A Corpus-based Study on the Linguistic Features of English Public Speeches英語演講語言的語料庫研究

吳秋蘅　張雯

摘要：眾所周知，英語演講是一種最高級、最富有審美價值的口語表達形式。它除了具有一般的書面語言和口語表達的特點外，還具有其自己獨特的語言特點。本文選取了172篇風格不同的英語演講辭，建立小型語料庫，運用語料庫檢索軟件AntConc 3.2.4，從詞匯的廣度和難度、高頻詞、主題詞、語篇的銜接等角度分析演講語言的語言特征。

關鍵詞：語料庫;英語演講;語言特征

Public speech is the art of a language， the most advanced， the most aesthetic oral language. In addition to the features of written language and oral expression， the language of public speech is special in linguistic features. This study collects 172 English public speeches， and compiles these speeches into a corpus with 561，624 tokens， and the total number of word type is 17，811.The author， applying the concordance software“AntConc”， analyzes the linguistic features of English public speeches from the respect of word frequency， imperative sentences， and rhetorical devices， to arrive at the conclusion.

1. Literature review

Modern corpus linguistics is a study of language arising from 1980s， which is based on the language database stored in a computer. Corpus Linguistics can put a large body of linguistic samples into study， thus avoiding the disadvantage of traditional research method， i.e.， lacking of samples and thereby lacking of objectiveness. Previous studies of linguistic features of English public speeches based on corpus have dwelled mostly on the study of vocabulary， while this paper will research more on the contextual level.

2. Research Procedure

This research aims at building a corpus of 172 English public speeches， which includes political speeches like “Franklin Delano Roosevelt First Inaugural Address”， speeches about law like “Emma Goldman Address to the Jury”， commencement speeches like Tim Cooks “2010 Auburn University Commencement Address”， to pep speeches from the stars like Kobe Bryants “If You're Never Afraid”. After compiling these public speeches into a corpus， the research goes on to analyze the linguistic features of these speeches. Using AntConc 3.2.4， the author extracts the data from different aspects： word frequency， length of words， narrative perspective， etc. and by comparing and analyzing these data， the author finally arrives at some tentative conclusions.

3. Analysis and discussion

Having employedAntConc 3.2.4， thisresearch analyzes several aspects of the corpus to study the linguistic features of public speeches.

3.1 word frequency

Word frequency can show the most frequently-appeared words and the least ones.

3.1.1 First-and-second person pronouns

According to the corpus， the word appeared most frequently is “I”， whose frequency is 5857. “We” ranks the third， “our” the fourth， and “you” the fifth. Altogether in these 172 speeches， the first-person pronouns appear 17300 times and the second-personpronounsappear 3662 times （see Chart 1）. This is an evidence of a typical feature of public speeches： the frequent use of first and second person pronouns.

Most of the time， public speaking is to persuade the audience. In persuading， a good speaker will often use first-and-second person pronouns to shorten the distance between the speaker and the audience and appeal the support from the audience. Public speech is “commonly understood as face-to-face speaking between individuals and an audience for the purpose of communication”. In face-to-face communication， the speaker will often use direct form of address to attract the audiences attention， to arouse response of the audience. It is commonly known that when we see something onto which we can project our own images， experiences and memories， it conjures up associations and emotions. By using the first-and-second person pronouns， the speech will become more appealing and can strike a chord with the audience.

3.1.2 Modal verbs

The function of modal verbs is to express the estimation and judgment of the possibility of change， ability， obligation， will， etc.In public speeches， the speaker uses modal verbs to express his or her subjective emotions and opinions to create positive power in order to motivate the listeners.Through the statistics of key modal verbs in the 172 speeches， the author finds that the distribution of its core modal verbs is shown in chart 2.

Statistics show that in these speeches，“will” is the most frequently used （1842 by frequency）， followed by“can” （1268 by frequency）. “Would” is in the third place， with the frequency of 826.According to the Oxford LearnersDictionaries， “will” expresses several meanings： one is “talking about or predicting the future”， the other is “showing that somebody is willing to do something”， the third is “asking somebody to do something”， and the fourth is “ordering somebody to do something”. “Can” is mainly “used to say that it is possible for somebody/something to do something， or for something to happen”， or is “used to say that somebody knows how to do something”. Both words can help the speaker express his or her views without being too absolute.

3.2 Imperative sentence

The imperative tense in English is used to give an order， a warning， an appeal， an advice， a suggestion， an instruction and in some cases a request to another person， to a group of people. In analyzing the corpus of these 172 speeches， the author finds that the imperative sentences are often used.

When retrieving the word “let” in the corpus， the author finds 479 results， most of which are used for imperative tense. In the famous speech “I Have a Dream” given by Martin Luther King， “let” is used 13 times， mostly in the final part of the speech， in order to achieve the effect of appealing to the audience. Whats more， the word “let” ranks the 10^thin the whole corpus as far as word frequency is concerned.

e.g. 1.

Let freedom ring.

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York！

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania！

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado！

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slops of California！

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia！

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee！

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi！

From every mountainside， let freedom ring！

When we let freedom ring， when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet…

---- Martin Luther Kings “I Have a Dream”

Take “please” as another example， which appears 23 times in the corpus. In Jesse Jacksons“1984 Democratic National Convention Address”， the word “please” is used 5 times， and ranks the fifth as far as word frequency is concerned.

e.g. 2.

And， ladies and gentlemen， please think of this -- the nation must think of this： What kind of Supreme Court will we have？

---- Jesse Jacksons“1984 Democratic National Convention Address”

In the above sentence， the word “please” is used to politely ask the audience to think of the question that the speaker has put forward. By the use of this imperative sentence， the speaker is successful in arousing the audiences attention and achieving the effect of putting the audience in the specific context， thus finally wins the audiences agreement and support.

3.3 Rhetorical devices

In public speaking， for the achievement of the audiences interest and the effect of being more lively， the speaker often employs some rhetorical devices， among which， the most frequent used is simile.

Take the speech “The Ballot or the Bullet” given by Malcolm X， the speaker often uses “like” to express simile. By the use of simile， the speaker compares his idea to things that the audience are familiar with for the purpose of being more emotionally catching and more vivid.

e.g. 3

When you take your case to Washington， D.C.， you're taking it to the criminal who's responsible; it's like running from the wolf to the fox. They're all in cahoots together. They all work political chicanery and make you look like a chump before the eyes of the world. Here you are walking around in America， getting ready to be drafted and sent abroad， like a tin soldier， and when you get over there， people ask you what are you fighting for， and you have to stick your tongue in your cheek. No， take Uncle Sam to court， take him before the world.

---- Malcolm Xs “The Ballot or the Bullet”

4. Conclusion

Through the observation and analysis of the corpus， the author finds， in English public speeches， the use of first-and-second person pronouns and modal verbs are often employed for the effect of being more appealing; and in order to be more compelling， the speakers often use imperative sentences. The frequent use of rhetorical devices makes the speech more vivid and persuasive.

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