COMM 3601 Final Exam DEFINITIONS

Myth (C 5 p. 135):

A dramatic vision that serves to organize everyday experience and give meaning to life. The drama is embedded in a story of conflict that is not about an actual event, but is the "imagined past of a culture."

Representative Anecdote (C5 p. 150)

A narrative that summarizes a person, thing or situation.

Public Memory (C5 p. 133)

A particular type of collective memory that combines the memories of the dominant culture and fragments of marginalized groups' memories, and enables a public to make sense of the past, present, and/or future

A negotiated reading:

A reading in which the viewer accepts some of the hegemonic meanings, but also recognizes some exceptions

An oppositional reading:

A reading in which the viewer correctly decodes the denotational and connotational meanings of a text, but challenges it from an oppositional perspective

Authority (C6 p. 175):

A rhetor's possession of socially recognized power. (cross reference "power") (175).

Authority to perform (related to "Identity")

Audience bias about identity can limit a person's ability to access authority and the social power that comes from being considered the authority.

Third Person (C7 p. 214):

Audiences NOT present in the discourse of the speaker. Audiences rejected or negated through the speech and/or the speaking situation. It is the audience NOT present in the space made possible by the first and second persona (who can not share that mode of identification offered).

Polyvalence (C6p. 186):

Audiences are not free to interpret in any way they want (codes are necessary). One often has to be trained to provide a "critical reading" of a text. (key word for thinking about meaning)

Role (C 6 p. 168-169)

is a facet of persona and appears a set of connected behaviors, rights, obligations, beliefs, and norms as conceptualized by people in a social situation. Recall our emphasis on the interaction/performance/drama of symbolic action. The actors play roles that are constructed by social reality.

Claim of definition:

Identifies how a concept or term should be defined

Which 3 spheres are advanced by G Thomas Goodnight?

1) The PERSONAL sphere 2) The TECHNICAL sphere 3) The PUBLIC sphere

Claim of value:

A claim that advances a statement about what is worthy (good or bad, just or unjust, beautiful or ugly)

Claim of fact:

A claim that advances an empirically verifiable statement. (think of them as our social facts)

Identification (C7 p. 203)

A communicative process through which people are unified into a whole on the basis of common interests or characteristics. It is closely associated with the idea of consubstantiality: the process by which two distinct things momentarily become part of a whole .

Narrative Fidelity (C5 p. 149):

A criteria for evaluating narratives. It asks whether the events included in the story correspond to the experiences and understanding of reality of the audience. It is a standard or external consistency of the story by asking people whether the story rings true from their experience.

Comic Frame (C 5 p. 151).

A viewpoint that would have you see others as mistaken rather than as evil. It allows for persuasion and correction while an evil person implies you cannot change them so they must be destroyed (see Tragic Frame). The book follows Kenneth Burke's claim that the comic frame is to be preferred over the tragic frame.

FILL IN THE BLANK: According to our book's discussion of public emotion, a key difference with Aristotle is that he thinks emotions are not individual states, but instead shared (intersubjective) moods created by _____________.

ANSWER" "rhetorical action." According to our book's discussion of public emotion, a key difference with Aristotle is that he thinks emotions are not individual states, but instead shared (intersubjective) moods created by RHETORICAL ACTION.

Aristotelian approaches to ethos combine: a) practical wisdom (common sense and sound reason) b) virtue (possess shared values of the audience) c) goodwill (motivated by the audiences best interests). d) character (understood by the audience) e) a, b, & c f) a, b, c, & d

ANSWER: e) a, b, & c Aristotelian approaches to ethos combine: practical wisdom (common sense and sound reason), virtue (possess shared values of the audience) and goodwill (motivated by the audiences best interests).

FILL IN THE BLANK: _____________ is important for how the idea of the rhetor becomes unstable. Still, rhetor functions as an ethical fiction, even if authorial intent does not determine the meaning of symbolic action... or the audiences must put different symbolic actions into conversation with one another to form a "text" (184-185)

ANSWER: "Postmodernism." POSTMODERNISM is important for how the idea of the rhetor becomes unstable. Still, rhetor functions as an ethical fiction, even if authorial intent does not determine the meaning of symbolic action... or the audiences must put different symbolic actions into conversation with one another to form a "text" (184-185)

FILL IN THE BLANK: ____________ makes things that are distant in time or space feel current and close. Visuals are especially useful for this purpose. (Classroom example is how an Icon can make an absent God seem present in visual form).

ANSWER: "Presence." PRESENCE makes things that are distant in time or space feel current and close. Visuals are especially useful for this purpose. (Classroom example is how an Icon can make an absent God seem present in visual form).

FILL IN THE BLANK: _____________ is culturally relevant in the sense that different groups of people will often hold different common agreements. For example: it is generally agreed upon in the USA that elections results should be accepted as the will of the people, unless proven otherwise.

ANSWER: "Presumption." PRESUMPTION is culturally relevant in the sense that different groups of people will often hold different common agreements. For example: it is generally agreed upon in the USA that elections results should be accepted as the will of the people, unless proven otherwise.

FILL IN THE BLANK: Persona is one way we understand how the self is a _____________ or always part of Burke's dramatistic approach to symbolic action. What the sociologist Erving Goffman called the presentation of self in everyday life.

ANSWER: "performance." Persona is one way we understand how the self is a PERFORMANCE or always part of Burke's dramatistic approach to symbolic action. What the sociologist Erving Goffman called the presentation of self in everyday life.

FILL IN THE BLANK! When it comes to "________," a relevant question to ask is: "What parts of one's life does a rhetor try to emphasize as the core element of his/her public self?"

ANSWER: "persona." When it comes to PERSONA, a relevant question to ask is: "What parts of one's life does a rhetor try to emphasize as the core element of his/her public self?"

FILL IN THE BLANK: Instead of polysemy, Celeste Condit defined ________________ as a process where audience members share understanding of the denotations of a text but disagree about the valuation of these denotation to such a degree that they produce notably different interpretations" (186)

ANSWER: "polyvalence" Instead of polysemy, Celeste Condit defined POLYVALENCE as a process where audience members share understanding of the denotations of a text but disagree about the valuation of these denotation to such a degree that they produce notably different interpretations" (186)

A rhetorical syllogism (Enthymeme) (C 4 p. 107) is a syllogism based on probabilities, signs, and examples, whose function is rhetorical persuasion. Its successful construction is accomplished through joint efforts of the ___________ and ____________, andthis is its essential character. Audience supply missing parts of the enthymem.

ANSWER: "speaker," and "audience" A rhetorical syllogism (Enthymeme) (C 4 p. 107) is a syllogism based on probabilities, signs, and examples, whose function is rhetorical persuasion. Its successful construction is accomplished through joint efforts of the SPEAKER and AUDIENCE, and this is its essential character. Audience supply missing parts of the enthymem.

Which of the following statements are true about Iconic Photographs? (More than one may apply) a) they're recognized by everyone within a public culture b) they're understood to be representations of historically significant events c) they're objects of strong emotional identification and response d) they're rooted in political and social norms that have developed throughout history e) they're regularly reproduced or copied across a range of media, genres, and topics.

ANSWER: a, b, c, and e are all true.

Public Emotion (C 7 p. 207)

According to Harriman and Luciates, they are collective expressions of feeling that are crucial elements of democratic deliberation, judgment and action that comprise a language of collective life.

Rhetorical (Audience) Agency (C 7, p. 211).

According to Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, it is: The capacity to act, that is, to have the competence to speak or write (or engage in any form of symbolic action) in a way that will be recognized or heeded by others in one's community. It is important to realize that this describes an audience as well, they too possess agency and rhetors may need to construct audiences as agents of action capable of doing an act.

Claim of policy:

Addresses what should be done. What is beneficial or advantageous versus what is disadvantageous to do.

Character Development (C5 p. 142)

An aesthetic criteria for a good narrative. It is the process of describing the actions of and relationships among actors within the story. The attribution of human characteristics to non-human characters is called personification (C5, p. 142)

Argument Field (C4 p. 117):

An argument type in which the types of data used and conclusions reached are of the same logical type. For example, Toulmin pointed to how argument fields like law, biology, and mathematics generate their own rules for what is a strong or weak argument.

Pathos (C7 p. 204).

An artistic proof that leads the audience to feel emotion (see the link to Aristotle's description of the emotions placed on moodle). The question for a rhetor is to figure out the appropriate emotion for an audience to feel given a specific rhetorical situation

Eavesdropping audience (C7 p. 217):

An audience whom the rhetor desires to hear the message despite explicitly targeting the message at a different audience."

Narrative Probability: (C 5 p. 149).

Another criteria for judging narratives and refers to the internal consistency of the story element. Does the story hang together, are the actions that follow seem likely or not given the information we have about the characters, scenes, actions etc.,

FILL IN THE BLANK: Across time, an image is created by the ________________ of persona.

Answer: performance. Across time, an image is created by the performance of persona.

Fourth persona (C7 p. 217)

Approached as an audience INDIRECTLY addressed by the rhetor. It is an audience who recognizes that the rhetor's first persona may not reveal all that is relevant about the speaker's identity, but the audience maintains silence in order to enable the rhetor to perform that persona.

Argument [1] (C4p. 101):

Approaches argument as a THING (a product with parts); A specific speech act in which one presents a claim and provides sufficient reasons to warrant assent to the claim.

Argument [2] (C4, p.101):

Approaches argument as a form of INTERACTION (debate, fight, quarrel ), the way in which arguments-as-things and the people using them interact with each other (it approaches argument 1 as more dynamic extending over time and different places).

Iconic Photographs (C3, p. 82)

Are approached as a form of visual and material rhetoric; they describe those visual forms of a public culture that are shared, lots of folks recognize the visual.

Image (C6; p. 180):

As a facet of persona, it is a verbal and visual representation, emphasizing particular qualities and characteristics, that creates a perception of the rhetor in the audiences mind.

Attitudes (C7 p. 209).

Attitudes are positive or negative feelings toward some person, thing or idea.

Spheres of Argument (C 4 p. 119). (DEFINITION)

Branches of activity—the grounds upon which arguments are built and the authorities to which arguers appeal (similar in purpose as argument fields, but while argument fields primarily describe different levels of expertise, sphere of argument describes purpose of argument more directly).

Audience (C7, p. 201)

Can mean any person who hears, reads, or sees a symbolic action; the group targeted by a message, even if it is not present; OR the group capable of acting in response to the message (this last one is the rhetorical audience, according to Bitzer).

Burden of Proof (C4 p. 117):

Describes a rhetor's obligation to offer reasons sufficient to overcome presumption. If a rhetor is trying to change the common agreements/expectations/norms, the rhetor has the burden of proof support his/her argument.

Presence (C3, p. 71):

Describes how an event, person or thing is made available to an audience for thought/action. Visual rhetoric is said to possess the characteristic of [term] because of their immediacy, the creation of something in the front of an audience's consciousness. [term] describes an effect of symbolic action

Performance: (C 6 p. 166).

Drawn from Goffman: all the activity of a given participant on a given occasional which serves to influence in any way any of the other participants.

Monuments, Memorials. And Museums (C3 pp. 84-88).

Each participates in a rhetoric of display, they are visual and material types of rhetoric. They are important rhetorically because they sustain public memory.

Name the three classical proofs of reasoned discourse.

Ethos, logos, and pathos.

Technical Sphere (C4 p. 120):

The argument sphere that has explicit rules for argument and is judged by those with specific expertise in the subject (most closely resembles Toulmin's notion of argument fields)

TRUE OR FALSE: "Image" is considered a facet of persona, but not an effect of persona.

FALSE. Actually, "Image" is considered both a facet AND an effect of persona.

TRUE OR FALSE: Myth is a narrative form whose power heavily relies on truth or falsity, rather than on its appeal to a sense of social truth.

FALSE. Actually, Myth is a narrative form whose power DOES NOT rely on truth or falsity, but DOES RELY on its appeal to a sense of social truth.

TRUE OR FALSE: As a facet of persona, we understand identity to be culturally constructed through symbolic interaction.

FALSE. Actually, as a facet of persona, we understand identity to be SOCIALLY constructed through symbolic interaction.

TRUE OR FALSE: For Deluca, to emphasize image events is to support the idea that the only good civic rhetoric is reasoned, rational discourse since image events generate an impact on the senses made possible by the circulation of the image.

FALSE. Actually, for Deluca, to emphasize image events is to DISRUPT the idea that the only good civic rhetoric is reasoned, rational discourse since image events generate an impact on the senses made possible by the circulation of the image.

TRUE OR FALSE: The public truth of a narrative constructs the meaning of the story.

FALSE. Actually, the SOCIAL truth of a narrative constructs the meaning of the story.

True or false: The stronger one holds a belief, the MORE likely they are to think it is a social construction open to change by persuasion or other means.

False. Actually, the stronger one holds a belief, the LESS likely they are to think it is a social construction open to change by persuasion or other means.

How does Stuart Hall answer the question, "how might an audience extract meaning from a symbolic action?" (Hint: it's three prong).

Hall suggests that audiences might interpret a text in the following three ways: 1) Dominant reading (preferred or hegemonic meaning) 2) A negotiated reading 3) An oppositional reading

Data:

Information on which the claim is based (also referred to as evidence). It must be agreed upon, not merely opinion.

Personification (C5, p. 142)

The attribution of human characteristics to non-human characters

Syllogism (C 4 p. 106).

Is a statement in which a conclusion is inferred from the truth of two premises (Aristotle invented this term). It is associated with formal logic and deductive reasoning.

Enactment (C3, p. 77):

Occurs when the person engaging in symbolic action functions as proof of the argument s/he advances.

Identity (C6 p. 169)

Refers to the physical and/or behavioral attributes that make a person recognizable as a member of a group.

Social truth (C5 p. 146) [contrast to empirical truth (144-146)]

Refers to those beliefs and values that do not refer to some objective reality, but to social reality—those beliefs about what is right that people have arrived at together.

Body Rhetoric (C3, p. 77):

Rhetoric that foregrounds the body as part of the symbolic act. The body is approached as both a type of visual and material rhetoric. (See "enactment")

Beliefs (C7, p. 208)

Sets of knowledge that are grounded in people's value orientations.

Public Sphere (C4, p. 120):

The argument sphere that exists to "handle disagreements transcending personal and technical sphere disputes." The primary test for an argument is whether it is just (right thing to do).

Image Events (C3, p.88):

Staged acts ... designed for media dissemination. They may be used for protest, for example, as "mind bombs," to explode the typical ways people think about a topic, such as their relationship to the environment.

TRUE OR FALSE: Following Boorstin an image is synthetic, believable, passive, vivid and concrete, simplified, and ambiguous (180)

TRUE.

TRUE OR FALSE: For PIF, intersectionality is a dimension of a persona.

TRUE.

TRUE OR FALSE: It is important to realize a persona is something a rhetor does (in and through their symbolic actions).

TRUE.

TRUE OR FALSE: Practical wisdom concerns being able to balance the application of norms and principles (universals) to different situation (particulars) in a way that recognizes every situation (particular) may call forth a new norm or principle. (Relates to "ethos")

TRUE.

TRUE OR FALSE: Recognize the relationship with the concept of authorial persona as an implied author that is different from the "real author." from Wayne Booth (we refer to the speaker/rhetor's persona as the "first persona").

TRUE.

TRUE OR FALSE: Student, Teacher, Father, are all social roles.

TRUE.

TRUE OR FALSE: The book thinks of "race" as a socially constructed identity category, like "white" and "whiteness." Because of the relationship between audience, rhetor, and identity, there is a need to be careful to assess the power relationships between the elements. The cultural problem is stereotypes.

TRUE.

TRUE OR FALSE: When discussing public emotion, our book says that identification often often occurs through shared emotional attachments.

TRUE.

True or false: "comic frame" allows for persuasion and correction, while an evil person implies you cannot change them, so they must be destroyed.

TRUE.

True or false: Multiple symbolic actions may exist for any given symbolic action.

TRUE.

True or false: the author of PIF has a preference to see argument as "play," in opposition to seeing it as "war" to better promote civic participation.

TRUE.

First Persona (C7 p. 213):

The author implied by the discourse. The I that is speaking.

Claim:

The conclusion whose merits we are seeking to establish (p. 109)

Persona (C6 p. 165)

The ethos, roles, identity, authority, and image a rhetor constructs and performs (or that others construct for a rhetor to perform) during a rhetorical act.

How has the idea of intersectionality expanded over time?

The idea of intersectionality has been expanded from the legal terrain to explain how people experience and come to know the world based on how social categories like race, gender, socio-economic status, education etc., intersect with one another.

Intersectionality (C6 p. 170):

The idea that identity is "multiplicative" rather than additive. Identity makes more sense if you think of its facets of identity as integral, interlocking parts of a single whole, rather than as the addition of each element on top of another" (p.170).

Social power:

The influence that people possess with a particular social structure, and that enables them to induce others to act (175)

Who invented intersectionality, and why did he or she invent it?

The legal theorist Kimberle Crenshaw invented intersectionality to try to explain how different kinds of discrimination interact. (race and gender affect discrimination differently than just race).

Personal memory (C 5 p. 131):

The manner is when individuals remember their pasts. It is one of the functions of narratives.

Polysemy: (C6 p. 186)

The multiple meanings possible in a text (186) Recall the discussion in chapter one about Stuart Hall's model of encoding/decoding on page 30 audiences can occupy at least three reading strategies: dominant/preferred; negotiated, and oppositional. (key term for thinking about meaning of symbolic action)

Second Persona (C7 p. 213) :

The you (the audience) to whom the rhetor speaks, the implied audience for whom a rhetor constructs symbolic actions. This persona is the audience most likely to support the rhetor's charge.

Toulmin Model for the diagramming the parts of Argument1: (C5 pp. 109-116).

The philosopher Stephen Toulmin was troubled by syllogistic reasoning and suggested that arguments in the real world rarely look like syllogisms. Instead of a syllogistic model based on premises and conclusions, he composed a description of arguments as being composed of: claim, data, warrant, qualifications, backing , and conditions for rebuttal. The model was adapted for rhetorical purposes by Wayne Brockriede and Douglas Ehninger.

Personal sphere (C4 p. 119):

The place where the most informal arguments occur among a small number of people, involving limited demands of proof, and often about private topics

Presumption (C4 p. 117)

The predisposition to believe that a claim is correct until overwhelming evidence proves otherwise. It describes the context of commonly accepted opinions, practices and institutions. It exists on the side of the common agreements.

Consubstantiality

The process by which two distinct things momentarily become part of a whole.

Strategic Essentialism (C6 p. 174):

The process of making an identity ingredient the core part of one's persona that legitimizes the right to speak. (invented by Gayatri Chakrovorty Spivak). But also think of it as a rhetorical technique (strategy). 1) The group members get to define the relevant attribute. 2) still recognize identity is constructed, The point is that it is done for a political goal.

Dominant reading (preferred or hegemonic meaning)

The reader understands the text from within the connotations made possible by the dominant code. The reader does not challenge the ideology behind the message.

Narrative (C5 p. 131)

The representation of at least two real or fictive events or situations in a time sequence, neither or which presupposes or entail the other. They require a temporal component that explains how the events relate to one another.

Rhetoric of Display: (C3 p. 72).

The rhetoric of display describes the process by which rhetoric makes ideas present through visual display. It is considered the dominant mode of communication in visual culture. Also see "Presence"

Postmodernism (C6 pp. 184-185):

The theory that places into question singular explanations, meta-narratives, categories and the certainty of supposedly objective interpretations of the world.

Argument (C4, p. 101)

a complex concept defined as reasoned discourse that seeks to persuade by presenting support for a position.

Ethos (C 6 p. 167):

a) In chapter 6, is considered a facet of persona (it is more than an appeal or argument type). b) Drawn from the classical traditions of rhetorical theory, it is more than simply "the credibility of the speaker." It is the CHARACTER of the rhetor performed in the rhetorical act and known by the audience because of prior interactions.

Readings of a (Visual) Symbolic Action (C3 p. 74): a) How many ways does Stuart Hall posit an audience can interpret (or read) a text? b) What is the question Stuart Hall asks in relation to this term? c) What is the point of this term?

a) Stuart Hall posits a three possible ways an audience can try to interpret (or read) a text. b) The question is how might an audience extract meaning from a symbolic action? c) The point is that for any text, but especially visual ones, audiences have a role to play in how meaning is generated. Meaning is not located only in an author's intention nor inside the text alone, nor by audiences as individuals, but in the interaction between audiences and texts.