Even though communication is an essential part of our life, sometimes, it may be challenging to reach and persuade the conversation partner. Moreover, in certain cases, the participants of the dialogue may speak about the same issue in different terms, which, in turn, results in a disagreement. This situation is called a merely verbal dispute, which implies that the misunderstanding is only based on the way of expressing the issue but not on the matter itself. These difficulties may occur in different circumstances, including personal communication and public speaking.
The political discourse can be characterized by a frequent occurrence of such situations. As Dowding and Bosworth underline, the speech of presidents and other official figures is often full of ambiguousness or vague terminology (2). The researchers explain this idea through the example of the word “liberty.” Behind its major meaning, it may include different connotations, for example, the idea of non-interference and non-dominance, which may be differently significant for certain groups of the population (Dowding and Bosworth 5). This ambiguousness may not only lead to misunderstanding but can develop into a dispute. Another aspect of a verbal disagreement is different terminology referring to the same concept. For example, the words “republican” and “democratic” may have different connotative meanings for the audience. However, both terms can be used in the same situation, for example, when describing the concept of freedom. Therefore, presidents’ public speaking often becomes the subject for discussion because of the mere verbal inconsistencies.
To sum up, the presidency is one of the spheres where merely verbal disagreements are rather frequent. Vague statements and ambiguous terms are common to communication in the political context and may create misunderstandings between the speaker and the public. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the speech and especially its key terms and concepts to avoid disputes and transfer the message in an effective and precise way.
Work Cited
Dowding, Keith, and William Bosworth. “Ambiguity and Vagueness in Political Terminology: on Coding and Referential Imprecision.” European Journal of Political Theory, 2018, pp. 1-20.