A Brief Stylistic Analysis of “The Gettysburg Address”Delivered by Abraham Lincoln(By WangGang of Grade 2008)Dec 2011I Introduction (3)II The Phonological Features (3)III The Lexical Features (4)IV The Syntactic/Grammatical Features (5)V The Semantic Features (5)VI Conclusion (6)A Brief Stylistic Analysis of “The Gettysburg Address”Delivered by Abraham LincolnI IntroductionPublic speech is the process of speech to a group of people in a structured, deliberate manner intended to inform, influence, or entertain the listeners. There are mainly three types of speeches for people to address--- informative speech, Persuasive Speeches and Ceremonial Speeches.Informative speech: The purpose of an informative speech is to teach the audience a small but useful tidbit of information. If your speech is a success, the audience will walk away with some new knowledge.Persuasive Speeches: The purpose is a persuasive speech is to change people's minds or behavior about something. This is a very difficult thing to do. For a persuasive speech to be truly effective, it's not enough to simply present your arguments in an eloquent way. You need to actually get the audience to change their minds.Ceremonial Speeches: A ceremonial speech is one that is given to mark an important occasion in someone's life, such as a graduation speech, a wedding toast, or a eulogy at a funeral. These speeches can be both emotionally moving and fun.This linguistic description is about the analysis of The Gettysburg Address. The Gettysburg Address is a speech by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and is one of the most well-known speeches in United States history.[1] It was delivered by Lincoln during the American Civil War, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg. Abraham Lincoln's carefully crafted address, secondary to other presentations that day, came to be regarded as one of the greatest speeches in American history. In just over two minutes, Lincoln invoked the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence and redefined the Civil War as a struggle not merely for the Union, but as "a new birth of freedom" that would bring true equality to all of its citizens, ensure that democracy would remain a viable form of government, and would also create a unified nation in which states' rights were no longer dominant.II The Phonological FeaturesMany speeches use parallelism and antithesis to make langue be with the rhythmof music. So we can’t ignore the phonological features of speeches. Because this is a political speech with the features of rigorous logic, refined langue, strength and charisma. In the beginning, “Fourscore and seven years ago”replaces eighty-seven years ago is the ingenuity of Lincoln that “fourscore” has two long vowels [o:] which is resounding and well known by people, and can draw audience’s attention effectively. If substitute [ei] of eighty-seven with [o:] of “Fourscore”, it can’t reach such an effectiveness as [o:]. Except this, we can also see amounts of vocabulary with resounding vowels, such as fourscore，now，that nation，any，that nation might live，cannot，tally did，nobly，great，before，God，new birth，of，by，for，perish and so on. All of the lexis enhance volume and make listeners catch the point of the speech easily. At the transition of speech, improving the intonation of “but” not only make audiences be more conscious of the oncoming, but also the speaker more impassioned. To rhythm, the speed of speaking is usually within the range of 120 to 150 words per min. A total of 275 words of this speech are finished barely in 3minutes, from which, we can know the speed is medium. It is planed deliberately by Lincoln that what he is facing is a complicated and motley community or group including statesman, military officer, journalist and the family of martyr and other grassroots among these people are either lowbrow or highbrow. For persuading them to reach a common target, he has to make sure everyone at presence totally understand the content of his speech. Additionally, he makes use of “pause” skillfully, for instance, the “pause”after “now”leads to a thought of current missions and conditions; the “pause” after God make people image what will happen the next moment.III The Lexical FeaturesMost speeches of Lincoln are brief, forceful and easily understood. In the speech of Gettysburg, simple words with one or two vowels are used frequently by Lincoln, such as nation，audience，people，country，created，language，common，purpose，freedom，example，speech，diction，method，explain and so on. It is for the understanding of everyone. Because the family of martyr is the most important part of the audiences, such factor is taken consideration into the dictions of the speech by Lincoln. Some people may think that such langue leaves a drab impression, but which is evaded though several means by Lincoln--- “those who gave their lives that nation might live”and “shall not perish form the earth”replace “mortal”and “immortal”; “the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here” and “but it can never forget what they did here” are obvious comparison. These avoid insipidity and make langue more diversified and accurate. There are also many emotional words used in this speech which bring a powerful feeling of unite. For example, in the initial segment, “our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation”, Lincoln call ancestors as fathers to show his reverence, meanwhile draw the attention of audience. And usually, first person is used in speech, second and third person less. This speech,“our” and “we” are used up to 12, occupied by 4.4% of the whole vocabulary, third person only 4, 1.5%, none of second person. First person is always used in oral speaking and diary. The orator involuntarily pulls closely the relation with listeners, enhancing credibility and instigation.IV The Syntactic/Grammatical FeaturesIn the speech, Lincoln uses many rhetorical devices which make an important difference on improving. For example, the richer language, and also express fully his aspiration for freedom and equality and his opinion to the war. The speech of Lincoln sufficiently utilizes rhetorical devices to reach the purpose of inspiration. For instance “our fathers brought forth on this continent new nation，conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” This metaphor depicts the born of baby instead of the formation of country, insinuating that this country is with life like human beings and now it is just a child being in growth and learning. And it needs protection either. Lincoln applies antithesis and parallelism to make his speech more natural, grand and magnificent and influential. For example, “We Can not dedicate．．” “We Call not consecrate．…We rail not hallow…this grounds” and “It is for⋯It is rather for as⋯” and the repetition of words, for example, “⋯of the people，by the people，for the people⋯” These parallel structures are brief and can be easily understood, expressing the summon and inspiration to the survivors. Lincoln also uses the repetition structure of sentences, such as “It is for US the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far SO nobly advanced．It is rather for as to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us.”This stresses that the revolution has not yet succeed, everybody should continue to work out things that hasn’t done.V The Semantic FeaturesAt this last level of linguistic description of a public speech, the semantic features are discussed. When analyzing a public speech in the semantic level, rhetorical devices, or figures of speech are the main concern. Generally, comparison, metaphor, simile, analogy, personification, juxtaposition and so on are often used for gaining special effect or purpose. In the last sentence of The Gettysburg Address, for example, It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that thesedead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth, there are two juxtaposition used in it. The expressions “government of the people, by the people, for the people” described in a progressive way, indicating the importance of each level of meaning. It is for the audience to know that the ultimate goal of the government is to serve for a better life of all people, pointing directly to the central idea of this speech.VI ConclusionHaving analyzed The Gettysburg Address in ways of linguistic description in terms of the phonological features, the lexical features, the syntactic/grammatical features and the semantic features, a deeper understanding of this public speech is achieved. By making further analysis, such as textual analysis and contextual analysis, more profound meanings and styles of this public speech can be found. The same kind of analysis can be further utilized in other sources of texts.。