PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION

CHAPTER 2
Public Speaking and Reports in the Information Age

Lesson 1: Public Speaking

1. Public Speaking
 According to acclaimed public speakers Dale Carnegie and Joseph Berg Esenwein (2007), “Public speaking is
public utterance, public issuance, of the man himself; therefore, the first thing both in time and importance
is that the man should be and think and feel things that are worthy of being given forth.”

2. Short History of Public Speaking

 Greco-Roman Tradition – most well-known public speaking. Greeks studied the art of rhetoric on the island
of Sicily.
 Corax and Tisias – help citizens when it came to speaking persuasively in courts of law.
 Three basic parts of speech according to Corax: (1) introduction, (2) evidence, (3) conclusion.

 Protagoras – father of debate.

 Aristotle – father of modern communication. Wrote a treatise called “Rhetoric” where he discussed the use
of logos (logical argument), pathos (emotional argument), and ethos (the speaker’s character and
credibility).

 According to Greenville Kleiser (2009) in Successful Methods in Public speaking, “The great orators of the
world did not regard eloquence as simply an endowment of nature, but applied themselves diligently to
cultivating their powers of expression.”
 Demosthenes – most famous orator in Ancient Greece.

 Cicero – most famous Roman orator. Described as “resistless torrent.”

 Quintilian – Roman lawyer and educator. “Public speakers should be ethical.”

 Philippines – one of the few places that allowed women to speak in public for the purpose of presiding over
religious rituals.
 Babaylan – priestesses of the community.
 Mandirigma – they were the leaders of pre-colonial Philippines.

 Karagatan – young men and women duel with each other using words when it comes to talking about love.
 Huwego de Prenda – used to entertain guests and the bereaved family during wakes.
 Balagtasan – staged during the American period. To honor Francisco Balagtas.

 Americans – brought public education in the Philippines, they also brought their public speaking traditions
along with them.