Do you believe it is possible to write a text without making explicit — or even implicit — our intentions? This could even be possible, but writing without leaving our marks or our subjectivity coming to the fore is a very difficult process!
Every day we are exposed to different types of speech. When we sit down to watch television, we are bombarded by advertisements that use various tricks to convince consumers to buy a certain product. In telenovelas, much more than plots and characters, a persuasive discourse that tries to sell us an ideal of life according to a certain ideology is presented along with the narrative. Make no mistake, we are all the time targets of imbricates persuasion techniques. But do you know what persuasion is?
Language and persuasion go hand in hand. We usually associate the idea of persuasion with the idea of persuasion. When someone tries to persuade us, we get the impression that the person's intention is to convince us about something. However, persuasion goes beyond the simple act of convincing: the act of persuading is closely associated with an ideological, subjective and temporal discourse, found in political and religious speeches, in propaganda and in other types of texts that directly interfere with our will, albeit in a discreet and gradual way.
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
The act of persuading is ideological, temporal, subjective and particular, and can deeply affect the interlocutor *
The construction of persuasive language occurs according to some widely used resources, especially in advertisements:
Use of figures of speech as comparisons, analogies, hyperboles and euphemisms;
Use of imperative mode in verbs;
Allusion to the known world of the target audience in an attempt to bring the language closer to the message recipient;
Use of puns and word games.
It is noteworthy that persuading is not always synonymous with convincing through an argument of force — one that imposes an idea, preventing dialogic relationships with the interlocutor. Persuasion can also use arguments aimed at good goals, such as institutional advertisements, such as vaccination campaigns or others whose objectives are to create a more reflective attitude in the population and responsible.
*Comic strip Calvin and Harold, by Bill Watson.
By Luana Castro
Graduated in Letters
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
PEREZ, Luana Castro Alves. "Language and Persuasion"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/redacao/linguagem-persuasao.htm. Accessed on June 28, 2021.