Using Language in Public Speaking
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Transcript of Using Language in Public Speaking
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Using Language in Public Speaking
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Language is Powerful Using language can be a challenge. Word choices can make your speech
unique. Language can leave a lasting impression.
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Language Reveals Our Character
ATTITUDES EDUCATION
VALUES WORDS KNOWLEDGE
BACKGROUND MOTIVATION
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Oral versus Written StyleThere are differences
Oral WrittenMore personal.More likely to use “I” and “we.”
Less formal.More phrases.Less varied.
More repetitive
More detached.Less likely to use “I” & “we.”
Formal sentences.Complete sentences.More precise.
Passages can be reread.
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Using Words Effectively Use specific, concrete words. Use simple words. Use words correctly.
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Using Words Effectively Use specific, concrete words
Less specific & concrete More specific &more concrete
“Sounds of the wilderness…”
“Night crickets, owls hooting, wolves howling…”
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Using Words Effectively Use simple words – not jargonLess simple More simple“…malignantneoplasms characterizedby the proliferation of anaplastic cells…”
“…the cancerspread, the tumors grew,the red blood cells wereless and less able…”
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Using Words EffectivelyUse words correctly Denotation – literal meaning. Connotation – personal meaning.
Using the denotative meaning may not accurately help listeners understand what it means to be notorious.
Notorious: famous Notorious: famous because of something evil or cruel.
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Adapting your Language Style to Diverse Listeners Use language your audience can
understand. Use appropriate language. Use unbiased language.
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Adapting your Language Style to Diverse Listeners
Use language your audience can understand Use standard US English:
Taught in schools. Used in the media, business and the US
government.
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Adapting your Language Style to Diverse Listeners
Use appropriate language Avoid racial & ethnic slurs. Avoid language that puts down people due
to sexual orientation. Avoid language that attacks a certain
religious group. Do not attack people with disabilities.
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Adapting your Language Style to Diverse Listeners
Use unbiased language Avoid sexismSexist language Unbiased language
1. Fireman2. His or her3. Stewardess4. Mailman5. Chairman
1. Firefighter2. Their3. Flight attendant4. Postal carrier5. Chair
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Crafting Memorable Word Structures Creating figurative images.
Creating drama.
Creating cadence.
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Crafting MemorableWord Structures Metaphor. Simile. Crisis Rhetoric. Personification.
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Crafting MemorableWord Structures
Creating figurative images
Metaphor An implied comparison. Helps us to understand an abstract concept by
comparing it to something more concrete.
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Crafting MemorableWord Structures Metaphors
Prison metaphor Banking metaphor“Millions of people in theworld’s poorest countriesremain imprisoned,enslaved and in chains.They are trapped in theprison of poverty.”
“We refuse tobelieve that thereare insufficientfunds in the greatvaults of opportunityof this nation.”
Nelson Mandela 2005 Martin Luther King, Jr. 1963
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Crafting MemorableWord Structures
Creating figurative images Simile
Unlike an implied comparison (metaphor), it’s a direct comparison.
Uses “like” or “as.”Simile
“…we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. – 1963
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Crafting MemorableWord Structures
Creating figurative images
Crisis Rhetoric: Language used by speakers during momentous
and overwhelming times.
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Crafting MemorableWord Structures Crisis Rhetoric
2001 Terrorist attacks on the U.S.
1941 attacks on Pearl Harbor
“One more circleof Dante’s Hell.”
“Nuclear winter.”
“…a date which will live in infamy…”
“…our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.”
Various Franklin Delano Roosevelt
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Crafting MemorableWord Structures
Creating figurative images Personification: Assigning human qualities to
inanimate objects or ideas. “The Shuttle Columbia faithfully served her
crew.” “Old man winter is fierce this year.” “Father time never stops moving.” “Take care of our Mother Earth.” “Lady Liberty still breathes strong.”
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Crafting MemorableWord Structures
Creating drama Short sentences express vitally important
thoughts. Omission: leave out words or phrases the
audience expects. Inversion: reverse normal word order. Suspension: place a key word or phrase at the
end of a sentence (not at the beginning).
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Crafting MemorableWord Structures
Creating drama
Short sentence “And the war came.”Omission “Sighted sub – sank same.”Inversion “This much we pledge.”Suspension “For families wanting their sons
and daughters to get the chance of college or university, we will meet the challenge of change.”
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Crafting MemorableWord Structures
Creating cadence Creates rhythmic order. Helps audience stay “in sync.”
Repetition. Parallelism. Antithesis. Alliteration
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Crafting MemorableWord Structures
Creating cadence Repetition: use of a key word or phrase
more than once for emphasis.“We are Virginia Tech”“We are Virginia Tech”“We are Virginia Tech”
“Our job is not finished”“Our job is not finished”“Our job is not finished”
Nikki Giovanni (2007) Rudy de Leon (2000)
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Crafting MemorableWord Structures
Creating cadence Parallelism: use of the same grammatical
pattern for two or more phrases, clauses or sentences.
“In grief, we have found”“In challenge, we rediscovered”
“In victory, we have shown”“We will walk”“We will work”“We will speak”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1837) George W. Bush (2004)
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Crafting MemorableWord Structures
Creating cadence Antithesis: sentence with parallel
structures but with contrasting meanings.
“Our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men”
“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933)
John F. Kennedy (1961)
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Crafting MemorableWord Structures
Creating cadence Alliteration: repeating the (typically first)
consonant sound several times.“Virility, valour, and civic virtue.”
“Conviction, not calculation.”
Winston Churchill 1941) Dick Chaney (2000)
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Tips for UsingLanguage EffectivelyCreating drama Moderately: don’t go overboard with language
devices. Strategically: use in opening sentences, key
statements and conclusions. Simplistically: use short words; long words are
cumbersome. Economically: keep sentences to a manageable
length.