On Crisis Discourse From Burke's Identification Theory

Crisis discourse is a kind of persuasive discourse which aims to make the speaker achieve discourse purpose and deal with the crisis effectively in the crisis situation. The successful persuasion depends on the audience's identification with the rhetor. Identification is a key concept of Burke's rhetoric. Taking the theory of identification as the starting point, the discourse speaker made use of timing and resorted to rhetorical appeals so as to identify with the target audience, which was expected to promote the sound development of the crisis and improve crisis communication.