Different Ways of Speaking Differently to Different Audiences Session 6 Lecture Dr Eloise Brook Tel ACG 5216 Professional Public Speaking

Key issues in this lecture 1. General unit update: concluding five Sessions of theory/foundation. 2. One last theoretical foundation to bed down thoroughly this week… the study of ‘rhetoric’:  Aristotle and his successors.  Judicial rhetoric, hortatory rhetoric, epideictic rhetoric.  Ethos, logos, pathos. 3. Lucas (2008) and the rhetorical tradition. 4. Work ahead.

General unit update Concluding five Sessions of theory/foundation:  Setting the groundwork for giving a speech…  …As well as for listening critically to the speeches of others.  Guided by theories of orality and literacy (especially Ong, 1982). Looking at Lucas.  The Appendix to Part 4 helps inform your work for Assessment 3 (Major Group Presentation).  Chapter 18 underscores work on committee dynamics and interactive spoken communication.

The study of rhetoric ‘Rhetoric’ < rhetor (Greek) = ‘orator,’ ‘public speaker.’ Aristotle (4 th century BCE) and his successors: rhetoric is the art of persuasion.  Why make persuasion the defining feature of a public speaker?  What is the art of persuasion? (Tricks? Or strong values? Pretty words? Imagination? Poetry?) Today, ‘rhetoric’ is still a name commonly given to the study of public speaking, especially in the USA.  Note the titles of books and articles that Lucas (2008, p. iii) has published.  Rhetoric can also apply to written language.  It can also apply to communications media other than speech and writing.

Judicial, hortatory, epideictic Aristotle speaks about three rhetorical functions that public speakers can fulfil:  Judicial (appraising) — presentations that prompt their listeners to judge/evaluate past events.  Hortatory (motivating) — presentations that prompt their listeners to undertake/support a course of action after they have heard the speech.  Epideictic (entertaining) — presentations that mark an occasion for their listeners in the moment/situation of the speech itself. Can we think of any speeches that fulfil more than one of these functions? Can we think of any speeches that fulfil none of these functions — i.e. that fulfil other functions, but not these ones?

Ethos, logos, pathos Aristotle also speaks about three main techniques of persuasion in speeches:  Ethos (‘character’) — the authority of the speech relies on the audience’s opinions (especially trust/distrust) about the speaker and other characters implicated in the speech.  Logos (‘word’) — the authority of the speech relying on the information it conveys and the quality of the argument it brings together.  Pathos (‘emotion’) — the authority of the speech relies on the emotional intensity of its presenter and the emotional engagement of its audience. Can we think of any speeches that rely on more than one of these techniques? Can we think of any speeches that rely on none of these techniques — i.e. that use other techniques, but not these ones?

Lucas (2008) and the rhetorical tradition Part 5 of Lucas makes his debt to the rhetorical tradition particularly clear. Notice the themes of his chapters and of their subdivisions (p. iv and pp. xiii-xv):  ‘Speaking to persuade’ = rhetoric.  ‘Speaking on special occasions’ = epideictic rhetoric.  ‘Methods of persuasion’ = techniques of persuasion… and additionally:  ‘Building credibility’ = ethos.  ‘Using evidence’ + ‘reasoning’ = logos.  ‘Appealing to emotions’ = pathos. Across the USA, undergraduate students in most courses have one or more core units in ‘rhetoric’ or ‘public speaking.’

When Americans look to a classic speech… Rev. Martin Luther King jr., ‘I Have a Dream.’  Listen to poetic resonance in the opening stanzas:  E.g. the rhyme in stanza 1.  E.g. the references to Abraham Lincoln in stanza 2.  A speech as a poem (c.f. last week’s lecture)?  ‘Somehow this situation can and will be changed’ (stanza 11).  Note the change in style (compare Lucas, 2008, p. 249).  Signs of orality vs literacy.

When Australians look to a classic speech… I Want To Do You Slowly

Work ahead… This session focuses on diversity of speaking styles and diversity among audiences. Additionally, you will re-confirm groups for Assessment 3 and do further work on assessment 2 in today’s session