THE ROLE OF VERBAL ANDNON-VERBAL RHETORICAL IN CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP: A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF THE FIRST LADY'S SPEECHES:MICHELLE OBAMA
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Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate the area of usingrhetorical devicesand illustrate these phenomena in the political speech ofleaders. Political leaders try to influence their followers through well organized and well written political speeches. However, the ability of using these figures of rhetoric contributes to enhance the relationship between the speaker and the listener's attitude as well as to exert much influence on the public and to persuade them rather than the use of information and facts only. For many people, standing up in public and doing a speech is one of their greatest fears and the ultimate challenge. So people need to overcome the difficulties involved and explore some techniques for making their speeches as impressive as possible and to arrange the words to achieve special stylistic effects .Human is created to live in this world as a social creature; that always needs to live with others to fulfill their social needs. To be one of a group and to get successful communication in any situation, people need to have the pragmatic competence and socio-pragmatic knowledge to use the language appropriately. Speakers need to be persuasive and have the ability to convince the audience by usingrhetorical devices designed to encourage or provoke an emotionaldisplay of a given perspective or action. Rhetoric is a technique that a speaker or a writer uses to convey a meaning to the audiencewith the goal of persuading them towards considering a topic from a different perspective.Crystal (2008:416)defines rhetoric as the study of effective or persuasive speaking and writing,especially as practiced in publicoratory.An empirical study wasthen conducted to test the qualitative and quantitative rhetorical devices which are used in the speech of Mrs.Michelle Obama as one of the political leader who uses methodsand psychological tactics to influence the crowd, convey their message to them, and entrench in their minds to the point of persuading them. The findings reveal that she uses the rhetorical devices andthe daily speeches in limited ways in her speeches to align frames and build trust, to get what she wants by getting the audience ethos, logos, and pathos in their speeches .The study also shows that she tend to use fixed verbal expressions accompanied by non-verbal formsto do more charismatic speeches. The data consists of two real situationsrecorded on YouTube. All the results are tabulated and the differences in both verbal and non-verbal behavior are tackled in a way that reflects the role ofcontextual variables have a great influence on the process of choosing the appropriate form of rhetorical devices.
Keywords
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate the area of usingrhetorical devicesand illustrate these phenomena in the political speech ofleaders. Political leaders try to influence their followers through well organized and well written political speeches. However, the ability of using these figures of rhetoric contributes to enhance the relationship between the speaker and the listener's attitude as well as to exert much influence on the public and to persuade them rather than the use of information and facts only. For many people, standing up in public and doing a speech is one of their greatest fears and the ultimate challenge. So people need to overcome the difficulties involved and explore some techniques for making their speeches as impressive as possible and to arrange the words to achieve special stylistic effects .Human is created to live in this world as a social creature; that always needs to live with others to fulfill their social needs. To be one of a group and to get successful communication in any situation, people need to have the pragmatic competence and socio-pragmatic knowledge to use the language appropriately. Speakers need to be persuasive and have the ability to convince the audience by usingrhetorical devices designed to encourage or provoke an emotionaldisplay of a given perspective or action. Rhetoric is a technique that a speaker or a writer uses to convey a meaning to the audiencewith the goal of persuading them towards considering a topic from a different perspective.Crystal (2008:416)defines rhetoric as the study of effective or persuasive speaking and writing,especially as practiced in publicoratory.An empirical study wasthen conducted to test the qualitative and quantitative rhetorical devices which are used in the speech of Mrs.Michelle Obama as one of the political leader who uses methodsand psychological tactics to influence the crowd, convey their message to them, and entrench in their minds to the point of persuading them. The findings reveal that she uses the rhetorical devices andthe daily speeches in limited ways in her speeches to align frames and build trust, to get what she wants by getting the audience ethos, logos, and pathos in their speeches .The study also shows that she tend to use fixed verbal expressions accompanied by non-verbal formsto do more charismatic speeches. The data consists of two real situationsrecorded on YouTube. All the results are tabulated and the differences in both verbal and non-verbal behavior are tackled in a way that reflects the role ofcontextual variables have a great influence on the process of choosing the appropriate form of rhetorical devices.
