Applause Invitations in Political Speeches

A Comparison of Two British Party Political Leaders (Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn)

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6311142
AutoresVictoria O’gorman (University of York), Peter Bull (0000-0003-4739-2892, University of York, autor de correspondencia)
Año2021
Volumen74
Número2
Páginas354-377
Fecha de publicación2021-05-06
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaParliamentary Affairs (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0031-2290 • E-ISSN: 1460-2482
EditorialOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/pa/gsaa006
OpenAlexW3015403103
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas23

This study was focussed on 11 rhetorical devices used to invite collective applause in speeches by two opposing British party political leaders, Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn. The analysis was based on 14 speeches (delivered at party conferences in 2016 and during the general election campaign of 2017), transcribed verbatim from video recordings. These speeches were closely matched between the two politicians in terms of speech duration, and when and where they took place. Almost all the incidents of collective audience applause (98%) occurred in response to the 11 rhetorical devices. Regardless of their opposing political views, the two party leaders used similar devices when delivering a speech. While they did not differ significantly in the mean duration of collective applause received, Corbyn was significantly higher in terms both of the frequency of his rhetorical devices and in the frequency with which he received collective applause. Given the careful matching technique employed in this study, it arguably provides us with the clearest demonstration to date of the role played by rhetorical devices in inviting collective audience applause

Art · Literature · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Rhetorical device · Rhetorical question · Sociology · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Law