If you're a speechwriter, or if your work requires you to write persuasive copy, I highly recommend that you read David Crystal's superb analysis of the acceptance speech Barack Obama gave last Tuesday. Crystal is a linguist and prolific author (100 books and counting!) who brings a scholarly British perspective to his observations.
Here's an excerpt:
As the speech started, I turned to my wife and said, 'He'll never do it!' What was I noticing? It was the opening if-clause, a 41-word cliff-hanger with three who-clause embeddings. Starting a major speech with a subordinate clause? And one of such length and syntactic complexity? I thought he would be lucky if he was able to round it off neatly after the first comma. Try it for yourself: get a sense of the strain on your memory by starting a sentence with a 19-word if-clause, and see what it feels like. But he didn't stop at 19 words. The first who-clause is followed by a second. Then a third. It was real daring. It's difficult for listeners to hold all that in mind. But it worked. And then the short 4-word punch-clause. And deserved applause.
And that's just the beginning. Obama used the full quiver of rhetorical devices: repetition, pairs, triptychs, and contrast (between general and personal, for example). And also this:
One of the things actors know is that, in a long speech, they have to leave themselves somewhere else to go. This is something I've learned from actor son Ben. If you put all your energy into the opening lines of a soliloquy, you'll find it trailing away into nothing before the end. Rather, start low and steadily build up. Or, divide the speech up into sections and introduce peaks and troughs. Or, divide it into sections and treat each section in a different way. Obama's speech goes for this last option. It has several sections, each very different in content, and it is the switch of content which motivates a switch of style and renews the audience's motivation to listen.
I've read that Obama writes many of his speeches himself; his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in August is one example. For his Election Night speech, however, he apparently had some help—from a 27-year-old Liberal Democrat (that's a party, not an ideology) in the U.K., among other contributors. But the language and tone of the speech felt entirely natural and authentic, which suggests that Obama himself had the final edit.
Text and video of the speech here.
(Hat tip: Wishydig.)
UPDATE: Here's a Wordle word cloud of Obama's acceptance speech. (Hat tip: Nancy Nall.)
Thanks so much for this article. Not only are all parts fascinating (your thoughts, the analysis, and the introduction to word clouds), but I am overjoyed by the reality that our President-elect is able to craft speeches that not only resonate but are linguistically brilliant.
Posted by: evvance | November 12, 2008 at 05:23 AM