Att lyckas nå fram med sitt budskap är beroende av ett flertal olika faktorer. Till exempel målgruppens förtroende för avsändaren. Hur ska en göra om målgruppen redan innan budskapet förs fram har en skeptisk inställning gentemot avsändaren? Med utgångspunkt i retorikens ethos undersöker jag i denna studie hur en kommunal verksamhet kan använda ethos för att bygga upp sin trovärdighet gentemot sin målgrupp. Genom att ta fasta på verksamhetens kompetens, deras värderingar och välvilja, och lyfta fram dessa i en informationstext om verksamheten, ligger förhoppningen i att målgruppens benägenhet att nyttja verksamhetens tjänster ökar. Till grund för denna studie ligger teorier rörande ethos samt kvalitativa intervjuer med målgrupp, avsändare och sakkunnig. / A succesfully communicated message is dependent on a number of factors. One example of such factor is that the target group have confidence in the sender. What should one do if the target group even before the message is communicated, are sceptic towards the sender? With rhetoric and the ethos as a starting-point in this study, I examine how a public organisation can use ethos to build it’s credibility towards the target group. By focusing on the organisation’s competence, values and good-will and expressing all this in an informative text about the organisation in question, the expectation is that the tendency to use their product and services will increase among the target group. Theories of ethos serve as base for this study, as do qualitative interviews with the target group, the sender and one expert.

This paper aims to describe and discuss psychotherapy in rhetorical terms; in particular how psychotherapists can use their ethos, or person, as a means for convincing the patient, and subsequently discuss how these insights in turn can be useful for other rhetors. Classical rhetoric is commonly associated with one speaker exercising influence on an audience of many, but modern rhetoric is broader, and includes all situations where someone is attempting, by speech or in writing, to affect anyone, including the rhetor himself. With this broader definition, psychotherapy may also be considered a form of rhetoric. Psychotherapy does, however, highlight the aspect of power distribution, in that it is clear that it is up to the patient to determine whether the rhetoric will achieve its purpose or not, that is, if he will be influenced by it. In psychotherapy, it is also important to differentiate between persuading and convincing: for a permanent change to occur in the patient’s thoughts and actions, the deeper, "internal" form of conviction is necessary for change to take place. When attempting to convince an audience, it is important for the speaker to establish a credible ethos, that is, present a trustworthy persona. A psychotherapist can do this in several ways, including demonstrating compassion and empathy; retain an expert role but still be personal when the situation requires; and strike a balance between direct and indirect control of the situation. Creatively explored, these aspects may be fruitful for other rhetors as well. / Denna uppsats syftar till att beskriva och diskutera psykoterapi med hjälp av retoriska begrepp; i synnerhet hur en psykoterapeut kan använda sitt ethos, eller person, som ett medel för att övertyga patienten, och därefter diskutera hur dessa insikter i sin tur kan användas i andra retoriska situationer. Klassisk retorik förknippas med en talare som utövar påverkan på en månghövdad publik, men den moderna retoriken är bredare, och inbegriper alla tillfällen där någon söker i tal eller skrift påverka någon annan, inklusive sig själv. Med denna bredare definition kan även psykoterapi räknas som en form av retorik. Psykoterapin gör dock maktfördelningen mellan talare och tilltalad extra tydlig, i och med att det är upp till patienten att avgöra om retoriken ska uppnå sitt syfte eller ej, det vill säga om åhöraren ska låta sig påverkas av den. I psykoterapi är det också viktigt att göra skillnad mellan att övertalas och övertygas: för att en beständig förändring ska inträda hos patienten måste den djupare, ”inre” formen av förändring äga rum. Ett viktigt medel för att övertyga en åhörare är att talaren etablerar ett trovärdigt ethos, det vill säga presenterar en trovärdig personlighet. En psykoterapeut kan göra detta på flera sätt, till exempel genom att visa medkänsla och empati; behålla sin roll som expert men ändå vara personlig när situationen kräver; och skapa en balans mellan direkt och indirekt styrande av den aktuella terapisituationen. Applicerade med en dos kreativitet kan dessa aspekter vara givande att utforska även i andra retoriska situationer.

<p>This dissertation contains two related documents: a piece of music entitled <italic>Hallmarks, Sigils & Colophons</italic> for three female singers and chamber orchestra setting excerpts from Christian Bök's <italic>Eunoia</italic>; and an article entitled "Reorganizing the Rock and Roll: U.S. Maple's Musical Deconstructions." These two chapters are linked by an engagement with the phonic materiality of speech and the polyvalent implications that arise from the intense musical study of that materiality. </p><p>Chapter 1, <italic>Hallmarks, Sigils & Colophons</italic>, is a six-movement work for soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, and chamber ensemble. Each movement sets excerpts from the individual chapters of Christian Bök's <italic>Eunoia</italic>, a collection of prose poems inspired by the avant-garde literary group Oulipo. As such, each chapter only uses single vowels: "Chapter A" uses only words with the letter a, "Chapter E" uses only e, and so on. The piece explores the sound worlds of each individual vowel, attempting to create unified musical ideas from each vowel's unique sonic character. I am particularly interested in the ways in which the limited range of vowel sounds changes the affect of a sonic space. I occasionally attempt to mimic (or at least reference) Bök's use of constraints, though I never allow constraint to override musical concerns. Despite using words, this piece tells no unified story, and each movement exists, on some levels, as self-contained wholes.</p><p>Chapter 2, "Reorganizing the Rock and Roll: U.S. Maple's Musical Deconstructions," discusses the relationship between the music of the rock group U.S. Maple and Derrida's theories of deconstruction. U.S. Maple's music is often described by critics and fans as "deconstructing" rock music, though the band dismisses the term for its pejorative implications. In this article, I argue that the band's music could, in fact, be read as expanding the Derridean concepts of <italic>différance</italic> and the "trace" into the realm of music. I describe how US Maple performs what Marcel Cobussen terms "deconstruction in music" to the case of conventional hard rock tropes. I focus particularly on the way in which singer Al Johnson creates a language out of paralinguistic utterances--singing in yelps, growls, grunts, groans, and garbled words--and thereby cultivates the multiplicity of sounds and significations that are typically relegated to subordinate status by other rock singers. I also use Richard Middleton's ideas about repetition in pop music to analyze how the band deconstructs the syntax of rock by imbuing their songs with the affect of improvisation.</p> / Dissertation