Theory of Writing Foundation

Major Assignment #1

Joshua C. Cook English 1001 (006)

Gloria Anzaldua’s “How to Tame A wild Tongue” gives wider context to what Audience is and its’ importance. Within this work Anzaldua gives the reader a glimpse at her world, where linguistic complexities are overwhelming to most readers such as myself. Covering topics such as forced assimilation in her school years, and how the Spanish language is male centric. Throughout this passage Anzaldua uses different language and explains how with different groups she changes the language. The best example of this would be this passage “With Chicanas from Nuevo Mexico or ArizonaI will speak Chicano Span­ish a Little, but often they don’t understand what I’m saying. With most Cal­ifornia Chicanas I speak entirely in English (unless I forget). When I first moved to San Francisco, I’d rattle off something in Spanish, unintentionally embarrassing them. Often it is only with another Chicana tejano that I can talk freely.”(Anzaldua pg.79) This passage shows that there are consequences to not knowing how to speak with your audience (the Chicanas being embarrassed), which highlights the fact that audiences make demands on the speaker.

Audience according to Merriam-Webster is “a group of listeners or spectators”. Which is correct, but there is more to audience than that. There are many types of audience as well, but the three that hold the most relevance are Immediate audience, Mediated audience, and Pragmatic audience. Immediate audience is a face to face audience that can interact with the presenter. Mediated audience is an audience that is separated form the presenter by time and/or space. Pragmatic Audience is an audience that depends on situations to arise, dealing with reality, and pressing matters. Pragmatic audiences can be both Immediate or Mediate. My thoughts on Audience is that it doesn’t have to be a group of people, as long as some thing is being produced the audience exists even if it’s just the producer themselves. People tend to forget that even thou they’re creating content, they belong to an audience as well. Now knowing what audience you are participating with is the next step.

Audiences consume content that is divided into genres, Charles Bazerman’s “What Writing Does and How it Does it” defines genre and how it works in Chapter 11 “Speech Acts, Genres, and Activity Systems”. In this chapter Bazerman introduces Speech acts, which is “a set of words said at the proper time in the proper circumstances by the proper person”(Bazerman pg.313) which creates acton or obligations. Bazerman breaks Speech acts down into three parts Locutionary acts, Illocutionary acts, and Perlocutionary acts. Locutionary acts are what is said to prompt a response or action. Illocutionary acts are is what you want the audience to do or pick up on. Perlocutionary acts are the final outcome, the action taken by the audience based on their interpretation of the Locutionary act. After this Bazerman brings up Genre, Genre sets, Genre systems, and Systems of activity. Genre sets are the type of writing someone is likely to produce based on their position. Genre systems are how groups of Genre sets are organized and work together. Systems of activity are how people reach their objectives, organize, and stay within social/economical norms. In addition, Systems of activity are the actions spurred on by Genre systems.

Genre is the base for these systems and sets, which is why it is important to define what it is. According to Merriam-Webster Genre is “a category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content”. Bazerman defines genre as “communicative patterns that other people are familiar with, they may recognize more easily what we are saying and trying to accomplish.”(Bazerman pg.317) From these two definitions we can synthesis that Genre is “a category of writing based on particular traits, with the motive of clarifying content and purpose”. For example the traits of a “western” is it’s set on a frontier where society is fluid, is usually governed by violence, and physical deeds of heroics are idolized. The purpose of a “western” to entertain or to show a glimpse at more primordial way of life.

Rhetoric or more specifically Rhetorical situations could be considered a genre set. Lloyd Bitzer’s essay “The Rhetorical Situation” gives us a better understanding of what Rhetorical situations are. Bitzer’s opening remarks “If someone says, That is a dangerous situation, his words suggest the presence of events, persons, or objects which threaten him, someone else, or something of value.” which sound similar to what a speech act is. Bitzer then brings up some historical examples of Rhetoric, such as “The Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, Churchill’s Address on Dunkirk, John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address” pointing out that all these examples are bond to situations. The term Exigence is then introduced, which according to Merriam-Webster means “a state of affairs that makes urgent demands”. Audience and constraint are two terms that are also associated with Bitzer’s essay on Rhetorical situation. The term audience in conjunction with the term constraints invokes the term genre to come to mind. The reason for this is because audiences are divided by constraints called genres. The constraints associated with Rhetorical situation are, it’s pragmatic, it spurs “positive” change, and it’s situational.

Rhetorical situation according to Biter is “a natural context of persons, events, objects, relations, and an exigence which strongly invites utterance; this invited utterance participates naturally in the situation, is in many instances necessary to the completion of situational activity, and by means of its participation with situation obtains its meaning and its rhetorical character.”(Bitzer pg.5) This passage also shows that exigence is the catalyst that provokes the rhetoric. This can also provide a strong argument to why exigence, audience, and constraints are the three parts of rhetorical situation.

My analysis of Genre, Audience, and Rhetorical situation synthesized form the texts above highlights that Audience is the driving factor in all writing. Anzaldua writes to an audience, so that they can understand the struggles of a people caught between two cultures. Bazerman writes to an audience to expand knowledge for knowledges sake. Bitzer writes to persuade the audience that Rhetoric is situational. Genre divides writing and writing styles, making it easier for a particular audience to find content that holds their interests. Genre is another tool used to help the author reach their intended audience.

Rhetorical situation is an example of a broad writing tool or style. Rhetorical situation has an intended audience, which is usually a pragmatic immediate audience. Rhetorical situation also has constraints and traits that make it similar to a Genre. To say that Rhetorical situations are a type of genre might be a bit of a stretch. Rhetorical situation is also similar to speech acts as well, but a speech act isn’t a Genre either. A Genre set is likely what Rhetorical situation is to be categorized as. The reason for this is unlike rhetoric that can pop up throughout any form of writing within any genre, Rhetorical situation is a text that is fully comprised of rhetoric. Rhetorical situations are also likely to be written by people that hold a specific position, like a journalist, a teacher, or a senator.

A theory of writing must naturally be an outline of the steps taken or the train of thought that a writer follows to produce a successful piece of writing. From my analysis determining audience must be the first step, followed by genre. After determining genre the use of rhetoric or rhetorical situations can then be determined.

Citation

Anzaldua, Gloria “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” in Borderlands: The New Mestiza – La Frontera, (San Francisco: Aunt Lute Book Company, 1987), 76-85

Bazerman, Charles. “What Writing Does and How It Does It: an Introduction to Analyzing Texts and Textual Practices.” Erlbaum, 2009. 

Bitzer, Lloyd F. “The Rhetorical Situation.” The Rhetorical Situation Lloyd F. Bitzer, University of Waterloo, 1968, www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/~raha/309CWeb/Bitzer(1968).pdf.

“Dictionary by Merriam-Webster: America’s Most-Trusted Online Dictionary.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, http://www.merriam-webster.com/.