AStylisticAnalysisofObama’sSpeech
○Wang
Xiaolin
（InnerMongoliaScience&TechnologyUniversity,ForeignLangvagesCollege,BaoTou,InnerMongolia014010）
［Abstract］Onthebaseofthedefinitionofstylistics,thispapergivesadetailedanalysisofstylisticdevicesused
inthefamousspeechbythewell-knownAmericannewleaderObama,andthenprobesintothestylisticcharacteristicsofspeechasastyle.
［Keywords］Stylistics；Stylisticdevices；analysis；andspeech［中图分类号］H315
［文献标识码］A
［文章编号］1672-8610（2009）03-0028-02
parative,asindeedisarecognitionofstylesingeneral”(1975:84).Thus,wemayconcludethatstylisticanalysisisanactivitythatishighlycomparativeinnature.
Astopublicspeech,persuasionisthemostcomplexanddifficultaspect.Itsjobistochangetheaudience’sminds-togetthemtoagreeandperhapstoact.Itsgoalmaybetode－fendanidea,torefuteanopponent,tosellaprogramme,ortoinspirepeopletoaction.
Ⅱ.RelatedinformationofObamaandhisspeech
ObamawasborninHawaii,andhisfatherwasastudentfromKenyawhilehismotherwasawhiteKansas.Obamagrad－uatedfromColumbiaUniversityandHarvardUniversity,andforthefirsttimein1996,hewaselectedIllinoissenatorwhilein2004,forthefirsttimeelectedasaSenator,tobecometheU.S.Congressinthehistoryofthe5thsessionofCongress—theonlyblacksenator.
InJuly2004,theconveningoftheDemocraticPartyNationalCongress,Obamahasbeendesignatedtodothenextday,“thekeynotespeech.”,whichistheDemocratsontheparty’sprogramandpolicystatements,usuallybytheparty’smostpromisingpoliticalstartomake.Obamadeliveredthespeechhewroteandpublishedanimpassionedspeech.Inhisspeech,heproposedtheeliminationofdifferencesbetweenpo－liticalpartiesandethnicdifferences,“aU.S.”dream.Ⅲ.Somestylisticdevicesemployedinthespeech
1.Grammaticalfeatures
Weknowthatcasualspeechtendstouseshortsentences.ButaglanceatObama’sspeechrevealsthatitssentencesvarymuchinlength,esp.longsentences,ie.,therearemanypara－graphsonlyincludingonesentence.Thoughtherecanbesev－eralclausesinalongersentence,theymainlycomeafterthemainsentence,whichpresentsnogreatdifficultyfortheaudi－encetocomprehend.Therearenoincompleteorellipticalsen－
Asaninterdisciplinaryfieldofstudy,stylisticspromisestoofferusefulinsightsintoliterarycriticismandtheteachingofliteraturewithitsexplicitaimsandeffectivetechniques.Itisveryusefulintheanalysisofvariousstylesofwriting.Inthispaper,IwanttotrymybesttoofferastylisticanalysisofObama’sSpeech.Ⅰ.Introduction
Asfarasthedefinitionofstylisticsisconcerneddifferentscholarsdefinethebranchofstudyindifferentways.Walesdefinesstylisticssimplyas“thestudyofstyle”(1989:437),whileWiddowsonprovidesamoreinformativedefinitionas“thestudyofliterarydiscoursefromalinguisticorientation”andtakes“aviewthatwhatdistinguishesstylisticsfromliter－arycriticismontheonehandandlinguisticsontheotherisanessentialmeanoflinkingthetwo”(1975:3).Leechholdsasimilarview.Hedefinesstylisticsasthe“studyoftheuseoflanguageinliterature”(1969:1)andconsidersstylisticsa“meeting-groundoflinguisticsandliterarystudy”(1969:2).FromwhatWiddowsonandLeechsay,wecanseethatstylis－ticsisanareaofstudythatstraddlestwodisciplines:literarycriticismandlinguistics.Ittakesliterarydiscourse(text)asitsobjectofstudyanduseslinguisticsasameanstothatend.
Speakingofstylisticanalysis,itisgenerallyconcernedwiththeuniquenessofatext;thatis,whatitisispeculiartotheusesoflanguageinaliterarytextfordeliveringthemes－sage.Thisnaturallyinvolvescomparisonsofthelanguageofthetextwiththatusedinconventionaltypesofdiscourse.Stylistsmayalsowishtocharacterizethestyleofaliterarytextbysystematicallycomparingthelanguageusesinthattextwiththoseinanother.Hallidaypointsout,“Thetextmaybeseenas‘this’incontrastwith‘that’,withanotherpoemoranothernovel;stylisticsstudiesareessentiallycomparativeinnature…”(1971:341).Onthesepoints,WiddowsonisofthesameopinionasHalliday.Hesays：“Allliteraryappreciationiscom－
［作者简介］汪晓琳，内蒙古科技大学外国语学院教师。
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语文学刊·外语教育教学tences.Thesecharacteristicsshowthedoubletraitsofpublicspeaking:itisformalasisrequiredofwrittenlanguage,anditisyetnotdifficulttounderstandatthetimeofitsdeliveryasisrequiredofthespokenmode.Forexample:
Shewasbornjustagenerationpastslavery;atimewhentherewerenocarsontheroadorplanesinthesky;whensomeonelikehercouldn’tvotefortworeasons–becauseshewasawomanandbecauseofthecolorofherskin.
2.Lexicalfeatures
Inordertoadaptthemessagetotheparticularaudiencebeingaddressed,thereseemsnowadaystobeatendencyforthespeakertoinclinehis/herlanguagetowardtherelativelylessformal,lessrigidwaysofspeaking,makingreferencetohimself/herself,introducinghumor,askingfordirectresponsefromtheaudience,orusingsomecolloquialitemsoridioms,evensomedialectwords,toappear“closer”tohis/heraudi－ence.Publicspeechiscarefulaboutofwords.Ittendstousewordsaccurateandclearinmeaning.Forinstance:
Therewillbesetbacksandfalsestarts.Therearemanywhowon’tagreewitheverydecisionorpolicyImakeasPres－ident,andweknowthatgovernmentcan’tsolveeveryprob－lem.ButIwillalwaysbehonestwithyouaboutthechallengesweface.Iwilllistentoyou,especiallywhenwedisagree.Andaboveall,Iwillaskyoujoinintheworkofremakingthisna－tiontheonlywayit’sbeendoneinAmericafortwo-hundredandtwenty-oneyears–blockbyblock,brickbybrick,cal－lousedhandbycallousedhand.
3.SemanticFeatures
Publicspeechisanart.Persuasivespeechesneedevengreaterskill.Theeffectivewaysoforganization(catchingformat)anddelivery(rhetoricaldevices)areamongthere－quiredskills.Awell-organizedspeechenhancesitscredibilityandmakesiteasierfortheaudiencetounderstandthemes－sage.Themostprominentoftherhetoricaldevicesinspeech-makingistheuseofparallelism-thesimilararrangementofapairorseriesofrelatedwords,phrases,orsentences,suchas:
Andtonight,Ithinkaboutallthatshe’sseenthroughouthercenturyinAmerica–theheartacheandthehope;thestruggleandtheprogress;thetimesweweretoldthatwecan’t,andthepeoplewhopressedonwiththatAmericancreed:Yeswecan.Atatimewhenwomen’svoicesweresilencedandtheirhopesdismissed,shelivedtoseethemstandupandspeakoutandreachfortheballot.Yeswecan.Whentherewasdespairinthedustbowlanddepressionacrosstheland,shesawanationconquerfearitselfwithaNewDeal,newjobsandanewsenseofcommonpurpose.Yeswecan.Whenthebombsfellonourharborandtyrannythreatenedtheworld,shewastheretowitnessagenerationrisetogreatnessanda
2009年第3期democracywassaved.Yeswecan.ShewasthereforthebusesinMontgomery,thehosesinBirmingham,abridgeinSelma,andapreacherfromAtlantawhotoldapeoplethat“WeShallOvercome.”Yeswecan.…
Synonymouswordsarerepeatedtoaddforce,clearnessandbalancetoasentence.Repetition(ofthesamewordorsetofwordsatthebeginningorendofsuccessiveclausesorsen－tences)helpscreateastrongemotionaleffect.Theparallelstructuremakesthestatementclear,consistentandcompelling.
Parallelismisanothersyntacticover-regularity.Itmeansexactrepetitioninequivalentpositions.Itdiffersfromsimplerepetitioninthattheidentitydoesnotextendtoabsolutedupli－cation,andit“requiressomevariablefeatureofthepattern-somecontrastingelementswhichare‘parallel’withrespecttotheirpositioninthepattern”(Leech,1969:66).Toputitsim－ply,parallelismmeansthebalanceofsentenceelementsthataregrammaticallyequal.Tomakethemparallel,balancenounswithnouns,verbswithverbs,prepositionalphraseswithprepo－sitionalphrases,clauseswithclauses,andsoforth.Ⅳ.Conclusion
Aswehaveanalyzedabove,stylisticdevicesarefrequent－lyusedinthediscourseofliteraryworks,especiallyinspeech,toachievecertainspecificpurposesandtomakethestyleofaspeechsomewhatparticulartotheothers.Generallyspeaking,aspeechmayhavethefollowingstylisticcharacteristics:
Tobeginwith,itmustbeverypersuasive.Thusthesen－tencepatternsareverywell-organized,withrepetitions,paral－lelismandcontrastsfrequentlyused.
Secondly,itshouldbeemotionalsoastobeconvincingbecausethespeakershouldfacetheaudiencedirectlyandhiswordsshouldnotonlybeorderlyandinformativebutalsobeexpressiveandinspiring.Therefore,thestylisticdevicessuchassimilesandmetaphorsareofteninvolved.
Finally,inmanycases,written-conversationalstyleisusuallyusedwithnotveryformaldictionornotverycompli－catedsentencestructure.———————————————【References】
[1]Obama’sSpeechScript,November,2008.
[2]WangShouyuan,EssentialsofEnglishStylistics,ShandongUni－
versityPress,July,2000.
[3]Widdowson,H.G.StylisticsandtheTeachingofLiterature,
Longman,1975.
‘ThisbreadIbreak’Languageandinterpretation”.[4]Leech,G.N.“
InD.C.Freeman.(Ed.).LinguisticsandLiteratureStyle.NewYork:Holt,Rinhart&Winston.
[5]PanShaozhang,EnglishRhetoricandWriting,ShanghaiTrans－
portationUniversityPress,December,1998.
奥巴马总统竞选演讲辞的文体分析
汪晓琳
（内蒙古科技大学外国语学院，内蒙古包头014010）
［摘
要］本文根据文体学的定义和特征对美国著名的新领导人奥巴马的竞选演说词进行分析，从语法
特征，词汇特征及语义特征等深入探讨了演讲词这一文体的文体特征。
［关键词］文体学；文体特征；文体分析；演讲词文体
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