The Grammar of Bullshit
The philosopher Harry Frankurt, in his book On Bullshit, argued that discourse in modern society is increasingly characterised by a lack of commitment to the truth. Frankfurt distinguishes between bullshit and lies arguing that lies rely on there being an objective or shared understanding of the truth, either in the intention to deceive or in the discovery of the lie, while bullshit on the other hand demonstrates a complete disregard for the truth, what is true is unimportant. Bullshit therefore is much more damaging to public life as it undermines the social contract; if we can't believe anything how can we develop trust in what others say?
It is important, therefore, that we are able to discern when someone is bullshitting. Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) is an approach to language analysis that emphasises the social context in which language is produced. Central to SFL is that when meaning is made, it is not the only meaning possible and from this we can discern or infer the contexts in which language choices are made. This can be reflected not only in the choice of words, but in grammatical choices (what is known as grammatical metaphor). For example, imagine a solicitor asking a question in court:
- Did you do it?
- You did it, didn't you?
The difference here is in the grammatical choice, which has an effect on meaning. In the first there is some element of doubt, while in the latter the speaker is less cautious.
SFL distinguishes between congruent and incongruent grammar. Congruent grammar is where grammatical choices meet the expectations of the reader, whereas incongruent forms deviate from established norms. For example, formal writing is characterised by the use of noun phrases, passive voice, adverbial clauses and hedging expressions. Bullshit, on the other hand, is characterised by incongruent language patterns.
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The example above, taken from a testing company website, implies bullshit because it lacks the grammatical features typical for its purpose. The use of direct voice and verbalisation (use of verbs) to drive the discourse give the text a sense of bluff, where claims are too certain and perhaps not intellectually defensible.