Presentation by Dmitry Sadkovoy, Petrozavodsk.The choice of the sphere for the research, which is “The analysis of the language of the debate B.Obama and McCain” can be explained by the fact that the election campaign and the debates in October 2008 as a part of it, attracted a lot of attention of the mass media all over the world and in Russia in particular. For the English language students the debate is interesting not only due to the ideas the speakers present. The language of the debate is worth studying as it is based on clarity, eloquence and logic, which enables the speakers to express their point of view, sound convincing and persuasive. The research is not aimed at evaluating the speakers’ political views, but the main emphasis is put on detecting the language patterns both candidates B.Obama and McCain use in their responses to the questions and to understand specific devices the speakers use to accomplish their purpose (e.g., persuasive techniques, style, word choice, language structure).
Throughout the world, parliamentary debate is what most countries know as "debating", and is the primary style practiced in the United Kingdom, Australia, India and most other nations. The premier event in the world of parliamentary debate, the World Universities Debating Championship, is conducted in the British Parliamentary style.
Even within the United Kingdom, however, 'British Parliamentary' style is not used exclusively; the English-Speaking Union runs the national championships for schools in a unique format, known as the 'Mace' format after the name of the competition, while simultaneously using British Parliamentary format for the national universities championships.
In the U.S. the American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA) is the oldest national parliamentary debating organization, and it is the leader for all parliamentary debating at the secondary school level in the United States. And in Canada, the Canadian Universities Society is the organizer for all university-level debating; at the secondary school level, the Canadian Student Debating Federation (CSDF) has the same function.
Body language is taken into consideration even before the speakers start introducing their point of view. The mass media takes advantage of some ridiculous situations and present them in favour or against the candidate.
Repetition is a common form of emphasis and it is used by both speakers to formulate ideas, opinions:
- to draw the listener’s attention to the problem and to emphasize that the problem is really actual.
- substituting of “Americans” by “them” – is a very clever device and the main idea is to unite the audience with the speaker so that automatically they support the speaker and belong to his party.
The plumber became famous all over the world. But I personally suspect that the person hardly exists. By mentioning an ordinary man the speaker becomes more attractive to the ordinary people.
Reference to historic events is often used during the debates. It is enough to mention the 11 September to convince the listeners that the speaker made the correct decision.
By using the direct speech the speakers make their speech more informal and it may sound like the words said by the real speaker (again the plumber)
By using the definite article the speakers introduce their points of view not just to any person, but to each person in the audience.
There are a number of ways to add emphasis to your sentences in English. By using these forms we emphasize our statements when we are expressing our opinions, disagreeing, making strong suggestions, expressing annoyance, etc.
The speakers invert the word order by placing a prepositional phrase or other expression (at no time, suddenly into, little, seldom, never, etc.) at the beginning of the sentence followed by inverted word order. Generally, an inversion is used to stress the uniqueness of an event and begins with a negative.
Some people think of metaphors as nothing more than the sweet stuff of songs and poems--Love is a jewel, or a rose, or a butterfly. But in fact metaphors are widely used in political debates. They can't be avoided: metaphors are built right into our language of political debates
A metaphor is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something important in common. The word metaphor itself is a metaphor, coming from a Greek word meaning to "transfer" or "carry across." Metaphors "carry" meaning from one word, image, or idea to another.
By using sentences with simple structure and by adding just one new word at the end the speaker creates the effect of importance of what he does and emphasizes that each sphere of activity is equally important.
Sentences introduced by a clause beginning with 'What' are also used to emphasize a specific subject or object. The clause introduced by 'What' is employed as the subject of the sentence as is followed by the verb 'to be'.
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Should we learn the art of a debate? Are we capable of convincing the listener and the opponent? Have you ever experienced the situation when you are at a loss for words while speaking in public? I can guess the answer is positive, so I suggest we should conclude that the issue of studying speaking techniques is really actual and worth considering.
