A Study Of American Presidential Inaugural Speeches

The inaugural addresses are made every four years by all the American presidents before they take the office. Though they are not required by the Constitution, it has already become a tradition for the newly-elected president to give an inaugural speech since the first president George Washington. Inaugurals mark the end of the presidential election campaign and the beginning of a new administration. They provide the newly-elected president with a good chance to state his political values, his principles and his policies for the coming administration, to win the favor of the common public and to persuade them to change their mind. The common public in the meanwhile gets an opportunity to have a better understanding of their new president, his views, his values and his policies closely related to their future life.The inaugural speeches have involved numerous aspects of American society and thus lead to various types of studies at home and abroad. In this thesis, they will be studied from the perspective of presupposition which is still rare at present. The concept of presupposition was first put forward by Frege in 1892 in the field of philosophy and later came into linguistics. With the deepening understanding of the concept of presupposition, researchers apply it to more and more practical studies in various registers, such as advertisements, humors, courtroom inquiries, debates and so on. Presupposition can reveal more than what is said, which will contribute to a much deeper and more thorough understanding that how the presidents achieve their purposes and impose influence on the decision of the common public sneakingly.This thesis is intended to figure out two questions:what presuppositions there are in the inaugural speeches and what functions these presuppositions have. As for research subjects,18 inaugural speeches of 6 different periods in American history are selected as the sample. As methods, the qualitative analysis and the quantitative method are combined. Then through close reading, typical presuppositions are identified and reclassified according to the three variables of a linguistic situation into field presuppositions, tenor presuppositions and mode presuppositions. These presuppositions are further processed by AntConc 3.2.1 and Excel 2003. Then, all data are analyzed and their functions are investigated. Moreover, it is found that the use of presuppositions has a certain relationship with time.With the analysis and findings, audience may have a more profound understanding of the inaugural speeches and a more sound knowledge of presuppositions. Thus, they could increase awareness of presuppositions in various discourses and try to reduce the possibility to be manipulated by others. Also presuppositions can be used to create some interesting conversations and add charm to life.As for the organization of this thesis, it is made up of 6 chapters.Chapter 1 is the literature review. First, some related concepts are explored, such as speech, public speech, political speech and the presidential inaugural speech. Second, the situation of American presidential inaugural speech (APIS) studies at home and abroad is reviewed. Third, it is decided to study APIS from the perspective of presupposition in this thesis.Chapter 2 is the theoretical framework. First is the literature review of the presupposition theories. Then practical studies drawing upon presupposition theories are briefly introduced. The third part is the application of presuppositions in this thesis where they are classified into three groups:field presuppositions in Chapter 3, tenor presuppositions in Chapter 4 and mode presuppositions in Chapter 5.Chapter 3 discusses the presuppositions relating to field, to be specific, the presuppositions of the religious belief, various values, the ideologies towards other nations and the psychology of the audience. These presuppositions not only reveal values, beliefs and attitudes of the American people but also are utilized as a device by the president to win the favor of the common public and impose his power implicitly on the decision of the common public.Chapter 4 deals with the interpersonal relationships between different parties. Both division and commonness are presupposed in order that the president may take measures and be cautious about diction to get rid of or reduce or at least avoid intensifying confrontations and pursue identification. Chapter 5 handles the mode elements both nonlinguistic and textual. The textual presupposition is further categorized into intra-textual presupposition and inter-textual presupposition. The most important are the inter-textual presuppositions of the three bible textual features.Chapter 6 is the conclusion. Discoveries are summarized; implications drawn; limitations pointed out and suggestions put forward for future improvement.