“ We count on your experience and your efforts to help the long European tradition of democracy and acceptance of pluralism continue to blossom in Europe and around the world. Thank you for your attention. ” (President Barroso’s speech, European Network of Political Foundations, Brussels, 13 November 2008)
Features of colloquial style such as asking the audience questions as the speaker attempts to reach closer contact:
“Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him?” (Th. Jefferson, First Inaugural Address)
Also, it is often used calling upon the audience:
“ Let us then, with courage and confidence, pursue our own Federal and Republican principles” (Th. Jefferson, First Inaugural Address)
Like the colloquial style, oratory is usually characterized by emotional coloring and connotations but there is a difference. The emotional coloring of the publicist style is lofty - it may be solemn, or ironic, but it cannot have the “lowered” connotations (jocular, rude, vulgar, or slangy) found in colloquial speech. The vocabulary of speeches is usually elaborately chosen and remains mainly in the sphere of high-flown style. (English for specific purposes, 2007). For example:
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived and so dedicated in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.” (A. Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address)
Another lexical peculiarity is using only established and generally understood terms(e.g. Cold War):
“I understand the fear of Cold War and the pain of division that afflict this continent - and I pledge to you my country's efforts to help overcome these burdens. To be sure, we in the West must resist Soviet expansion.” (Ronald Reagan, “Tear down this wall”, 1987, June 12)
The next is evaluating adjectives – a type of adjectives through which it is possible to judge or determine the significance, worth, or quality of, to determine or set the value or amount of. For instance: the strongest pressure, growing menace, elementary blunder. Adjectives functioning as attributes are very complicated from semantic point of view. Adjective in context can express either a definite meaning or can be vague and form only a conceptual frame of evaluative character. Thus, attributes in political discourse seem to be one of the main tools for propaganda and persuasion. [9]
“Thanks for letting me come by. Please be seated. Thanks for the warm welcome. ” (G.Bush, Jobs and Economy, Illinois, 2003)
“I happen to believe that if the workers have got more money in their pocket, they're going to be a more satisfied worker.” (G.Bush, Jobs and Economy, Illinois, 2007, January 30)
Newspaper clichés - are words and phrases that have been used so often that they’re no longer very interesting or effective. They may have started out as a colourful, inventive phrase, like as sick as a parrot, but they’ve been picked up and used so widely and indiscriminately that they’ve lost their impact and become stale. [10] And here we have two opposite points of view among scientists. One group believes that using clichés helps to emphasize the closeness to the nation, to make the speech more understandable and not monotonous.
“Let’s put people back to work.” (Barack Obama’s speech, Florida, 2012, July 20)
"The leaders of Iran must recognize that now is the time for a diplomatic solution......We will do what is necessary to prevent them for getting a nuclear weapon." (Barack Obama’s speech, 2013, March 20-21)
Other scientists suppose that using clichés tends to annoy people, especially if they are overused, and they may even create an impression of laziness or a lack of careful thought. Some people just tune out when they hear a cliché and so they may miss the point that you are trying to make. [11] For example, according to them, it is better not to say “With a troubled domestic agenda, the president took the path of least resistance ” but “With a troubled domestic agenda, the president chose the easiest course of action. ” (American newspapers about American President – G. Bush, 2005)
The next point is a vast using of numerals.
“ The patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with the privileges of a few or the rule of a mob. They gave to us a Republic, a government of, and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our founding creed.
For more than two hundred years, we have. ” (Barack Obama’s inaugural speech)
There are some abbreviations which are used only in political speeches but most of them are used in written form. [12]
· PI - Political Influence
· MMM - Money, Money, Money
· LW - Left Wing
· BPS - Boring Political Speech
· NMPYCK - Never Make Promises You Can't Keep
· CP - Corrupt Politicians
· OOYMERW - Out Of Your Mind Extreme Right Wing
And the last are words with emotive meaning. The emotive meaning of a term is the attitude or other emotional state that is conventionally taken to be expressed by a straightforward use of it. As Wilson (1990: 18-19) states “Certainly, politicians use words and sentences in an emotive manner; it is part of their aim to create a feeling of solidarity, to arouse emotions such as fear, hate or joy”. A lot of words with emotive meaning are used in the speeches of Arabic politicians as a powerful means of conveying their feelings and attitudes towards critical political issues. (Emotive expressions in President Bashar Al-Assad’s political speeches with an eye to translation, 2011)
“I look at the eyes of Syria’s children and I don’t see any happiness. At every corner of the Syrian homeland. Children have been orphaned. … There is a dark cloud over this country.” (“This Conspiracy is Spreading all over Syria”. President Bashar Al Assad’s Speech)
The research we have carried out showed that following lexical devices and expressive means are used in the public speaking very frequently: direct address to the audience by special formulas, features of colloquial style such as asking the audience questions, calling upon the audience, using only established and generally understood terms, evaluating adjectives, euphemisms, metonymy, cliché, numerals, abbreviations and words with emotive meaning make political speeches more expressive and persuasive.. As the audience relies only on memory, the speaker often resorts to the above-mentioned peculiarities to enable his listeners to follow him and to retain the main points of his speech.
Grammatical Peculiarities of Public Speaking
In addition to stylistic and lexical peculiarities we should not forget about grammatical devices which also impact on the success of public speaking and allows speaking in a clearer and more effective manner. A person who has unconscious knowledge of grammar may be sufficient for simple language use, but the ones who wish to communicate in an artful manner will seek greater depth of understanding and proficiency that the study of grammar provides. The analysis we have carried out has revealed that the following grammatical devices are used in political speeches: using definite categories of pronouns, verbal constructions, and attributive noun groups, genitive case and present times.
The first peculiarity is the using of the 1st person pronoun we; 2nd person pronoun you:
“ We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness…”(Th. Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence)
The next is using of contractions I’ll; won’t; haven’t; isn’t and others:
“ We’re talking about healing our nation. We’re not talking about politics. We’re all here to do everything in our power to save lives… I’m here to thank you for hearing that call. Actually, I shouldn’t be thanking you; I should be thanking a Higher Power for giving you the call.” (George W. Bush)
The third peculiarity is complex sentences with a developed system of clauses(English for specific purposes, 2007). A complex sentence is used to put across more detailed ideas:
“We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American, she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but also in our own.” (Barack Obama’s inaugural speech)
We can see someverbal constructions (infinitive, gerundial, participial):
“In the United States – a nation made up of people who crossed oceans to start anew – we are naturally drawn to the idea of finding freedom in our land.” (Barack Obama’s speech at the Jerusalem Convention Centre on 21 March, 2013)
“And we are defined by a democratic discourse that allows each generation to reimagine and renew our union once more” (Barack Obama’s speech at the Jerusalem Convention Centre on 21 March, 2013)
Attributive noun groups are another powerful means of effecting brevity in political speeches and news items. Attributive noun is a noun that occurs before and modifies another noun. (Oxford dictionary, 7th edition, Oxford university press, 2008) The examples of it we can see below:
· classic cold-war-style telephone diplomacy;
· government anti -terror policies;
· a new patented smoking cessation program;
· the normally self-assured Pentagon chief;
· the national income and expenditure figures
Another peculiarity is a wide usage of genitive case by means of preposition “of”:
“It is a story of centuries of slavery, and years of wandering in the desert; a story of perseverance amidst persecution, and faith in God and the Torah” (Barack Obama’s speech at the Jerusalem Convention Centre on 21 March, 2013)
Present tenses (usually Present Simple and Present Perfect) are often occurred in political speeches. When politicians use Present Perfect, they emphasize the connection between Past and Present.
The research we have carried out showed that following grammatical peculiarities are often used in the public speaking and influence on the speech:: using definite categories of pronouns, verbal constructions, and attributive noun groups, genitive case and present times. The grammatical devices employed in the public speaking style are determined by the conditions of communication. If the desire of the speaker is to rouse the audience and to keep it in suspense, he will use various traditional abovementioned devices.
The purpose of oratory is persuasion, and it requires eloquence and the knowledge of stylistic, lexical and grammatical peculiarities help to achieve it. What is more, nowadays, a lot of prominent politicians pursue the aim to exert influence on public opinion, to convince the reader or the listener that the interpretation given by the speaker is the only correct one and try to cause him to accept the point of view expressed in the speech not merely by logical argumentation, but by emotional appeal as well. That is why we cannot decide what peculiarities are more important: stylistic, lexical or grammatical. All these devices work together to get success.
ch2 PRACTICAL PART: STYLISTIC AND LEXICO-GRAMMATICAL PECULIARITIES OF PUBLIC SPEAKING IN POLITICAL SPEECHES
Talking about the present state of the problem, we should notice that social frames can limit the use of certain words and word groups in political speeches due to some religious, ethical and social reasons. Nowadays political leaders try to be polite in their speeches, touching topical issues and reaching a compromise between opposite points of view. In addition, the sphere of politics has to apply such devices which may hide the facts of reality, to persuade the audience to follow ideas which are presented and to turn situations to great advantage. In the chapter the cases of using stylistic, lexical and grammatical peculiarities are being analyzed in 3 speeches of Barack Obama, George Bush and Hilary Clinton.
Analysis of an inaugural speech of Barack Obama, American President, in 2009. ссылка на речь вместо деталей
Let us start with analyzing stylistic devices which are presented in the speech.
At the beginning we see the so-called tricolon. The dictionary meaning of tricolon is a rhetorical term for a series of three parallel words, phrases, or clauses.
“I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you've bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors.”
“Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered.”
“… we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.”
“… the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.”
As many scientists believe, this device is widely used by politicians to create rhythm and rhyme. And indeed we have a clear rhythm in the sentence “Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered.”
The next stylistic device is anaphora in the fifth paragraph.
“ Our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Our health care is too costly, our schools fail too many - and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet”.
“ For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life. For us, they toiled in sweatshops, and settled the West, endured the lash of the whip, and plowed the hard earth. For us, they fought and died in places like Concord and Gettysburg, Normandy and Khe Sahn.”
“ Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week, or last month, or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished.”
Usually, anaphora is used to cause excitement and emotionality, to make listener get into the spirit. Presumably, by repetition the pronoun “ our ” Obama shows his intimacy to his nation.
Quotation and references which are not typical for political speeches also can be found here. The American President makes reference to “Declaration of Independence” and Bible, shared by all Americans:
“… we, the people, have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears and true to our founding documents.”
“…all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness”
“We remain a young nation. But in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.”
Quotations and references, especially to the “Declaration of Independence”, make people feel safe and confident, especially in the words “ all deserve a chance to pursue.”
Another stylistic device we can see is asyndeton:
“ Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor”
“… know that America is a friend of each nation, every man, woman, child who seeks a future of peace and dignity”.
“Instead they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility, restraint.”
By using asyndeton, Obama, probably, wanted to connect all people and make them feel as a whole.
Also, there is enumeration:
“We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and non-believers. ”
“We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together.”
“And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.”
Such words, as Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and non-believers – emphasize, doubtless, that it is not important who you are, what your religion is, you are the human and your interests are also essential.
What is more, repetition can be found:
“ Our Founding Fathers --… -- our Founding Fathers, faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine”
“And yet at this moment, a moment that will define a generation…”
“God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.”
As for repetition, it is also a sound technique which allows audience to keep main points in mind. The speaker intends to point up that people should believe in better future by using “God bless”.
Another peculiarity is metaphor.
“Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.”
“…let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. ”
“The snow was stained with blood.”
As a lot of scientists suppose politicians suppose that the aim of using metaphors is to appeal to emotions and to include and affect the audience. And Obama’s metaphors approve it.
So, as we see, stylistic devices which are typical of this genre can be found in Barack Obama’s speech. The usage of it enables to tell key elements of the message and to catch the imagination of the audience and to generate a desire for action.
Now, let us consider lexico-grammatical peculiarities which also have impact on general impression of the speech.
The speech begins with the direct address to the audience: “My fellows” and ends with a special formula: “Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America”.
Such formulas are characteristic for this type of public speaking.
There is such peculiarity as calling up the audience.
“In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words.”
“With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come.”
“So let us mark this day with remembrance of who we are and how far we have traveled.”
Obama used it in order to pay attention to the speech. We can prove it with his words “let us remember”.
What is more, we can notice examples of using evaluating adjectives.
“We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth.”
“In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river.”
“…who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours.”
“…we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken.”
The speaker’s purpose of such adjectives is to express opinion, to judge or to determine the significance or worth. Here, the president shows his personal attitude, his compassion to poor people.
As for numerals it is used only twice, so we can come to conclusion that this device is used from time to time.
“ Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. ”
“… and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served in a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath”
After analyzing the speech we can notice that grammatical constructions are used much less in this Obama’s speech than stylistic and grammatical devices but we will mention some of them:
· complex sentences with a developed system of clauses
“Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans.”
“It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours.”
“Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans.”
Presumably, it was used to show close connection between the parts of the sentence.
· using of contractions I’ll; won’t; haven’t; isn’t
“Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience sake. ”
“ They will not be met easily or in a short span of time.”
“The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small…”
Obama used “we will not give them up” to motivate people to live better, to believe in ideals.
· A vast using of present times
“We are the keepers of this legacy.”
“So let us mark this day with remembrance of who we are and how far we have traveled. ”
“They are serious and they are many.”
· genitive case by means of preposition “of”:
“The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity, on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.”
“The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace.”
“…our Founding Fathers, faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man -- a charter expanded by the blood of generations.”
But we see Obama’s extraordinary use of inclusive pronouns. He used the pronoun “I” three times in the speech. In contrast, he used the pronouns “we”, “our” and “us” 142 times.
“And we are ready to lead once more”
“ Our economy is badly weakened…”
“All this we can do. All this we will do.”
“ I thank President Bush…”
The speaker’s intention was to show that either all problems or all sweets are common.
Summing up we can say that stylistic devices such as tricolon, anaphora, quotation, reference, asyndeton, metaphor, enumeration and repetition and lexical peculiarities, including the direct address to the audience, ending with a special formula, calling up the audience, evaluating adjectives and numerals are presented in Barack Obama’s inaugural speech. As for grammatical devices the most spread is using of the 1st person pronoun but complex sentences with a developed system of clauses, using of contractions I’ll; won’t; haven’t; isn’t, a vast using of present times and genitive case by means of preposition “of” are also mentioned.
The research we have carried out show that all these devices work to get success in this speech. They motivate and inspire the audience to: accept the value of what has been done, create a vision of a better future. Also, stylistic, grammatical, and, especially, lexical devices induce harmony and understanding among the listeners.
пробелы в тексте параграфов недопустимы
The next political speech we are going to analyze is a speech of ex-President of the USA, George W. Bush, at the 20th Anniversary of the National Endowment for Democracy, 2003. ссылка
Let us start with analyzing stylistic devices which are presented in the speech. At the beginning we see the usage of parallel constructions.
“ I appreciate the members of Congress who are here. I appreciate the ambassadors who are here. I appreciate the guests who have come. ”
“Freedom is finding allies in every country; freedom finds allies in every culture.”
As we see, by using “appreciate the members of Congress who are here”, “appreciate the ambassadors who are here”, parallelism in the political speeches lends a definite rhythm to the narration and due to its sameness it creates a certain background to emphasize the necessary word or phrase – “to appreciate somebody” in our case.
The next stylistic peculiarity is anaphora.
“ I appreciate Vin for the short introduction. I appreciate the invitation. I appreciate the members of Congress who are here. I appreciate the ambassadors who are here. I appreciate the guests who have come. I appreciate the bipartisan spirit, the nonpartisan spirit of the National Endowment for Democracy.”
“ Successful societies limit the power of the state and the power of the military … and not the will of an elite. Successful societies protect freedom with the consistent and impartial rule of law,…. Successful societies allow room for healthy civic institutions -- for political parties and labor unions and independent newspapers and broadcast media. Successful societies guarantee religious liberty -- the right to serve and honor God without fear of persecution. Successful societies privatize their economies, and secure the rights of property.”
“ We believe that liberty is the design of nature; we believe that liberty is the direction of history. We believe that human fulfillment and excellence come in the responsible exercise of liberty. And we believe that freedom -- the freedom we prize -- is not for us alone, it is the right and the capacity of all mankind.”
Bush used “successful societies” 5 times because anaphora makes the speech more powerful and impressive.
We can meet a number of quotations, which G. Bush used in his speech in order to not only to prove his idea but also to make language vivid. He refers to Ronal Reagan, American President, Arab scholars and historians, respectively:
“This "cultural condescension," as Ronald Reagan termed it, has a long history.”
“In the words of a recent report by Arab scholars, the global wave of democracy has -- and I quote -- "barely reached the Arab states."
“ Historians in the future will reflect on an extraordinary, undeniable fact: Over time, free nations grow stronger and dictatorships grow weaker.”
Another stylistic device we can see is rhetorical questions.
“Are millions of men and women and children condemned by history or culture to live in despotism?”
“Are they alone never to know freedom, and never even to have a choice in the matter?”
“Will they be remembered for resisting reform, or for leading it?”
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