Suarez|1

Valeria Suarez.
Olivia Rines.
UWRT 1101 002.
09 Jan 2015.
Genre Analysis
Political Speech, a term that we use for hundreds of speeches without realizing how
deep the details can go. I chose this genre because I find these kind of speeches really interesting

Commented [HA1]: Maybe dont start the paper with

quotations.
Commented [HA2]: kinds

and complex. More important, how we can understand the way to get done a successful political
speech .Many different features can apply to a political speech, depending on what is thethe
intention is behind it. Most political speeches main focus is to persuade a particular audience
about an ideology or political project. Various features are part of the structure or main points to
build a speech of this kind:
Repetitions, which can make people remember only the important part of the speech, or
what the speaker wanted them to remember.
Rhythm, the way we manage the speed of our talking. To create suspense or to bring back
the attention to the speech or to specify something on it. The rhythm is crucial, the length of our
pauses can mean a lot.
Rhetoric, because how could we convince people of something without challenging them
a little bit.
Lexis, such a delicate thing. Depending on the lexis we decide to use, different kinds of
people will listen to our message.

Commented [HA3]: All these paragraphs are very short.

You may want to go more into detail about each part of the
rhetorical strategies.

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In addition, different ways of persuasion, like the use of arguments or emotions, are
important in the creation of a political speech.
My first example for the genre will be the speech I Have a Dream by Martin Luther
King Jr. I decided to include this speech in my analysis because it is one of the most important
speeches ever done. This speech is a form that expresses the hard situation that people once lived
in America and how hard they had to fight for their civil rights. It also expresses Martin Luther
King Jrs thoughts and it follows the pattern that he used for his political speeches. It has some
features that wwe e mentioned before, it is mostly a persuasive speech with many emotions
involved and repetitions. A small fragment of this speech:
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and
tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of
its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves
and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of
brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the
heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis
of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they
will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

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I have a dream today. (American History)

Secondly, I decided to include the speech that Hugo Chavez did on October 7, 2012 when
he was reelected as president in Venezuela for the fourth time. I want to include this speech as an
example of how different the political speeches can be. Every person has his or her different
characteristics and preferences when it comes to doing a speech and most of those characteristics
are repeated by the person in every speech they make. This particular speech is about patriotism
and expressing the feelings after winning the elections. One of the important things to highlight
in this speech is the Lexis he used and, if we listen to it, the rhythm. Paused speech with
colloquial words that can make him closer to the population. A small fragment of this speech:
Viva Venezuela. Viva la Patria. Viva Venezuela. Viva el Pueblo de Bolvar,
viva la revolucin bolivariana, viva el 7 de octubre.

Primero que nada, aqu estamos de nuevo en el balcn del Pueblo. En el palacio
del Pueblo, en la plaza del Pueblo. Debajo del cielo bendito de Caracas, no oyen all?
Ay mi madre! Me oyen all? Y all? Tampoco me oyen all? All estn los soldados
de la guardia presidencial.

Estamos en Cadena Nacional. Lamentablemente por all en la calle no se oye, no

puedo hacer mas nada lamentablemente. (Correo del Orinoco)
Live Venezuela. Viva la Patria. Live Venezuela. Viva el Pueblo de Bolivar, the
Bolivarian revolution viva, viva on October 7.
First of all, here we are again on the balcony of the Town. In the Palace of the
People in People's Square. Under the blessed sky Caracas, is not heard there? Oh my

Commented [HA4]: I like how you included diversity in

the examples you chose.

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mother! Did I hear there? And there? I also hear there? There are soldiers of the
presidential guard.
We are in National Chain. Unfortunately there in the street do not hear, I can not
help but unfortunately nothing. (Google translate)
Last, the speech Gender Equality is Your Issue Too by Emma Watson is my third
example. This speech includes the introduction of the United Nations campaign HeForShe, to
fight for the gender equality and respect. This campaign is important because both men and

Formatted: Highlight

women have been fighting for a long time to overcome this issue and it hasnt improved. I

Commented [HA5]: You might want to explain how

things have not improved.

included this speech because it shows that it is not necessary to be a politician to do a political

Formatted: Highlight

speech, as long as you can understand the genre and its rules to do a successful speech. In
addition, I think this speech involves many features of political speeches, like rhetorical and
persuasion with real arguments and facts but also appealing to the emotions. In this speech, she
includes herself into examples, what makes all the speech more likeable for common people who
have live in these kind of situations. A small fragment of this speech:
These rights I consider to be human rights but I am one of the lucky ones. My life is a
sheer privilege because my parents didnt love me less because I was born a daughter. My school
did not limit me because I was a girl. My mentors didnt assume I would go less far because I
might give birth to a child one day. These influencers were the gender equality ambassadors that
made me who I am today. They may not know it, but they are the inadvertent feminists who are
changing the world today. And we need more of those. (UN Women)

Commented [HA6]: You are missing a concluding

paragraph to wrap up what you have written about.

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Works Cited

American History. Martin Luther King's I have a dream speech August 28 1963. Web. 08 Jan
2015.
Bax, Stephen. Discourse and Genre Analysing Language in Context. Great Britain: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2011. Print.
British Political Speech. Why Rhetoric? Web. 24 Jan 2015.
El Correo del Orinoco. Vea el discurso de Chvez el 7 de octubre desde el Balcn del Pueblo
(+Video).7 Oct 2013. Web. 08 Jan 2015.
UN Women. Emma Watson: Equality is Your Issue Too. 20 Sep 2014. Web. 08 Jan 2015.