Study of Spoken language - Comparison of speeches by Barrack Obama and Martin Luther King.

Authors Avatar by shazzaman (student)

GCSE English – Study of Spoken Language Controlled Assessment

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Main Body – Tone

“All this we can do. All this we will do” At this point in the speech, I thought Obama had a perfect opportunity to raise his intonation and pace to galvanise the crowd to the thought of a utopian future. With much thought, I have arrived at the conclusion that this is feasible due to emotions and nerves on the day, as it was seemingly the most important day of his life, which affected his language choice resulting in losing his pre-planned applause.

The target domain when King says “cashing a cheque” is equal rights and the source domain is banking. He states that freedom for African Americans is something that was promised then never given through a comparison: "America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds.'" All listeners can understand the concept of not getting money they were promised. By cleverly relating lost money to the lost equality of the African Americans, King rouses the audience into associating segregation with something unfair. We can also learn from this quotation that MLK uses euphemism. These variations on language choice are very important for politicians to understand and to use correctly. It is extremely important to be speaking inclusively with such a wide spectrum of people. Therefore it is imperative for politicians to use euphemism when speaking to such a diverse audience, not to offend anyone. The word “Negro” is out of context in today’s modern society. The more appropriate term today would be “Black Person” this is a great example to portray how language has adapted and developed over time, for different reasons and contexts.

In my own opinion I think Barack Obama varies and exploits the use of tone very well and I feel that suprasegmentals can be extremely effective when used in engaging an audience. We learn this when he refers to previous racism, “Why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.” He raises his tone to show strive for change. This anecdote is an excellent use of engaging an audience. Anecdotes are important when building a rapport and are an insight into the speaker, and their character. In the context of political talk, the speaker tries to cultivate a cult of personality. The personality of the politician as someone you can trust, aiding the purpose of engaging an audience. The personal ingredient, in which Obama adds, evokes the audience, making them feel sympathetic and almost proud, that blacks have fought to get what they deserve, and that Obama being the first black president of the U.S.A., the barrier of racial discrimination has been broken. Obama’s illocution of personal reflection has the perlocutionary effect of engaging his audience. The emotional anecdote reveals humanity and creates a personal connection to his listeners. Again, this can be used as another example of what the impact of his language choice has on his audience’s, mine and others use. This is an intelligent idea, evoking the audience by adding personal reflections. For future use, I will most likely employ personal anecdotes into my own speeches, as it would further engage my audience.

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Main Body – Repetition/Anaphora

The most prominent feature of MLK’s speech is repetition. In his speech, the repetition can be distracting, however, in a speech, it is essential to connect and engage with the audience. In giving short, simple sentences packed with power and passion, it will evoke the audience and involve them with the emotions of the speaker. A speech is judged by how much it moves an audience; therefore in my opinion I think this has the potential to be one of the best speeches of all time. ...

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