Public Speaking Handbook

244 12.4 Using Words Well: speaker langUage and style

bind. For example, suppose that Dr. Pierce is a young, black, female M.D. If you

don’t mention her age, race, and gender when you refer to her, you may rein­

force your listeners’ stereotypical image of a physician as middle­aged, white,

and male. But if you do mention these factors, you might be suspected of imply­

ing that Dr. Pierce’s achievement is unusual. There is no easy answer to this

dilemma or others like it. You will have to consider your audience, your pur­

pose, and the occasion in deciding how best to identify Dr. Pierce.

As women and members of racial, ethnic, and other minorities have become

increasingly visible in such professions as medicine, law, engineering, and pol­

itics, the public has grown to expect unbiased, inclusive language from news

commentators, teachers, textbooks, and magazines–and from public speakers.

Language that does not reflect these changes will disrupt your ability to commu­

nicate your message to your audience, which may well include members of the

minority group to which you are referring.

Quick Check

Adapting Your Language Style to Diverse Listeners

To communicate successfully with diverse listeners, use language your audience

can understand.

To avoid offending your audience, use appropriate language.

To communicate sensitivity to diverse subgroups, use unbiased language.

Crafting Memorable Word Structures

12.4 List and explain three types of memorable word structures.

The president of the United States makes an important 30­minute speech in your

hometown. From that 30­minute speech, the major news outlets all excerpt the

same ten­second portion. Why? What makes certain parts of a speech quotable

or memorable? Former presidential speechwriter Peggy Noonan has said:

Great speeches have always had great sound bites.... They sum up a

point, or make a point in language that is pithy or profound.^13

In other words, memorable speeches are stylistically distinctive. They create

arresting images. And they have what a marketing­communication specialist has

termed “ear appeal”:

“Ear appeal” phrases can be like the haunting songs of a musical that the

members of the audience find themselves humming on the way home.

Even if people want to forget them, they can’t.^14

12.4

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