Loaded language (also known as loaded terms, emotive language, high-inference language and language-persuasive techniques) is
rhetoric used to influence an audience by using words and phrases with strong
connotations
A connotation is a commonly understood cultural or emotional association that any given word or phrase carries, in addition to its explicit or literal meaning, which is its denotation.
A connotation is frequently described as either positive or ...
. This type of language is very often made vague to more effectively
invoke an emotional response and/or exploit
stereotypes
In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...
. Loaded words and phrases have significant emotional implications and involve strongly positive or negative reactions beyond their
literal meaning.
Definition
Loaded terms, also called emotive or ethical words, were clearly described by
Charles Stevenson. He noticed that there are words that do not merely describe a possible state of affairs. "
Terrorist" is not used only to refer to a person who commits specific actions with a specific intent. Words such as "
torture" or "
freedom
Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...
" carry with them something more than a simple description of a concept or an action. They have a "magnetic" effect, an imperative force, a tendency to influence the interlocutor's decisions. They are strictly bound to moral values leading to value judgments and potentially triggering specific emotions. For this reason, they have an emotive dimension. In the modern psychological terminology, we can say that these terms carry "emotional valence", as they presuppose and generate a value judgment that can lead to an emotion.
The appeal to emotion is in contrast to an appeal to
logic and
reason. Authors
R. Malcolm Murray and
Nebojša Kujundžić distinguish "''
prima facie'' reasons" from "considered reasons" when discussing this. An emotion, elicited via emotive language, may form a ''prima facie'' reason for action, but further work is required before one can obtain a ''considered'' reason.
Emotive arguments and loaded language are particularly persuasive because they exploit the human weakness for acting immediately based upon an emotional response, ''without'' such further considered judgment. Due to such potential for emotional complication, it is generally advised to avoid loaded language in argument or speech when fairness and impartiality is one of the goals.
Anthony Weston
Anthony Weston is an American writer, teacher, and philosopher. He is an author of widely used primers in critical thinking and ethical practice and of a variety of unconventional books and essays on philosophical topics.
Life
Weston was born i ...
, for example, admonishes students and writers: "In general, avoid language whose only function is to sway the emotions".
Examples
Politicians employ euphemisms,
[http://gs.elaba.lt/object/elaba:2084534/2084534.pdf ] and study how to use them effectively: which words to use or avoid using to gain political advantage or disparage an opponent. Speechwriter and journalist Richard Heller gives the example that it is common for a politician to advocate "investment in public services," because it has a more favorable connotation than "
public spending
Government spending or expenditure includes all government consumption, investment, and transfer payments. In national income accounting, the acquisition by governments of goods and services for current use, to directly satisfy the individual o ...
."
One aspect of loaded language is that loaded words and phrases occur in pairs, sometimes as
political framing techniques by individuals with opposing agendas. Heller calls these "a Boo! version and a Hooray! version" to differentiate those with negative and positive emotional connotations. Examples include ''bureaucrat'' versus ''public servant'', ''anti-abortion'' versus ''pro-life'', ''regime'' versus ''government'', and ''elitist'' versus ''expert''.
In the 1946 essay "
Politics and the English Language",
George Orwell discussed the use of loaded language in political discourse.
See also
Notes
References
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{{Authority control
Communication theory
Rhetorical techniques
Propaganda techniques using words
Connotation
Ethically disputed practices
ja:詭弁#充填された語（loaded language）