Discorso politico (Political Speech) struttura e punti chiave

2017/2018 Political speech

Political speeches structure

1. Generally starts with an introduction, the speaker intends to attract the audience's attention, by:

• Making clear the purpose of the speech
• Mentioning the topic and by emphasising its importance
• Beginning with a question (interrogative sentence) or a little story
• Taking care about the phonology, sound, rhythm (a speech is meant to be heard)
• The tone is important (provocative, ironic, contemptuous, mocking)
• Showing or referring to something related to the topic, such as an object, a photo, statistics, etc.

2. In the main part of the speech, the speaker tries to maintain the audience's attention, for instance by:

• Forming rather short and clear sentences
• The lexicon can be simple or elevated according to the topic and audience
• If the sentences follow the natural order or inverted order
• Developing his/her thoughts and main points step by step
• Backing up his/her main ideas/points with facts and background information
• Suggesting what should be done to improve the situation or presenting solutions to the problem
• Including personal experience, examples or a story to make his/her speech more lively, establish a "personal" relationship to become well-liked
• Using rhetorical devices such as repetition, alliteration, comparisons, etc.

3. At the end of his/her speech, the speaker may appeal again to the audience's intellect and/or emotions, for example by:

• Summing up his/her main ideas/arguments in one or two sentences
• Briefly mentioning what the outlook might be
• Asking the audience to support his view, ideas, programme, etc.

Function and manner of political language

• Informative function (referential function)
• Persuasive function (conative function)
• Rhetorical function

Usually formal manner, formulaic expressions, e.g. hon. (honorary), Ladies and gentlemen...

Aspects for the analysis of political speeches

Close reading of the text, with special attention to:

• Key words and phrases
• Clusters (a series of words that are related to each other in meaning)
• Oppositions (e.g. negative/positive; near/distant; familiar/alien)
• The use of key symbols, slogans, stereotypes
• Abstractions and generalisations versus the presentation of specific issues or events
• Metaphors, analogies, illustrations
• Other characteristic features of style (choice of words and syntax)
• The use of personal pronouns (e.g. 'I', 'us', 'we', 'you', 'they' etc.) and the meaning of these pronouns in the context of the speech
• Patterns: Who is 'we' and who does the speaker refer to by 'they'?

Stylistic devices