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CLINTON’S INAUGURAL ADDRESS ANNA TROSBORG, THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS. PRESIDENT CLINTON’S 1993 ADDRESS CLINTON’S INAUGURAL ADDRESS http://millercenter.org/president/clinton/speeches/speech-3434 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SWjIPwm954 INAUGURAL ADDRESSES AS A TEXT GENRE (CF.ANNA TROSBORG, THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS)  Strongly codified text genre, not only in terms of linguistic expression, but also from the contextual-situational viewpoint  Until 1937, inaugural addresses were delivered on March 4th  Starting from 1937 (Franklin D. Roosevelt), inaugural addresses have been delivered on January 20 as provided for by the 20th amendment, in order to shorten the former President’s “lame duck tenancy”  With a few exceptions, it has been delivered from one of the porticos of the Capitol (mostly the East Portico) from a tribune facing Capitol Park ADDRESSEES  the group of intended recipients making up the “particular audience” is much larger than the audience addressed during the presidential campaign  In time the mediatization of political communication and the globalization of political perspectives has enlarged the audience of inaugural addresses to a planetary size  NB the President does not need to persuade the audience to vote for him (  this typical part of political speeches is tuned down) HISTORICAL STAGES  Tulis (1987): the turning point is at the turn of the XX century: Roosevelt (1933-45) starts the “rhetorical presidency”  Jamieson (1987): the turning point is marked by radio and – later – TV broadcasting, starting from F.D. Roosevelt (1933) - Packaging the Presidency  Other scholars (Gster 1993; Kowal et al. 1997) point out that there is a shift from “written language to be read” “written language to be spoken” “by the words we speak and the faces we show the world, we force the spring” PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON January 21, 1993. The inaugural address of US presidents is one of the most widely followed political speeches, not to say media events, on the planet. Presidents themselves are very aware of this, and often make explicit references to their global audience, as did Bill Clinton at the very beginning of his inaugural address in 1993 (see above). Besides celebrating national unity and reaffirming the history, culture and values of the United States, the President also indicates the orientation of the incoming administration towards the US economy and trade, and its social policies. “And so to all the other people and governments watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man and woman who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more” Barack Obama, First Inaugural Address.

Additionally, and increasingly since 9/11, (2001), and depending on their political persuasion, presidents devote part of their speeches (a move) to the US’s international role, involvement , responsibilities and commitments in some of the following ways: • references to the US’s part in the fight against fascism and communism; • References to the US as a symbol of democracy and freedom for other nations; • Support for democratic governments across the globe; • Commitment to solving the planet’s environmental problems; • Commitment to reducing the nuclear threat; • Commitment to alleviating suffering and poverty in poorer nations; • Commitment to forging alliances against terror networks; • Commitment to scaling down military operations in pacified theatres of war; • Commitment to using force when necessary. COMMUNICATIVE PURPOSES OF THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS: 1.Restoring the “ideological normality” after the electoral strife/ construction of the presidential identity (the President-elect becomes the President of all Americans) How: • Exploiting national patriotism • connecting the new president to great predecessors COMMUNICATIVE PURPOSES OF THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS: 2. The “Plural Presidency” The inaugural address is the first opportunity for the president to use the official voice  He does not speak for himself, but for his people  It is not the individual who speaks, but the institution RHETORICAL MOVES 1 Constructing the presidential identity 2 Accepting the new official role 3 Thanking the predecessors 4 Addressing the audience 5 Making reference to religion (family values and traditions) 6 Mentioning great presidents of the past (and showing pride in American history) RECURRENT THEMES The rhetorical moves are characterised by a range of RECURRENT THEMES, such as: a) America’s history – history in the making b) America’s values: democracy, liberty c) Founding fathers – forebears d) Facing challenges bravely e) America’s role / mission on the international scene MAIN THEME OF CLINTON’S SPEECH: CALL FOR CHANGE The call for change is justified by the American Costitution: Just as the founding fathers broke with the past, today’s Americans are called to change their political leaders/course of action to stay true to the constitutive values Clinton accuses the former administration of having betrayed the American dream (impoverished the middle class…) 1. CONSTRUCTING THE PRESIDENTIAL IDENTITY

The president must restore himself as the “president of the American people:  He is the head of Government, the head of state and rises above political divisions  The audience is invited to take part in the construction of the presidential identity through the plural “WE” 1. CONSTRUCTING THE PRESIDENTIAL IDENTITY  HOW?  Appealing to the nation’s patriotism  Leading the audience to reflect on salient points in history and great figures of the past  Establishing a connection between the president and famous/imporant men/leaders of the past. 2. ACCEPTANCE OF THE PRESIDENT’S NEW OFFICIAL IDENTITY • The President does not speak for himself (as in the election campaign) but for his people • He/She invokes the notion of ‘public presidency’: (it is the institution speaking, not the man) HOW • style reserved for majestic moments • lexicon borrowed from predecessors • Calling others to action COMMUNICATIVE FUNCTIONS The appeal of the new president-elect is formulated by employing a range of COMMUNICATIVE FUNCTIONS THAT IS: “the use to which language is put, the purpose of an utterance rather than the particular grammatical form an utterance takes” (Savignon, 1983). 1 2 3 4 5 6

REFERENTIAL VERDICTIVE DIRECTIVE COMMISSIVE PHATIC POETIC

1. REFERENTIAL (OR REPRESENTATIVE) FUNCTION Used to present facts about the world (= objective statements which can be verified as true or false) : reports on history, aimed to create a common ground with the American people  “When our founders boldly declared…” l. 14-15 (reference to the declaration of Independence)  “When George Washington (first president) …” l.27-28  Jefferson (wrote the Declaration of independence) l. 47 JULY 4, 1776 THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

Gives information about contemporary America ( he creates common grounds and solidarity by combining past and present) »“raised in unrivaled prosperity […] all across the earth […]” ll. 24-25; 30-38; 45-47 NB Throughout = (positive) EVALUATION!! (e.g. “pillars of our history; “boldly”; “unraveled prosperity”, “magical”, “mustered”, ecc.) 2. VERDICTIVE FUNCTION The verdictive function is used to express judgements Unrivalled prosperity, world’s strongest economy but also business failures, stagnant wages, increasing inequalities and deep divisions (ll.25-28) the world has changed (progress/globalization): this has brought advantages (communication and commerce, technology) but also disadvantages. Many have enriched thanks to globalization but most people are working harder for less, others cannot work at all. Cost of healthcare too high for families and enterprizes, fear of crime, lack of opportunity for millions of children are problems that must be tackled (ll. 35-40) Betrayal of the God-given promise Therefore need for renewal to live up to (to keep) the promise 3.DIRECTIVE FUNCTION The sender wants either to get the receiver to do something or to change the receiver’s mind. HOW? (linguistic strategies) use of imperatives modal verbs (should, ought to, must, have to, need) Performative verbs (e.g. “I challenge” l. 106)  Repetition of “must” (e.g. ll. 50-62) PERFORMATIVE VERBS In performative utterances, some kind of action is being performend (=done) at the moment of uttering by the person who utters. e.g. (promise, offer, pledge, commit, covenant,...) a) “‘I do (sc. Take this woman to be my lawful wedded wife)’ – as uttered in the course of the marriage ceremony.” b) “‘I name this ship the Queen Elisabeth’ – as uttered when smashing the bottle against the stem.” d) “‘I bet you sixpence it will rain tomorrow.’” (Austin 1975) 3. COMMISSIVE FUNCTION Commissive function: the author commits himself to do something HOW? (linguistic strategies) performative verbs (order, request, beg, plead, permit) modals expressing commitment (will), e.g. ll. 90; 91; 94); let us (encourages a joint effort) (e.g. l 70; ll. 78-83; l. 120) 4. PHATIC FUNCTION To attract the attention of the audience and to catch the people’s interest in order to make them listen. How? • Addressing directly the American population: “My fellow citizens” (l.1; 106; 119) • heavy use of the first person plural pronoun we create an equal-to-equal social relationship; • Inclusive challenges with “let us…”

Once the case for change has been made, Clinton moves on to list what must be changed: What are the actions that in Clinton's view must be performed by Americans and / or by their government? ll. 50-115 5. POETIC FUNCTION Focus on the message (= on the relation between form and content) RHETORICAL STRATEGIES:  Appeal to emotions  Use of metaphors  Use of unusual collocations METAPHOR A figure of speech in which a name or quality is attributed to something to which it is not literally applicable e.g. an icy glance, nerves of steel A certain quality (the ground of resemblance) supposed to belong to an entity (the source), is re-applied to another entity (the target). (Partington 2006) METAPHOR IN CLINTON’S SPEECH Main idea conveyed by Clinton in his inaugural address: necessity of change Metaphor used by Clinton to convey this idea: forcing of the spring Spring: positive connotations  Associated with the idea of renewal, re-birth (Christians celebrate Easter in spring) Americans have forced the spring (l. 103): they have made change happen Now they must do the work the season demands

TASK 1 While reading the text, underline all the parts where the central metaphor appears or there are elements which can be connected with it. KEY • Contrast with images of winter and cold (ll 10-11) • Recurrence of the adjective "new" (Clinton and the New Democrats as the modernizers of progressive policies in U.S. politics) • verbs with the prefix re- (Reborn (l. 7), to reinvent (l. 12), remaking (l. 27), to renew/renewal (ll. 9, 50, 54, 55, 72, 114), to revitalize (l. 72), to rebuild (l. 90), to rededicate (l. 112) JOURNEY METAPHORS: MOVEMENT FORWARD/UP JOURNEY METAPHORS: MOVEMENT FORWARD/UP – 2 NATURAL CYCLE METAPHORS: LIGHTNESS AND DARK; WARMTH AND COLD; REBIRTH AND DEATH DISEASE AND ILLNESS AND CURE DESTABILIZING NATURAL FORCES METONYMY In “a metonym […] some entity is alluded to by mention of something else associated with it. […] In politics an important and productive set of metonyms are topological, that is, the places where political events happen are used to stand for those events themselves.” (Partington and Taylor, 2010, p. 95-96)

TASK 2 lines: 74- 75. Identify the topological metonymy and what it refers to in the following section of Clinton’s speech: “This beautiful capital, like every capital since the dawn of civilisation, is often a place of intrigue and calculation. Powerful people maneuvre for position and worry endlessly about who is in and who is out, who is up and who is down, forgetting those people whose toil and sweat sends us here and pays our way.” KEY lines: 74-75. Identify the topological metonymy and what it refers to in the following section of Clinton’s speech: “Capital” = Government PERSONIFICATION “This is a type of metaphor in which an object or an idea is represented in human terms” (David Crystal, 1992, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, p-70) TASK 3 Identify the personification in the following extract from Clinton’s address: ll. 77- 79 “Americans deserve better and in this city today, there are people who want to do better. And so I say to us all of us here, let is resolve to reform our politics so that power and privilege no longer shout down the voice of the people.” KEY Identify the personification in the following extract from Clinton’s address: ll. 77- 79 “Americans deserve better and in this city today, there are people who want to do better. And so I say to us all of us here, let is resolve to reform our politics so that power and privilege no longer shout down the voice of the people.” TASK 4 Identify the personification in the following and think about how it adds to the persuasiveness of Clinton’s argument: l.32-33 “Profound and powerful changes are shaking and remaking our world, and the urgent question of our time is whether we can make change our friend and not our enemy.” KEY “change our friend and not our enemy.”  By using personification Clinton makes change seem potentially more threatening (and autonomous) on the one hand, but also potentially easier to control on the other. Moreover, it allows him to distract listeners from thinking about the causes of change, many of which can be attributed to America itself. Personification allows Clinton to present change as something external, which America must come to terms with. COLLOCATIONS Clinton uses a few unusual collocations: L. 24 the sunshine of freedom; l. 30 technology is almost magical; l. 31 peaceful competition; l. 66 sacred responsibility Why? To attract attention, to highlight the meaning of the message, to make the text interesting to listen MORE ON POETIC FUNCTION

Poetic function: focus on the relation between form and content How? • Lexical level: use of unusual collocations and metaphors • Phonological level rhyme, rhythm scheme and alliteration ALLITERATION It is the appearance of the same sound or sounds at the beginning of two or more words that are next to or close to each other l. 16 march to the music ; l.26 deep divisions ; l.26 increasing inequality; l. 30 communication and commerce; l. 32 profound and powerful ; ll 39 strong steps; envy and engine; deadlock and drift l. 53. Why? To create a certain rythm in the text and add a poetic element to it BALANCED SENTENCES/CONTRASTING PAIR Probably the most famous balanced construction in an inaugural address is Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” A balanced sentence consists of two (or more) fairly balanced parts which are often contrasted: L. 15 “ Not change for change’s sake, but change to preserve America’s ideals” L. 50 “ Our democracy must be not only the envy of the world, but the engine of our own renewal. L. 59-60 “ It will not be easy; it will require sacrifice. But it can be done, and done fairly”. Why? To attract attention on specific syntactic constructions. VOCABULARY steadfastness, l.21 ; plagues, l. 24; swear, l. 27; Take an oath, l. 27 to uphold an oath, l. 27; law-abiding-citizens, l. 37; pillars, l. 47; to muster, l. 47; to pledge, l. 52; deadlock and drift, l. 53; to deserve, l. 77; to cast a vote, l. 101. VOCABULARY Steadfastness: strength of character Plagues: afflictions Swear/Take an Oath: declare under oath Pillars: source of strength /columns Muster: if you muster something as strength, energy, support, you gather as much of it as you can in order to do something. Abide by (a law): to behave according to law/rules/codes… Pre-modification construction Law-abiding citizens

9-to-5 job VOCABULARY Pledge Make a pledge Pledge to do something Pledge the house as security for a loan Deadlock: If negotiations reach a deadlock no party is willing to give in and no agreement can be made Drift: when something drifts it is carried by the movement of wind or water To Deserve: to be worthy of COLLOCATIONS Take an oath Uphold an oath Bear responsibility to do. Shrink from challenges Seize the opportunity Cast your vote 1.business failures; stagnant wages; increasing inequality, and deep divisions among Americans; 2. Low wages; unemployment; the cost of health care; crime; child poverty; 3. Investment in the people to make them more competitive; 4 No. he says creating opportunity brings with it the need for individual responsibility; 5. No, because he says America must try and influence the changes affecting the world, the forces of globalization, or risk being overwhelmed by them; 6 Yes. He commits America to military action wherever and whenever American interests are threatened; 7 He means that politicians should abandon political intrigue and power struggles and remember that they represent the people; 8. Because they indicate that unity is something that must be achieved by individual citizens rather than the state apparatus; 9. B....