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AP Language Vocab Flashcards

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4759407645AudienceThe listener, viewer, or reader of a text.0
4759407646ContextThe circumstances, atmosphere, attitudes, and events surrounding a text.1
4759407647OccasionThe time and place a speech is given or a piece is written.2
4759407648PersonaGreek for "mask." The face or character that a speaker shows to his or her audience.3
4759407649PurposeThe goal the speaker wants to achieve.4
4759407650Rhetoric"The faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion." In other words, it is the art of finding ways of persuading an audience.5
4759407651Rhetorical triangleA diagram that illustrates the interrelationship among the speaker, audience, and subject in determining a text.6
4759407652SOAPSA mnemonic device that stands for Subject, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, and Speaker. It is a handy way to remember the various elements that make up the rhetorical situation.7
4759407653SpeakerThe person or group who creates a text.8
4759407654SubjectThe topic of a text. What the text is about.9
4759407655TextsWhile this term generally means the written word, in the humanities it has come to mean any cultural product that can be "read"— meaning not just consumed and comprehended, but investigated. This includes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, political cartoons, fine art, photography, performances, fashion, cultural trends, and much more.10
4812012547LogosGreek for "embodied thought." Speakers use this technique by offering clear, rational ideas and using specific details, examples, facts, statistics, or expert testimony to back them up.11
4812012548CounterargumentAn opposing argument to the one a writer is putting forward.12
4812012549ConcessionAn acknowledgement that an opposing argument may be true or reasonable.13
4812012550RefutationA denial of the validity of an opposing argument.14
4812012551PathosGreek for "suffering" or "experience." this technique plays on the audience's values, desires, and hopes or fears and prejudice.15
4812012552PropagandisticThe spread of ideas and information to further a cause. In its negative sense, it's used for rumors, lies, disinformation, and scare tactics in order to damage or promote a cause.16
4812012553PolemicalGreek for "hostile." An aggressive argument that tries to establish the superiority of one opinion over all the others.17
4812012554ConnotationMeaning or associations that readers have with a word beyond its dictionary definition, or denotation.18
4812012555Rhetorical appealsTechniques used to persuade an audience by emphasizing what they find most important or compelling19
4812012556EthosGreek for "character." Speakers appeal to this to demonstrate that they are credible and trustworthy to speak on a given topic. This is established by who you are and what you say.20

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