Speech

Speech Study Guide

• Qualifiers are words that indicate a speaker’s level of confidence in their claims and may include words such as possibly, probably, or beyond any doubt. • Reservations are when speakers acknowledge exceptions to their claims, or the stipulated conditions under which a claim can no longer be held. • An argument means articulating a position with the support of logos, ethos, or pathos. • Logos is a means of persuasive strategy by constructing logical arguments that support a speaker’s point of view. • Ethos highlights a speaker’s competence, credibility, and good character as a means by which to convince an audience to accept the speaker’s point of view. • Pathos is a persuasive strategy that appeals to the emotions of a listener to convince others of a speaker’s position. • Stephen Toulmin developed a model to explain the form of everyday arguments, which includes three elements: the claim, the support, and the warrant. • The claim is the conclusion a speaker wants their audience to agree with. • Support is the evidence offered as grounds for accepting and/or agreeing with the claim. • Warrant is the reasoning process that connects the support to the claim. • Inductive reasoning involves reasoning from a set of specific examples or series of observations to a general conclusion. • Deductive reasoning draws conclusions about specific cases based on inferences from a generally accepted premise or principle. • Causal reasoning is the ability to identify the relationship between a cause and its effect. • Analogical reasoning is an inference that two or more things that are similar to each other in one way are also similar in other ways. • Reasoning fallacies/faulty reasoning are errors in reasoning, typically in analogical or causal arguments, that may involve “arguing in circles” or creating false choices. • Hasty generalizations occur when a claim is not supported or is supported with weak evidence. • Ad hominem fallacies attack or praise the individual, making the individual the argument, instead of addressing the actual argument or problem itself. • Guilt by association arises when ideas, people, or programs are judged solely on the basis of their associations with other ideas, people, programs, or groups. • False cause fallacy occurs when it is proven that there is no relationship between a supposed cause and effect. This is also called “post hoc, ergo propter hoc,” which means “after this, therefore because of this.” • False dilemma happens by suggesting there are only two alternatives when others exist. • Faulty analogy occurs when speakers compare things that are not similar. • Slippery slopes occur when a speaker claims a cause will inevitably lead to undesirable effects. • Straw man fallacy occurs when a speaker weakens the opposing position of an argument by misrepresenting it or by attacking the weaker (straw man) position.

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