Stylistic pecularities of political speeches

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1. Persuasive speaking

Persuasive speaking urges us to do something. Informative speaking, on the other hand, reveals and clarifies options. Informative speakers teach. Persuasive speakers lead, evoke emotions and ask for audience commitment. Sometimes persuasive speeches are aimed at earning passive agreement, as in persuading an audience of the importance of some policy, value, or service. At other times, persuasive speeches aim for personal action, as in getting people to join an organization, buy a product or service, or support a cause.

Methods of Persuasion

People have been trying to influence one another for a long time. Maybe one of the most articulate early speakers was the Greek Philosopher Aristotle. His ideas are as relevant today as they were when he was teaching at the Lyceum around 300 B.C. He thought there were basically three ways to influence people:

· Credibility - «ethos». Sometimes we believe something simply because we trust the person telling us. You want to look like you know what you're talking about.

· Emotional appeal - «pathos». Sometimes we do things because of a «gut feeling» or an appeal to our emotions, whether those of compassion or fear. Advertisers make great headway tweaking our concerns about what others might think about us.

· Rational appeal - «logos». Providing good reasons is important. Providing evidence and reasoning are a strong part of the persuasive process.

Appealing to logic may be the hardest of the three sources of influence for the speaker to use. What's important here is the development of relevant «support material». Three types of support material commonly used include examples, statistics, and testimony.

Examples are useful in clarifying, reinforcing, or personalizing ideas. These could involve case studies or anecdotal examples; slices of life to prove the point. Ethically, you should help your audience gauge the credibility of your sources, the representativeness of examples and samples, etc. Using examples without other types of support material can come across as weak evidence.

Statistics can help. Combing them with examples can be powerful. Using too many statistics can be deadly. You should qualify the sample, translate the statistics that you use so the audience can understand fairly. Relevant visual display of statistics can be a powerful aid in making an argument.

Personal testimony can also provide dramatic support material. Testimony can give emotional life to the issues you're focusing on. You should of course quote or paraphrase accurately and fairly, identify and qualify the source's credentials.

Proposition must be in the form of a declarative sentence which states a claim. There are four general types of propositions: propositions of fact, value, policy, and definition.

A fact claim is a statement about how things were in the past, how they are in the present, or how they will be in the future. A fact claim is not a fact; it only claims to be a fact. What makes it arguable is that the speaker has no direct way of establishing the truth of the claim. For example, «The Earth is round» is a proven fact. «In our right-handed world, left-handed people are discriminated against» is a fact claim. A persuasive speaker must provide arguments which build a case in favour of the claim, showing that the claim is probably true, or at least is more likely true than false.

Value claims are arguable statements concerning the relative merits of something which is measured subjectively (e.g., «Victoria is a better place to go for summer vacation than Calgary»). What makes a value claim arguable is that different people may disagree on the criteria used to evaluate something (e.g., weather, live entertainment, water sports). Differing value claims may be used to argue the value of a variety of topics (e.g., movies, styles of living, community organizations). Defending a value claim involves offering a set of criteria for consideration, defending the set of criteria as legitimate, and showing how applying the criteria justifies the claim.

A policy claim is a statement regarding the merits of one course of action as opposed to other courses of action. What makes a policy claim arguable is that, even though people and institutions may not be totally certain about the proper course of action to take, they still must act. To argue in defense of a policy claim is to state that, given the knowledge we have at the present time, it is best to act in the manner proposed rather than in some alternative way.

A definition claim is a statement telling how a particular word or phrase should be defined in a certain context. A definition claim is arguable because different people use the same word in contradictory ways. Therefore, the claims made by different people may also be contradictory, when these claims are based on their own special interpretations of word usage and meaning.

Principles of Persuasion

persuasive speeches:

· People are more likely to change their behaviour if the proposition asks for a small change rather than a large change in their lives (e.g., trying one vegetarian meal rather than becoming total vegetarians).

· People are more likely to consider changing their behaviour if the change will benefit them more than it will cost them. Consider the costs to the audience in terms of money, time commitment, energy, and skill.

· People are more likely to change their behaviour if the change meets their needs. Needs vary in different communities, in different schools, and in different individuals.

· People are more likely to change their behaviour if suggested change is approached gradually in the talk. Move from arguments which the audience will find most acceptable to those which the audience will find more difficult to accept.

Using Persuasive Strategies

Three basic strategies used in persuasion are appeal to reason, appeal to audience emotion, and appeal to audience needs. Speakers should remember their ethical responsibilities and not use dishonest or misleading persuasive appeals.

Listening Critically to Persuasive Speaking

The critical listener raises certain questions concerning the meaning of what is said and the intention of the speaker. The critical listener analyzes the persuasive speech, yet withholds judgment until there is enough data for drawing conclusions.

2. Publicistic Style

The use of publicity style

Propaganda

Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself.

As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda, in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience. Propaganda often presents facts selectively (thus possibly lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or uses loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the attitude toward the subject in the target audience to further a political agenda. Propaganda can be used as a form of political warfare.

While the term propaganda has acquired a strongly negative connotation by association with its most manipulative and jingoistic examples, propaganda in its original sense was neutral, and could refer to uses that were generally benign or innocuous, such as public health recommendations, signs encouraging citizens to participate in a census or election, or messages encouraging persons to report crimes to the police, among others.

Defining propaganda has always been a problem. The main difficulties have involved differentiating propaganda from other types of persuasion, and avoiding an «if they do it then that's propaganda, while if we do it then that's information and education» biased approach. Garth Jowett and Victoria O'Donnell have provided a concise, workable definition of the term: «Propaganda is the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist. "More comprehensive is the description by Richard Alan Nelson: «Propaganda is neutrally defined as a systematic form of purposeful persuasion that attempts to influence the emotions, attitudes, opinions, and actions of specified target audiences for ideological, political or commercial purposes through the controlled transmission of one-sided messages (which may or may not be factual) via mass and direct media channels. A propaganda organization employs propagandists who engage in propagandism - the applied creation and distribution of such forms of persuasion."

Both definitions focus on the communicative process involved - more precisely, on the purpose of the process, and allow «propaganda» to be considered objectively and then interpreted as positive or negative behavior depending on the perspective of the viewer or listener.

Propaganda is generally an appeal to emotion, not intellect. It shares techniques with advertising and public relations, each of which can be thought of as propaganda that promotes a commercial product or shapes the perception of an organization, person, or brand. In post - World War II usage the word «propaganda» more typically refers to political or nationalist uses of these techniques or to the promotion of a set of ideas, since the term had gained a pejorative meaning. The refusal phenomenon was eventually to be seen in politics itself by the substitution of «political marketing» and other designations for «political propaganda».

Propaganda was often used to influence opinions and beliefs on religious issues, particularly during the split between the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant churches. Propaganda has become more common in political contexts, in particular to refer to certain efforts sponsored by governments, political groups, but also often covert interests. In the early 20th century, propaganda was exemplified in the form of party slogans. Also in the early 20th century the term propaganda was used by the founders of the nascent public relations industry to describe their activities. This usage died out around the time of World War II, as the industry started to avoid the word, given the pejorative connotation it had acquired.

Literally translated from the Latin gerundive as «things that must be disseminated», in some cultures the term is neutral or even positive, while in others the term has acquired a strong negative connotation. The connotations of the term «propaganda» can also vary over time. For example, in Portuguese and someSpanish language speaking countries, particularly in the Southern Cone, the word «propaganda» usually refers to the most common manipulative media - «advertising».

In English, «propaganda» was originally a neutral term used to describe the dissemination of information in favor of any given cause. During the 20th century, however, the term acquired a thoroughly negative meaning in western countries, representing the intentional dissemination of often false, but certainly «compelling» claims to support or justify political actions or ideologies. This redefinition arose because both the Soviet Union and Germany's government under Hitler admitted explicitly to using propaganda favoring, respectively, communism and Nazism, in all forms of public expression. As these ideologies were repugnant to liberal western societies, the negative feelings toward them came to be projected into the word «propaganda» itself.

Roderick Hindery argues that propaganda exists on the political left, and right, and in mainstream centrist parties. Hindery further argues that debates about most social issues can be productively revisited in the context of asking «what is or is not propaganda?» Not to be overlooked is the link between propaganda, indoctrination, and terrorism/counterterrorism. He argues that threats to destroy are often as socially disruptive as physical devastation itself.

Propaganda also has much in common with public information campaigns by governments, which are intended to encourage or discourage certain forms of behavior (such as wearing seat belts, not smoking, not littering and so forth). Again, the emphasis is more political in propaganda. Propaganda can take the form of leaflets, posters, TV and radio broadcasts and can also extend to any other medium. In the case of the United States, there is also an important legal (imposed by law) distinction between advertising (a type of overt propaganda) and what the Government Accountability Office (GAO), an arm of the United States Congress, refers to as «covert propaganda».

Journalistic theory generally holds that news items should be objective, giving the reader an accurate background and analysis of the subject at hand. On the other hand, advertisement sevolved from the traditional commercial advertisements to include also a new type in the form of paid articles or broadcasts disguised as news. These generally present an issue in a very subjective and often misleading light, primarily meant to persuade rather than inform. Normally they use only subtle propaganda techniques and not the more obvious ones used in traditional commercial advertisements. If the reader believes that a paid advertisement is in fact a news item, the message the advertiser is trying to communicate will be more easily «believed» or «internalized».

Such advertisements are considered obvious examples of «covert» propaganda because they take on the appearance of objective information rather than the appearance of propaganda, which is misleading. Federal law specifically mandates that any advertisement appearing in the format of a news item must state that the item is in fact a paid advertisement.

The publicity style is used in public speeches and printed public works which are addressed to a broad audience and devoted to important social or political events, public problems of cultural or moral character.

It falls into three varieties, each having its own distinctive features. Unlike other formal styles, the publicist style has spoken varieties, in particular, the oratorical sub-style. The development of radio and television has brought into being a new spoken variety in the radio and television commentary.

The general aim of the publicist style is to exert influence on public opinion, to convince the reader or the listener that the interpretation given by the writer or the speaker is the only correct one and to cause him to accept the point of view expressed in the speech, essay or article not merely by logical argumentation, but by emotional appeal as well.

This brain-washing function is most effective in oratory, for here the most powerful instrument of persuasion is brought into play: the human voice. Due to its characteristic combination of logical argumentation and emotional appeal, the publicity style has features in common with the style of scientific prose or official documents, on the one hand, and that of emotive prose, on the other. Its coherent and logical syntactic structure, with an expanded system of connectives and its careful paragraphing, makes it similar to scientific prose. Its emotional appeal is generally achieved by the use of words with emotive meaning, the use of imagery and other stylistic devices as in emotive prose. The publicity style also has some elements of emotionally colored colloquial style as the author has no need to make their speech impersonal (as in scientific or official style), but, on the contrary, he or she tries to approximate the text to lively communication, as though they were talking to people in direct contact.

Aristotle says that there is judicial or forensics, deliberative or legislative, epideictic or ceremonial oratory types.

Forensic oratory is speaking about the past in a matter of legal judgment. When an attorney speaks to the court, as to ones guilt or innocence, this is forensic oratory. Another example of forensic oratory is when someone speaks to congress, or a congressional committee. In Act 3 scene VI of Shakespeare's Timon of Athens you have an excellent example of this type of oratory. You can also refer to our speech library for more examples of forensic oratory. Deliberative oratory is speaking about the future. Its purpose is getting someone to move to an action. If a congressman goes to congress and says that we need to start a bill then they are using the deliberative class of oratory. Epideictic is spoken about in the present and is used to praise or blame someone or something. Aristotle teaches that this type of speech is given to make its' listeners want to achieve the greatness of a good person or to make you realize the severity of the crimes committed by one who is evil. Orations when given in the real world combine these divisions to make a full solid speech. Politicians and debaters use persuasive oratory to move the audience into believing what they want them to believe. Informative or expository oratory uses the mechanics of rhetoric to inform an audience. Usually informative speeches are given to someone who already has the same view as the speaker. A teacher lecturing a class is also giving an expository speech. In history, debate has been critical to democratic political systems. Debaters use argumentative and persuasive oratory. Argumentative oratory is similar to persuasive oratory and has basically the same goal but deviates in that it is intended for a more direct attack. The theater is a place where thoughts are shared and true empathy is achieved. The theater lends it-self to interpretive oratory. Interpretive oratory is taking a piece and deciding how you think it should be done and then doing it that way. The theater also has speeches within plays.

Rhetoric is normally divided, at least since Aristotle, into three branches: the deliberative (legislative or political), the judicial (legal) and the epideictic (panegyric). Each of these, according to Aristotle, has a particular relationship to time (the first is concerned with the future, the second with the past and the third present) and purpose (establishing the expediency of a course of action, the justice or not of some course action, and proving someone worthy or not of honor, respectively).

The goal of rhetoric is persuasion. Aristotle lists three means by which this is accomplished: ethos - the demonstration of the speaker's good character; pathos - the appeal to the audience's feelings; and logos - the proof advanced via rational argument or logic. Any rhetorical discourse has traditionally been divided, since Cicero at least, into at least five parts: invention (inventio; heurisis), arrangement (dispositio; taxis), style (elocutio; lexis); memory (memoria; mneme), and delivery (actio; hypocrisis). In the Renaissance, the Ramists (thinkers who followed in the footsteps of Pierre de la Ramee (Petrus Ramus), would assign style and delivery to rhetoric and hand over invention and arrangement to philosophy (memory was totally excised). Invention is concerned with the finding and elaboration of arguments or proof (logos). For Aristotle, there were two types of logical proof: deduction and induction. There were three types of reasoning: dialectic (the Socratic method question and answer by which opinion is refined by means of ever stricter definitions), scientific demonstration (which makes use of the syllogism - conclusions are inferred from premises that are themselves scientifically demonstrated), rhetoric (which makes use of the enthymeme - an abridged syllogism in which one of the terms is omitted as implied and in which conclusions are inferred from premises that are only probably true rather than scientifically proven). For Aristotle, each argument draws on certain topics (topoi) tried and tested by previous experience. Topics are both the very stuff of which arguments are made and the form which those arguments take. There are two kinds of topics: those relevant to a specific area of knowledge and those universally useful. Aristotle lists 28 valid (e.g. to argue from authority) and 10 invalid topics (the use of indignant language). The common places (loci communes; koinoi topoi) is a general argument, observation or description, in short, verbal strategies which people have found persuasive handed down from generation to generation and memorisable for use on particular occasions. Arrangement concerns the ordering of the various parts of an oration: Exordium (exordium; prooimion): here the goal is to catch the audience's attention; Narration (prosthesis; narratio): here the facts are set forth, the issue stated; Division (divisio or partitio): here the points both agreed on and disputed by both sides are set forth; Proof (conformatio; pistis): here the argument that one advances in support of one's thesis is elaborated; Refutation (confutatio): here one refutes the arguments of one's opponent; Peroration (peroratio; epilogus): here one sums up the argument.

Style concerns both diction (the choice of particular words) and syntax or composition (the ordering or sequencing of words). Generally, there are thought to have been three types of style: the low or plain style (genus humile), the middle style (genus medium or mediocre or temperatum), and the grand style (genus grande). Style is effected by means of figures of speech that is the choice of words whereby meaning is changed or even enhanced. Figures incorporate both figures of words (comprising tropes, e.g. metaphors, by which words are used to mean something other than their ordinary meaning, and schemas by which words may preserve their ordinary meaning but are placed in a particular sequence of some kind to accomplish a particular effect) and figures of thought (large-scale tropes and schemas. Memory is subdivided into two kinds: natural and artificial, the latter trained by mnemonic devices associating particular patterns of argument with particular visual scenes. Delivery concerns the realm of nonverbal communication and was historically divided into two categories: voice and gesture (a catalogue of body postures and positions).

Publicistic style is characterized by coherent and logical syntactical structure, with an expanded system of connectives and careful paragraphing. Its emotional appeal is achieved by the use of words with the emotive meaning but the stylistic devices are not fresh or genuine. The individual element is not very evident. Publicistic style is also characterized by the brevity of expression, sometimes it becomes a leading feature.

The oratorical style is the oral subdivision of the publicistic style. Direct contact with the listeners permits a combination of the syntactical, lexical and phonetic peculiarities of both the written and spoken varieties of language. The typical features of this style are: direct address to the audience; sometimes contractions; the use of colloquial words. The SDs employed in the oratorical style are determined by the conditions of communication. As the audience rely only on memory, the speaker often resorts to repetitions to enable his listeners to follow him and to retain the main points of his speech. The speaker often use simile and metaphor, but these are generally traditional, because genuine SDs may be difficult to grasp. The most obvious purpose of oratory is persuasion, and it requires eloquence. This style is evident in speeches on political and social problems of the day, in orations and addresses on solemn occasions as public weddings, funerals and jubilees, in sermons and debates and also in the speeches of counsel and judges in courts of law.

The sphere of application of oratory is confined to appeal to an audience and therefore crucial issues in such spheres as science, art, or business relations are not touched upon. The most obvious purpose of oratory is persuasion, and it requires eloquence. This style is evident in speeches on political and social problems of the day, in orations and addresses on solemn occasions as public weddings, funerals and jubilees, in sermons and debates and also in the speeches of counsel and judges in courts of law.

The sphere of application of oratory is confined to appeal to an audience and therefore crucial issues in such spheres as science, art, or business relations are not touched upon.

Lexical stylistic devices

Lexical stylistic device is such type of denoting phenomena that serves to create additional expressive, evaluative, subjective connotations. In fact we deal with the intended substitution of the existing names approved by long usage and fixed in dictionaries, prompted by the speaker's subjective original view and evaluation of things. Each type of intended substitution results in a stylistic device called also a trope.

This act of substitution is referred to transference - the name of one object is transferred onto another, proceeding from their similarity (of shape, color, function, etc.) or closeness (of material existence, cause/effect, instrument/result, part/whole relations, etc.).

Metaphor

The most frequently used, well known and elaborated among lexical stylistic devices is a metaphor - transference of names based on the associated likeness between two objects, as in the «pancake», «ball» for the «sky» or «silver dust», «sequins» for «stars». So there exist a similarity based on one or more common semantic component. And the wider is the gap between the associated objects the more striking and unexpected - the more expressive - is the metaphor.

If a metaphor involves likeness between inanimate and animate objects, we deal with personification, as in the «face of London» or «the pain of the ocean».

Metaphor, as all other lexical stylistic devices, is fresh, original, genuine when first used, and trite, hackneyed, stale when often repeated. In the latter case it gradually loses its expressiveness.

Metaphor can be expressed by all notional parts of speech. Metaphor functions in the sentence as any of its members.

When the speaker (writer) in his desire to present an elaborated image does not limit its creation to a single metaphor but offers a group of them, this cluster is called sustained (prolonged) metaphor.

Metonymy

Another lexical stylistic device - metonymy is created by a different semantic process. It is based on contiguity (nearness) of objects. Transference of names in metonymy does not involve a necessity for two different words to have a common component in their semantic structures as is the case with metaphor but proceeds from the fact that two objects (phenomena) have common grounds of existence in reality. Such words as «cup» and «tea» have no semantic nearness, but the first one may serve the container of the second, hence - the conversational cliche «Will you have another cup?». Metonymy as all other lexical stylistic devices loses its originality due to long use.

The scope of transference in metonymy is much more limited than that of metaphor, which is quite understandable: the scope of human imagination identifying two objects (phenomena, actions) on the grounds of commonness of their innumerable characteristics is boundless while actual relations between objects are more limited. One type of metonymy - namely the one, which is based on the relations between the part and the whole - is often viewed independently as synecdoche.

As a rule, metonymy is expressed by nouns (less frequently - by substantivized numerals) and is used in syntactical functions characteristic of nouns (subject, object, predicative).

Pun, zeugma, semantically false chains and nonsense of non-sequence Pun, zeugma, semantically false chains and nonsense of non-sequence are united into a small group as they have much in common both in the mechanism of their formation and in their function.

In the stylistic tradition of the English-speaking countries only the first two (pun and zeugma) are widely discussed. The latter may be viewed as slight variations of the first ones. The foursome perform the same stylistic function in speech and operate on the same linguistic mechanism. Namely, one word-form is deliberately used in two meanings. The effect of these lexical stylistic devices is humorous. Contextual conditions leading to the simultaneous realization of two meanings.

The formation of pun may vary. One speaker's utterance may be wrong interpreted by the other due to the existence of different meaning of the misinterpreted word or its homonym. For example, «Have you been seeing any spirits?» «Or taking any?» The first «spirits» refers to supernatural forces, the second one - to strong drinks. Punning may be also the result of the speaker's intended violation of the listener's expectation.

We deal with zeugma when polysemantic verbs that can be combined with nouns of most varying semantic groups are deliberately used with two or more homogeneous members which are not connected semantically, as in such example: «He took his hat and his leave». Zeugma is highly characteristic of English prose of previous centuries.

When the number of homogeneous members, semantically disconnected but attached to the same verb increases we deal with semantically false chains, which are thus a variation of zeugma. As a rule, it is the last member of the chain that falls out of the semantic group, producing humorous effect. The following case may serve an example: «A Governess wanted. Must possess knowledge of Rumanian, Italian, Spanish, German, Music and Mining Engineering».

In most examples of zeugma the verb loses some of its semantic independence and strength being considered as member of phraseological unit or cliche.

Nonsense of non-sequence results in joining two semantically disconnected clauses into one sentence, as in: «Emperor Nero played the fiddle, so they burnt Rome». Two disconnected statements are forcibly linked together.

In all previously discussed lexical stylistic devices we dealt with various transformations of the denotational meaning of words, which participated in the creation of metaphors, metonymies, puns, zeugmas, etc. Each of these lexical stylistic devices added expressiveness and originality to the nomination of the object. Their subjectivity relies on the new and fresh look at the object mentioned and shows the object from a new and unexpected side.

Irony

In irony subjectivity lies in the evaluation of the phenomenon. The essence of irony consists in the foregrounding not of the logical but of the evaluative meaning. Irony thus is a stylistic device in which the contextual evaluative meaning of a word is directly opposite to its dictionary meaning.

The context is arranged so that the qualifying word in irony reverses the direction of the evaluation and a positive meaning is understood as a negative one and (much-much rare) vice versa. «She turned with the sweet smile of an alligator». The word «sweet» reverse their positive meaning into the negative one due to the context. So, like all other lexical stylistic devices irony does not exist outside the context.

Direct contact with the listeners permits the combination of the syntactical, lexical and phonetic peculiarities of both the written and spoken varieties of language. In its leading feature, however, the oratorical style belongs to the written variety of language, though it is modified by the oral form of the utterance and the use of gestures.

Certain typical features of the spoken variety of speech present in this style are:

a) direct address to the audience by special formulas. Expressions of direct address can be repeated in the course of the speech and may be expressed differently.

b) Special formulas at the end of the speech to thank the audience for their attention.

c) the use of the 1st person pronoun we; 2nd person pronoun you. d) The use of contractions I'll; won't; haven't; isn't and others.

e) Features of colloquial style such as asking the audience questions as the speaker attempts to reach closer contact or calling upon the audience.

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 stylistic devices employed in the oratorical 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 stylistic devices. Stylistic devices are closely interwoven and mutually complementary thus building up an intricate pattern. For example, an antithesis is framed by parallel constructions, which, in their turn, are accompanied by repetition, while a climax can be formed by repetitions of different kinds.

As the audience rely only on memory, the speaker often resorts to repetition to enable his listeners to follow him and retain the main points of the speech. Repetition is also resorted to in order to persuade the audience, to add weight to the speaker's opinion.

Repetition can be regarded as the most typical stylistic device of the English oratorical style. Almost any piece of oratory will have parallel constructions, antithesis, climax, rhetorical questions and questions-in-the-narrative. It will be no exaggeration to say that almost all typical syntactical devices can be found in English oratory. Questions are most frequent because they promote closer contact with the audience. The change of intonation breaks the monotony of the intonation pattern and revives the attention of the listeners.

The desire of the speaker to convince and to rouse his audience results in the use of simile and metaphor, but these are generally traditional ones, as fresh and genuine stylistic devices may divert the attention of the listeners away from the main point of the speech. Besides, unexpected and original images are more difficult to grasp and the process takes time. The following extract from the speech of the American Confederate general, A.P. Hill, on the ending of the Civil War in the U.S.A. is an example of anaphoric repetition:

A mere repetition of the same idea and in the same linguistic form may bore the audience and destroy the speaker-audience contact, therefore synonymous phrase repetition is used instead, thus filling up the speech with details and embellishing it, as in this excerpt from a speech on Robert Burns. Repetition can be regarded as the most typical stylistic device of the English oratorical style. Almost any piece of oratory will have parallel constructions, antithesis, climax, rhetorical questions and questions-in-the-narrative. It will be no exaggeration to say that almost all typical syntactical devices can be found in English oratory. Questions are most frequent because they promote closer contact with the audience. The change of intonation breaks the monotony of the intonation pattern and revives the attention of the listeners. The desire of the speaker to convince and to rouse his audience results in the use of simile and metaphor, but these are generally traditional ones, as fresh and genuine stylistic devices may divert the attention of the listeners away from the main point of the speech. Besides, unexpected and original images are more difficult to grasp and the process takes time.

In political speeches, the need for applause is paramount, and much of the distinctive rhetoric of a political speech is structured in such a way as to give the audience the maximum chance to applaud. One widely used technique is an adaptation of an ancient rhetorical structure - the three-part list: X, Y, and Z. These lists are not of course restricted to politics only: signed, sealed and delivered; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Tom, Dick, and Harry; the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; this, that, and the other. Such lists, supported by a strong rhythm and a clear rising + falling intonation sequence, convey a sense of rhetorical power, structural control, and semantic completeness. They are widely used in formal writing. And they are especially common in political speeches, where the third item provides a climax of expression which can act as a cue for applause.

In an acclaimed study of speech and body language in political speeches, using videotape data, specialists found such instances:

Governor Wallace: and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever. Norman Tebbit: Labour will spend, and borrow and borrow, and tax and tax. Tony Ben: and they kill it secretly, privately, without debate. History and literature provide numerous examples: Abraham Lincoln: Government of the people, by the people, for the people. Mark Anthony: Friends, Romans, Countrymen… Winston Churchill: This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps the end of the beginning.

Skilled politicians can resort to several techniques in order to evade an awkward question e.g. to ignore the question, to decline to answer it, or acknowledge it without answering it, etc. The questions politicians receive are rarely straightforward, but are preceded by a series of often unclear and controversial claims. This can be seen in the analysis of one question which was addressed to a cabinet minister during a radio interview.

Of course, no one would have reached cabinet minister rank who would use such one-word answers by way of reply. What the questioner will receive is better categorized as a response rather than an answer. The most characteristic language features of the essay, however, remain 1. brevity of expression; 2. the use of the first person singular, which justifies a personal approach to the problems treated; 3. a rather expended use of connectives, which facilitates the process of grasping the correlation of ideas; 4. the abundant use of emotive words; 5. the use of similes and metaphors as one of the media for the cognitive process.

3. SDs (Stylistic Devices)

propaganda communication persuasion oratory

Definition of the notions «expressive means and stylistic devises»

In linguistics there are different terms to denote particular means by which utterances are made more conspicuous, more effective and therefore imparting some additional information. They are called expressive means, stylistic means, stylistic markers, stylistic devices, tropes, figures of speech and the like. All these terms are set against those means, which we shall conventionally call neutral. Thus in the language we have an opposition between neutral language items and expressive language items.

The expressive means of the language are those phonetic, morphological, word-building, lexical, phrase logical and syntactical forms, which exist in language-as-a-system for the purpose of logical and or emotional intensification of the utterance.

The expressive means of the language exist on all the levels of the language: on the phonetic, morphological, word-building, lexical, phrase logical and syntactical levels. The most powerful are phonetic: pitch, stress, sing - song manner, whispering, drawing sounds etc.

Morphological EMs are also numerous: the use of the historic presence, the use of shall in the third and in the second persons, the abundant use of the demonstrative pronouns «these», «those», «this», «that».

Stylistic Devices are:

Alliteration repetition of initial consonant sound

The initial consonant sound is usually repeated in two neighboring words (sometimes also in words that are not next to each other). Alliteration draws attention to the phrase and is often used for emphasis. Repetition of initial consonant sounds means that only the sound must be the same, not the consonants themselves. If neighboring words start with the same consonant but have a different initial sound, the words are not alliterated.

Allusion indirect reference to a person, event or piece of literature

Allusion is used to explain or clarify a complex problem. Note that allusion works best if you keep it short and refer to something the reader / audience is familiar with, e.g.:

§ famous people

§ history

§ (Greek) mythology

§ literature

§ the bible

If the audience is familiar with the event or person, they will also know background and context. Thus, just a few words are enough to create a certain picture (or scene) in the readers' minds. The advantages are as follows:

§ We don't need lengthy explanations to clarify the problem.

§ The reader becomes active by reflecting on the analogy.

§ The message will stick in the reader's mind.

Many allusions on historic events, mythology or the bible have become famous idioms.

Anaphora

successive clauses or sentences start with the same word(s)

The same word or phrase is used to begin successive clauses or sentences. Thus, the reader's / listener's attention is drawn directly to the message of the sentence.

Anaphora is often used in conjunction with parallelism or climax.

Antithesis

contrasting relationship between two ideas

Antithesis emphasizes the contrast between two ideas. The structure of the phrases / clauses is usually similar in order to draw the reader's / listener's attention directly to the contrast.

Hyperbole deliberate exaggeration

Used sparingly, hyperbole effectively draws the attention to a message that you want to emphasise.

Hypophora question raised and answered by the author / speaker

The author / speaker raises a question and also gives an answer to the question. Hypophora is used to get the audience's attention and make them curious. Often the question is raised at the beginning of a paragraph and answered in the course of that paragraph. Hypophora can also be used, however, to introduce a new area of discussion.

Litotes form of understatement

Litotes is a form of understatement which uses the denied opposite of a word to weaken or soften a message.

Metaphor figurative expression

Metaphor compares two different things in a figurative sense. Unlike in a simile (A is like B.), «like» is not used in metaphor (A is B.). ⁽⁾

Metonymy figurative expression, closely associated with the subject

Metonomy (unlike metaphor) uses figurative expressions that are closely associated with the subject in terms of place, time or background. The figurative expression is not a physical part of the subject, however (see synecdoche).

Points of View first or third person narration First-person narrator

The narrator tells the story from his / her point of view (I). It is a limited point of view as the reader will only know what the narrator knows. The advantage of the first person narration is that the narrator shares his / her personal experiences and secrets with the reader so that the reader feels part of the story.

Third-person narrator

The narrator is not part of the plot and tells the story in the third person (he, she). Usually the narrator is all-knowing (omniscient narrator): he / she can switch from one scene to another, but also focus on a single character from time to time.

The third-person narrator can also be a personal narrator (point of view of one character) who tells the story in the third person (he, she), but only from the central character's point of view. This point of view is rarely used.

Onomatopoeia word imitating a sound

The pronunciation of the word imitates a sound. Onomatopoeia is used because it's often difficult to describe sounds. Furthermore, a story becomes more lively and interesting by the use of onomatopoeia.

Parallelism parallel sentence structure

Successive clauses or sentences are similarly structured. This similarity makes it easier for the reader / listener to concentrate on the message.. ⁽⁾

Note: When writing, parallelism is a useful device for instructions. Due to the parallel structure, the reader can concentrate on the message and will immediately know what to do (see examples below).

The second instruction is easier to follow (and to remember) than the first one. The change of structure in the first example is confusing and distracts the reader from the actual message. It might be okay with simple messages like the ones we used here. But following more complex instructions is really hard if they are not in parallel structure.

Bibliography

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