heinz’) and alliteration (‘The salon secret
fro silky shine’).
› Parallelism: the creation of meaning by partial similarity
coupled with striking contrast.
Language of Advertising

39. • uses mini-stories or dramas; or exoticised images, irony
or indirect humor, rather than directly stating claims
about the product.
• Language used in this way makes no specific claims
about the product or service being advertised, such as
what it weighs, how much it costs, or what is capable of.
The Suggestiveness of Advertising Language

40. › Claim – statement that can be substantiated (i.e. shown
to be true) or demonstrated to be false, misleading or
deceptive.
› What is known as ‘trade puff’, -- states attributes of the
product in such a highly favorable light that it is
considered to be merely exaggerated praise (it puffs up,
or inflates, the quality of what is being sold with rhetorical
praise). Examples include ‘best ever’, ‘unique’,
‘stunning’, ‘fantastic’, ‘outstanding’ and ‘excellent’.
Specific Claims about Products and Services

41. Example slogan used as a part of the newspaper advert for
shampoo (Pantene Pro V)
Rewind time. Helps fight the signs up to two years’ hair
damage in just one wash.
If we look carefully, is not in fact two years but an
indeterminate shorter period:
One use of this product helps to fight to reverse the
signs up to two years of hair damage.
Advert Slogan

42. Tasic,
Julie Anne
T.
Aboltivo,
Liezl S.
Ganate,
Cybel T.
Delarmino,
Fayne G.
Hopilos,
Shekinah J.
Gesulgon,
Joedy-Ann
S.