Language Techniques In Barack Obama's Speech

How did the Author use language techniques and stylistic features to meet the expectation of the intended audience?

On December 15th 2013 United States President Barack Obama delivered a speech at former South African President Nelson Mandela’s memorial service. Obama’s speech was delivered with respect and compassion. He used a range of language techniques such as emotive language and appealing to the audience’s sense of sympathy. Obama used a vast range of stylistic features, which include inclusive language and pauses. These techniques were used to engage the audience in the speech, and to emphasise the points he was trying to get across.

President Obama used emotive language in his memorial service speech. Emotive language consists of words that he used to engage the audience and to also give them a strong message. An example of emotive language in Obama’s memorial speech is “Madiba showed us the power of action; of taking risks on behalf of our ideal.

Perhaps Madiba was right that he inherited a proud rebelliousness, a stubborn sense of fairness from his father and a friend”. The example shows emotive language because; Obama expressed the risks Madiba took on our behalf. Obama used words like power and action to engage the audience. This language appealed to the audience because it stirred the feelings of patriotism.

Obama appeals to the audience’s sense of sympathy by invoking feelings of pity or guilt in the audience. An example of how he appealed to the audience’s sense of sympathy includes the exclamation “It took a man like Madiba to free not just the prisoner but the jailer as well, to show that you must trust others so that they may trust you; to teach that reconciliation is not a matter of ignoring a cruel past, but a means of confronting it with inclusion and generosity and truth. He changed laws, but he also changed hearts.” The example plays on the sympathy of the audience, because it states how forgiving Nelson Mandela was, it makes the audience realise there should be more forgiveness and empathy in the world.

Obama used inclusive language in the memorial service speech.

Inclusive language is wording that aims to ensure that all members of society are treated with equal respect and that no individual or group is overlooked or denigrated. An example of inclusive language in the memorial speech is demonstrated when President Obama stated, “He was not a bust made of marble; he was a man of flesh and blood – a son a husband, a father and a friend. And that’s why we learned so much from him, and that’s why we can learn from him still. For nothing he achieved was inevitable. In the arc of his life, we see a man who earned his place in history through struggle and shrewdness, and persistence and faith. He tells us what is possible not just in the pages of the history books, but in our own lives as well.” The example stated that people need to have faith like Madiba did because life sometimes may be a struggle. This example shows inclusive language because Obama shows equal respect on the individual, whom is Nelson

Mandel.

Pauses were used in the speech presented by Obama. A pause is a temporary stop in a speech, which emphasises a strong message to the audience. An example of a pause in the memorial service speech is Obama exclaiming, “Like America’s Founding Fathers, he would erect a constitutional order to preserve freedom for future generations – a commitment to democracy and rule of law ratified not only by his election, but by his willingness to step down from power after one term” (pause). This example shows a pause, which was undertaken, at the end of the sentence. The pause was added just after Obama exclaimed that Mandela showed willingness to step down after one term in power. Obama used the pause so that the audience could adjust to what had been said.

Barack Obama used a variety of language techniques and stylistic features to fulfill and exceed the expectations of his audience. In his speech at the funeral of Nelson Mandela, former South African President, his speech used a vast range of language techniques like emotive language as well as dialogue that would appeal to the audience’s sense of sympathy. Barack Obama used many stylistic features including pauses and tense to intrigue the audience throughout the duration of his speech. Each technique and stylistic feature was carefully used in order to keep the audience engaged and to emphasise the main subjects of his speech.

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