A Stylistic Analysis on the Speech of Ivanca Trump Introducing Father

【Abstract】Donald J. Trump had been elected as the next American President in American presidential election， which drawn the attention all over the world. On the way of his success， his daughter， Ivanca Tramp， a charming and famous model， a brilliant and successful businesswoman， had helped him to a large extent. She introduced her father in a speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention and with her intelligence， public influence as well as her excellent speaking， her speech gained much support for Donald Trump. This speech is a good example for public speeches. A stylistic analysis on it would be conducted from four perspectives which are phonological， lexical， syntactical and rhetorical aspects respectively.

【Key words】Ivanca；Trump；speech；stylistic analysis

【作者簡介】吳青倩，首都師范大學(xué)。

1. Introduction

Stylistics is a discipline that helps researchers do stylistic study on the base of linguistic theories and its methods. A stylistic analysis contributes to a better understanding on texts as well as the intentions and ideas that the author wants to convey 104. The speech that Ivanca Trump introduced Donald Trump as campaigner belongs to persuasive speech type， which aims to influence or change the audiences feelings and beliefs and exhort them to take some action. In Ivancas speech， she talked about the significance of a Trump Presidency would bring， the great morals and qualities of her father， the beneficial policies which would be taken if Donald Trump has been elected as the president of America. Her words are strong and her speech is persuasive， which is worthy to analyze.

2. From phonological aspect

Phonological devices play an important role in public speeches since they are delivered orally. Therefore， using and controlling pitch and voice skillfully， as well as employing phonetic figures of speech appropriately would be essential to the success of the speech.

In Ivancas speech， there are 1867 words in total and the whole speech last for about 15 minutes. It turns out that she spoke 124 words per minutes， which is little slower than the normal speed of 150 words. In speech especially a public one， speaking slowly to some extent would not only be helpful in making clear viewpoints， but also in making listeners understand better.

Besides， Ivanca used many phonological techniques which make the speech with rhythmic beauty. For example， in the simple sentence that “My father is a fighter” （paragraph 3）， “father” and “fighter” both have initial consonant /f/ as well as the final vowel /?/. She used both alliteration and rhyme to make statement， to emphasize Trumps determination and operating style towards people， and to improve audiences recognition of Trump. Fricative /f/ also gives audiences a kind of strong resolution of him in hearing. Alliteration was also used in “He dug deeper， worked harder， got better and became stronger” （paragraph 3） that four monosyllables have been used to make the sentence structure be tidier， which enhance the persuasive influence at the same time. Whats more， in “When Donald Trump is in charge， all that counts is ability， effort and excellence” （paragraph 15）， Ivanca used words “effort” and “excellence”， which all have the initial vowel / ?/， to stress Trumps focuses and fairness.

Beyond that， stress is another phonological device which was used in this speech. In sentences “Women are paid equally for the work that we do and when a woman becomes a mother， she is supported， not shut out” （paragraph 15） and “He will be your greatest， your trustiest， and your most loyal champion” （paragraph 26）， words in boldface are stressed to emphasize her key points. In the former one Ivanca indicates that women in Trump Organization are treated equally just like men and when a woman became a mother， she would get support， rather than being discriminated invisibly in other workplaces. It is persuasive that more women may vote Trump Donald in order to realize his future women-beneficial policies. In the second sentence， bold words are stressed for expressing Trumps absolute appropriateness for being the president.

Ivanca also paused 28 times throughout the speech. There are 4 occasions that she would pause at. Firstly， she paused to draw audiences attention. Second， she paused when she pointed out Donalds personalities like generosity， empathy， perseverance and toughness. Third， she paused when she makes statements on present situations. Last， she paused when took about Donalds future policies. All of these pauses are reasonable and useful that gives time for audiences to react， which makes the whole speech better. In short， phonological devices like tempo， rhyme， stress are all used to get better results in Ivancas speech.

3. From lexical aspect

Public speeches require speakers use more standard words since it is formal and solemn. It indicates that speeches should have features of written language. But at the same time， speakers should deliver it in an easy way in order to make audiences understand what they say immediately while make reaction. Therefore， choosing words subtly can make the whole speech come cross well.

In Ivancas speech， “fight” （9 times） and “fighter” （2 times） are used throughout of it. She stated that her father is a fighter at the beginning （paragraph 3）. Then， she detailed audiences that she has witnessed Donald fought for his family， his employee and his company and she were seeing him fight for their country （paragraph 4）. And at the end of this speech， she used “fighter” again， which reiterates the theme of her speech that Donald would be the most suitable person for president.

The choices of pronouns and possessive nouns are also ingenious. Ivanca used personal pronouns “I” 22 times， possessive nouns “my” 35 times to express her own ideas and standpoint. “We” and “our” are used in the speech 9 and 8 times respectively. It helps in arousing audiences response of common interests while declaring her objective point of view. One thing worthy noting is that since its a speech canvasses people to vote Donald， pronoun “he” appeared 46 times， “his” 27 times while “him” 12 times， which highlights Donalds commendable traits as well as his governing ideas.

On the modal expression level， Ivanca used “will” 20 times during the speech. “Will” always used to express what would happen in the years to come and the high frequency of “will” shows audiences the bright future a Trump Presidency would bring. It is exactly the ardent hope of American people.

Interrogative pronoun “when” was applied 13 times in the speech， which emphasizes that Donald will be in peoples corner to comfort them and help them. Beyond that， it strengthens the infectiousness and vocal fluency of speech language.

Whats more， there are about 16.8% words which have more than 6 letters in the speech. This fact shows that simple words are preferred in this kind of public speech because it can be easier understand， which lead to a wider influence on audiences. All in all， a subtle choosing of words affects much on the overall effect of the speech.

4. From syntactical aspect

For most public speeches， most speakers tend to use long sentences since they can convey complicated ideas. Most sentences in public speeches have more than 20 words， longer than the average English sentence length which is 17.6 words per sentence 230. But in Ivancas speech， the number of sentences that have 10 to 20 words take the majority （about 46.9%）. Besides， sentences that have 1 to 10 words account for about 26.5%， sentences that have 21 to 30 words 18.5% while sentences have more than 30 words 0.8%. It shows a tendency that Ivanca used more simple sentences in her speech. Simple speeches can express ideas strongly， clearly， which are high impelling. For example：

“My father values talent. He recognizes real knowledge and skill when he finds it. He is color blind and gender neutral. He hires the best person for the job， period.” （Paragraph 13）

This paragraph is a short one， but it is really strong and impressive. The main idea is Donald knows the person friendly to use. The first sentence pointed out that Donald cherishes talented people. The second one indicates that Donald has the ability to find those people. The third sentence shows that Donald doesnt care peoples backgrounds， skin color or gender as long as they are competent. The last one concludes his principle of employing. The word “period” in this sentence makes the whole paragraph concise， neat and powerful. And there is another example：

“To people all over America， I say， when you have my father in your corner， you will never again have to worry about being let down. He will fight for you all the time， all the way， every time.” （Paragraph 22）

This paragraph was constituted by only two sentences. The first one is a complicated sentence which ensures people Donalds standpoint that always give them a hand when they in need. The second one is a simple sentence. The number of words is small but the effect is great. “All the time” indicates the long length of time Donald would fight for people while “all the way” and “every time” indicate the wide scope of things that Donald would deal with and abundant occasions he would be helpful respectively. Ivanca used “all” and “every” made the promise became extremely convincing. Whats more， short sentences are used to indicate Donalds characters， which is clear and powerful. In a word， Ivancas speech is unique and impressive on syntactic level.

5. From rhetorical aspect

There are a lot of rhetorical devices used in speech. These multitudinous figures of speech give speeches powerful infectiousness. In Ivancas speech， antithesis， parallelism and metaphor are applied to make the speech be stronger and more effective.

5.1 Antithesis

Antithesis can be defined as “a figure of speech involving a seeming contradiction of ideas， words， clauses， or sentences within a balanced grammatical structure. The ideas may not be structurally opposite， but they serve to be functionally opposite when comparing two ideas for emphasis.

In Ivancas speech， antithesis has been used many times. For instance， antithesis was used in sentence that “Competence in the building trades is easy to spot and incompetence is impossible to hide” （paragraph 11）. “Competence” and “incompetence” are antonyms which makes a contrast between two kinds of people. And “be easy to do” and “be impossible to do” share same grammatical structure but they are semantically different. It indicates that people with talent or not would be figured out once they give their works， which implies the strong strength of Trump Organization as well as Donald. It also shows a balanced beauty in sentence structure. Same situation happens in “Politicians that allow women with children to thrive should not be novelties， they should be the norm” （paragraph 18） and sentence “In Donald Trump， you have a candidate who knows the difference between wanting something done and making it happen” （paragraph 19）. The former one is used to strengthen an argument by using exact opposites words “novelties” and “norm” while the later one by simply contrasting ideas “wanting something done” and “making it happen”， which makes sentences more memorable for the listener.

5.2 Parallelism

Parallelism means giving two or more parts of one or more sentences a similar form to create a definite pattern， a concept and method closely related to the grammatical idea of parallel construction or structure.

In this speech， parallelism was also used frequently to get a better speech effect. For example：

“I have seen him fight for his family. I have seen him fight for his employees. I have seen him fight for his company. And now， I am seeing him fight for his country”. （Paragraph 4）

In this sentence， Ivanca used structure “I see him fight for something” 4 times in this paragraph to create a strong effect of Donalds tough personality and persevering quality towards what he thought was important and meaning for to him. This sentence pattern gives a strong auditory impact to audiences， which is very persuasive and contagious. Parallelism was used excellent in another paragraph：

“Politicians ask you to be judged by their promises， not their results. I ask you to judge my father by his results. Judge him by those hes instilled in his children. Judge his competency by towers hes built， the companies hes founded， and the tens of thousands of jobs hes created”. （Paragraph 24）

In this paragraph， Ivanca used double parallelism at the same time. The first one is that she used the structure “judge somebody by something” 4 times. It shows her belief that her father has done nice jobs and his great achievement can make every one trust him and rely on him. The second one is structure “something one has done” has been applied 3 times in the last sentence of this paragraph. It explained what Donald had done for people and America further to prove people that he is the right person for being American president. Together， this paragraph is very convictive in content as well as graceful in rhyme.

5.3 Metaphor

A metaphor is a figure of speech that refers， for rhetorical effect， to one thing by mentioning another thing. It may provide clarity or identify hidden similarities between two ideas.

In this speech， Ivanca also used metaphor to intensify the effect of her speech. In “These sits are also incredible melting pots， gathering people from all walks of life and uniting them to work towards a single mission” （paragraph 13）， she used “melting pots” to symbolize the Trump Organization， which indicates that Donald employed talented and suitable person for job no matter their background， ethnicities or gender. It is cogent for Americans who pursue freedom and dreams. Whats more， in sentence “As president， my father will take on the bold and worthy fights” （paragraph 21）， Ivanca used “fight” to represent tough controversies of peoples interests domestically or internationally. Besides， it shows Donalds resolution and persistence to protect what people care about.

In short， rhetorical devices are applied in Ivancas speech which improves the whole effect of it.

6. Conclusion

In this article， the speech of Ivanca Trump introducing her father was analyzed from a stylistic perspective. On phonological level， it uses visual speed， pause， stress and rhyme to create phonetic beauty. On lexical level， it chooses pronouns， modal expressions as well as nouns intentionally to clarify the main ideas. On syntactical level， this speech uses many simple sentences to express and emphasize theme. On rhetorical level， antithesis， parallelism and metaphor are used to strengthen the whole effect of the speech. All in all， its the application of these skills that makes the speech fantastic.

References：

[1]董啟明.新編英語文體學(xué)教程[Z].北京：外語教學(xué)與研究出版社， 2008.2.

[2]秦秀白.英語文體和問題要略[M].上海：上海外語教育出版社，2002.

[3]王佐良，丁往道.英語文體學(xué)引論[M].北京：外語教學(xué)與研究出版社，1987.12.

[4]“Antithesis”.The Columbia Encyclopedia.Columbia University Press.

[5]Lloyd，Alfred.“The Logic of Antithesis”.The Journal of Philosophy，Psychology，and Scientific Methods.1991.8（11）：281–289.