Analysis of Obama's acceptance speech 2012

Speech transcript; http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/decision2012/president-obamas-acceptance-speech-full-transcript/2012/11/07/ae133e44-28a5-11e2-96b6-8e6a7524553f_story.html

Obama uses the personal pronoun of 'you' throughout his speech. This separates him and the audience instead of creating unity but makes his speech personal to the audience and involves them. He also uses 'our' and 'we' which contrasts with 'you' in creating unity and bonding. Obama's formality changes throughout to show his professional side and also his friendly side. He uses informality to create humour by saying 'but I will say that for now one dog's probably enough.' This shows power as his language has enabled him to create laughter. Furthermore, Obama uses emotive language throughout such as 'battled fiercely' and 'strong, smart, beautiful.' This language creates different emotions for the audience, taking the audience on more of an emotional journey than just listening to a speech. This language use gives Obama the ability to do this to the audience and therefore gives him power. Anaphora is used in his speech when Obama says 'the best. the best ever.' This is emphasising his point and really trying to get his message across clearly. He also does this in his lines 'You'll hear the determination...' 'You'll hear the pride...' and 'You'll hear the deep patriotism...' This repetition shows determination in his beliefs and his certainty displays confidence and as if making a promise that there is no way what he is saying won't happen. He also displays power through the repetition of 'we want.' Whilst creating unity through the use of 'we' the use of these words together show power because he is telling the audience that what he is saying is what they want, this is used to persuade them. Finally, Obama uses a range of long and short sentences. The complex sentences allow Obama to expand on his point and persuade the audience more. The short, simple sentences, however, usually contain the most powerful, influential language as it allows for pause after the sentence. This pause allows the sentence to be fully take in by the audience and allow for reaction. The pauses are almost like cue cards for the audience to react which shows that Obama has power through his language as he is able to influence to audience to give a certain reaction when he wants or needs them to.

Class Notes - Language & Power

Modal Verbs -
- I will ensure that...
- You may find that...
- We can...
- It is important that we must...

Modal verbs show...
- Unity & bonding
- Display confidence
- Influential
- Certain
- Making a promise
- Commands respect
- Strength & determination
- Intelligence
- Sometimes creates likability 

Different types of modality - 
- Epistemic modality is when a modal verb is used to express the speakers opinion about a statement e.g. 'It might be true.'
- Deontic modality is when a modal verb is used to affect a situation e.g. giving permission, 'you can go when you are finished.'

Speeches - persuasive features
- Alliteration 
- Facts (grounding in truth)
- Opinions (persuade)
- Rhetorical questions (thought provoking)
- Emotive Language (personal)
- Statistics (factual info)
- Tripling (emphasis)

Churchill speech -
- Uses emotive language
- Use of pronoun 'we' shows unity and bonding
- Repetition 
- Modal verb 'shall' is encouraging and determined

Parallelism - 
- Synonymous parallelism - second half echos first half - similar ideas to show equal importance - adds balance & rhythm
- Antithesis - establishes a clear, contrasting relationship between 2 ideas by juxtaposing them - useful in clarifying differences
- Anaphora - repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of successive clauses
- Epistrophe - repetition of the same word at the end of a clause

Analysis of June 2013 paper

Text I analysis-

Text I uses the Brown and Levinson theory of positive politeness throughout. The headteacher shows a genuine positive face through her speech because of her audience. In this speech she is trying to portray positivity as she wants to persuade the parents that their children will be best off going to her school over others. She also uses Grice's maxim of quantity as she is deliberately trying to give her audience as much information as needed but no more, she wants to persuade her audience but not over-do it. Furthermore, she also uses the maxim of quality, for example 'two hundred and eighty five people applied to us'. This shows that she is trying to be as truthful as possible to give her audience a real idea of the school whilst supporting it with evidence like realistic, truthful numbers. 

Throughout her speech the headteacher uses a range of linguistic features that apply to natural speech. She starts with the formal opening of 'I'd like to welcome you all this evening'. This tries to establish initial power and shows personal authority. As the speech develops the speaker uses less formal language. The fillers 'er' and 'erm' are both used in the text which takes away power as its less formal and shows potential nervousness. Nervousness is also shown in her frequent repetition of words such as 'really'. Furthermore, parallelism is also used with four consecutive sentences starting with 'it's all about'. This is used to make sure her point is being heard and is clear. Finally, alot of subject specific lexis is used such as 'ofsted' and 'local authority' which portrays power as it shows experience and knowledge.

Language & Power - Class Notes

2 kinds of power:

- Instrumental power = used by individuals to maintain authority
- Influential power = used to influence & persuade others

- A way of classifying types of power according to Wareing (1999) is in terms of whether they represent political, personal or social group power:

- Political = held by politicians, the police and those working in law courts
- Personal = those who hold power as a result of their occupation or role, e.g. teachers or employers
- Social Group = those who hold power as a result of social variables such as class, gender and age. 

What does it mean to be powerful?

- When someone is powerful it means they hold influence or authority over others. This can be through; confidence, knowledge, experience, decisiveness, responsibility, respect, assertiveness or being a role model.

- In a college class, teachers hold the power as a result of their occupation, qualifications and experience.

- In a family, parents are most powerful due to age & biological ties. However with siblings, the older sibling is generally the most powerful, also due to age. This is due to social variables.

How is this evident in language?

- imperatives - orders/commands - formal lexis used - jargon

In interviews it is evident in language when an interviewer is in power due to;

- instrumental power - have power to give us job so are assertive and decisive - use of maxim of manner and maxim or relevance - formal lexis - our unfamiliarity with their discourse

However, we also exert power in an interview due to;

- influential power - maintaining eye contact - use of declarative's and modal verbs - projecting confidence in body language 

Breaking Bad; I am the one who knocks (analysis)

Link to video; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMEq1mGpP5A

Analysis; 

Lexis -

- Formal lexis is used throughout
- Jargon in relevance to Walt's profession is used frequently such as 'school teacher' and 'business'
- Skylar uses a mode of address with Walt by calling him by his name whereas Walt doesn't address her in a formal way, just uses the personal pronoun 'you'
- The use of the pronouns 'you' and 'I' show personal authority and show that they are disagreeing with each other as they aren't showing unity by using 'we'
- Metaphors used, such as 'I am the danger'

Syntax - 

- Imperative sentences used in the form of rhetorical questions
- Interrogative sentences also used
- Rhetorical questions used by Walt to show authority over woman, tries to belittle her by asking obvious questions - threatening

Phonology - 

- Rhythmic pattern used more by man as his speech flows smoothly and offers no room for interruptions

Pragmatics - 

- Positive politeness used by woman is genuine as she is looking out for Walt and trying to do whats best even if he is feeling threatened by this idea
- No directives are mitigated, both characters get straight to the point
- Assertion used to present opinion as if it is fact - shows idea of threatening
- Presupposition used by Walt due to him not allowing any room for interruption, challenge or question whereas when Skylar is speaking Walt is able to interrupt frequently

Body Language -

- Both characters start on the same level - shows equal authority 
- Walt then stands up before giving his speech so he shows authority over Skylar as he is now on a higher level than her

Brown & Levinson's Face Theory & Grice's Maxims

B&L Face Theory;

- B&L define 'face' as; “the public self-image that every member wants for himself." This can be divided into to types of face; negative & positive. Negative face is the desire to not have your actions hindered by others, to have personal preserves and basic claim to things. Positive face, however, is the desire to be approved by others. 
- Politeness is formed by the construct of face and social variables such as; power and social attitude. - The ideas of face & politeness connect through the idea created called 'face-threatening acts' or FTA. This occurs when someone threatens the face of the speaker, for example through disagreeing or interrupting. Politeness arises through trying to stop an action either due to a request with negative face or a refusal with positive face. 
- Positive politeness is shown through appreciating the needs of others.

Grice's Maxims;

- The maxim of quantity; where someone tries to be as informative as one possibly can, and gives as much information as is needed, and no more.
- The maxim of quality; where someone tries to be truthful, and does not give information that is false or that is not supported by evidence.
- The maxim of relation; where someone tries to be relevant, and says things that are pertinent to the discussion.
- The maxim of manner; when someone tries to be as clear, as brief, and as orderly as one can in what one says, and where you avoid obscurity and ambiguity.