LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 11 : 10 October 2011
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.

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An Analysis of Barack Obama’s Speech ‘Keynote Address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention’

Sofia Dildar Alvi, M.A. (English), M.Phil. &
Abdul Baseer, M.Phil. (English), Ph.D. (Candidate)

Abstract

Twenty-first century is an epoch of democracy and democratic states. Language seems to be the most resourceful power tool in this period of sophisticated governing. Manipulation of language is very much noticeable in the domain of political speeches. Political speech plays a key role in the promotion of desired philosophies. Speech-making is an imperative part of the politician’s job in publicizing and legitimizing political policies to accomplish triumph in the power-hunting game of politics. Orators make use of various means of persuasion to achieve their targets. Renowned modus operandi to carry out this includes ‘rhetoric’ and ‘linguistic spin’.

This paper examines the use of rhetorical devices and the transitivity choices made by US President Barack Obama in his world famous speech ‘Keynote Address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention’. Olive (2008) declares that Barack Obama was recognized for the first time as a famous national figure after this 2004 address at the National Democratic Convention. In this speech, Obama endorsed John Kerry’s selection as the Democratic presidential nominee. The analysis shows that Obama uses the elements of Ethos and Pathos in his speech quite frequently and employs material processes of action and event as well as mental process of affection to physically gather the people around him. He seems much interested in using circumstance of location, both spatial and temporal, and circumstance of reason to make his account more objective and reliable.

Key Words: Barack Obama, political language, speeches, rhetoric, ethos, pathos, logos, linguistic spin, transitivity

Methodology

As it is an overall rhetorical and linguistic analysis of a selected speech of Obama, different analytical procedures and devices of language have been adopted from a number of theoretical/ descriptive frameworks to form an eclectic model of analysis.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Sofia Dildar Alvi, M.A. (English), M.Phil.
Lecturer in English
Government College University
Faisalabad
Pakistan
sofia.alvi@yahoo.com Abdul Baseer, M.Phil. (English), Ph.D. (English) Candidate
International Islamic University
Islamabad
Pakistan

Lecturer in Linguistics
Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan
abdulbasseer@yahoo.com
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