Connotation
Hey E319 Students,
When we use words that have a positive or negative connotation, what rhetorical effect(s) takes place?
(Jay Mehta Approved)
posted by Jay Mehta @ 12/01/2011
5 comments
Thursday, December 01, 2011
When we use words that have a positive or negative connotation, what rhetorical effect(s) takes place?
(Jay Mehta Approved)
5 Comments:
When we are using words with “positive” or “negative” connotations, we are doing multiple things. Defining key terms, Positive: “Having a good effect”; Negative: “marked by features of hostility, withdrawal, or pessimism that hinder or oppose constructive treatment or development.” So using those specific definitions, I would say that using a word with a negative connotation may either attract the attention of those who are listening, or make them close down and stop listening to your arguments. And when the people you are to persuade, refuse to listen to your arguments, you are obviously not going to persuade them. But on the flipside of that, when you use words with a positive connotation, you are more likely to have your audience listen to you more actively. Especially if you are saying something that they either a.) want to believe in already or b.) works along with their values. This also relates to knowing your audience. If you can better get their attention by using shocking, strongly negative words, it might want to use them. But again, it also works the other way. If you know your audience will shut down with negative words or is simply more attracted to positive words, then playing up your audience will be a better strategy. It really depends on the situation.
-Mac Kienitz (p.3)
I agree with the key terms Mackenzee used. Positive relates to a good feeling about a certain thing and negative relates to certain emotions that do not favor the object. When a person speaks with another individual, an important event takes place. During this event, the two individuals "talk". Many rhetorical choices are made and these choices are usually through the words spoken by each individual. When an individual uses words with positive connotations, he or she persuades his or her audience for whatever the individual is talking about. While, if that individual used words with negative connotation, then many listeners would think that whatever that individual is talking about is bad. As said before, the use of connotation depends on the situation.
-Adam Kobiela (3rd)
Generally I think that if an author uses a word with either a positive connotatition or negative one, it shows the kind of style that specific author may have. An example of this from earlier in the year reminds me of this type of rhetorical choice. If an author chooses to use the word “pity”, they most likely did it for a specific reason. While denotatively, using “pity” and using the phrase “feel bad for” may mean the same thing, a reader senses a difference in the context with “pity” in the story. Like we discussed in class, “pity” has an overall negative connotation. If the author chose to use a negative word, in this case, instead of a more neutral, or even positive one, it gives further information about the author’s or character’s feeling towards whatever they are said to pity.
-Jori Nelson P:3
When we have words with positive and/or negative connotation, there are various rhetorical effects that take place. When one has a negative connotation the rhetorical effects tend to be dealing with pathos and how the audience feels about things. They also tend to deal with juxtaposition and contrasting two statements. When a word has a positive connotation, the rhetorical effects tend to be more general, with more logos, and ethos. I think when we use words with either a positive or negative connotation, they cause the reader to have a preconceived vision of what the definition of the word will be, causing the rhetoric choice to be already thought about.
-Nicole Vetter
When we use words with a positive or negative connotation, we show our audience our style. Also, if we know our audience well, we can use words with specific connotations to get our desired reaction out of them by playing on their emotions. Style is the purposeful way an author decides to present his or her text to the audience. Style greatly varies from author to author, but it is intentional and plays an important role in the presentation of the author and his or her message. Word choice is a form of style, so when an author chooses to use a word with a positive or a negative connotation, this choice has a meaning that the audience must figure out. Furthermore, using a word with a specific connotation instead of just the neutral denotation plays on the emotions of the audience. Certain words evoke positive or negative feelings within people because of past experiences and their ties with the word. An author can use this knowledge to get his or her message across in a more effective way because using the audience's emotions will leave a greater impact on them.
- Marzena Socha, period 3
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