"Selection, Slanting, and Charged Language" (Birk and Birk) Questions Response

“Selection, Slanting, and Charged Language”

FOCUSING ON CONTENT:

1. The principle of selection defines the knowledge that one takes it. It is what we “select,” notice, or pay attention to that ultimately shapes what we know or take in. The principle of selection is influenced by one’s interest, point of view, and mental state at that moment.
2. According to the Birks, slanting is different from the principle of selection in that slanting takes place as we convey our knowledge in words, while principle of selection occurs as we’re actually taking in that information. With slanting, one selects certain facts or feelings from their stored knowledge, and chooses the words and emphasis to use in order to communicate their meaning.
The devices a speaker or writer can use to slant knowledge includes: emphasis, which consist of giving importance to the subject matter, using specific punctuation marks, underlining heavily stressed words, and how and the order in which words are connected; the selection of facts that either slant for, against, or in a balance presentation.
It is appropriate to slant language when you are trying to voice your own opinions or interpret a person, place, or thing based on how you react towards them. Also, slant language provides others to acknowledge the writer’s perspective without persuasion of the subject referred to.
3. Charged words are specific words used to get a particular reaction from the reader. The two descriptions of Corlyn both use specific words that stir up different reactions when read, though it describes the same girl and her same actions. In the first description, the writer describes Corlyn as wearing “a well cut dress draped subtly about her slender form” while the second describes the dress as “plain” that “hung on her thin frame.” The first suggests Corlyn as beautiful, while the second considers her simple. The first description also describes her as walking “with an effortless grace and spoke with equal ease” which expresses Corlyn’s elegance, while the second describes her pace as “fast and ungainly,” suggesting that she was awkward and ungraceful.
4. It is important for writers and others to be aware of charged words in order to deliver the appropriate message and response. Using charged language unknowingly can lead to unintentional biased interpretations by one’s readers or audience. Some of the difficulties in living in a world with charged language are giving unintended responses provoked by such things as “dishonest propaganda, political speeches, advertising, and insincere or exaggerated displays of emotion.” Charged languages can also produce misunderstandings and misinterpretations.
FOCUSING ON WRITING:
1. The Birks’s purpose in this essay is to inform the reader that language and how it is used shape how we see and interpret the world. They are more intent on explaining, rather than arguing their position, and they use specific language to do so. The Birks uses words that are suited to the subject to create their point.
2. I found the examples about Toddy the dog and Corlyn very helpful for it furthered my understanding of the material. If the examples have not been included, the ideas would not have been as clear as they were. The examples defined the differences between how words are used and the meaning behind them.
3. The Birks organize their essay point by point. They start off by commenting on language and its importance in interpreting the world. The essay continues on to explain the various techniques words and language are used, especially when in slanted and charged forms. However, they do not jumble these ideas and instead separate them into multilevel parts. They first explain the principle of selection, then the principle of slanting, the different kinds of slanting (slanting by emphasis, selection of facts, and by use of charged words), and finally explain the advantages and disadvantages of slanting and charged language.
4. The transitional words and expressions the authors use to guide readers through the essay are those that both highlight the passage that was just read and mention the passage to come. For example, after the example for balanced presentation, the authors included a paragraph summarizing that type of writing and ended with a sentence that told the reader what to expect next – favorable and unfavorable slanting.
5. Birk’s diction could be changed to eliminate any sexist language by looking at the example of charged words used to describe Corlyn and her actions. In the favorable slanting narrative, she was described as a “rare talent of making every male feel that he was the only man,” which suggests she makes a man feel special like how she appears to be. Whereas, during the unfavorable slanted description, she was shown as having “a habit of making every male feel that he was the last man on Earth,” which assumes males are low and worthless, while her character is also degraded.