Genre Analysis of Trump’s Inaugural Address

崔莹莹

【Abstract】The US presidential inaugural speech is a kind of highly regarded genre， and the application of genre analysis can help to understand how the purpose of communication determines the characteristics of language and has some practical significance in understanding discourse and writing practice.

【Key words】Genre； Genre analysis； Inaugural Address

【摘要】一直以來，美国总统就职演说（APIA）都会引起学者在应用语言学领域的极大关注。然而，大多数关于APIA的研究主要是从翻译、文体、修辞等角度进行的，对体裁分析的研究却少之又少。

【关键词】体裁 体裁分析 就职演说

1. Introduction

Genre Analysis

As an admittedly new development of discourse analysis， genre analysis establishes itself after going through four stages， that is， register analysis， grammatical-rhetorical analysis， interactional analysis and genre analysis. This paper， with the relevant theory of Bhatia on the genre analysis， will study the language characteristics and discourse composition of Trumps inaugural speech.

2. The Language Analysis of Trumps Inaugural Speech

The communicative function of the inaugural speech determines its characteristics in terms of words selection， sentence style and rhetoric.

2.1 The Use of Pronouns

In the inaugural speech， in order to get the audiences support， the speaker must make the audience feel grounded to bridge the distance between the speaker and the audience. This kind of subtle social relationship influenced the language style of the inaugural speech. Speakers often use the first person pronoun plural to achieve this purpose.

E.g： Together， we will determine the course of America and the world for years to come. We will face challenges， we will confront hardships. We will get the job done.

The use of “we” makes the audience feel that the president are standing together with them， and the president and the general public will face difficulties， solve the problem together.

2.2 Words that Represent the Current Situation

Description and evaluation of the situation at home and abroad is also an indispensable content in the inaugural speech. In his speech， Trump expressed his judgment on the current situation.

E.g： Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner city... our country of so much unrealized potential.

In order to inspire the morale of the people and to enhance the confidence to overcome difficulties， Trump stressed the livelihood of the people， therefore， family， job， school， retirement and other words reflecting the basic livelihood of the people also repeated. In addition， when referring to the national citizen， he used men， women， children， parents and other affinity words more than once， which increased the emotional expression of the speech.endprint

2.3 The Use of Rhetorical Device

The purpose of the speech is to arouse the enthusiasm of the audience， get the support of the audience. The immediate effect becomes a measure of success or failure， since most of the audience is only interested in the content of the speech， and will not listen to the recording repeatedly in the future. That， in turn， affects the content and form of the speech. In Trumps inaugural speech， many kinds of rhetorical devices were used.

2.3.1 The application of parallelism

Parallelism is the use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same；or similar in their construction， sound， meaning or meter. This method adds balance and rhythm to sentences giving ideas a smother flow and thus can be persuasive because of repetition it employs.

E.g： A new national pride will stir our souls， lift our sights， and heal our divisions.

2.3.2 The application of climax

Climax is derived from the Greek word for “ladder” and implies the progression of thought at a uniform or almost uniform rate of a significance or intensity， like the steps of a ladder ascending evenly. That big moment at the end is the climax， the decisive moment in the speech that all the action builds up to.

E.g： We share one heart， one home， and one glorious destiny.

3. Conclusion

Genre analysis not only reveals the available form-function relationship of a text but also contributes significantly to language learners understanding. After summarizing the Trumps inaugural speeches， we can appreciate the language charm of the inaugural speech as an embedded genre of speech genre. To sum up， through the attempt， we can see that genre analysis is a practical means of studying spoken and written discourse for applied ends.

References：

[1]Bhatia，V.K.A Genre-Based Approach to ESP Material Development[M].New York：Language Teaching，1991.

[2]Bhatia，V.K.Analyzing genre：language use in professional settings[M].New York：Longman Publishing，1993.

[3]Flowerdew，L.Using a genre-based framework to teach organizational structure in academic writing[J].ELT Journal，2003.

[4]Mirador，J.F.A move analysis of written feedback in higher education[J].RELC Journal，2008.endprint