Key words: discourse analysis, political speeches, syntax, transitivity, grammatical cohesion. Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to critically analyze Donald Trump’s and Abraham Lincoln’s presidential speeches mainly from the point of syntactic peculiarities in which we can examine what is talked about and how it is presented by political leaders. This study is based on M.A.K. Halliday’s grammar model – the Systematic Functional Grammar which is a schemata for syntactic analysis of the political speeches. Moreover , we can achieve a better understanding of the political purpose of these speeches. Introduction Politics is a scene where certain political, social and economic ideas are put into practice in order to fight for the power. As one of the most famous British politician, Winston Churchill, delivered a speech in which he highlighted the significant peculiarities of politics: “You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, …show more content…
He uses the first person plural personal pronoun 47 times and refers to the different subjects. The most dominating meaning of the pronoun “we” is a reference to the local community. When Trump says “Together, we will determine the course of America and the world for many, many years to come. We will face challenges, we will confront hardships, but we will get the job done” the pronoun makes reference to the future teamwork of government and American citizens as united society. Next, in the sentence “We will bring back our jobs. We will bring back our borders. We will bring back our wealth. And we will bring back our dreams. We will build new roads and highways and bridges and airports and tunnels and railways all across our wonderful nation. We will get our people off of welfare and back to work” is referring to his team and new administration that work with him
During Abraham Lincoln’s presidency at the start of the 1860, an issue that had divided the nation was slavery. Lincoln’s election to presidency as a republic was not received well by the Southern slave states, as they thought that as a republican he was out to abolish slavery. In an effort to calm southern states and keep them from seceding from the United States, he attempts to ease them with his First Inaugural Address. In his First Inaugural Address his key points are to clam southern leaders of slave states, keep the states from seceding, and make them at ease as he enters presidency.
Compare how the speakers (JFK and Tim Collins) shape their language to create a sense of voice The inaugural speech, presented by John F. Kennedy, and the ‘Eve of battle’ speech, presented by Tim Collins, can both be analysed for the similarities and also differences, comparing how the speakers shape their language specifically to create a sense of voice. The instantly recognisable difference between the two texts is the genre. The speech by John F. Kennedy (JFK) is his inaugural address.
The Civil War was a time period of social, political, and economic tensions. The North and South fought to decide whether to stop or continue slavery. Abraham Lincoln, the then president, addresses the two crowds before and after the war; however, in the second address, after the war, he uses specific literary devices to convey his message, of the need to end slavery. Abraham Lincoln uses varied sentence structure and appeals, in his succinct Second Inaugural Speech, to try to bring back harmony in the states and the abolitionment of slavery. Abraham Lincoln uses varied sentence structure to emphasize his message of harmony and abolition of slavery.
He wants us to reach for the stars in personal fulfillment and not wanting to be an average Joe. Social relevance, the accessibility to knowledge, and internal openness as I said earlier can help mold a brighter future in America, a future of honesty, integrity and
Abe Lincoln, in his second inaugural address, uses language with which the audience can connect and relate. Through inclusive pronouns, parallel sentence structure, pathos, and metaphors, Lincoln does not simply list off what the war has entailed or recommend a certain path the people must take. Lincoln instead consoles the nation as if it was a dear old friend whom is in dire need of advice. The first rhetorical strategy Lincoln used was inclusive pronouns such as “we”, “us”, and “all”. Additionally, the president began the address with the inviting words “Fellow Countrymen”.
President Abraham Lincoln uses a variety of rhetorical strategies in his Second Inaugural Address to pose an argument to the American people regarding the division in the country between the northern states and the southern states. Lincoln gives this address during the American Civil War, when politics were highly debated and there was a lot of disagreement. Lincoln calls for the people of America to overcome their differences to reunite as one whole nation once more. Lincoln begins his Second Inaugural Address by discussing the American Civil War and its ramifications.
President Abraham Lincoln, in his inaugural address, addresses the topic of the civil war and its effects on the nation and argues that America could be unified once more. He supports his claim by using massive amounts of parallel structure and strong word choice. Lincoln ‘s purpose is to contemplate the effects of the civil war in order to unite the broken America once again. He adopts a very hopeful tone for his audience, the readers of the inaugural address and others interested in the topic of American history and the civil war.
This is really the key. These are the people we were elected to serve." This quote proves how Trump outlines heroics based off of tragedy to help people more willing to listen to what he says about both political parties coming together in union. As Trump speech continues he maintains a use of pathos but also begins to move into the appeal of
He also, uses anaphora towards the end of the speech specifically when he states “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”. By doing so he is able to create one of the most memorable moments in our history. He is able to inspire Americans to support their beloved country because with their help the United States of America could reach its full potential. He is also able to get his main message and hope across, the unification of not only
In 1962 President John F. Kennedy held a press conference in which he informed the audience on his stance for the rising steel prices. Kennedy not only wanted to inform the audience, he wanted to get them on his side of the argument. He wanted to show the audience that the rising steel prices were going to have a negative impact on the nation. To do this Kennedy used some of the rhetoric strategies and tools. He used periodic sentences, anaphora, and diction.
It was important that Bush use rhetorical appeals such as ethos, pathos, and logos in his address to the nation. He also needed to use the hope and history on which America was built on to unite the
He states, “We will defend our allies and our interests; we will show purpose without arrogance; we will meet aggression and bad faith with resolve and strength; and to all nations, we will speak for the values that gave our nation birth.” The repetition of “we will” brings determination, and inclusiveness towards the audience. Bush outlines what America will do as a country, not what he will do as an individual. The American people feel united with Bush as if they are all the same team. He avoids speaking out his own political aims that might be deemed as controversial.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Junior’s, speech at his inaugural address in 1961 is undeniably a masterpiece of the persuasive arts. Although the speech is short as such speeches go, and although its main persuasive device is pathos alone, the masterful skill with which Kennedy’s speech is written makes it one of the most moving and effective political speeches to date. Kennedy’s vivid use of diction and metaphor, as well as his extremely memorable syntax, are particularly strong and successful. Every intelligent debater, speech-writer, and generally argumentative person knows that there are three main techniques which can be used to manipulate an audience and engage them in the speaker’s topic and purpose: ethos, logos, and pathos.
He says “ Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.” I think it was smart of Obama to put this in his speech because its very positive for americans to hear that. This section stood out to me because i like the fact that he's not telling the people to panic, he's basically saying stop crying, get up and do something about it. There are a few metaphors that i noticed in his speech.
Rhetorical Analysis of Obama’s Victory Speech Barack Obama was re-elected as the president of the US on November 6, 2012 from Chicago, Illinois. This paper will throw light and analyse various elements Barrack Obama is using to portray his political ideology to audiences through his speech. I intend to focus on the rhetorical effects of the speech. By using various form of rhetorical tools such as Tautology or Anaphora, President Obama gives a speech which focuses on the idea of American life such as the American dream, American promise and the future.