Pragmatic aspects of American politicians’ public speeches

Abstract

The present work is dedicated to the prosodic analysis of American politicians’ speeches and to the description of changing voice characteristics according to the speech topic and its importance for the politician and the audience. The voice is the key part of a politician’s image because with its help he or she can influence the electors. That’s why a politician and his or her team have to think not only about what to say but also about what intonation the speech must be pronounced with. In this paper, Barack Obama, Condoleezza Rice, and George Bush’s speeches have been analyzed. The main criteria of the voice analysis are melody, the pitch of the tone, strength of tone, fluency, tempo, and emphasis. The present work is a contribution to the modern branch of linguistics concerning the study of the prosodic organization of successful oratorical speech in politics and its influence on a politician’s image. The importance of this work is explained by the growing influence of politics spread with the help of mass media. This work can be useful for those who are interested in politics or want to understand how to create their own image with the help of the tone of voice.