A Stylistic Analysis of Churchill’s Speech “Never Give

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Winston Churchill was a well-known and influential Prime Minister of United Kingdom during World War II. At the same time, he was also endowed with the reputation as one of the greatest orators of the twentieth century, for he possessed quite impressive oratorical skills. This speech was made by Churchill when he visited Harrow School on October 29, 1941 to hear the traditional songs he had sung there as a youth, as well as to speak to the students. This became one of his most quoted speeches, due to distortions that evolved about what he actually said. The paper intends to make a stylistic analysis of the speech in four perspectives, namely, phonological, lexical, syntactical and semantic analysis. I At the Phonological Level 1. Alliteration Speakers often seek to exploit the rhythm of language by their choice and arrangement of words. By catching up their audience in an arresting string of sounds, they can enhance the impact of their words -- and therefore their ideas. Churchill in his speech adopted the device of alliteration. This is a kind of rhetorical technique in which the initial sounds in words or in stressed syllables within the words are repeated in a pleasing or memorable manner, thus adds rhythm to a speech. In paragraph 1, we have air attack, long lull. In paragraph 2, we have short and sharp, and in paragraph 6 we have school song and darker days. Due to the rhythmical effect, alliteration makes the speech more impressive. 2. Distinct Articulation A public speech is usually addressed to a large audience. So the speaker has to utter his words articulately in order to make himself heard by everybody in the audience. In Churchill’s speech contracted forms common in conversation are hardly found while full forms of words or phrases are used. The following are some examples. (1)We are not so poorly armed today··· (2)···what is short

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