Social factors determining the use of prosodic rhetorical devices in both chambers of UK Parliament

The importance of oral communication enhances the interestof modern scholars in public talks. The objects of this work are public speeches made in UK Parliament. The conducted survey allows claimingthe difference between the speeches made in both the House of Lords and the House of Commons due to the fact that the deputies of the twochambers belong to different social classes. This factor has a great influence on the choice of the prosodic devices. The House of Lords is aunique institution. It is formed on the non-selective basis. Only peers either appointed or inherited are granted a chance to sit in the House ofLords. As a rule, Lords represent British aristocracy or the highest strata of the society. Unlike the House of Lords, the House of Commons is ademocratic institution. Deputies are elected every 5 years. As a rule, the Commons are not aristocrats and belong to the middle class of the society.The objects of the research are 20 speeches made in UK Parliament in both chambers. Electroacoustic and auditory analyses help to find outprosodic devices characteristic of the speeches in each chamber. All the talks are split into 3 parts: introduction, body and conclusion. In theirintroductions the Lords and the Commons fulfil the following tasks: to concentrate the listeners attention on the content of the speech, to attractthe listeners attention and to enhance the contact. While achieving these goals the Lords transmit mostly rational information, the Commonstransmit mostly emotional and modal information. The main purposes of the bodies of the speeches are to present the material in a logical way,to influence, to maintain the contact with the audience. The body is split into theses and argumentation. Rational information is mostly transmittedin the thesis, emotional and modal information is predominantly transmitted in arguments. In their conclusions the Lords and the Commonsfulfil the following tasks: to promote the proper mood, to provide a sense of closure. While achieving these goals the Lords and the Commonstransmit predominantly rational information. Owing to the fact that the Lords tend to transmit rational information, they appeal to the listenersminds. For this sake they vary temporal prosodic characteristics. Tempo comes first among them due to the peculiarities of delimitation of intonationgroups and the length of both syntactical and emphatic pauses. Owing to the fact that the Commons tend to transmit rational, modal andemotional information, they appeal to the listeners minds and emotions. For this sake they vary not only temporal, but pitch and volume characteristicsas well.

Keywords

Authors

References