Linguistic Realization of Rhetorical Strategies in Barack Obama and Dalia Grybauskaitė’S Political Speeches
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LITHUANIAN UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES FACULTY OF PHILOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH PHILOLOGY INGRIDA STAUGAITĖ LINGUISTIC REALIZATION OF RHETORICAL STRATEGIES IN BARACK OBAMA AND DALIA GRYBAUSKAITĖ’S POLITICAL SPEECHES MA Paper Academic Advisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Linas Selmistraitis Vilnius, 2014 LIETUVOS EDUKOLOGIJOS UNIVERSITETAS FILOLOGIJOS FAKULTETAS ANGLŲ FILOLOGIJOS KATEDRA RETORINIŲ STRATEGIJŲ KALBINIS REALIZAVIMAS BARAKO OBAMOS IR DALIOS GRYBAUSKAITĖS POLITINĖSE KALBOSE Magistro darbas Humanitariniai mokslai, filologija (04H) Magistro darbo autorė Ingrida Staugaitė Patvirtinu, kad darbas atliktas savarankiškai, naudojant tik darbe nurodytus šaltinius _____________________________ (Parašas, data) Vadovas doc. dr. Linas Selmistraitis _____________________________ (Parašas, data) 2 CONTENT ABSTRACT 4 INTRODUCTION 5 1. THE ART OF RHETORIC 7 1.1 Rhetoric and communication 7 1.2 History of rhetoric 9 1.3 Rhetorical strategies 13 1.3.1 Argumentation 14 1.3.2 Persuasion 16 2. LINGUISTIC MANAGEMENT IN POLITICAL SPEECHES 17 2.1 Stylistic approach in political speeches 17 2.2 Functions and classification of stylistic devices 20 2.2.1 Metaphor 24 2.2.2 Epithet 27 2.2.3 Hyperbole 28 2.2.4 Rhetorical questions 29 3. BARACK OBAMA’S RHETORICAL STRATEGIES AND THEIR LINGUISTIC REALIZATION 30 3.1. Stylistic peculiarities of metaphors in the speeches 30 3.2. Stylistic peculiarities of epithets in the speeches 34 3.3. Stylistic peculiarities of hyperbole in the speeches 37 3.4. Stylistic peculiarities of rhetorical questions in the speeches 39 4. DALIA GRYBAUSKAITĖ’S RHETORICAL STRATEGIES AND THEIR LINGUISTIC REALIZATION 41 4.1. Stylistic peculiarities of metaphors in the speeches 41 4.2. Stylistic peculiarities of epithets in the speeches 46 4.3. Stylistic peculiarities of hyperbole in the speeches 49 4.4. Stylistic peculiarities of rhetorical questions in the speeches 51 5. JUXTAPOSITION OF THE PRESIDENTS’ LINGUISTIC INVENTORY 53 CONCLUSIONS 60 SUMMARY 62 REFERENCES 63 3 ABSTRACT The principal objective of this study was to explore what rhetorical strategies and stylistic devices Presidents Dalia Grybauskaitė and Barack Obama use in their political speeches and how these devices help them to gain the audience’s attention and render the message. The speeches of the two Presidents Dalia Grybauskaitė and B. Obama were analyzed in order to highlight the patterns of the usage of rhetorical strategies and to investigate the stylistic devices which are aimed at making speech more emphatic, expressive and persuasive. The method chosen for the study was content analysis including generalization and evaluation of the results. The results of the research showed a significant contribution of stylistic means to persuade the listeners on an emotional level or even to manipulate them. The next step of the study must be conducted to determine stylistic means which can influence rhythmical feature of the speech. 4 INTRODUCTION Since the ancient times political rhetoric was the attention of many orators. Rhetoric was considered as a valuable skill of communication. Nowadays, political leaders are concerned about their use of language, too. They often pay attention to various rhetoric techniques how to enhance their ideas and due to this, to glamorize their public image. In the process of time, rhetoric has become a crucial way to spread their ideology, to manipulate the audience’s emotions and to become more prominent figure among other rivals in everyday interactions. Actually, language is the significant tool of persuasion. Therefore, to gain a favorable public opinion, politicians employ appropriate linguistic recourses in their political speeches. Stylistic devices help to embellish the speech and to attain success in public debates or in political discussions. Political leaders apply stylistic devices in their remarks in order to strengthen their thoughts and arguments on an issue or to create an impression of an authoritative leader. So, language is a powerful instrument in gaining public support in elections or to achieve any political interests. The aim of this research was to investigate, compare and contrast rhetorical strategies and the use of stylistic devices such as metaphor, personification, epithet, rhetorical questions and hyperbole in political speeches by two presidents, i.e. Dalia Grybauskaitė and Barack Obama. The objectives of the research are as follows: 1. to overview the theoretical material under the question; 2. to analyse the speeches of D. Grybauskaitė and B. Obama; to highlight the patterns of the usage of rhetorical strategies; 3. to investigate the stylistic devices which are aimed at making speech more emphatic, expressive and persuasive. The research questions of the paper are: What rhetorical strategies and stylistic devices do presidents Dalia Grybauskaitė and Barack Obama use in their political speeches and how these devices help them to gain the audience’s attention and render the message? A research is carried out through comparison and contrast of the speeches of the two presidents. The methods of the analysis are: comparative, content and discourse, including generalization and evaluation of the results. The scope of the research – 100 D. Grybauskaitė’s speeches consisting of 104 pages and 30 randomly taken speeches of President B. Obama that makes 110 pages. 5 As for significance of this research, the analysis of the rhetorical persuasion will help to conceive how these stylistic devices and rhetorical strategies help presidents to seize the political power and position. Besides this, it is a valuable contribution to the teaching and learning rhetoric and stylistics. The MA paper consists of Introduction in which the purpose, objectives, the research questions, methods and significance of the research are presented; Theoretical part in which theoretical aspect of the art of rhetoric and linguistic management in political speeches are discussed. The Practical part analyzes the two Presidents B. Obama and D. Grybauskaitė’s rhetorical strategies and their linguistic realization. It is also deals with the juxtaposition of the Presidents’ linguistic inventory. The research includes conclusions and the list of references. 6 1. THE ART OF RHETORIC 1.1. Rhetoric and communication Rhetoric is the ability to use language effectively. It is the art of persuasion. For centuries rhetorical study was considered as a clincher of a gentleman’s education. Every individual, who wanted this communication to have impact, had to study rhetoric. Rhetoric was considered as the cornerstone of communication. Rhetoric should be used to make ideas clear and concise and to make issues essential or important for people. Rhetoric concerns itself with language and how people use it. The good rhetorician had to be proficient to control arguments according to the rules of art of persuading. “The English word “rhetoric”, and its various forms in European languages, is derived from the Greek word rhētōr, a speaker in a public meeting or court of law, sometimes equivalent to us might call a “politician”. Before and after “rhetoric” came into use there were other terms current. One was peithō, which means “persuasion”; more common was use of the word logos, meaning word or speech, in combination with other words: a dēmiourgos logōn was a “worker of words”, and thus an orator; tekhnē logōn “art of words” was used to describe the technique or art of speech and became the common title for a handbook of public speaking” (Kennedy 2007, 08). There are plenty of different thoughts regarding what rhetoric is, but the main components of rhetoric can be: The purpose of the speech, what the orator wants to say; The audience, because different audience needs different rhetorical strategies (e.g., an audience of soldiers or doctors); The appeals (Aristotle’s logos, ethos, and pathos). Indeed, Aristotle’s rhetorical strategies logos, ethos, pathos are three basic ways to persuade an audience. Using logos (logic) in the speeches rhetoricians appeal to the mind and seeks to persuade the listener intellectually. He uses facts and statistics, definitions of terms, explanation of ideas, details that come from objective reporting. When orator uses logos, he appeals to the audience’s rational side and involves building arguments through evidence inferring logical conclusions from the evidence. However, Aristotle understood that humans are emotional beings who sometimes make decisions based upon emotions. Using pathetic appeals, rhetoricians attempted to move the audience by taking into their emotional side. Many political decisions have an emotional (pathos) motivation. Pathos (emotion) appeals to the one’s emotions in other words, seek to persuade listeners emotionally. The speaker sometimes 7 uses stories or testimonials; personal connections, visual images or words that inspire people to empathize or have compassion towards the idea or topic. Using imagery and figurative language that provokes an emotional response is very effective, too. Next, ēthos (ethics, but a more accurate translation might be “image”) appeals to ethic and character. It seeks to persuade the listener that the speaker can be trusted and believed to his noble character on ethical ways in which he is presenting ideas. It appeals to the speaker’s believability, qualifications and character. The next example of ethos is the use of appropriate language – language of discipline. The orator uses appropriate tone, knows the audience, context of situation. In other words, ēthos is arguments