GRAMMATICAL FEATURES OF MODERN AMERICAN PUBLIC SPEECH

ГРАММАТИЧЕСКИЕ ОСОБЕННОСТИ СОВРЕМЕННОЙ АМЕРИКАНСКОЙ ПУБЛИЧНОЙ РЕЧИ

Пидгайный Владислав Евгеньевич

курсант, кафедра перевода и переводоведения, Новосибирский военный ордена Жукова институт имени генерала армии И.К. Яковлева ВНГ РФ,

РФ, г. Новосибирск

Далецкая Татьяна Анатольевна

научный руководитель, доц. кафедры перевода и переводоведения, Новосибирский военный ордена Жукова институт имени генерала армии И.К. Яковлева ВНГ РФ,

РФ, г. Новосибирск

ABSTRACT

The paper focuses on describing the linguistic peculiarities of public speech. The role and significance of public speaking in the USA is highlighted. In particular, grammatical means are analyzed to explain how to achieve maximum effect on the audience, using the example of D. Trump’s speech.

АННОТАЦИЯ

В статье рассматриваются лингвистические особенности публичных выступлений. Подчеркивается роль и значение публичных выступлений в США. В частности, анализируются грамматические средства, позволяющие добиться максимального эффекта на аудиторию, на примере выступления Д. Трампа.

Keywords: public speech, linguistic means, American political discourse, stylistic devices, grammatical means.

Ключевые слова: публичное выступление, лингвистические средства, американский политический дискурс, стилистические приемы, грамматические средства.

Oratorical skills and mastery of the art of eloquence are key competencies for a modern public figure: their success largely depends on them. Public speeches by politicians today are a significant factor influencing public consciousness: it is through them that information reaches the audience, serving as the most important tool for influencing the masses. In the course of such communicative influence, political figures shape the perspective on socially significant areas – in particular, culture and religion. These spheres significantly determine the direction of society’s development, as they serve as channels for transmitting established value orientations and widespread stereotypes.

The research topic of the study is relevant because it is important to identify the characteristic features of public speech – they show how stylistic devices of the English language can serve as a tool for thinking and an effective means of communication in modern environment. American political discourse deserves special attention: today, the United States is one of the key platforms for global political dialogue that makes it a particularly valuable object for analysis.

The research material is texts from public speech by American President, Donald Trump, published on the website https://www.whitehouse.gov. This resource is an extensive corpus of speeches by US political figures – it contains all public speeches and ensures sufficient representativeness of the data.

The aim of the study is to analyze the linguistic means used in American public speech at the grammatical level. During the analysis, a number of characteristic syntactic constructions were identified: elliptical phrases, short answers, conditional sentences, subjunctive mood forms, passive voice constructions, as well as various communicative types of sentences.

Elliptical constructions convey the naturalness of spoken language: they create a special rhythm and pace of speech, and the listener involuntarily fills in the missing part of the phrase, becoming more actively involved in the perception of the speech.For example, D. Trump’s speech has a certain rhythm and pace, thanks to the large number of elliptical constructions: «But you know what. …. You ever think of it as a swing state? ... Very enthusiastic people (about people of Las Vegas)» [1].

It is also worth paying attention to short answers – speakers often resort to remarks consisting of one or two words. Such brief statements are an effective way to focus the audience’s attention and help listeners identify key points, which are typical of speech‑based persuasion techniques.

In the next example the speaker particularly emphasizes the idea that the living conditions of African Americans and Spanish-speaking citizens are the most unfavorable. In this way, D. Trump demonstrates his engagement and concern for their situation, stressing that the fate of these people is important to him: «Who does it hurt the worst? African Americans and Hispanics. It hurts the Hispanics and the African Americans first» [1].

Donald Trump’s speech often features chains of simple, asyndetic, or weakly coordinated sentences – this syntactic device lends energy to the statement and makes it more accessible to the audience. In addition, the politician actively uses syntactic parallelism and also resorts to emphatic constructions and inversion to enhance the expressiveness of his speech: «We are going to fix our inner cities and rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals» [1].

In public speeches one of the effective linguistic tools is the choice of communicative types of sentences. Question-based constructions are particularly often used for manipulative purposes. In political discourse questions are a common device, and rhetorical questions play a special role: formally, they take the form of a question, but in essence they serve as a disguised statement and do not require a real answer.

At the grammatical level conditional subordinate clauses are considered a significant means of influence – they are divided into real and unreal. Real conditional constructions help either to generalize or, conversely, to clarify what has been said: «She’s been with me since 2015, if you can believe that, right? » [1].

Unreal conditional constructions are oriented towards a temporary condition. The practical purpose of such constructions is to create an illusion of choice in the addressee, as if granting them the freedom to make a decision: «If you took the 10 worst presidents in the history of the United States and added them up, they would not have done near the destruction to our country as crooked Joe Biden and the Biden administration have done. He’s destroying our country» [1].

In the next examples the speaker motivates the audience to take certain actions: Trump urges them not to participate in the preliminary elections, but to come to the party elections. This is directly indicated by the verb used, which denotes a specific action. Imperative constructions are the most obvious and effective tool of speech influence: «Don’t worry about the primary. Just do the caucus thing …Don’t waste your time on primary. Waste all of your time on caucus because the primary doesn’t mean anything» [1].

Summarizing the results of the study conducted at the grammatical level, the most commonly linguistic means were identified, such as the morphological and syntactic features of the English language. The grammatical level showed that it can be divided into two aspects: morphological and syntactic.

At the morphological level, modal verbs were used, as well as the subjunctive and imperative moods, and the passive voice. The syntactic features included various communicative types of sentences, short answers, conditional clauses, and interrogative sentences.

Thus, we can conclude that the phenomenon of linguistic tools in American political linguoculture, in particular public speaking, can be represented by a wide range of grammatical means that facilitate manipulative influence at the verbal level.

References:

1. Donald Trump Speaks at Rally in Las Vegas Transcript. Jan 29, 2024. [Электронный ресурс]. – Режим доступа. – https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-speaks-at-rally-in-las-vegas-transcript (дата обращения: 30.08.2026).