A Rhetoric Of Identification In English Public Speaking

Discourse analysis of English public speaking has been a considerably important area ofcontemporary linguistic study. Many scholars at home and abroad have conductedcomprehensive and systematic studies of the discourse from a wide range of perspectives,like pragmatics, communication, systemic-functional grammar, stylistics and rhetoric.However, so far, there have been few attempts to do discourse analysis of English publicspeaking on the basis of Kenneth Burke’s new rhetoric. Moreover, the limited studies largelyfocus on the discourses like inaugural addresses and election campaign speeches given bypolitical leaders and speeches delivered by historical figures, without touching Englishwar-declaration speaking----a vital component of English public speaking discourse.The thesis endeavors to establish a rhetorical model of English public speakingidentification which is mainly based on Kenneth Burke’s new rhetoric and assimilates thefindings of classical rhetoric, contemporary rhetoric and communication. In addition, thethesis applies the established model to analyze the identification strategies of five pieces ofEnglish war-declaration speeches delivered by British or American political leaders. Tosecure the representativeness of target speeches, this thesis has selected five pieces of speechdiscourses which indicate the explicit purpose of declaring war, and have won satisfyingpublic recognition. All the speeches were delivered by premiers or presidents, namelyChurchill, Roosevelt, Bush, W. Bush and Blair.The thesis consists of seven chapters. Chapter One introduces the background of thepresent study, the objectives and significance of the research and the methodology and dataused in the study. Chapter Two offers the general introduction to English public speaking,expounds the definition and features of English war-declaration speaking, and briefly reviewsthe relevant literature on English public speaking. Chapter Three concisely presents thedevelopment of western rhetoric, Kenneth Burke’s new rhetoric theory, elaborates the corenotion of the theory----“identification”, and discusses the rhetorical situation of Englishpublic speaking. Chapter Four establishes a rhetorical model of English public speakingidentification from the perspectives of rhetorical content and rhetorical form. Substantive identification is achieved by identification via credibility, identification via antithesis andidentification via inaccuracy; formal identification is realized through the rhetorical strategiesemployed in speeches’ structural organization and the rhetorical devices applied by speakers.Chapter Five and Chapter Six are based on the established rhetorical model and investigateidentification strategies of five English war-declaration speeches via rhetorical content andform respectively. The last chapter draws a conclusion of major findings in the present studyand points out its limitations and future research to be made.The research has both theoretical and practical significances. Theoretically speaking, ithas not only introduced a new perspective into the discourse analysis of English publicspeaking, but also has enriched the study of English public speaking discourse by itsexploration into the rhetoric identification of English war-declaration speeches. The practicalvalue of the present study lies in helping people to get a deep insight into public speakingdiscourse, raise the awareness of communication and improve communicative competence.Furthermore, the audience-centered notion stressed by the newly-built rhetorical model ofidentification is also applicable to writing, which helps people to erect a reader-orientedwriting model and improve their writing strategies.