Intertextuality In Inaugural Addresses Of U.S. Presidents

This thesis is aimed to explore intertextuality in inaugural addresses of the U.S. presidents. It sorts out fourteen categories of intertextuality in the U.S. presidential inaugural addresses, analyzes their respective representations, and reveals the important functions of appropriately using these intertextual relationships.Intertextuality, as a concept that the texts are interrelated with or even interdependent on each other, can be used to demonstrate various ways of how a text is constructed by other texts through referring to the substantive features of the previous texts or the linguistic conventions of the discourse production. This thesis adopts a theoretical model based on the typology proposed by Hatim and Mason, and identifies eight types of manifest intertextuality and six types of constitutive intertextuality which commonly occur in the U.S. presidential inaugurals. Detailed analysis of abundant data reveals that when making the inaugural addresses, the U.S. Presidents frequently resort to the use of all these intertextual relationships in order to fulfill their communicative purposes.The use of intertextuality is a pervasive phenomenon in the U.S. presidential inaugurals. On the one hand, to make good use of intertextuality can help the presidents achieve great persuasive, evocative and encouraging effects in their inaugural addresses, expand the social influence of the political party they represent and win public support for the newly-elected government; on the other hand, the use of intertextuality can also perform certain aesthetic functions which facilitate the enhancement of the aesthetic value of the inaugural speeches. This systematic investigation into intertextuality in the U.S. presidential inaugurals presents to the readers various types of intertextuality, and their different impacts on both the production and interpretation of the presidential inaugural addresses.