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BW1103牛西月111006050334StylisticFeaturesofPoliticalSpeech—takingthecaseof“ChangeHasCometoAmerica”Englishpoliticalspeechreferstothespeechthatcallsforpeoplewhattodoandwhatnottodo.Itsprincipalcontentsconcernthemethodsormeansbywhichsomethingshouldbedoneaboutwarandpeace,nationaldefense,importandexport,legislation,andsoon.AnEnglishpoliticalspeechisonethatthespeaker,usuallyonbehalfofacertainclass,society,orparty,makesinEnglishtotheaudienceonsomeimportantmattersandrelationshipshomeandabroad.Sometimestheindividualalsomakessuchaspeechforthepurposeofdeclaringhispoliticalpropositionsorideas,nowadaysthistypeofpublicspeakinghasawildrangeofapplicationsuchasstumpingspeechesisofstrongpoliticaltendencywithrigidlogicandarousingforce.Theaimofspeakersistoinfluenceaudience.Therearemanyvarietiesofitsuchasinauguraladdress,speechinthewarandspeechinthecollegeabroad.Owingtotherelationshipbetweenpoliticsandpresidents’speechandtheculturebackgrounditisin,thepoliticalspeechhasformeditsownstylisticfeatures.ThenI’lltrytoanalyzethestylisticfeaturesofpoliticalspeechthroughoutObama’sinauguraladdressin2008:ChangeHasCometoAmerica.1.LexicalfeatureStylistsusuallyhaveacriteriontoanalyzewords’length.Thatis,morethan6lettersor3syllables.Ifawordcontainsmorethan6lettersor3syllables,itisalongword,whichoriginfromsomeformalwordsinLatin,FrenchandGreek.Theproportionoflongwordsisnotmorethan20%.Thenwecanobservethatwordsthatpresidentuseinhisinauguraladdressisveryformalandwordstructureisverycomplicated.Thetotalwordsare2396,inwhichlongwordsaccountfor27%,suchasgeneration,depressionandopportunity.Inaddition,manywordsisderivativesandcompoundwords,suchasproductive,inventive,sweatshops,risk-taker,faint-hearted,short-cut.Wordisthebasicgrammaticalunitewhichissmallerthansentenceanditisalsothebasiccelltoformalecture.WhenObamareferredto106-year-oldwoman，AnnNixonCooper，hejustsaidshecannotcastavotebecauseofhercomplexion.Heavoidedusingtheword“black”tobeinvolvedinracialdiscrimination.2.SyntacticalfeatureIninformalspeeches,oratorsusuallyuseshortsentencestosupporttheirviews.However,asforObama’sformalinauguraladdress,Obamaisinclinedtousethelongsentencesbecausethelengthofthesentenceisinfluencesbythemodeofthediscourseandalsorelatedtothetextualfunctionandinterpersonalfunctionofalanguage.Thelongestsentencecontains49words.Thesentencestructureofpoliticalspeechismorecomplicatedthanthatofdailyconversationbecausethecommonuseoflongsentences.Americanpresidentsgivetheirspeechtothepeopleandexpecttomaketheirgovernmentpoliciesknowntothepublictopersuadethemtoacceptandsupporttheirpolicies.Thispersonalrelationshipdeterminesthatallthepresidents’speechshouldnotbeascasualasdailyconversation.Meantime,healsousessomeshortsentencesthatalternatelongsentences.Theshortsentenceis“yeswecan!”whichreceivedthewarmestreact.Obamaalsochosedifferentkindsofsentences,suchasdeclarativesentence,imperativesentenceandrhetoricalquestion.Thissentence“Thisisourchancetoanswerthatcall.Thisisourmoment.Thisisourtime.”usethestrongdeclarativemood.Inaddition,healwaysused“letus”tocomposeimperativesentence.Imperativesentencecanarouseaudience’smoodtosupportlecturers.Comparedtoimperativesentence,rhetoricalquestionisseldomused.Butitcanreceivebetterresultsifusedproperly.3.RhetoricalfeaturesPresidents’speechisakindofspeechhappeninginaparticularsituationwhichisanimportantactivityofhuman’spublicactivity.Therhetoricisoneofthemaincontentofspeechandrhetoricaldevicesarecloselyrelatedtotheskillofpublicspeaking.Theobjectofapoliticalspeechistoexplain,convinceandpersuadetheaudiencethatwhatthespeakerissayingandrepresentingsothattheyshouldsupportthem.Insomesense,usingproperrhetoricaldeviceslikealliteration,metaphor,etc.mayhavesomestylisticeffects.Inordertoreinforceexpressiveforceandinfectionforce,Obamausedmanyrhetoricalfeatures.Hechoseparallelism,antithesisandrepetitionandalliteration.Parallelismisoneofthemostfrequentlyusedrhetoricfigures.Itreferstoastructuralarrangementofwords,clause,sentence,paragraphsandevenpartsofthetext.Inanotherwords:“similarityofstructureinapairorseriesofrelatedwords,phrasesorclauses”Forexample,heuseaparallelsentencetostarthisspeech,“IfthereisanyoneouttherewhostilldoubtsthatAmericaisaplacewhereallthingsarepossible,whostillwondersifthedreamofourfoundersisaliveinourtime,whostillquestionsthepowerofourdemocracy,tonightisyouranswer.”,whichattractaudiences’attentionsatthebeginningofthespeech.Antithesisisusedwhentwooppositesareintroducedinthesamesentence,forcontrastingeffect,whichiseithercoordinateinmeaningorsymmetricalinstructure.ThenObamausedthisrhetorictoreinforcehisexpress.“Tothosewhoarehuddledaroundradiosintheforgottencornersoftheworld,ourstoriesaresingular,butourdestinyisshared,andanewdawnofAmericanleadershipisathand.Tothose--tothosewhowouldteartheworlddown:Wewilldefeatyou.Tothosewhoseekpeaceandsecurity:Wesupportyou.”Antithesismakescomparisonmoredistinct,andmakesthesismorehighlighted.AlliterationistherepetitionofthesamesoundsorofthesamekindsofsoundsatthebeginningofwordsorinstressedsyllablesofanEnglishlanguagephrase.InObama’sinau