| Metadiscourse is very important in analyzing discourses and teaching language.It can be used to show their positions and communicate with the audience.Recently,some researchers have begun to explore the persuasive function of metadiscourse markers.Through the way of realizing rational,credible,and affective appeals,the application of metadiscourse markers can strengthen the persuasive effect of the discourses and hence the metadiscourse markers will realize the persuasive function.While many studies focus on the metadiscourse markers in written discourses,little effort has been devoted to analyzing the metadiscourse markers in oral discourses,especially in public speeches.As a result,studying the persuasive function of metadiscourse markers in public speeches is very necessary.This study adopts Hyland’s(2005)interpersonal model of metadiscourse and Aristotle’s(1981)three means of persuasion as analytical means to explore the metadiscourse markers in the American presidential campaign speeches.The author selects 15 American presidential campaign speeches to build a small self-built corpus.The data is from the official website called American Presidency Project:https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ from June 7th when Trump made remarks after winning Montana,South Dakota,New Mexico,New Jersey and California,to November 9th when he gave a victory speech for a total number of 32,893 words.And based on Hyland’s(2005)interpersonal model of metadiscourse,the distribution of metadiscourse markers is examined and in terms of the distribution,the application of metadiscourse markers in the corpus is discussed.While on the basis of Aristotle’s three rhetorical means of persuasion,the author tries to find out how metadiscourse markers are used to achieve the persuasive function in the American presidential campaign speeches.This study aims to answer the following questions:(1)What is the distribution of metadiscourse markers in the American Presidential Campaign Speeches?(2)How are metadiscourse markers applied in terms of the distribution in the American Presidential Campaign Speeches?(3)How do metadiscourse markers realize the persuasive function in the American Presidential Campaign Speeches?It is found that firstly,all the ten metadiscourse markers are employed in the corpus and the interactional metadiscourse markers are applied more frequently than the interactive ones.Among the interactional metadiscourse markers,engagement markers are used the most frequently.Self mentions are second most frequently used,followed by boosters,attitude markers and hedges.What’s more,transition markers are used the most frequently among the interactive metadiscourse markers and also among the total metadiscourse markers,and then are frame markers and code glosses,while the frequency of endophoric markers and evidentials is the lowest.Secondly,in the American presidential campaign speeches,the interactive metadiscourse markers are applied for organizing the whole speech and making the content logical and clear.Therefore,the audience will understand the whole speech and know the speaker’s ability of speaking and organizing the discourse.Moreover,using the interactional metadiscourse markers enables the audience to participate in the speech.And the speaker can use these markers to have a communication with the audience,resonate with them.Thirdly,according to Aristotle’s three rhetorical means of persuasion,the qualitative analyses exemplify how metadiscourse markers realize the persuasive function.The result shows that metadiscourse markers realize the persuasive function by achieving different rhetorical appeals.In the American presidential campaign speeches,the speaker uses the interactive metadiscourse markers except evidentials to illuminate the logical relationship between arguments.Therefore,the speaker can make the content of the speech more comprehensible so as to realize the rational appeals.While to achieve the credible appeals,the speaker uses evidentials,hedges,boosters and engagement markers to shape a confident and authoritative persona.For achieving the affective appeals,self mentions,attitude markers,hedges and engagement markers are helpful for the speaker to attract the audience,arouse their concern about the current situations,obtain the audience’s support and change their awareness and behavior.It can also be seen that engagement markers and hedges can not only realize the credible appeals but also realize the affective appeals,which relies on the context.The study has the following significance.Theoretically,the present study analyzes the persuasive function of metadiscourse markers in the American presidential campaign speeches.This can not only enrich the study of metadiscourse markers in spoken discourses,but also provide a new perspective for the study of political speeches.Practically,this study is helpful for teachers to teach their students about the application of metadiscourse markers in oral discourses so as to improve the students’ abilities of speaking.What’s more,this study will help people to make better use of the metadiscourse markers and understand the foreign political speeches,which facilitates the intercultural communication. |
