Discourse Analysis of First Inaugural Address by Franklin D. Roosevelt
Introduction
Discourse analysis originated in the middle of 19th century, which offered a method to study how the language was used in reality. It is an approach to the study of a discourse, which includes the patterns of the language and both the social and cultural context in which the texts take place (Britain Paltridge, 2006). This essay aims to provide a brief discourse analysis of the First Inaugural Address delivered by the great American president Franklin D. Roosevelt when the country was faced with serious economic problems. It will firstly identify to whom the address is intended to deliver, and then the purposes of the speech will be discussed. Finally, it will analyze the elements of style of this speech-writing. In the conclusion part, it will be pointed out that one can understand how the address is organized and why it had such widespread and deep effects on Americans by a discussion of its discourse features.
The analysis of the intended audience
When people intend to understand the elements of a particular discourse, it is essential to know who are the speaker and hearer (James Paul Gee, 2010). It is obvious that the intended audience of this discourse is the American people. As for examples, “my fellow Americans” and “this nation” can demonstrate. At that time of crises, Americans were depressed; therefore, what they wanted urgently was the courage in adversity, confidence in recovery, and hope for the future. The President elaborated many effective measures and actions he would take to achieve economic recovery, which appeals to the audience, i.e. the American people.
The discussion of the purposes
“The objective pattern of language behavior was seen to be correlated with the overall social pattern of differential reaction to specific economic strains and social pressures.”(William Labov, 2006). Hence language should be studied within its social context. The United States was then in the grip of a world-wide economic crisis, so the purposes of this inaugural address were not only to state his administrative program to improve economic situation, but also to inspire all Americans to strengthen their conviction and devote themselves to economic resurgence. To achieve these aims, the addresser made full use of the organization of the speech.
This piece of discourse begins with the President’s determination to deal with the difficulties, which pacifies the audience by obtaining confidence from their leader. And reading through this address which is well-designed, it can be concluded that most part of the speech is to explain the measures he would take to handle the economic problems. Highlighting the new President’ administrative program which was the audience’s greatest care could definitely encourage people to keep firm to their faith and to put their whole heart in work.
In addition, the paragraphs vary in lengths. Some paragraphs consist of only one sentence or two short sentences, while some ones have more than one hundred words. The changes in the length of paragraphs avert weary of the audience and indicate the emphasis of the few sentences as a single paragraph.
The analysis of stylistic elements in this address
The word choices
Because of the content, function and the delivering occasion of this speech, the words used in this are formal and have features of writing language so as to avoid randomness.
Moreover, the first person “we” and its variant “us” and “our” are used most frequently, showing that the speaker takes the same position as the audience. More precisely, by employing “we”, “us” and “our”, the tone is quite amiable, which makes it easier to win people’s support and to carry out his economic policies. For example,
(1) “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself!”
(2) “Through this program of action, we address ourselves to putting our own national house in order, and making income balance outflow.”
(3) “These dark days, my friends, will be worth all they cost us…”
Parallelism
Parallelism contributes to create structurally balanced, harmonic, and compact sentences which are very expressive, incentive and persuasive. For example,
(4) “There must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments; there must be an end to speculation with other people’s money; and there must be provisions for an adequate but sound currency.”
(5) “It has met every stress of vast expansion of territory, of foreign wars, of bitter internal strife, of world relations.”
(6) “This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper.”
By using parallelism, the serious tone of the President to confront difficulties is emphasized. Thus evoke encouragement among people to improve economy.
Repetition
Lexical repetition is conducive to enhance the organization quality of the discourse (Krisztina Karoly, 2002). Repetition not only helps to reinforce the tone and feelings of speaker, but also strengthen the influence of the address. For example,
(7) “This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly.”
(8) “This nation is asking for action, and action now.”
(9) “We must act, we must act quickly.”
Through repetition, a strong sense of immediate action to change their economic situation will be raised in the audience.
Alliteration
Alliteration was widely used by writers and speakers. The tenacity of alliteration and its continued linguistic grounding are (Donka Minkova, 2003). Alliteration enables the speaker to attract the attention of the audience and leave a deep impression on them. For example,
(10) “Let me express my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself-nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror.”
(11) “It can be helped by the unifying of relief activities which today are often scattered, uneconomical, and unequal.”
Conclusion
In conclusion, by a brief discourse analysis, a basic understanding about why it played such a significant role in the economic recovery of America during the Great Depression can be achieved. Its well-organized structure and the appropriate usage of rhetorical skills, along with the reforms it put forward, created far-reaching influence on the audience, i.e. the Americans, and therefore they were inspired greatly to do their best to ameliorate the economic condition of their country, which was exactly the purpose of the address.
Reference
Gee, James. (2010). How to do Discourse Analysis: A Toolkit. London: Routledge.
Karoly, Krisztina. (2002). Lexical Repetition in Text: a study of the text-organizing function of lexical repetition in foreign language argumentative discourse. New York: Peter Lang.
Labov, William. (2006). The Study of Language in its Social Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Minkova, Donka. (2003). Alliteration and Sound Change in Early English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Paltridge, Britain. (2006). Discourse Analysis: an Introduction. London: Continuum
