Stylistic Analysis of Winston Churchill’s Inaugural Speech

【Abstract】：Public speech is an art. It presents the features of formal written language while exhibiting the characteristics of the spoken language. This thesis selects an inaugural speech made by Winston Churchill in May 1940 named Blood， Toil， Tears and Sweat. Through analyzing stylistic features of this speech， these features are mainly affected in three aspects： grammatical features， lexical features and semantic features.

【Key words】： Churchill， speech， stylistic analysis

1 Stylistic Features of This Speech

1.1 Grammatical Features

1.1.1 Variation in Sentence Length

We know that casual speech tends to use short sentences. However， a glance at Churchill’s inaugural speech reveals that its sentences vary much in length. In this speech， there are more than thirty sentences， the longest of which has seventy-four words and the shortest four words. "Such sharp variation in length reflects the emotional state of mind of Winston Churchill and his efforts to evoke an active response from the audience. The average length per sentence of this speech is much longer than casual conversation. And though there can be several clauses in a longer sentence， they mainly come after the main clause， which presents no great difficulty for the audience to comprehend. Therefore， Churchill’s speech conforms to that formal occasion and it is yet not difficult for the audience to understand.

1.1.2 Various Sentence Types

As public speeches are intended to inform， to persuade， and to appeal， most sentences are statements. Occasional questions are also used. Such questions are used to give the audience food for thought and to impress them， which do not usually expect an answer on the part of the audience， though feedback by way of applause or laughter etc is welcomed. And vocatives of a general type such as “my friends and colleagues” in this speech are used to add a touch of intimacy to the relationship between Churchill and the audience.

1.2 Lexical Features

This speech compared with daily conversation is careful about its choice of words in order to use words accurate and clear in meaning. This speech shows that public speech has much use of abstract words， which is made necessary by the content of the speech. These words， however， account for but ten percent of the total words used， the rest are all common everyday words. That is because Winston Churchill is tend to choose concrete， familiar words over abstract， unfamiliar ones and willing to keep them to a minimum and clearly define those that his audience may not understand.

1.3 Semantic Features

1.3.1 Textual Structure

According to its content， this speech can be mainly divided into three parts. In the first part， determined by the objective reality， the thematic word “it” is used in a high frequency to state the urgent situation. And the thematic word “I” is also used in a high rate to state that Churchill’s mission and responsibility in this urgent situation. In the second part， the thematic word is “resolution” at first and then goes to the word “we” to make the audience realize the urgent situation of this battle， to warn the audience that they are all in the urgent situation and to encourage the audience to fight together against the long-lasting sufferings. In the third part which is the climax of this speech， the thematic word is also “I.” Churchill expresses his strong determination through repetitious use of this word. This speech shortens the distance between Churchill and the audience by using many words like “I”， “we”， “our” and “you” and also helps Churchill get the trust and support of the audience. In this speech， Churchill uses the relatively simple thematic progression pattern， which can not only make sense， but also can call on the British people to unite and fight for the peace.

1.3.2 Rhetorical Devices

In this speech， Winston Churchill uses effective ways of delivery through parallelism， repetition， synonymous words and figurative use of language. The parallel structure makes the statement clear， consistent and compelling. Repetition helps to create a strong emotional effect. Synonymous words are repeated to add force， clearness or balance to a sentence. Figurative use of language is also used in this speech.

2 Conclusion

The British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s inaugural speech， named Blood， Toil， Tears and Sweat， enjoys many features of the public speech in grammatical features， lexical features and semantic features. As for the grammatical features， Winston Churchill’s speech has the variation between long sentences and short sentences， variation between statements and rhetorical questions. As for lexical features， Winston Churchill uses accurate and words in meaning. As for semantic features， Winston Churchill uses the relatively simple thematic progression pattern， which can not only make sense， but also can call on the British people to unite and fight for the peace. And he also uses effective ways of delivery such as parallelism， repetition， synonymous words and figurative use of language to enhance the encouraging effect to the British people of this speech. These features not only show that Winston Churchill is a successful speaker， but also tell that a public speech must take all these features into consideration in order to have an expected effect.

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