A Stylistic Analysis of William Jefferson Clinton’s First Inaugural Address

“Stylistics is a discipline that studies the ways in which language is used; it is a discipline that studies the styles of language in use.”徐有志（2005：2）. Generally speaking， language is a pretty complicated concept. The content and ways of usage of language will vary with different contexts. It sounds very hard in our daily communication. However， stylistics can help people to deal with this problem appropriately. It can analyze texts from different levels of language.

The following is a stylistic analysis of William Jefferson Clinton’s first inaugural address. His speech will be analyzed from phonological features， grammatical features and lexical features.

The first one is about phonological features. Repetition and alliteration are used in this speech. “Alliteration is a device that repeats the same sound at frequent intervals and since the sound repeated is usually the initial consonant sound.”王海燕（2002：42-43）. For example， “Communications and commerce are global; investment is mobile; technology is almost magical……” The other one is “Profound and powerful forces are shaking and remaking our world， and the urgent question of our time is whether we can …….” In these two examples， “communication and commerce” and “profound and powerful” are alliteration. Alliteration is effective in its expressive force. Besides， repetition is also used. For example， the phrase “my fellow citizens” has appeared for twice and “my fellow Americans” has appeared for three times. By using repetition， the former President Clinton wants to arouse audience’s attention and tell them the development and prosperity of America depends on the joint effort of all the people and each of them should make their own devotion to the country.

The second one is about grammatical features. Parallel structures appear frequently in the speech. For example， “We must do what no generation has had to do before. We must invest more in our own people， in their jobs， in their future， and at the same time cut our massive debt. And we must do so in a world in which we must compete for every opportunity”; the other one is “But when most people are working harder for less; when others cannot work at all; when the cost of health care devastates families and threatens to bankrupt many of our enterprises， great and small; when fear of crime rob ……” These two sentences are separately led by “we must” and “when”. Parallel structure is coherent in meaning， neat in sentence patterns and clear in rhythm， which strengthens the rhythmic beauty of the speech.

Last but not the least， it is the feature at lexical level. Many first personal pronouns are referred in this speech. For instance， “we” has been used for fifty-one times; “I” has been used for six times. At the same time， “our” also appears frequently. It is convenient for President Clinton to express his own ideas and opinions by using “I” and also it can remind audience of paying attention to the measures he will take after his inauguration. The first personal plural pronouns “we” and “our” are more frequently used than “I”. “Because “we” and “our” can put the addresser and addresses in the same standpoint， which is a technique used by the president to increase the intimacy between him and his audience”孔昭莉，陳士法（2011：40）. It will be a great help for the addresser to win the election. Besides， using the first personal plural pronouns can make the audience feel that they are in the same group and they are one of the units of their nation， decreasing all kinds of inner contradiction.

To sum up， this passage is about the stylistic analysis of the first inaugural address of William Jefferson Clinton， including three levels of stylistic features------phonological features， grammatical features as well as lexical features. The stylistic analysis makes William Jefferson Clinton’s speech much clearer and more easily understandable. It explains the relationship between texts and contexts.

Stylistics benefits our life in many aspects. “Firstly， stylistic study helps cultivate a sense of appropriateness. Secondly， stylistic study sharpens the understanding and appreciation of literary works. Thirdly， stylistic study helps achieve adaptation in translation”徐有志（2005：15-21）. As a language learner， we should grasp the stylistic knowledge.

Bibliography

1.徐有志.英語文體學教程[M].北京：高等教育出版社， 2005.

2.徐有志.英語文體學教程[M].北京：高等教育出版社， 2005.

3.孔昭莉.陳士法，奧巴馬總統就職演講的文體特征分析[J].文教資料，2011： 40.

王海燕.漫談英語頭韻法[J]. 湖北師范學院學報（哲學社會科學版）2002（22）：42-43.