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Pragmatic strategies are the application of the theories in our daily life. In the following chapters, specific strategies will be analyzed through examples extracted from Obama’s speeches. By doing such analysis, readers may have a better understanding of not only Obama’s speeches, but also the pragmatic strategies.
2 The Strategy of Using Personal Pronoun
Indexicality is a fixed feature shared by all human languages. According to the research made by linguistic philosopher Bar-Hillel in 1954, indexical expression is a natural character of language. During the process of communication, most declarative sentences contain implied meaning about the speaker, the listener or the time and place of the conversation. Only if one is aware of the specific context can he understand the whole conversation. Basically, there are person deixis, time deixis, place deixis, discourse deixis and social deixis. In this paper, person deixis used in Obama’s speeches is especially analyzed.
Person deixis can objectively reflect the subtle relationship between the participants. Although the form of person deixis in pragmatics is the same as the personal pronoun in traditional grammar, they are totally two different concepts. The understanding of personal pronoun does not require context, while the understanding of person deixis is based on the awareness of the context parameters. According to the role of the participants, we can pide person deixis into three kinds; the first person which includes the speaker, the second person which includes the listener and the third person which refers to anything that is not take part in the conversation.
Mostly, the choice of person deixis is determined by context, but as an orator, Obama paid special attention to diction and made careful decision to the choice of personal pronouns. By this way, special effect can be achieved. For example the use of "I" can show Obama’s personal attitudes and his own responsibility while the word we is usually used to establish intimacy between the speaker and the listener or reduce the responsibility of the US government or himself. In this paper, speeches of different topics such as the declaration of candidacy, the 2013 presidential inaugural address, the speech made after accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, and the speech against the Iraq War are selected and analyzed. Several specific examples are made to see the oratorical effect of various speaking strategies.
2.1 The Use of "I"
Usually, first pronoun appears the most frequently in speeches. However, in Obama’s speeches, "I" as a first person pronoun, does not always be the most favorite one. It appears that he always use this word with cautious. In his presidential inaugural address of 2013, he only used the word "I" for four times and which without exception all referred to himself. Obama tried to avoid the subjective and tough impression like the one Hilary left to the audience by frequently using the word "I". According to Obama’s speaking strategies, he tends to use the word "I" to show his sincerity and create an image of modesty. Following are examples of his use of "I".
Example 1: I recognize there is a certain presumptuousness —a certain audacity — to this announcement. I know that I haven’t spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I’ve been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change. (extracted from Declaration of Candidacy)
In this example, Obama used four times the word "I" to refer to himself. On one hand, he admitted that he had little experience in governing the capital and the government. This reflected his modesty and made him more easily accepted by the public. On the other hand, he emphasized that a change must be made and he had the determination to realize the change. The use of "I" strengthened the determination and made the public feel the significance of the upcoming change.