Summary Of Language In Thought And Action By Hayakawa

Persuasion is key when trying to compel your audience to do or believe something. Barack Obama, Martin Luther King Jr. and Fannie Lou Hamer all delivered powerful, persuasive speeches that will go down in history. The use of these creative individuals’ language and persuasion played a pivotal role within the civil rights movement. We can observe this in the speakers’ rhetoric devices like ethos, logos and pathos.

Each “hearer” also interprets what he hears as a beholder.  Consequently, if an English speaker, or writer desires to convey a message, truth, fiction or nonfiction, entertainment, persuasion, evidence of fact, he must use correct language, perhaps colloquialisms, be aware of the listeners, their education, culture, motivation and attention. The written and spoken language can be used to deceive as well as to inform.  Advertisement, celebrities, leading preachers, politicians are used to provide a single perspective, not thorough information leading to a reasoned conclusion.

One illustration of the manipulation of language today is seen in politics. Politicians speak in a certain manner that can affect the thought process of the listener. They carefully word their speech so that it delivers the correct message to the listener’s brain and creates a certain thought pattern that is ideal for the speaker. For instance, if an idea can be spoken two separate ways and have the same basic meaning, the politician will select a way that controls the way people think of your speech overall by using different wording. In 1984, word manipulation similar to this technique is used. The ministry branches, Ministry of Love, Ministry of Peace, Ministry of Plenty and Ministry of Truth, all had opposite meanings. For example, the ministry of Peace was really the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Love was really the Ministry of Law Enforcement and Punishment. This caused people to think that the Ministries were better than they really were and they forgot about the bad things they stood for.

According to Susanne K. Langer in the essay “Language and Thought,” an essential difference between animals and humans is the way humans think in symbols and signs, instead of just solely relying on signs. Langer suggests that thinking in signs, which is something both humans and animals share in common, is a process that leads us to react instinctively to the physical presence of that sign. Signs are very much a direct cause to a particular effect. It seems that to learn a sign you simply must be conditioned to respond certain ways to a specific observation. Symbols, though, are exclusively human devices of language that provoke thoughts about a particular thing. The use of symbols has allowed humans to reach much more complex levels of thought,

through the use of language and rhetoric devises. Under language, the diction or word choice,

Rhetoric is a significant part of our everyday lives. Whether it's convincing our friends to go to a concert on the weekend, to go to a certain place for lunch, or even convincing yourself to do something that you should but don't want to do. Rhetoric is all around us today. Billboard ads, television commercials, newspaper ads, political speeches, even news stories all try, to some degree, to sway our opinion or convince us to take some sort of action. If you take a step back to look and think about it, rhetoric, in all actuality, shapes our lives. Every day we have an array of options of things to do or things to buy. So every day, our opinion or actions are being influenced, however minutely, by rhetoric.

When I was reading The Transformation of silence into Language and action by Audre Lorde, remember me that day at work about my strong acensent. The article of Audre Lorden at the end have the big reflection that let broke the silence will be better to became a strong person and know that my voice have to be lisent because it is important. For me is important to speak so I can be hear by the customer and get better in my inglish. For the woman was important to broke the silence so she can be out of their painful of be silence. Also in my experience of racism at work reflect the philosophy by Judith Butler and is where I find what I really think about language, and culture. I was like I don't want to know how far cruelty and ignorance

In my study into the way rhetoric is used by politicians, specifically, J.F Kennedy, my attention will be focused on how language is used to control, persuade and influence.

“Newspeak was designed to. . .diminish the range of thought. . .by cutting the choice of words down to a minimum” explains George Orwell, the author of a dystopian fiction novel, 1984 (Orwell 300). Orwell designs a society in which a totalitarian government rules, depriving people of their thoughts. The story gives us a look into the life of the main character, Winston, who seems to face issues with reality control. Today, we will delve into the depths of this novel and explore Orwell’s views on the nature of language. In simple terms, Orwell suggests that language, if used in a certain way, has the ability to influence people and compel them to alter their thoughts. With this statement and supporting evidence, it can be concluded that the effective use of language can give individuals power to modify or reshape opinions that will allow for change in society.

The power words are limitless. It does not matter in what language one speaks; persuasion is the key to manipulated people for good or bad. “Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.” Words are a weapon, and when one uses words carefully to persuade people, it can lead to chaos. In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Shakespeare portrays a universal theme in which friends and enemies turn to against each other, and a war stimulates out of lies and ambition for power. The usage of old and wise words to manipulated people lead to great revelry.

Rhetoric is a course in which students are taught the values of persuasion. And yet, behind this course is the utmost power to corrupt the world, changing it into a world of our own policies. This power, even though seldom discussed, has lead to many intriguing discoveries. One such discovery is how people are able to shape the world they live in simply by choosing the right words. Therefore those who would want the world to be a better place must protect this power. If in the wrong hands this power could cause serious damage. Several authors have striven to protect rhetoric and its power. Few agree on the matter of defining rhetoric, but they know that they must protect rhetoric from dark souls. A single definition of rhetoric must maintain a simplistic nature while incorporating every aspect of rhetoric. However, I argue that rhetoric is a means of persuading audiences of a situation and a particular reality through language and personal appeal. In order to prove this definition I will discuss how rhetoric creates a situation, the shaping of a different reality, the audience, the use of language, and the personal appeal. Finally, I will demonstrate the absolute need for rhetoric.

As Riley also points out, “ Laments, rhetorical questions, exonerations, comedies of verbal inhibition, and cliches...these all exert themselves as ordinary effects which are, though, no mere embellishments or overtones on top of their speaker’s’ intentions: they can even outrun them. Or they can make their speakers’s sentiments virtually irrelevant (Riley, 3).” Riley summarizes this idea more simply by sayin“This stance that insists on language as an instrument of willed control glosses over its directing rawness (Riley,

Although there is no official language in the United States, the English language is the most widely spoken. Language helps to shape our identities, define and limit our expectations of the world around us and who we are. You might ask yourself, how does our language shape our identities and influence our perceptions of the world? Through language, we are able to make meaning, understand, and define ourselves. We are able to communicate what we feel, our ideas, our hopes, and our dreams with others who can respond to our feelings and thoughts. However, our choice of words cannot always capture what we are feeling to the full extent.

To some speakers and writers, propaganda is an evil instrument. The negative approaches make a part of the world think that propagandists hoodwink the population, use half-truths, lie, conceal and distort facts. Although there are many pessimistic perspectives, there are others who have a positive view and think especially of techniques, slogans, catchwords and other devices. They prefer effective language, the rhetoric way, to persuade the audience (Pan, 2012).

“Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about.” – Benjamin Lee Whorf