SayPro IDENTIFY AND RESPOND TO MANIPULATIVE USE OF LANGUAGE.

Manipulative Use Of LanguagePeople use different techniques to manipulate their use of language to distort reality. This is used in advertising, news coverage and political speeches, to mention a few. This can be done deliberately or unintentionally.Different Techniques To Manipulate Use Of LanguageLanguage is one of the most powerful tools we can use to get people to do what we want them to do. You can make someone happy, excited and inspired just with the words you use. Words can create love and they can cause hate. Stirring speeches have roused people to take up arms and go to war – that’s how powerful words are.Note : To manipulate means to get someone to do or to feel something they might not necessarily want to. Are you aware of how often you are manipulated by the words around you – words that you hear on the radio, television, see on billboards and read in magazines and newspapers? The worst culprits for manipulating with words are advertisers and politicians. They want your support and/or your money. They want you to buy their product so they tell you that if you buy this car, item of food, clothing – whatever – how much better your life will be. That is manipulation. For example:

• Face creams that promise you will look 10 years younger in 12 weeks!
• Take charge of your life with a Discovery credit card – get up to 44 days free interest free credit. (A credit card actually gets you further into debt where you end up feeling totally out of control of your life)
• Lose 20 kilos in 2 months with Burn it Off diet pills.
• Why not take that overseas trip or do those alterations on your house? We will lend you R20, 000 to make your dreams come true!

Fact And OpinionA fact is something that everyone accepts as being true, as it cannot be perceived to be anything else, e.g. night follows day follows night etc. This fact has always been true and will be true for as long as we exist.Fact: a thing that is known to be trueAn opinion, on the other hand, is not necessarily based on fact and can be challenged by proving the contrary, e.g. there are dark clouds in the sky, accompanied by thunder. Due to these factors you are of the opinion that it is going to rain, however, the storm can blow over without a drop of rain falling.Omission Of Necessary InformationTwo of the tactics most used by journalists who write for newspapers and magazines are omissions and silence. Many people are misquoted in this way.Omission is something that has been left out. Below is a paragraph from an article about slavery. If I leave something out, it changes the entire meaning of the paragraph.Once the Arabs seized the cattle, they moved from hut to hut gathering grain, blankets and salt – and human booty. Deep in the shadows of one hut, they discovered Abuk. Grabbing the terrified woman by her bead necklace, a militiaman growled, “Now you belong to me!” In all, 282 Dinka, including Abuk’s mother, sister and niece were herded up and forced to march north.Now read the paragraph where human booty and the last sentence have been left out:Once the Arabs seized the cattle, they moved from hut to hut gathering grain, blankets and salt. Deep in the shadows of one hut, they discovered Abuk. Grabbing the terrified woman by her bead necklace, a militiaman growled, “Now you belong to me!”Do you see that the whole meaning of the paragraph has now changed and that there is now no reference to slavery?Silence means not saying or writing anything. If the author of the article about slavery did not write the article, we would never have known that it is going on. Silence can be just as dangerous as omission. If we don’t write and talk about what is going on in the world around us, we will never be able to identify problems. If problems are not identified, solutions cannot be found.Note : Often it is not what is said, but that what is NOT said that conveys a specific, and sometimes deliberate, message to the receiver.During compiling a summary of a speech or statement, some important ideas or facts may be omitted by the person compiling the summary, thus conveying a different message from the message originally intended by the speaker.Politicians more than often emphasise what their party does in respect of a certain matter and then neglects to admit the shortcomings of the party regarding the same matter.Advertisers often unscrupulously omit necessary information in order to promote their products. Before advertising of tobacco- and related products was banned by legislation, the niceties of using a certain brand of cigarette or related tobacco product was promoted, without warning the prospective user of the potential hazardous effects of smoking.Smokers were always shown having so much fun in exotic holiday destinations: water skiing, swimming, lazing in the sun and then having a cigarette afterwards. The message was that you would have a good time if you smoked, which is, of course not true – not everyone can afford a luxury overseas holiday in Hawaii or some exotics place. In fact, if you smoke you can be sure of having a very sordid and agonising death from lung cancer or some other smoke related disease.Most advertisers use some form of deceit when advertising their products: “You can buy a cell phone for only R….. “And then right at the end they say: “Terms and conditions apply.” In effect, you first have to find out what the terms and conditions are before you can decide whether the product is such a bargain. Newspaper and TV journalists are known for adding sensation to their stories. One of the ways in which they do this is by only giving one point of view.Be alert when you deal with advertisements and other forms of mass communication. Always wait and see if there is something more behind the message than what is said. If you can, find out for yourself what the other facts of the matter are that they are not telling you.We all use manipulative language from time to time. When I was a child and I got into trouble over doing something wrong, I did not usually tell my parents everything since I would get into even more trouble. Where possible I left out the worst details and hoped that they would not find out.Language Structures And FeaturesWriters use language structures and features all the time, in order to influence what you, the reader, thinks when you have read the written piece.Language structures and features include

• The choice of words.
• Use of language.
• Symbols.
• Pictures.
• Tone.

If we look at the quote from an article about slavery, we can see an example:“But the blind Dinka woman could only pull her seven-year-old son and twelve-year-old daughter close. Shaking with fear, they hid in their windowless hut and prayed.”If the author had not told us that they were shaking with fear, we would have felt differently about the paragraph.

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