Language

Choice of words

The language used by Diane Ridgway-Cross in her speech “Conscious Consumerism” is simple and often informal, posing no major challenges to understanding the topic.

Because “Conscious Consumerism” is delivered freely by the speaker and in front of a young audience – “half of you are students” (l. 2)—you will notice many informal words such as “So”, “right”, “like”, “cool”: “Yeah. No cable TV either, right, so, like this is unbelievable, right, so, so I grew up there, and it was a super conservative town, my mom did not fit in, right.” (ll. 15-16).

The choice of words reveals that the speaker appeals to simple adjectives and adverbs, which are more likely to be used by her young audience. Some examples are: “fabulous” (l. 4), “real activist” (l. 5), “tiny little girl” (ll. 5-6), “tiny little town” (l. 13), “amazing company” (l. 47), “really strong corporate social responsibility” (l. 51), “most powerful consumers” (l. 111), “mindful” (l. 36), “really, really interesting” (l. 49), “super interesting” (l. 57), “super cool” (l. 69), etc.

Most of the adverbs and adjectives Ridgway-Cross includes in her speech have positive meanings, in line with her intention of sending a positive message about women’s consumer power. Occasional negative phrases like “lame, dorky shoes” (l. 26) often have an ironic effect and are meant to make the audience laugh.

Furthermore, the speaker even i...