Lingua Inglese - Corso Monografico

We may define persuasion as:

a process (+ dynamic, inevitable)

 interactive, or intersubjective process

 each act of persuasion involves at least two actors: the persuader and the

 persuadee/persuaded

aimed by the goal of producing an action (a change in attitude or behavior)

 persuasion may be defined as an inevitable and commonplace,

“Generally speaking,

dynamic, interactive or intersubjective process, involving at least two interlocutors,

actors, or parties: Persuasion is a process, and a

the persuader and the persuadee(s).

dynamic one, in which participants aim to influence or produce an action, broadly

intended as a change in beliefs system or behavior. Persuasion’s three main features might

be listed as:

commonplace, inevitable and pervasive;

 reciprocal and interactional; third,

 goal-oriented: those engaged in persuasion aim to produce a change, which – be it in

 thought, opinions, attitudes, behavior or action – determines persuasion’s level of

success.

Persuasion: inevitable and commonplace a phenomenon

Persuasion as a process is in itself inevitable and commonplace (pervasiveness of persuasion).

communication,

In this sense, “persuasion is indeed related to the more general process of

which is itself an inevitable intersubjective phenomenon”. Every behavior is a kind of

communication: because behavior does not have a counterpart (there is no anti-behavior), it is

not

not possible to communicate. Everything communicates even beyond people’s intentions (I

communicate what the other understands).

Interaction - reciprocity

The very interactional nature of persuasion implies a move, or propensity, toward the

structuring of others’ positions, beliefs, thoughts, emotions, actions. This may be more or less

openly conscious or intentional, and work or not to yield successful results.

Goal-oriented: level of success

persuasion is successful when a sufficiently balanced measure between the other’s

➢ liked) to produce

acceptance (liking) and our own self confirmation (being is obtained, so

action. interchange of active and passive

This balanced measure can also be obtained by means of

➢

roles in time

* when no reaction in the persuaded, and the game is played by one character only, we are

➢ persuasion attempt,

facing a i.e. the persuasive process gets interrupted and fails. The

persuasive process, to be fulfilled, requires some sort of (active) response on the part of the other

+ endurance in time.

• The apparent lack of reciprocity of certain games evidently starting from one actor operating on

interactional nature of persuasion.

an apparently passive ‘recipient’ does not deny the

In fact, no persuasion can be fulfilled just relying on the ‘being liked’ (passive) response. Some

sort of (active) ‘liking’ response on the part of the persuaded must also be performed, in order for

the process to produce an action […] broadly intended changes in beliefs, or behavior.

Persuasion is interactive and its responsibility is always shared.

Strategic vs everyday communication

The difference is made by how and to what extent is the intention of structuring the responses of

others to developing events is deliberate. Strategic communication is to be identified in all those

not only more evident and

communicative situations where the persuasive intent is

deliberate, declared

but within the definitional underpinnings of the communicative situation

typically

itself. Strategic are thus the forms of communication characterized by persuasion.

Persuasion specifically characterizes the political field as a choice area of strategic

communication because of the very definitional underpinnings of the political action: “the

political process typically involves persuasion. Since the doing of politics is predominantly

political discourse

constituted in language, focusing on means observing an important source

of evidence on how persuasion works.

Focus on “Political”…

• …language (‘politichese’ vs. pol. vocabulary) political vocabulary or a very difficult way of

→

talking

• …communication (external vs. internal) it is internal when it is between the politicians,

→

whereas it is external when politicians talk to the citizens

• …discourse (innerstate vs. interstate) it is “innerstate” if it involves the board of the state,

→

whereas its in “interstate” if it is addressed to the entire world.

• …texts (various forms of)

• …speeches (kind of texts)

discourse speech discourse”, speech

NB vs. (e.g. “Contemporary American Political but “the

delivered by Reagan in 1981”)

Discourse is a social practice: a process ‘substance’ which can be experienced, acted,

 observed.

text

The is any form of discoursal manifestation: the product of that process ‘substance’

 (verbal – oral/written – and/or visual or behavioral substance ready to be analyzed). Type

of text is defined as “genre”.

genre communicative events,

A comprises a class of the members of which share a set

 communicative purposes.

of These purposes are recognized by the expert members of

the parent discourse community, and thereby constitute the rationale for the genre. The

rationale shapes the schematic structure of the discourse and influences the choice of

content and style. Genres also come with a ‘formal shape’, or “register” (field, mode and

tenor) and operate in given “contexts”.

The “REGISTER” is a particular configuration of meanings that are typically associated

 with a specific configuration of field, mode and tenor. Since “register” is a configuration of

meanings, it also includes expressions, the lexico-grammatical and phonological features.

FIELD it is the area of activity (eg. Science, technology, law ecc.)

 

TENOR it is linked to the language choice, determined by the roles of participants

 

(language choice changes if the dialogue is between to experts or if it is between an expert

and a student)

MODE it has to do with the role played by the language, the channel (written/spoken)

 

and the rhetorical mode (persuasive, expository, didactic).

“CONTEXT” it is the (mental) structure of some characteristics of the social situation

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 that are important to produce and to comprehend the discourse. It includes the situation,

the setting (time and place), ongoing actions (discourses and discourse genres), the role of

participants, as well as their mental representations such as goals, knowledge, opinions,

attitudes and ideologies. The context is not objective or deterministic, but it is subjective

to participant’s