A stylistic study of parallelism in the presidential speeches of presidents barrack obama and goodluck jonathan hot successfully start a new business in nigeria by getting the business plan for it get good project seminar topics with materials for approval. Barack obama gave a big, thoughtful speech about serious things. And repeating syntax and phrases are like catchy riffs that keep the song going. The words, the structure, the delivery, the gestures, and the personalization all came together in. It could also include similarities in sound and rhythm. Every aspect of their lives is concerned with giving public discourse and this is often political in nature, ranging from the speeches in the arena of any sporting events to senate debates. Katy carlson, parallelism and prosody in the processing of ellipsis sentences. Parallelism, in rhetoric, component of literary style in both prose and poetry, in which coordinate ideas are arranged in phrases, sentences, and paragraphs that balance one element with another of equal importance and similar wording. These parallel elements can be used to intensify the rhythm of language, or to draw a comparison, emphasize, or elaborate on an idea. To spot potential parallelism pitfalls, first look for the coordinating conjunctions in a sentence those are for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so and then look to either side of the conjunction. Learn what makes parallelism such a powerful tool and read some famous literary examples. Function of parallelism the use of parallel structures in speech or writing allows speakers and writers to maintain a consistency within their work, and create a balanced flow of ideas. Trained on advanced research methodology, ier, university of.
Three other common parallel devices are antithetical parallelism, emblematic parallelism, and synthetic parallelism, although synonymous parallelism is the most commonly found. Parallelism like this is not uncommon in speeches and articles, but by using it over and over kennedy is able to use it persuasively. A stylistic study of parallelism in the presidential. The recurrent returns of cospeech manual gesture, which appear as repetitions and parallelisms of handshape and movement pattern, deserve close attention for their pragmatic potential. There are couples who dislike one another furiously for several hours at a time. Use parallelism to emphasize a comparison or contrast. Parallelism definition and meaning collins english. The intent is to add balance and rhythm to sentences, giving them a flow that can. A presidential inaugural address is a ceremonial speech, made by a newly elected president of the usa. For the best example of obamas use of parallel structure, reread part of paragraph 7. Presidential speeches present a real political situation in w hich political language is used. A stylistic study of parallelism in the presidential speeches of presidents barrack obama and goodluck jonathan with abstract, chapters 15, references and questionnaire. Pdf a spects of political languagee and parallelism. Speakers have to convince everybody that they are the right candidates for.
The young presidents reliance on biblical quotations, metaphors, parallelism, and antithesis recall some of the powerful speeches of abraham lincoln. Parallelism in rhetoric is used to persuade, motivate, andor evoke emotional responses in an audience and is often used in speeches. Parallelism examples and definition of parallelism literary devices. Parallelism is a figure of speech in which two or more elements of a sentence or series of sentences have the same grammatical structure. The application of parallelism affects readability and may make texts easier to process. Famous examples of parallelism a knowledge archive. Whether it is an election of the president or a schoolassociated election, the speech has to be persuasive and convey a clear relevant message across the public. Types of parallelism in hebrew poetry sermon preparation. The wisdom books of job, psalms, proverbs, ecclesiastes, and song of solomon are wholly poetic. Pdf a spects of political languagee and parallelism researchgate.
Consider neil armstrongs famous line spoken from the moon on july 20, 1969. When there is parallelism between two things, there are similarities between them. Parallelism is a device used to make moments in literature memorable and alluring. The author gave tips and instructions on how to ensure parallelism in ones. Parallelism dictionary definition parallelism defined.
The connection between parallelism and political speeches lies in the fact that. Lets take a look at an example of parallelism done incorrectly, then break down what needs to happen for it to be fixed. When i walk the dog, i like listening to music and talking to friends on the phone. One great way to keep people from totally zoning out on you. Synonymous parallelism is one of many different parallelism devices used in hebrew poetry, each catalogued by robert lowth, an eighteenth century anglican bishop. Some of the most famous speeches in history also have examples of parallelism. It is when elements of a sentence have the same weight and are often the same part of speech. In countries where true democracy is practiced, politicians can only come to power after effective campaigning. Similarly, parallelism is a structured use of repetition by using identical or equivalent constructions in corresponding clauses to express the same sentiment. Being one of the most powerful presidents in the history of the united states, obama has been asserting himself among the american people via his enthusiastic and infectious speech. Many books of the old testament were written as poetry.
Presidential candidates donald trump and hillary clinton. Here are some examples of parallelism in literature and popular culture. Synonymous parallelism is the most common type of hebrew parallelism. In its simplest form parallelism consists of single words.
The first sentence uses two different verb forms to listen, talking. Inspired by lincolns gettysburg address, perhaps the most famous of all presidential speeches, here are nine other instances of powerful presidential rhetoric on topics ranging from political. Parallelism is a useful tool for enhancing syntax and even improving your storys overall structure, but that doesnt mean its always easy to use. Presidential speeches reveal the united states challenges, hopes, dreams and temperature of the nation, as much as they do the wisdom and perspective of the leader speaking themeven in the. To put it another way, the second line repeats or restates the first line in different words by having similar meaning. What is the literary device of synonymous parallelism used. This figure often occurs public address with others such as antithesis, anaphora, asyndeton, climax, epistrophe and symploce. Parallelism refers to placing similarly structured elements in apposition to one another in a given sentence, so as to make it sound better and easier to understand.
Routledge, 2002 parallelism has the potential to create rhythm, emphasis, and drama as it clearly presents ideas or action. President barack obama uses structural parallelism in the bold phrases, giving his speech beauty. Analysis of the rhetorical devices in obamas public. Parallelism is a literary technique where parts of a sentence are grammatically or structurally the same. Synonymous parallelism is a poetic literary device which involves the repetition of one idea in successive lines. The repetition of sounds, meanings, and structures serves to order, emphasize, and point out relations. Learning english word book our policy about comments. Parallelism is the use of corresponding or parallel constructions in writing. The opening paragraph of charles dickens a tale of two cities is perhaps the bestknown example of parallelism in literature.
In its most basic form, parallelism means using successive linguistic constructs that corresponded in terms of meter, meaning, grammatical structure, or sound. Parallelism may be accompanied by other figures of speech such as antithesis, anaphora, asyndeton, climax. Second, parallelism is economical, using one element of a. To see examples of parallelism in use, read some of the great historical speeches by rhetoricians such as abraham lincoln and martin luther king jr. Parallelism is when two or more phrases or clauses have a similar grammatical structure. The study of political discourse is as old as politics itself.
Parallelism or parallel structure is described as using a pattern of words such as verbs or adjectives to demonstrate similar words in a sentence where all elements within the sentence are of equal importance. Therefore, for elections to be won, these politicians have to be efficient in public speaking, hence, the relationship between language and politics is a very significant one, therefore, for any political speech to be successful there has to be a creative use of language by the. Finally, consider this hypothetical example from a political debate which uses parallel structure to magnify the contrast between opposing. Turn out the lights of life, draw the curtains of time, close the door on existence.
Public speech is made to exert much influence on the public in a short time, thus achieving the speechmakers aim. Parallelism is the repetition of similar grammatical forms. Martin luther king fought for racial equality in the united states in the 1950s and 60s. Parallelism is a practice used by speakers or writers of structuring similar clauses, phrases, words, and sentences similarly in their prose or speech. In the second sentence, the grammatical construction on each side of the coordinating conjunction and is the same. Consider this long, graceful and witty sentence that begins a magazine article on sneakers. When i walk the dog, i like to listen to music and talking to friends on the phone. While the concept may sound tricky, its actually quite easy to execute and makes your writing easy to read when done correctly. All of the following speeches have links to audio or video as well as the transcript for the speech.
I will search every city, town and village until i find you. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it. Rhetorical analysis of kennedys inauguration address. Figure of balance identified by a similarity in the syntactical structure of a set of words in. The major and minor prophets were also written largely in poetic form. The emphasis the greeks placed on rhetoric is a case in point. The second part of a synonymous parallelism simply repeats or restates the main idea of the first part. Notice how they use parallel structures to emphasize important points and to create a smooth, easily understandable oration. Figure of balance identified by a similarity in the syntactical structure of a set of words in successive phrases, clauses, sentences. Definition, usage and a list of parallelism examples in common speech and literature. John kennedys inaugural address is one of the most memorable political speeches of the past century. The political leader said, the present government has ruined the economy. A successful speech can not only spur loud applause of the audience but also enlighten them.
Parallelism is shown by using it was to connect opposing ideas. Advantages of parallelism writing process book shepherd. First, they are impressive and pleasing to hear, elaborate yet rhythmic and ordered, following a master plan with a place for everything and everything in its place. If an inaugural address is like a song, then parallel structure is kind of like a verbal back beat. The silent canal and the peaceful towpath led us on. In grammar, parallelism, also known as parallel structure or parallel construction, is a balance within one or more sentences of similar phrases or clauses that have the same grammatical structure. Quiz over rhetorical devices and strategies proprofs quiz. When you repeat similar ideas or themes in your speech, you are using repetition as a stylistic choice. Superb examples of parallelism in literature and popular. The first half of a verse will make a statement, and the second half. Memorability because parallelism boosts all of the above qualities, the result is often more memorable and more quotable lines in your speech. To appreciate how poetically dimensionalized gestures can contribute to everything from cohesion to speechact performativity, we need a turn akin to. Parallelism examples and definition of parallelism.
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