奥巴马总统竞选演讲稿修辞学研究

论文摘要

本文旨在从修辞学的角度研究奥巴马的总统竞选演讲。在过去的两年中,奥巴马吸引了全世界的目光,他雄辩的演讲征服了亿万听众。人们常常把他和过去的林肯总统以及马丁·路德·金相提并论。奥巴马的成功因素有很多,但是修辞的因素功不可没。不管是古典的,还是现代的修辞手法,他都信手拈来,运用自如。本文研究的理论依据就是亚里士多德的经典修辞理论,即他的三种劝说诉求手段：品格诉求,情感诉求以及理性诉求。本文采取定性与定量的研究手段,并采用一定的运算方法统计分析他演讲中的用词频率。并本文中所有研究语料都来自作者精选的十篇最具代表性的奥巴马演讲稿。在文章的后半部分,作者具体研究分析了修辞格在奥巴马演讲中的运用,并初步探究了修辞格的运用对于奥巴马实现亚里士多德三诉求的作用。在本文的研究中,修辞格被分成语义层面,句子层面以及语音层面三个大类。本研究全文分为六个部分。第一章是介绍部分,讲了本次研究的目的,意义以及论文的新颖之处。第二章是文献综述,此部分概述了美国政治演讲的传统特点,回顾了前人关于奥巴马演讲的分析研究。第三章介绍了本研究采取的理论方法以及文中所用的语料及数据来源。第四章和第五章是全文重点部分。第四章详细阐述了亚里士多德三种诉求的涵义,并用具体实例来分析这三种古典劝服方式在奥巴马演讲中的运用。第五章进一步研究了奥巴马演讲中采用的各种修辞格,以及这些修辞格是如何帮助实现三种诉求的。第六章是结论,简要分析了奥巴马支持率下降与修辞学研究之间的关系以及本论文的其他主要发现及不足之处。

论文目录

• Acknowledgements
• Abstract
• 摘要
• Chapter One Introduction
• 1.1 A Brief Introduction
• 1.2 Purpose of the Study
• 1.3 Organization of the Thesis
• 1.4 Research Questions
• Chapter Two Literature Review
• 2.1 Background
• 2.1.1 About Aristotelian Rhetoric
• 2.1.2 Traditional Features of American Political Speeches
• 2.1.3 A Brief Introduction to Obama's Political Career
• 2.2 Previous Studies on Obama Speeches
• 2.3 Contribution of the Study
• Chapter Three Method and Data
• 3.1 Method
• 3.2 Primary Data and Context of The Study
• Chapter Four Application of the Three Appeals in Obama's Speeches
• 4.1 Understanding the Ethical Appeal and its Application in Obama Speeches
• 4.1.1 Ethos by Showing Competence
• 4.1.2 Ethos by Displaying Sound Character
• 4.1.3 Ethos by Establishing Common Ground with the Audiences by Pronouns
• 4.2 Understanding the Pathetic Appeal and its Application in Obama Speeches
• 4.2.1 Pathos by Appealing to National Pride and American Dream
• 4.2.2 Pathos by Appealing to Audiences' Personal Woes and Pains
• 4.3 Understanding the Logical Appeal and its Application in Obama Speeches
• 4.3.1 Logos by Logical Organization of Sentences
• 4.3.2 Logos by Listing Statistics as Evidence
• Chapter Five Rhetorical Devices Applied in Obama's Speeches
• 5.1 Semantic Devices in Obama Speeches
• 5.1.1 Application of Metaphor
• 5.1.2 Application of Similes
• 5.1.3 Application of Irony
• 5.1.4 Application of Hyperbole
• 5.1.5 Application of Metonymy
• 5.2 Syntactical Devices in Obama Speeches
• 5.2.1 Application of Antitheses
• 5.2.2 Application of Parallelism
• 5.2.3 Application of Rhetorical Questions
• 5.2.4 Application of Repetition
• 5.2.5 Application of Tricolon
• 5.3 Phonetic Devices in Obama Speeches
• 5.3.1 Application of Alliteration
• 5.3.2 Application of Assonance
• 5.3.3 Application of Consonance
• 5.3.4 Application of Pun
• Chapter Six Conclusion
• 6.1 Obama's Approval Rating Analysis
• 6.2 Summary
• Bibliography
• Appendix