时间：2022-09-08 09:29:24
【摘 要】几十年来肯尼迪就职演讲一直被视为具有代表性的经典政治演说。本论文主要从文体学角度分析该演讲的文体特征包括体裁、修辞和话语风格。本文旨在通过文体分析的角度更好地理解并欣赏肯尼迪就职演讲。
【关键词】肯尼迪就职演讲；文体分析；修辞语言
【Abstract】Kennedy’s inaugural address has been one of the representative and classical public speeches for decades of years. This thesis mainly analyzes the speech from stylistic point of view， including its style， figures of speech and discourse， revealing the stylistic features of the speech. The thesis tries to appreciate the speech from a stylistic angle in order to better understand Kennedy’s art of language.
【Key words】Kennedy’s inaugural address； stylistic analysis； rhetorical language
Introduction
Kennedy’s inaugural address has been one of the representative and classical inaugural addresses for decades of years， with its powerful eloquence， flamboyance words and irresistible attraction. This thesis aims to analyze this well-known speech in perspectives of its style and the foregrounded features employed in the speech， trying to appreciate and understand Kennedy’s art of language.
1.Discussion on the Style of the Speech
Kennedy’s inaugural address together with that of Roosevelt were regarded as two of the most memorable public speeches in 20th century. Kennedy’s speech， with a total number of 1，355 words， turned out to be a representative work for its encouraged language and strong appeal for citizens’ obligations.
From the angle of style， Kennedy’s inaugural address is a typical political speech. Speech of this sort is usually characterized by the following features： First， it should be bound to audiences and occasions， that is， speaker needs to take audiences’ age， sex， educational background， etc. into consideration. Second， quotations， proverbs， idioms， maxims or classic literatures are frequently used in a speech. Third， the speech usually use the first person pronoun “I” and “We”. Last but not least， rhetorical language is abundantly highlighted in this kind of speech. In addition， language of political speech is formal and rigid which functions to persuade and convince people to accept the speaker’s point of view. As for Kennedy’s inaugural speech， obviously， it absorbs all the features above. His speech was to be delivered ahead of thousands of American people， and in which his political opinions were involved. Therefore， the language used in the speech should be formal and written. In order to get closer to his citizens， Kennedy used first pronoun “I” and “We” in his whole speech， which helped him to gain support.
Apparently， Kennedy’s speech has a clear structure with points. It is strictly logical. All of these features are to convey Kennedy’s main idea that “we shall pay any price， bear any burden， meet any hardship， support any friend， oppose any foe， in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty”.
Conclusion
The language in Kennedy’s inaugural address is written and formal although it is expressed in an oral way， which is right suitable for the solemn occasion at that time. Besides， the highly skilled language makes the speech wonderful and impressive. This speech successfully arouses listeners’ passion to build their country altogether. It is， with no doubt， a successful and representative public speech in American history.
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