The Art of Persuasive Writing: A Linguistic Analysis of B-Fitness
Understanding the Communicative Situation
Before delving into the specific traits of the text, it’s crucial to establish the context of the communicative situation. The text belongs to the realm of journalism, targeting a diverse audience through the medium of a newspaper owned by a corporate entity aiming to promote its product. This inherently implies an informative purpose, reaching out to a broad readership, essentially potential consumers.
Balancing Objectivity and Subjectivity
A key aspect of effective communication is the author’s intent to persuade the reader’s interpretation and evaluation of the presented reality, ultimately influencing their behavior. The text masterfully blends objective viewpoints with subjective elements, presenting the latter as universal truths.
Elements of Objectivity
- Use of the third person (“they have a vocabulary”)
- Impersonal formulas like “no one” and “one”
- Impersonal “se” constructions (“se hides”, “is summarized”)
- Collective terms like “Internet people”
- Repetitive patterns for emphasis (“have a vocabulary so poor…”)
Elements of Subjectivity
- Presence of the first person (“I believe”)
- Moralistic adjectives (“incomprehensible”)
- Ratifying elements (“in fact”, “it’s true”)
- Rhetorical figures like “delirium”, “God strikes again”
- Irony and personal opinions
- Periphrasis of obligation and possibility (“it is necessary to have”, “cannot lift”)
Language Functions and Their Role
The language functions employed directly correlate with the communicative situation. The referential function is evident through the use of the third person and indicative mood (“the residents seem aphasic”). The emotive function surfaces with the first person, opinion verbs, moralistic elements, and periphrasis of possibility, reinforcing subjectivity (“I think”). The phatic function is supported by elements of involvement and repetition, catering to the informative nature and diverse audience (“our tower of Babel is the computer”). Finally, the metalinguistic function is prominent as the underlying theme revolves around linguistics and language improprieties (“all together, without accents”).
Lexical Choices and Their Impact
The text predominantly employs a standard level of lexicon, suitable for the heterogeneous audience and informative nature of the content. However, the strategic use of more specific terms enhances the issuer’s credibility, while colloquialisms like “toilet”, “raving”, and “totally together” capture the reader’s attention and contribute to the ironic tone, enriching the overall text.
Conclusion: A Well-Crafted Persuasive Piece
In conclusion, the B-Fitness text demonstrates effective use of language to achieve its persuasive goals. Its classification falls within the journalistic-humanistic field, employing an expository-argumentative mode of discourse and adopting the style of an opinion article.