Do You Speak American Rhetorical Analysis

Robert MacNeil’s article, "Do You Speak American?", was first published in USA Today Magazine, which is popular within the general public. I did notice that he limits the use of terminology that only very well educated individuals would understand. Therefore, it is safe to assume that his intended audience would be the people within the general public, who have a basic understanding of the English language. Throughout the article, he uses language that is usually used to educate, rather than argue, even though at times it does seem like he agrees with one side more than the other. Robert MacNeil's purpose is to deepen this audience’s understanding of the diversity of their language, and then he starts to persuade the audience into believing that the American language is becoming less
We explain. Does Hispanic immigration threaten the English language? We do not think so' Is our exposure to national media wiping out regional differences and causing us all to speak the same? We think not. Is the language really in serious decline?" (MacNeil,page 307 paragraph 5), MacNeil uses the series of questions to get the reader to think about the things before he starts introducing the arguments.
• Humor - Humor is apparent in his section headings, “The Prince of Prescriptivists”, “Linguists Spring into Action” (MacNeil, page 307) and in the examples that he includes “In downtown Pittsburgh—pronounced “dahntahn”—the question, ‘Did you eat yet?’ sounds like ‘Jeet jet?’”(MacNeil, page 312). He uses humor to keep the audience's attention, so he can insert more sensitive and educational topics.
• Irony - “… as much as it is despised, black English is embraced and borrowed by whites, especially young whites in thrall to the appeal to hip hop music.” (MacNeil, Page 311 ) MacNeil uses irony to support his case that the American language is becoming more and more the same