Abstract

Kenneth Burke is the greatest American rhetorician in the twentieth century, and his influence on contemporary rhetoric is unparalleled. Using a large amount of rhetoric is one of the main stylistic features in English speech. Numerous famous speeches in history use rhetoric to win and leave deep impression on people.  As the first African-American president in the United States of America, Barack Obama has become the focus of the whole world’s attention by virtue of his remarkable speeches. This study will use Kenneth Burke’s identity theory and the corpus from America, President Obama’s political speeches to have an analysis of rhetorical features in Obama’s speeches.

Key words: Barack Obama  speeches  Kenneth Burke  identity theory  rhetorical analysis

摘 要

肯尼斯•伯克是20世纪美国最伟大的修辞学家，他对当代修辞学的影响之大无人能比。大量使用修辞是英文演讲的一个主要文体特点。历史上无数的演讲名篇无不以修辞取胜，给人留下深刻的印象。作为首位非裔级美国总统，贝拉克•奥巴马由于他众所周知的优秀演讲得到了全球的关注。本文从政治修辞的情景与功能出发，运用肯尼思•伯克的“认同”理论，以美国总统奥巴马政治演讲为语料，分析奥巴马演讲中的修辞特征。

关键词：贝拉克•奥巴马  演讲  肯尼斯•伯克  “认同”理论  修辞分析

1    Introduction
Rhetoric is the art of discourse that aims to improve the capability of speakers that attempt to inform, persuade particular audiences in specific situations. Political rhetoric is the strategies used to construct persuasive arguments in formal public debates, especially widely used in political speeches. Political speech plays an important role in the American presidential election. The presidential candidate promotes his ideas through the speech in the campaign so that he can let people understand him and win votes from voters. Using a large amount of rhetoric is one of the main stylistic features in English political speeches. Numerous famous political speeches in history use rhetoric to win and leave deep impression on people.
There are many reasons why Obama is the winner in the American presidential campaign, but no one can deny the important role of his wonderful speeches, about which Mr. Liang Wendao has commented: “Obama’s victory is a rhetoric victory”. Then, this study is to analyze the rhetorical features in Obama’s speeches. And the late contemporary master Kenneth Burke has declared that the core of rhetoric is no longer just the previous “persuasion”, but “identity”. Kenneth Burke’s identity theory is the inheritance and development of Aristotle’s Rhetoric, which influence on contemporary rhetoric. Therefore, this study will analyze Obama’s speeches from the perspective of Kenneth Burke’s identity theory.