英语文体学期中论文(2

潘琳琳 0940810308 英语文体学期中论文 The Stylistic Analysis on Winston Churchill “Speech on Hitler’s Invasion of the U.S.S.R” (By Pan Linlin) Ⅰ. Quick biography of Winston Churchill Warrior and writer, genius and crank, rider in the British cavalry’s last great charge and inventor of the tank—Sir Winston Spencer Churchill(1874-1965) led Britain to fight alone against Nazi Germany in the fateful year of 1940 and set the standard for leading a democracy at war. He is the prime minister and first Lord of the Treasury (Oct.1951-April.1955) and his best known book is The Second World War.Written by Winston Churchill, Speech on Hitler’s Invasion of the U.S.S.R. is full of emotion, determination, powerful thoughts and impressive expressions. When thinking of Churchill's attitude towards the Soviet Union one automatically thinks of him as the most outspoken of the advocates of armed intervention during the civil war, or as the author of the speech in Fulton, Missouri, which many people regard as the opening salvo in the Cold War. During the war, however, when the Soviet Union became a great ally without whose help the war in Europe could never have been won, his attitude was bound to be quite different. Even before the Germans launched ‘Operation Barbarossa’ thus forcing the Soviets into the Allied camp, Churchill had been thinking of the Russians as possible partners in the struggle against Nazi Germany, for however much he detested the Soviet regime, his passionate determination to destroy Nazism was a far more powerful emotion, and, as he put it, if Hitler were to invade Hell he would promptly sign a pact with the Devil. The effect of Churchill’s speech common people subdue, At moment of the suffering the most seriously in World War II, the British army and the people's spirit is supported, nearly all lecture by Churchill’s broadcast of every day of mound .The news that Hitler’s invasion of Russia was brought to Churchill when he awoke on the morning of Sunday, the 22nd, June 1941. This changed conviction into certainty. Churchill asked that notice should immediately be given that he would broadcast at 9 o’clock that night. The Germans had invaded Russia on an enormous front, had surprised a large portion of the Soviet Air Force grounded on the airfields, and seemed to be driving forward with great rapidity and violence. Ⅱ. Brief account of the essay The goal of the speech was to arouse British people’s attention and win the cooperation of U.S.A. and Russia, so this speech is persuasive as its functional tenor is concerned; so far as its personal tenor is concerned, it is formal. This paper presents a stylistic analysis of Winston Churchill's public speeches from the perspectives of their phonological features, lexical features, syntactic features as well as semantic features. It points out how Churchill's Oratorical art contributes to his success in public speeches. In order to find out the items of the stylistic significance of in this speech, this paper aims at analyzing it from one level of its language to another. Ⅲ. At the phonological level Phonology refers to speech sounds in a language. To make a public speech is to produce a work of verbal art. Every word is accented with certain effect in order to demonstrate the meaning and feeling behind the voice. Here, the main focus is put on pause, stress, and pitch. 3.1 Pause Pause refers to the brief interruption of the articulatory process between consecutive linguistic units. Pause can also be seen as a signal of ending a thought unit. In English, there are voiced pauses and silent pauses. In this speech, both kinds of pauses have been frequently used. For example, The past,／with its crimes,／its follies,／and its tragedies,／ flashes away. Here pause aims to arouse the audience’s attention and demonstrate Churchill’s attitude towards Russia. We shall appeal／to all our friends and allies／ in every part of the world ／to take the same course and pursue it,／ as we shall faithfully and ／steadfastly to the end… In this part, Churchill first stated his policy and then asked all the people in the world to insist on the same policy and pursue it. The pause here is silent, which just embodies Churchill’s firm will and strong appeal. And as this speech is broadcasting, a right-timed pause can allow for a span of memory time. 3.2Stress Stress refers to the prominence of sounds. It is the result of extra force used in pronouncing a particular word or syllable. The effect was realized by attaching much stress on producing the dip-thongs that conveyed Churchill’s firm will. E.g. No one has been a more consistent opponent of Communism than I have for the last twenty-five years. I will unsay no words that I‘ve spoken about it. But all this fades away before the spectacle which is now unfolding. The drawn-out syllables, especially the assonated／ou／sound echoes the sense“no” and the theme of the speech. 3.3Pitch When we listen to people speaking, we can hear some sounds or group of sounds in their speech to be relatively higher or lower than others. The relative height of speech sounds as perceived by a listener is called “pitch”. For example, I have to make the declaration but，can you doubt what our policy will be？(The rising pitch indicates doubt and contrast.) We have but one aim and one single irrevocable purpose. (The fall-plus-rise pitch is used to emphasize the relativity of the two words and make them forceful and persuasive.) Ⅳ. At the lexical level Lexis refers to the choice of words and expressions. Here we will focus on our attention on the use of connotative words, abstract nouns derived from verbs and first pronouns. 4.1Use of connotative words Connotation often implies attitudes and emotions of the speaker, and is also called implicit meaning. In this speech, for example, ①It excels all forms of human wickedness in the efficiency of its cruelty and ferocious aggression. Process of destroying his enemies one by one by which he has so long thrived and prospered. “Efficiency”“thrived and prospered”here all have the negative connotation. 4.2Use of abstract words Abstract nouns derived from verbs often occur instead of these verbs, which raises the degree of formality and therefore suits the occasion (插入，P108文体学), such as the use of domination, declaration, divergence, slackening, determination, exertions, subjugation, etc., rather than dominate, declare, diverge, slacken, determine, exert, and to subjugate. 4.3Use of first person pronouns As far as pronouns are concerned, the most frequently used pronouns in the speech are the first person pronouns, I, me, my, us, ours. Churchill stated his opinions and the plural form we/us includes both the speaker and the audience. In this way, the audience would feel intimate; therefore, it is easy to win the support of the audience. Table1: Accessibility Total number of hard words Total number of words Total number of sentences Average length of sentences Percentage of hard words in total words 80 966 37 26.1 8.3% Fog index 10.43 Fog index=0.4(L+H) L=average sentence length in a passage H= Percentage of hard words in the passage In the above table, we can find out that the percentage of hard words in the speech is approximately 8.3%, and the fog index is 10.43, more than 10---the average number of all varieties. So we can conclude that this speech is very formal and a bit hard to understand. Ⅴ. At syntactic and grammatical level Syntax refers to the rules for ordering words into sentences. In this part, we mostly concentrate on sentence on sentence types. 5.1 Table 2 Sentence Types (1) Sentence Length Clause Structure Long sentences Short sentences Major sentences Minor sentences 15 22 37 0 According to the above table, in terms of sentence length, there are more short sentences than long sentences, which indicate the forcefulness of the speech. In terms of clause structure, all the sentences are major sentences, which contribute to formality. Table 3 Sentence Types (2) Sentence types Number of sentences Percentage in total number of sentences Declarative sentence 34 92% Imperative sentence 2 5.3% Interrogative sentence 1 2.7% Total number of sentences 37 In the above chart, the percentage of declarative sentence in total number of sentences is 92%, which informs us that the speaker Churchill mainly states his policy ------the danger of situation and the wickedness of Hitler. One interrogative sentence here is used to arouse interest the audience. “I have to make the declaration, but can you doubt what our policy will be?” In the last paragraph, Churchill wants to make the persuasion and appeal for action by imperative sentences. “Let us learn the lessons already taught by such cruel experience. Let us redouble our exertions, and strike with united strength while life and power remain.” 5.2 Use of periodic sentences A periodic sentence is a stylistic device employed at the sentence level, characterized as a sentence that is not grammatically complete until the final clause or phrase. Periodic sentences can create suspense in the audience’s mind, seize their attention and therefore achieve special effect of emphasis, climax, elegance, and formality. It has occurred many times in this speech. For example, 1）He hopes that he may once again repeat, upon a greater scale than ever before, that process of destroying his enemies one by one by which he has so long thrived and prospered, and that then the scene will be clear for the final act, without which all his conquests would be in vain – namely, the subjugation of the Western Hemisphere to his will and to his system. 2）if Hitler imagines that his attack on Soviet Russia will cause the slightest divergence of aims or slackening of effort in the great democracies who are resolved upon his doom, he is woefully mistaken. 3）I see the German bombers and fighters in the sky, still smarting from many a British whipping, delighted to find what they believe is an easier and a safer prey. 4）But when I spoke a few minutes ago of Hitler's blood-lust and the hateful appetites which have impelled or lured him on his Russian adventure I said there was one deeper motive behind his outrage. Ⅵ. At the semantic level Semantics refers to the meaning of words or expression and by what means the meaning is conveyed from the addresser to the addressee. Churchill employs repetition, parallelism, metaphor, and other rhetorical devices to give emphasis to his strong sense of urgency mingled with a feeling of demand. The tone of his speech is appealing, persuasive and emotional. 6.1Use of metaphor and simile I see also the dull, drilled, docile, brutish masses of the Hun soldiery plodding in like a swarm of crawling locusts. Simile has the comparative words such as “like” “as” “as if”. Here, Churchill compares the Hun soldiery to crawling locusts, which vividly describes a picture of Nazi destroying villages and launching attacks. Also it contributes to expressing a fit of anger and disgust. the threshold of their native land, the Nazi war machine, a safer prey, launched this cataract of horrors upon mankind, a prelude to an attempted invasion of the British Isles, liberated its peoples from his yoke, rid the earth of his shadow, Hitler’s blood-lust and the hateful appetites…… These metaphors created vivid mental pictures in the mind of the audience, and therefore make the speech rich in meaning, and as a result, very persuasive and effective. 6.2 Use of repetition In order to emphasize a fact or his opinion or idea, the speaker often employs figures if repetition. For example, 1) From this nothing will turn us---nothing. (repetition of words) 2) We will never parley. We will never negotiate. (repetition of meaning in different words) 3) We must spread now at once, without a day’s delay. (repetition of meaning in different words) 4) I see the Russian soldiers standing on the threshold of their native land… I see them guarding their homes where mothers and wives pray… I see the ten thousand villages of Russia… I see advancing upon all this in hideous onslaught the Nazi war machine… I see also the dull, drilled, docile, brutish masses of the Hun soldiery… I see the German bombers and fighters in the sky… (Author’s six sentences with “I see” together, described Nazi attack the Soviet Union situation, have indicated his position of at this time, and supported, sympathized with the Russian people and army. Detest the barbarous invasion of Nazi. Strengthen the imposing manner of tone; It an help the expression of the emotion. ) 6.3Use of alliteration and onomatopoeia Apart from repetition of words, alliteration (the repetition of an initial sound in two or more words that occur close together) is also used in this speech. For example, Fighting for his hearth and home, I see also the dull, drilled, docile, brutish masses… Learn the lessons Alliteration used here is good for sound rhyme, musical effect and significant emphasis. As for onomatopoeia, it helps make description lifelike such as its clanking, heel-clicking, dandified Prussian officers. 6.4 Use of parallelism For the purpose of achieving good syntactic effects, the speakers frequently employ figures of contrast, which include parallelism, antithesis, oxymoron, paradox, climax, etc. of which parallelism is frequently used in this speech. We can find many instances of the use of parallelism: I see the Russian soldiers standing on the threshold of their native land… I see them guarding their homes where mothers and wives pray… I see the ten thousand villages of Russia… I see advancing upon all this in hideous onslaught the Nazi war machine… I see also the dull, drilled, docile, brutish masses of the Hun soldiery… I see the German bombers and fighters in the sky… This group of sentences draws a picture of Russian people’s life under the destruction of the war and Nazi regime. We shall fight him by hand, we shall fight him by sea, we shall fight him by the air. Any man or state who fight on against Nazi Dom will have our aid. Any man or state who marches with Hitler is our foe… Let us learn the lessons already taught by such cruel experience. Let us redouble our exertions, and strike with united strength while life and power remain. That is our policy and that is our declaration. Behind all this glare, behind all this storm, I see that small group of villainous men who plan, organize, and launch this cataract of horrors upon mankind. These sentences create a forceful impression and give rise to empathy---We shall strength together to fight Hitler. They reinforce the meaning and help to build up an emotional climax and therefore very effective. Ⅶ.Conclusion Through the detailed analysis as listed, we have a better understanding of the stylistic features of this speech and gain knowledge of the basic points of linguistic description, lexical, syntactic and semantic features. And it helps readers to appreciate the whole speech and the speaker’s purpose. During the stylistic analysis of a text, readers can take example by this clue and thus appreciate the text well. Bibliography [1] Martin Kitchen .The Historical Journal［J］.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, June 1987: 415-436. [2] Gretchen Craft Rubin. Ballantine Books ［M］. 2003-6-3 - 307 [3] 孙生茂.英语“圆周句”的运用及其效果[C].外语研 究，1994，(2). [4] 王佐良、丁往道．英语文体学引论[M]．北京：外语 教学与研究出版社．1985:15-17. [5] 董启明. 新编英语文体学教程[M]. 北京：外语 教学与研究出版社．2011.16-35. [6] 钟素花. 《关于希特勒入侵苏联的演说》的圆周句赏析[J]. 时代文学， 2011.3（6） [7] 黄任．英语修辞学概论[M]．上海：上海外语教 育出版社，1999. 1