A Stylistic Analysis of Overstatement in Kamala Harris's Selected Speeches

Asst.lect. Bashaer Jameel Rhaif; Prof. Salih Mahdi Adai(PhD)

doi:10.31185/eduj.Vol61.Iss1.4505

Authors

Asst.lect. Bashaer Jameel Rhaif Ministry of Education.Al- Najaf Al-Ashraf Directorate of Education
Prof. Salih Mahdi Adai(PhD) University of Babylon, Department of English, College of Education for Human Sciences

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31185/eduj.Vol61.Iss1.4505

Keywords:

stylistics, overstatement, metaphor, repetition, tone

Abstract

This paper studies the notion of overstatement in American political ‎speeches particularly those which is delivered by the vice president of ‎united states kamala Harris. The study aims at discovering what are the ‎stylistic tools employed in political that contribute to the construction of overstatement in political discourse and its effect on the audience to express overstatement ‎and how politicians utilize them in their speech strategically. For model ‎of analysis, Leech and Short (2007) is‎ used in this study. Concerning the method of analysis, ‎qualitative method is employed for analysis the data in question. The study concludes that politicians like Harris in their speeches deploy linguistic tools such as metaphor, persuasion, hyperbole, repetition, simile, personification, tone, assertion, and parallelism modality stylistically to represent overstatement in national issues. It also reveals that overstatement in political context serves as a persuasive tool that shapes the perception of the public by emotionally charging language through using stylistic tools to portray the political ambition in idealistic form with the aim of highlighting their political and national accomplishments and in turn achieving their political aims.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Aristotle. (2007). On rhetoric: A theory of civic discourse (G. A. Kennedy, Trans.). Oxford University Press.

Charteris-Black, J. (2011). Politicians and rhetoric: The persuasive power of metaphor (2nd ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230319899

Fowler, R. (1996). Linguistic Criticism. Oxford University Press.

Kress, G., & Hodge, R. (1979). Language as Ideology. Routledge.

Leech, G., & Short, M. (2007). Style in Fiction: A Linguistic Introduction to English Fictional Prose. Pearson Education.

Simpson, P. (2004). Stylistics: A Resource Book for Students. Routledge.

Fowler, R. (1996). Linguistic Criticism. Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192892614.001.0001

Kress, G., & Hodge, R. (1979). Language as Ideology. Routledge.

Leech, G., & Short, M. (2007). Style in Fiction: A Linguistic Introduction to English Fictional Prose. Pearson Education.

Simpson, P. (2004). Stylistics: A Resource Book for Students. Routledge.

Chilton, P. (2004). Analyzing political discourse: Theory and practice. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203561218

Fairclough, N. (2003). Analyzing discourse: Textual analysis for social research. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203697078

Fowler, R. (1991). Language in the news: Discourse and ideology in the press. Routledge.

Lakoff, G. (1996). Moral politics: What conservatives know that liberals don’t. University of Chicago Press.

Leech, G., & Short, M. (2007). Style in fiction: A linguistic introduction to English fictional prose. Pearson Education.

Martin, J. R., & White, P. R. R. (2005). The language of evaluation: Appraisal in English. Palgrave Macmillan.

Mudde, C., & Rovira Kaltwasser, C. (2017). Populism: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780190234874.001.0001

Reisigl, M., & Wodak, R. (2001). Discourse and discrimination: Rhetorics of racism and antisemitism. Routledge.

Simpson, P. (2004). Stylistics: A resource book for students. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203496589

Van Dijk, T. A. (2006). Discourse and manipulation. Discourse & Society, 17(3), 359–383. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926506060250

Wales, K. (2011). A dictionary of stylistics (3rd ed.). Routledge.

Web sources:

1. https://time.com/7173617/kamala-harris-concession-speech-full-transcript/

2. https://www.rev.com/transcripts/vp-kamala-harris-inauguration-day-speech-transcript