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
  writers 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.