Speech Activity of the Modern Forensic Orator (On the Material of Speeches in Debates)

The problem of studying the traditions of forensic eloquence of the early 21st century is posed. The speech practice of a modern forensic orator is studied on the example of a certain language personality. The analysis of this speech practice is important for determining the features of forensic eloquence of the beginning of the 21st century in the professional speech of rhetoricians. The development of linguopersonology is due to the fact that a person as a culture bearer has been the focus of numerous studies in opposition to the technogenic approach. The problems of human communication effectiveness are widely discussed. In particular, the question of efficiency criteria of a professional language personality is open. There have been no works so far in which special aspects of the speech of an ordinary contemporary orator are considered in detail. The language personality under study is one of the successful lawyers in Tomsk. Thus, the speech of the lawyer in question is characterized by consistency and correctness as the basic qualities of good speech, including the court one, that were identified in the works on the outstanding speakers of the early 20th century. Expressiveness and richness are less manifested; they are created by units of bookish and colloquial vocabulary, evocative elements, precedent texts. Evaluation is often categorical, and negative particles are the linguistic means of its expression. Tropes are single and are used appropriately; irony is the most frequent among the figures of speech that reinforce the line of reasoning, and preference is given to parallel structures. The specific features that distinguish the modern forensic orator from the standards of the previous century can be explained both by the influence of the time and by the orator's personality, for example, a degree in the humanities (history) which, presumably, contributed to the formation of the culture of speech, the general level of erudition. Concerning the time, the richness and expressiveness of the speeches of forensic orators of the late 19th - early 20th centuries are associated with a different era, the unformed legal language that was a mixture of scientific, journalistic and literary styles. The late 20th and early 21st centuries are characterized by the standardization of the language, by the workload of forensic debate participants, by the pragmatic nature of the goals, which results in the leveling of emotionality. The use of cliches does not enrich speech, but in the current environment can be an effective technique for the orator to succeed. Thus, speeches in debates reflect the modern orator's language personality that is literate, erudite, educated, competent, intelligent, with standardized speech that is a little lower than the elite speech culture, restrained in emotions but categorical in assessments. On the basis of the speeches of one language personality, it is almost impossible to draw definitive conclusions about the features of speech practice of modern forensic orators in general. It can be assumed that the transformation of the traditions of forensic eloquence is connected both with the individual characteristics of the speaker and with the influence of the modern state of language. Further research will allow refuting or confirming this.

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