On Rhetorical Functions of Narratives in Hillary Clinton’s Speeches

Yulian Chen

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijll.20180604.15

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On Rhetorical Functions of Narratives in Hillary Clinton’s Speeches

Yulian Chen

Published in International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 6, Issue 4)

Received: 30 July 2018 Accepted: 28 August 2018 Published: 27 September 2018

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Abstract

Hillary Clinton is generally considered as a competent female politician and an excellent orator. She has impressed the world with her elegant words, storytelling styles and unique personal charm. Scholars have probed into her speeches from different angles and found that kinds of discourse strategies have been applied to enhance the appeal of her speeches, which to a great extent reflect her identities as a female and a politician. Taking Hillary Clinton’s speeches in different contexts for example, this paper makes a study on the features and rhetorical functions of narratives in her speeches. It attempts to point out the way narratives work to enhance the persuasive power of her speeches. Based mainly on theories about persuasive appeals of speech, identification between speaker and listeners, and rhetorical functions of narratives in speech discourses respectively proposed by Aristotle, Burke and Yang, the present research forms its own theoretical basis and seeks out how narratives work to provide factual evidences for her arguments, to stir the emotions of the audience through appealing to her authority and identifying with them emotionally, and to help organize the discourse. 14 speeches by Hillary have been collected to make data analysis and sample illustration. The research yields two major findings as follows: 1. Narratives are frequently applied by Hillary Clinton in each of the 14 speeches as an effective speech strategy and also a rhetorical device. She tends to narrate relevant events to promote the achievement of the speech purpose by highlighting the theme, supporting the viewpoints and stimulating emotions; 2. Comparatively, most of the narratives, altogether 96% of them, are employed to provide factual evidences for her viewpoints, emphasizing more on the post-narrative effect, and to stir the empathy of the listeners by presenting her ethos and identifying emotions. The current research is of practical significance for language learners and researchers to evaluate more effectively and investigate more deeply into language of female politicians.

Published in	International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 6, Issue 4)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijll.20180604.15
Page(s)	134-139
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2018. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Narratives, Rhetorical Functions, Hillary Clinton’s Speeches

References

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[2]	Aristotle (1954). Rhetoric. (W. Rhys Roberts. Trans.). New York: Random House.
[3]	Booth, C. Wayne (1985). The Rhetoric of Fiction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
[4]	Phelan, J. (1996). Narrative as Rhetoric. Columbus: Ohio State University Press.
[5]	Phelan, J. (2014). Alice Munro’s Rhetorical Narrative in “Prue” (Yang Jincai & He Jiawei. Trans.). Yangtze Academic, 3:76-82.
[6]	Xiao X. (2018). A companion to rhetorical narrative criticism: A review of James Phelan's Reading the American Novel 1920－2010. Foreign Studies, 6 (1): 96-110.
[7]	Aristotle (1991). Rhetoric. (George Kennedy. Trans.). New York: Oxford University Press.
[8]	Burke, K. A. (1969). Rhetoric of Motives. Berkley: University of California Press.
[9]	Toolan, J. M. (1988). Narrative: A Critical Linguistic Introduction. London: Routledge.
[10]	Yang J. Q. (2016). On Rhetorical Narrative in Public Speech under Discourse Intertextuality. Guangzhou:World Book Publishing Guangzhou Co., Ltd.
[11]	Chen Y. L. (2017). On Identity Construction Strategies in Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Speech. In Linda S., Lisa H., Qi F. and Jin Z. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Sixth Northeast Asia International Symposium on Language, Literature And Translation. Georgia: The American Scholars Press.
[12]	Jiang T. (2012). To Address with Grace like Hillary Clinton. Beijing: Petroleum industry publishing house.
[13]	Jiang T. and Meng F. (2013). The Most Influential Speeches in the First-class Universities. Beijing: Petroleum industry publishing house.
[14]	Ding X. W., Yang Y. and Chen C (2014). Inspirational Speeches of Women Elites. Beijing: China Aerospace Press.
[15]	Wang Z. R., Gao X. H. and Wang J. X. (2014). The Most Eloquent Speeches of the Successful Females in the World. Beijing: Chemical industry publishing house.
[16]	Lucas, S. (2009). The Art of Public Speaking. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research press.
[17]	Lehnen (2016). Exploring Narratives’ Power of Emotional Persuasion through Character Involvement: A Working Heuristic. Journal of Literary Theory, 10 (2):247-270.
[18]	Isocrates (1990). Against the Sophists. In Patricia Bizzell and Bruce Herzberg (Eds.), The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present. Boston: Bedford Books.
[19]	Cicero (1997). De Oratore. Bks. I-III. (H. Rackham. Trans.). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

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Yulian Chen. (2018). On Rhetorical Functions of Narratives in Hillary Clinton’s Speeches. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 6(4), 134-139. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20180604.15

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Yulian Chen. On Rhetorical Functions of Narratives in Hillary Clinton’s Speeches. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2018, 6(4), 134-139. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20180604.15

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Yulian Chen. On Rhetorical Functions of Narratives in Hillary Clinton’s Speeches. Int J Lang Linguist. 2018;6(4):134-139. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20180604.15

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@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20180604.15,
  author = {Yulian Chen},
  title = {On Rhetorical Functions of Narratives in Hillary Clinton’s Speeches},
  journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
  volume = {6},
  number = {4},
  pages = {134-139},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20180604.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20180604.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20180604.15},
  abstract = {Hillary Clinton is generally considered as a competent female politician and an excellent orator. She has impressed the world with her elegant words, storytelling styles and unique personal charm. Scholars have probed into her speeches from different angles and found that kinds of discourse strategies have been applied to enhance the appeal of her speeches, which to a great extent reflect her identities as a female and a politician. Taking Hillary Clinton’s speeches in different contexts for example, this paper makes a study on the features and rhetorical functions of narratives in her speeches. It attempts to point out the way narratives work to enhance the persuasive power of her speeches. Based mainly on theories about persuasive appeals of speech, identification between speaker and listeners, and rhetorical functions of narratives in speech discourses respectively proposed by Aristotle, Burke and Yang, the present research forms its own theoretical basis and seeks out how narratives work to provide factual evidences for her arguments, to stir the emotions of the audience through appealing to her authority and identifying with them emotionally, and to help organize the discourse. 14 speeches by Hillary have been collected to make data analysis and sample illustration. The research yields two major findings as follows: 1. Narratives are frequently applied by Hillary Clinton in each of the 14 speeches as an effective speech strategy and also a rhetorical device. She tends to narrate relevant events to promote the achievement of the speech purpose by highlighting the theme, supporting the viewpoints and stimulating emotions; 2. Comparatively, most of the narratives, altogether 96% of them, are employed to provide factual evidences for her viewpoints, emphasizing more on the post-narrative effect, and to stir the empathy of the listeners by presenting her ethos and identifying emotions. The current research is of practical significance for language learners and researchers to evaluate more effectively and investigate more deeply into language of female politicians.},
 year = {2018}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - On Rhetorical Functions of Narratives in Hillary Clinton’s Speeches
AU  - Yulian Chen
Y1  - 2018/09/27
PY  - 2018
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20180604.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20180604.15
T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
SP  - 134
EP  - 139
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-0221
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20180604.15
AB  - Hillary Clinton is generally considered as a competent female politician and an excellent orator. She has impressed the world with her elegant words, storytelling styles and unique personal charm. Scholars have probed into her speeches from different angles and found that kinds of discourse strategies have been applied to enhance the appeal of her speeches, which to a great extent reflect her identities as a female and a politician. Taking Hillary Clinton’s speeches in different contexts for example, this paper makes a study on the features and rhetorical functions of narratives in her speeches. It attempts to point out the way narratives work to enhance the persuasive power of her speeches. Based mainly on theories about persuasive appeals of speech, identification between speaker and listeners, and rhetorical functions of narratives in speech discourses respectively proposed by Aristotle, Burke and Yang, the present research forms its own theoretical basis and seeks out how narratives work to provide factual evidences for her arguments, to stir the emotions of the audience through appealing to her authority and identifying with them emotionally, and to help organize the discourse. 14 speeches by Hillary have been collected to make data analysis and sample illustration. The research yields two major findings as follows: 1. Narratives are frequently applied by Hillary Clinton in each of the 14 speeches as an effective speech strategy and also a rhetorical device. She tends to narrate relevant events to promote the achievement of the speech purpose by highlighting the theme, supporting the viewpoints and stimulating emotions; 2. Comparatively, most of the narratives, altogether 96% of them, are employed to provide factual evidences for her viewpoints, emphasizing more on the post-narrative effect, and to stir the empathy of the listeners by presenting her ethos and identifying emotions. The current research is of practical significance for language learners and researchers to evaluate more effectively and investigate more deeply into language of female politicians.
VL  - 6
IS  - 4
ER  -

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Yulian Chen

South China Business College, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China

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Yulian Chen. (2018). On Rhetorical Functions of Narratives in Hillary Clinton’s Speeches. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 6(4), 134-139. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20180604.15

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Yulian Chen. On Rhetorical Functions of Narratives in Hillary Clinton’s Speeches. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2018, 6(4), 134-139. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20180604.15

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Yulian Chen. On Rhetorical Functions of Narratives in Hillary Clinton’s Speeches. Int J Lang Linguist. 2018;6(4):134-139. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20180604.15

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@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20180604.15,
  author = {Yulian Chen},
  title = {On Rhetorical Functions of Narratives in Hillary Clinton’s Speeches},
  journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
  volume = {6},
  number = {4},
  pages = {134-139},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20180604.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20180604.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20180604.15},
  abstract = {Hillary Clinton is generally considered as a competent female politician and an excellent orator. She has impressed the world with her elegant words, storytelling styles and unique personal charm. Scholars have probed into her speeches from different angles and found that kinds of discourse strategies have been applied to enhance the appeal of her speeches, which to a great extent reflect her identities as a female and a politician. Taking Hillary Clinton’s speeches in different contexts for example, this paper makes a study on the features and rhetorical functions of narratives in her speeches. It attempts to point out the way narratives work to enhance the persuasive power of her speeches. Based mainly on theories about persuasive appeals of speech, identification between speaker and listeners, and rhetorical functions of narratives in speech discourses respectively proposed by Aristotle, Burke and Yang, the present research forms its own theoretical basis and seeks out how narratives work to provide factual evidences for her arguments, to stir the emotions of the audience through appealing to her authority and identifying with them emotionally, and to help organize the discourse. 14 speeches by Hillary have been collected to make data analysis and sample illustration. The research yields two major findings as follows: 1. Narratives are frequently applied by Hillary Clinton in each of the 14 speeches as an effective speech strategy and also a rhetorical device. She tends to narrate relevant events to promote the achievement of the speech purpose by highlighting the theme, supporting the viewpoints and stimulating emotions; 2. Comparatively, most of the narratives, altogether 96% of them, are employed to provide factual evidences for her viewpoints, emphasizing more on the post-narrative effect, and to stir the empathy of the listeners by presenting her ethos and identifying emotions. The current research is of practical significance for language learners and researchers to evaluate more effectively and investigate more deeply into language of female politicians.},
 year = {2018}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - On Rhetorical Functions of Narratives in Hillary Clinton’s Speeches
AU  - Yulian Chen
Y1  - 2018/09/27
PY  - 2018
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20180604.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20180604.15
T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
SP  - 134
EP  - 139
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-0221
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20180604.15
AB  - Hillary Clinton is generally considered as a competent female politician and an excellent orator. She has impressed the world with her elegant words, storytelling styles and unique personal charm. Scholars have probed into her speeches from different angles and found that kinds of discourse strategies have been applied to enhance the appeal of her speeches, which to a great extent reflect her identities as a female and a politician. Taking Hillary Clinton’s speeches in different contexts for example, this paper makes a study on the features and rhetorical functions of narratives in her speeches. It attempts to point out the way narratives work to enhance the persuasive power of her speeches. Based mainly on theories about persuasive appeals of speech, identification between speaker and listeners, and rhetorical functions of narratives in speech discourses respectively proposed by Aristotle, Burke and Yang, the present research forms its own theoretical basis and seeks out how narratives work to provide factual evidences for her arguments, to stir the emotions of the audience through appealing to her authority and identifying with them emotionally, and to help organize the discourse. 14 speeches by Hillary have been collected to make data analysis and sample illustration. The research yields two major findings as follows: 1. Narratives are frequently applied by Hillary Clinton in each of the 14 speeches as an effective speech strategy and also a rhetorical device. She tends to narrate relevant events to promote the achievement of the speech purpose by highlighting the theme, supporting the viewpoints and stimulating emotions; 2. Comparatively, most of the narratives, altogether 96% of them, are employed to provide factual evidences for her viewpoints, emphasizing more on the post-narrative effect, and to stir the empathy of the listeners by presenting her ethos and identifying emotions. The current research is of practical significance for language learners and researchers to evaluate more effectively and investigate more deeply into language of female politicians.
VL  - 6
IS  - 4
ER  -

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