Leaders banking on ethos
-
Adina Oana Nicolae
Abstract
This paper investigates persuasion in the context of the current economic-financial crisis by focusing on the strategies employed by banks to attract and preserve confidence. The targeted genre is senior executives’ letters to the shareholders issued before and during crisis. Theoretically, the study predicates on two crucial perspectives: it relies on Aristotle’s rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, logos) and on Close Textual Analysis (Browne 2009), an interpretive practice whose aim is to decipher the linguistic particulars underlying the rhetorical force of a text, and it equally tackles other semiotic resources that are considered to be persuasion markers. The twofold investigation (both quantitative and qualitative) shows that the crisis exerts psychological and economic pressures upon the communication stream even between high-performing banking institutions and their website audience, and, therefore, the three rhetorical appeals, ethos, pathos, logos are fully enhanced and appropriately adjusted towards shaping the desired corporate image.
Abstract
This paper investigates persuasion in the context of the current economic-financial crisis by focusing on the strategies employed by banks to attract and preserve confidence. The targeted genre is senior executives’ letters to the shareholders issued before and during crisis. Theoretically, the study predicates on two crucial perspectives: it relies on Aristotle’s rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, logos) and on Close Textual Analysis (Browne 2009), an interpretive practice whose aim is to decipher the linguistic particulars underlying the rhetorical force of a text, and it equally tackles other semiotic resources that are considered to be persuasion markers. The twofold investigation (both quantitative and qualitative) shows that the crisis exerts psychological and economic pressures upon the communication stream even between high-performing banking institutions and their website audience, and, therefore, the three rhetorical appeals, ethos, pathos, logos are fully enhanced and appropriately adjusted towards shaping the desired corporate image.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
-
Persuasion in Political Dialogue
- Persuasion or the integration of grammar and rhetoric 3
- The burden of proof in dealing with political accountability 19
- Pre-election TV debates – persuasive games between ethos, logos, and pathos 39
- … every time you’ve offered an opinion, you’ve been wrong 55
- Political debates 85
- Analysing the rhetoric use of the epistemic marker Eu cred că (I think) in Romanian parliamentary discourse 101
-
Persuasive Strategies in Professional Dialogue
- Argumentation at work 145
- Argumentation strategies in mediated professional interactions 161
- Using identities-in-talk as a persuasive strategy 179
- Markers of argumentation in intercultural professional discourse 201
- Leaders banking on ethos 217
- Persuading through narratives 249
- Index 275
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
-
Persuasion in Political Dialogue
- Persuasion or the integration of grammar and rhetoric 3
- The burden of proof in dealing with political accountability 19
- Pre-election TV debates – persuasive games between ethos, logos, and pathos 39
- … every time you’ve offered an opinion, you’ve been wrong 55
- Political debates 85
- Analysing the rhetoric use of the epistemic marker Eu cred că (I think) in Romanian parliamentary discourse 101
-
Persuasive Strategies in Professional Dialogue
- Argumentation at work 145
- Argumentation strategies in mediated professional interactions 161
- Using identities-in-talk as a persuasive strategy 179
- Markers of argumentation in intercultural professional discourse 201
- Leaders banking on ethos 217
- Persuading through narratives 249
- Index 275
