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The rhetorical situation is one of the structures that rhetoric studies. It is made up of the topic, the purpose and the audience. These elements allow communication to be effective and achieve its purpose, whether it is to inform or to persuade.
what is rhetoric
Rhetoric is a discipline that is responsible for studying the characteristics and properties of a discourse. It is the set of rules, resources or principles that are used when speaking or writing, in order to express themselves correctly, persuade and transmit a message in a way that is easy to understand.
One of the main references in the study of rhetoric was the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC). In his treatise From him On Rhetoric , Aristotle analyzed the ways in which a speech is produced and the art of persuading through the word. Furthermore, he was the first to define rhetoric as a “skill”, which can be acquired through the study of language and its components.
With his contributions on rhetoric, Aristotle laid the foundations and precepts of this discipline, which other researchers later expanded in their own works. Some of the most influential rhetoricians were the Romans Cicero (106 BC – 43 BC) and Marcus Fabius Quintilian (35 AD – 100 AD).
Currently, one of the most common uses of rhetoric can be seen in politics and in advertising campaigns, where certain language and a specifically elaborated message are used to provoke a reaction in the audience, for various purposes, such as getting the vote of the citizens or make a sector of the population buy a certain product.
Although rhetoric is often associated with manipulation and persuasion, it is really about the art of mastering language in the most effective way possible to produce the greatest impact on the recipient of the message. The speaker is responsible for its positive or negative use and for the veracity and intention of the message.
Basic principles of rhetoric according to Aristotle
To explain the functioning of rhetoric, Aristotle established five main concepts on which this discipline is based. These are:
- Logos : refers to reasoning and the logical part of speech. It is generally related to its structure and content.
- Ethos : refers to the credibility of the speech and the way the speaker presents himself through it.
- Pathos : It is the part of the speech that appeals to the emotions of the audience, to persuade, obtain approval or incite action.
- Telos : It is the objective or purpose of the speech that the speaker transmits.
- Kairos : It is the framework in which the speech develops, that is, the time and place in which it takes place and the influence of this context on the audience.
The rhetorical situation
One of the basic components of rhetoric and the object of its study is the rhetorical situation. These principles are present in it.
The concept of rhetorical situation as such arose from the publication of the article The rhetorical situation , by the American rhetorician Lloyd Bitzer in 1968, during the heyday of linguistics and the study of language. Subsequently, other American rhetoricians such as Richard Vatz and Scott Consigny published the articles The Myth of the Rhetorical Situation in 1973 and The Rhetoric and its Situations in 1974, respectively. These authors expanded and refined Bitzer’s work and laid the foundation for today’s definition of the rhetorical situation.
Bitzer defined the rhetorical situation as the origin of rhetorical discourse, in which the context is one of the most significant and determining elements. Vatz, on the other hand, gave greater importance to the role of the author instead of the context, considering that the author creates and defines the situation and chooses its elements.
Consigny, in turn, moved away from Bitzer’s view of the rhetorical situation as a fixed structure. He focused on its dynamic aspect, considering that rhetoric is an art in which the rhetorical situation is related to the conditions of integrity and receptivity.
Since 1980, the study of rhetoric and, in particular, the rhetorical situation, has continued thanks to the work of other rhetoricians, such as Linda Flower, John R. Hayes, Jenny Edbauer, and John R. Gallagher, who have analyzed other aspects of the rhetorical situation. , its operation and its composition.
What is the rhetorical situation
Currently, it is considered that the rhetorical situation is all those abstract and intangible elements found in a text, which can be inferred from its content . The text can include any form of communication that the author deems appropriate and can be defined as a set of statements that make up a piece of writing, with coherence and cohesion, an introduction, a development and an end, which allows the transmission of a message.
The rhetorical situation is an essential factor in any text, because it is what facilitates communication to occur effectively and allows the message to be transmitted clearly and achieve its objective. Mainly, the rhetorical situation is made up of three elements: the theme or topic, the purpose and the audience.
Unlike oral speech, in which there is a situational context where the message is supported by verbal language and non-verbal language, such as gestures, facial and body expressions, written speech has some limitations that must be counteracted with the help of rhetoric, especially if the goal is to persuade the reader. This is where the rhetorical situation becomes very important, the use of a specific language that is based on a certain topic, has a certain purpose and focuses on a specific audience. Some common examples of rhetorical situation can be an advertisement, an opinion piece, an essay, etc.
Elements of the rhetorical situation
Therefore, for written communication to be effective, it needs to include three basic elements:
- The topic : is the subject on which the text is treated. The topics can be very diverse, from everyday matters to academic, spiritual, advertising, literary, etc.
- The purpose : it is the end or the intention that the author of the text has or the effect that he wants to cause in the audience. It is also the audience’s purpose for reading the text. The purposes and intentions to communicate a message are innumerable, as are the authors and the audience. The author’s purpose may be to inform, instruct, explain, persuade, entertain, excite, punish, frighten, comfort, or inspire the audience. The purpose of the audience can be to find out, learn something new, be distracted, entertained, etc.
- The audience : it is the addressee or the type of reader to whom the text is directed. It can be a single person, a group or a crowd. The lesser or greater influence of the author on the audience depends on the characteristics of the audience, their personal experiences, their level of knowledge and their assumptions.
The author, the medium, the time and the context
In addition to the elements mentioned, in the rhetorical situation the author, the medium, the time, the place and the context in which the communication takes place also play an important role, as well as the resources used to achieve the purpose of the discourse. :
- The author : is the person who creates the text. He can be a writer, a poet, an editor, a singer-songwriter, etc. Like the audience, authors are influenced by their own personal characteristics and experiences, their gender, culture, background, religious and political beliefs, and other factors. Likewise, the attitude of the author and the audience also has an impact on the rhetorical situation. For example, the result will be different if the author or audience is friendly or condescending, if they are unfamiliar or knowledgeable, if the message is entertaining and piques the recipient’s curiosity, or if it is complicated and boring.
- The medium : it is about the physical part of the communication, and it can be visual, auditory or tactile. It can be a text written by hand or with a computer, be printed on paper, signs, magazines, newspapers, books, or in a PowerPoint presentation, a comic, a movie or a post on social networks. The medium also includes the tools used by the author, which affect the structure and content of the text: from the format of the text to the particular characteristics of the human anatomy to produce the words, such as the mouth, the lips, the position of the tongue and teeth.
- Context, place and time : it is when and where the rhetorical situation occurs. These factors greatly influence the way the text is created and received. Each rhetorical situation occurs in a specific context and the time and environment in which it occurs is limited. The historical, geographical and cultural context also intervenes in it. For example, a deep message that seeks to change the behavior of the population will not have the same effect if it is transmitted to a small audience and during working hours, as if it is communicated in a space prepared for that purpose and at a suitable time, when the audience can give their full attention.
All these elements make a text fulfill its communicative function. However, if they are not used correctly, one of them is missing or not taken into account, the text may not be able to achieve its purpose, lose validity or credibility, be implausible or ineffective. For example, if a speaker uses all the rhetorical elements and devices correctly, but doesn’t consider the audience, he probably won’t be able to persuade them or get them to accept their speech. Or if he ignores the right time and place to deliver her message, it may not have the impact he wants.
Sources
- Benítez Figari, R. The rhetorical situation: Its importance in learning and teaching written production . (2004). Signs Magazine. Available here .
- Purdue University. Rhetorical Situations. Purdue Online Writing Lab – College of Liberal Arts. Available here .
- Jory, J. The rhetorical situation . Open English. Available here .