The Use of Elaboration in the First Speech of Joe Biden as President of the USA Delivered to the Nation in November 2020

Hasan Isam Aldulaimi

doi:10.61856/qb36cp47

Authors

Hasan Isam Aldulaimi University of Technology- Iraq https://orcid.org/0009-0002-7325-0097

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61856/qb36cp47

Keywords:

Conjunctions, Elaboration, Joe Biden, Speech, Apposition

Abstract

Speech is the utterance of thoughts in the form of speech. The first speech by President Joe Biden to the nation in November 2020 reviewed the political, economic, and social realities in the United States during that period. This study examines the application of elaboration as a rhetorical tool in Biden's speech with particular reference to its subtypes, such as apposition and clarification. The study is qualitative in nature in terms of its design, as it is based on the theory of cohesion, formulated by Halliday and Hasan (1976), about the use of conjunctions to enhance the main text in terms of coherence and meaning. The analysis shows that the subtypes of the elaboration breakdown in Biden’s speech were 33% expository, 33% resumptive, 22% particularizing, and 12% verificative. Moreover, the use of clarification was more common as compared to the use of apposition, which shows that Biden used clarification to make his speech clear and direct to the audience. The above findings indicate that the strategic application of elaboration can make political speech more persuasive and comprehensible, which fits into the cohesion-based theoretical framework.

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