Speakers’ Identity Construction In TED Public Speeches

Public speech has always been a hot research topic in field of linguistics.As an important sub-genre of public speaking,TED(i.e.,Technology,Education and Design)public speeches(or TED Talks)have also attracted the attention of scholars.Existing studies on TED public speeches pay high attention to figures of speech,the organization of speech content,discourse markers,the role of speech in language learning and pragmatic functions of audience meta-discourse.Though studies on TED public speeches cover a wide range,identity construction in TED public speeches is less discussed.The study of identity construction is helpful to understand the characteristics of this kind of verbal communication comprehensively.Therefore,the present study probes into the identity constructed through personal pronouns in TED public speeches.The study randomly selects 30 technology speeches from the official website of TED public speeches as the data for analysis.The present study mainly focused on the first person singular pronouns “I” and “me”,which are usually considered as one of the most important linguistic strategies of identity construction.Three research questions are addressed in this study:1.What identities are constructed by speakers through the first person singular pronouns in TED technology speeches?2.What is the distribution of the speakers’ identities constructed through the first person singular pronouns in TED technology speeches?3.Is more than one identity constructed by a speaker in an individual speech? If yes,how does the speaker shift his/her identity from one to another?The classification of the speaker’s identities is based on Ivanic’s(1998)and Tang and John’s(1999)frameworks of writers’ identity and Ren’s(2016)classification of the expert’s pragmatic identity.In addition,Chen’s(2013)dynamic choice of pragmatic identity and Ren’s(2014)analytical framework of identity construction are also employed to examine the dynamic shift of TED speaker’s identity.After a detailed analysis of the data,the study yields the following results:Firstly,the speakers’ identities constructed in TED public speeches contain nine categories,namely the identity of a narrator,the identity of a researcher,the identity of an opinion-holder,the identity of a speech-giver,the identity of a cooperator,the identity of an originator,the identity of an interlocutor,the identity of an advice-giver and the identity of a help-provider.Secondly,there are differences in the distribution of various identities.The identity of a narrator ranks the highest(38.26%)and the identity of a researcher takes the second place(32.35%).The distribution of identities of an opinion-holder,a speech-giver,a cooperator,an originator,an interlocutor,an advice-giver and a help-provider ranks in a descending order.The distribution difference of various identities is related to speakers’ personal experiences,social roles,personal opinions,origin of ideas and interactions with audience,and their motivation of showing authority.Finally,a speaker constructs more than one identity in an individual speech,which makes identity construction a dynamic process in TED public speeches.In other words,identity shift occurs when speakers deliver their speeches.Theoretically,the study examines the identity construction through personal pronouns and identity shift in TED public speeches,which could enrich existing studies on identity construction and public speeches.Methodologically,a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the first person singular pronouns will enrich the complementarity of the two approaches to identity construction.Pedagogically,this study can help speakers strengthen their identity consciousness and skillfully construct the identity through person pronouns in public speaking.This research can shed light on the public speech training.