Emotively Neutral Language

1. Emotively Neutral Language • For example, the following emotively charged argument taken from the letters to the editor section of a newspaper. • Now that we know that the rocks on the moon are similar to those in our backyard and that tadpoles can exist in a weightless environment, and now that we have put the rest of the world in order, can we concentrate on the problems here at home? Like what makes people hungry and why is unemployment so elusive? (Robert J. Boland)

2. Emotively Neutral Language • The conclusion of this argument is that our government should take money that has been spent on the space program and on international police actions and redirect it to solving domestic problems. The author minimizes the importance of the space program by covertly suggesting that it amounts to nothing more than work on ordinary rocks and tadpoles (which by themselves are relatively insignificant), and he exaggerates the scope of the international effort by covertly suggesting that it has solved every problem on earth but our own.

3. Emotively Neutral Language • We might rephrase the argument in emotively neutral language, making the implicit suggestions and value claims explicit, as follows: • The space program has been confined to work on ordinary rocks and tadpoles. • Ordinary rocks and tadpoles are less important than domestic hunger and unemployment. • Our international efforts have restored order to every nation on earth but our own. • These efforts have been directed to problems that are less important than our own domestic problems. • Therefore, our government should redirect funds that have been spent on these projects to solving our own domestic problems.

4. Emotively Neutral Language • By restructuring the argument in this way, we can more easily evaluate the degree to which the premises support the conclusion. Inspection of the premises reveals that the first, third, and possibly fourth premise are false. Thus, the actual support provided by the premises is less than what we might have first expected. If the argument were to be rephrases a second time so that the premises turned out to be true (for example, the first premise might read “Part of the space program has been devoted to research on ordinary rocks and tadpoles”), the support given to the conclusion would still be weaker than the author intended.

5. Emotively Neutral Language • It is possible to get so wrapped up in trying to avoid emotion that you lose sight of what was intended. This is particularly true when you try to replace emotional terms one at a time. One student, in de-emotionalizing a very hostile letter about a leading political, confronted the writer’s use of the reference ‘dirty S.O.B.” Rather than recognize this as a basically emotional term with little information content, he “translated” it as ‘individual who needs a bath and whose mother is registered with the American kennel Club.’ That is the literal meaning of the words, but has nothing at all to do with probable intent of the writer.