Ethos In First Person Pronouns

Ethos,a core concept in Western rhetoric,refers to achieving persuasion via the rhetor’s personal character.First person pronouns,the most salient form of authorial representation,often project the writer’s personal characters,into which previous scholars have probed from different perspectives while few have explored it in classic academic discourses from the perspective of rhetoric.Hence,this study aims at investigating the ethical appeal achieved by first person pronouns in Aristotle’s well-known academic works:Rhetoric,Poetics,and Nicomachean Ethics.It has been widely accepted that ethos covers three elements:good sense,good moral character and goodwill.However,the specific sub-elements of these three elements are quiet elusive.Combining previous discoveries on ethos constituents and on the functions of first person pronouns,along with the author’s observation of the data,this paper finally justifies a refined framework of the ethical appeal via first person pronouns.In this model,the representative elements of good sense achieved by first person pronouns are expertise,authority,and intelligence.For good moral character,confidence,courage,and responsibility are three prominent elements.For good will,understanding audiences,considering their benefits,and narrowing distance with them are found to be representative ones.Other possible components of ethos are represented with ellipsis.Since Aristotle’s works are considered the origin of Western academic writing,and his Rhetoric,Poetics and Nicomachean Ethics are rich in first person pronouns,they are selected as the data source of this study.With Antconc 3.5.8,the use and distribution of first person pronouns in the three classics are disclosed.The statistics suggest that 1,342 first person pronouns are employed by Aristotle in Rhetoric,with first person plurals appearing 188 times per 10000 words(96%of all the first person pronouns)and first person singulars 8 times per 10000 words(4%).In Poetics,71 first person pronouns are employed by Aristotle,with first person plurals 33 times per 10000 words(58%)and first person singulars appearing 24 times per 10000 words(42%).In Nicomachean Ethics,1155 first person pronouns are adopted by Aristotle in total with first person plurals appearing 125 times per 10000 words(98%)and first person singulars 2 times per 10000 words(2%).The distribution of first person pronouns in the three works suggests that Aristotle deploys first person pronouns in line with the needs of situation,using first person singulars or plurals to achieve desired ethical appeals.Then upon the principle of purposive sampling,55 typical examples in the three works are analyzed in detail,suggesting that apart from the subelements/functions mentioned in "The ethical appeal of first person pronouns"(the refined ethos model),Aristotle also makes use of first person pronouns to display his good sense of experience and prudence,good moral character of modesty,and goodwill of responsiveness.Given all the data of the three classics,goodwill is the most prominent element of ethos realized by first person pronouns,which respectively appears 942,30 and 690 times in Rhetoric,Poetics,and Nicomachean Ethics,each occupying 70.2,42.25,and 59.74 percentage among all the three elements of ethos.This inquiry into the ethical appeal of first person pronouns in Aristotle’s representative works,can not only contribute to appreciating Aristotle’s academic style and revealing the abundant ethotic functions via first person pronouns in his discourse,but also throw a light on present academic writing and research,especially on the employment and investigation of first person pronouns.