A Stylistic Analysis of Oprah Winfrey’s Speech at the Golden Globes

Wang Cong?Wei Shuili

【Abstract】At 7th January， Oprah Winfrey delivered a speech at the Golden Globes， which causes a great social response. In order to observe the success of the speech， this paper analyzes the speech from lexical， syntax and discourse semantic level. Oprah preferred to use small words and first personal pronouns.Complicated sentences and declarative sentences are the features of the syntax level. Oprah used grammatical and lexical cohesive devices to achieve the coherence of the whole text.

【Key words】Oprah Winfrey； Speech； Stylistic Analysis

【作者簡(jiǎn)介】Wang Cong， Wei Shuili， Northwest University.

I. Introduction

At 7th January， Oprah Winfrey won the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes. The speech she delivered is just about 8 minutes， but its clear and completely shows Oprahs style. It is about women， equality， sexual harassment and more.

II. Features of Lexical Level

1005 words are covered in the speech， which includes about 99 big words. Oprah preferred to use small words， especially mono-syllabus words. The use of small words enhances the briefness and power of the speech. There are 58 difficult words. Its fog index is 10.4. It can be considered as an easy discourse. （Fog index=0.4（H+L） （L=average length of sentences； H= difficult words proportion）） The audiences have different education level. Thus， choosing simple words is easier for them to understand.

The first personal pronouns occupied 66% in the speech. Frequent usage of first person singular helps Oprah presenting her view. First person plural enhance the intimacy between she and audiences. The use of “she” and “her” echoes her topic.

III. Features of Syntax Level

Sentence is a basic language unit for expressing a concept. This paper will analyze the speech at aspects of sentence length， sentence structure and sentence type.

The average length of the 49 sentence is 20.5. Simple sentences are powerful and it is persuasive. “But their time is up！ Their time is up！ Their time is up！” push the speech into a climax.

It can be found that complicated sentences are the most frequent use in the speech. As a host and an actress， her technique of public speaking is well. She preferred to use complicated sentences to express her view.

In terms of sentence type， all sentences in the speech are declarative sentences. They can balance the intonation and they could raise the feeling of solemn and serious.

IV. Features of Discourse Semantic Level

Discourse is an important aspect of stylistic analysis. A sentence is based on a certain semantic connection， which is combined with various cohesive devices.

Grammatical cohesion includes reference， substitution， ellipsis， conjunction and lexical cohesion. Lexical cohesion mainly includes reiteration and collocation. Oprah mainly used conjunction reiteration and collocation in the speech.

Conjunction is used to describe the cohesive tie between clauses or sentences of a text to demonstrate a meaningful relationship between them. There are four main types： the additive， the adversative， the causal and the temporal.

“They threatened to kill her if she ever told anyone， but... And together， they ...” uses one additive and one adversative conjunction. “But” makes an impressive contrast. “And” adds information， a coherent set of actions， to the former clause.

Both methods of lexical cohesion are used in Oprahs speech. She mainly adopted the repetition of words in reiteration. “To say how we experience shame， how we love and how…” Six “how we” makes it compact， and reinforce the power. She wanted to encourage women to pursue their life and protect their rights. Collocation refers to the relations between lexical items which regular co-occur. “Tech-politics-business”； “Olympics-athletes” and “soldiers-military” helps the audience to know that the women are making a contribution to every profession.

V. Conclusion

Based on stylistic theories， it is found that small words make the text more concise. Oprah established a common ground by using first person. Feminine personal pronouns highlight her topic. Long compound sentences， complicated sentences and declarative sentences showed her public speaking techniques. Oprah used grammatical and lexical cohesive devices to achieve the coherence of the whole text.

References：

[1]錢(qián)媛.實(shí)用英語(yǔ)文體學(xué)[M].北京：北京師范大學(xué)出版社，1991