A Discourse Analysis of Two Speeches on the Topic of I Have a Dream

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Abstract：The author selects two speeches that deal with the same topic―I have a dream， delivered by Martin Luther King， Jr. and Bai Yansong respectively. For each speech， the structure of the text and how context and intended readership incorporated in the writing are analyzed. It is concluded that structure， context and intended readership are carried out differently.

Key words：discourse analysis； structure； context

中图分类号：H319 文献标识码： A 文章编号：1672-1578（2014）4-0002-02

The structure of a text is mainly manifested in two aspects. The first one is cohesion， which is the grammatical and lexical relationship within sentences. The second is coherence which makes a text semantically meaningful. Therefore， this paper will analyze the structure of the two speeches in terms of cohesion and coherence.

（1） We hold these truths to be self-evident， that all men are created equal

（2） This is our hope， and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

In addition， a comparative reference is also used to show the determination of the black people to change their racial status. We can also find substitution in this sentence.

（3） We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.

However， the most evident and powerful cohesive device in I have a dream is lexical cohesion and structural cohesion. In my excerption of Martin Luther King’s speech， one of the lexical cohesion， repetition， is frequently used to highlight the theme and impress the audience. To be specific，“we can never be satisfied” is repeated seven times， “some of you have come here” is repeated three times， “go back to” is used six times， and“I have a dream that” is used six times. Synonym， as another lexical cohesion， is also used to enrich the content of the text and make the text more vivid.In this speech， more than half of synonyms are used for describing the poor condition of the black people.

I have a dream is famous for its parallelism which belongs to structural cohesion. The series of “I have a dream that” in the last part of excerption forms a parallelism which express the impassioned emotion of Martin Luther King and form a powerful inspiration and appeal.

In contrast to I have a dream， grammatical cohesion is mainly adopted in Bai Yansong’s speech to maintain coherence， among which reference and conjunction accounts for a large part. Here are the examples：

（1）中国经历了这三十年，有无数个这样的家庭。

（2）今天的中国是由刚才的这些词汇构成。

（3）它不是宏大的口号，并不是在政府那里存在，它是属于每一个非常普通的中国人。而它用中文写成 “我有一个梦想”。

（4）但是在中国，你随时可以看到这样的家庭。

（5）因为他们看到的是一个缩小了的、错误不断的、有众多问题的一个中国。

From the structural difference between these two speeches， we can see the fact which is already known to us. That is， English lay stresses on hypotaxis and our Chinese language lay stresses on parataxis. Parataxis suggests that the connections between words and words or sentences and sentences briefly depend on the meanings of the languages or the logical relationship. However， hypotaxis shows the dependent or subordinate construction or relationship of clauses with connectives， meaning that the connections mainly rely on the connection words or the linguistic form of the languages.

Context crucially influences the structure and processing of text and talk. Halliday made great contribution to the development of the theory of situational context by identifying the situational context into three terms： field， tenor， and mode. In I have a dream， the field of it is a speech delivered to thousands of people of different races and beliefs at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. Martin Luther King gave the fortissimo voice on behalf of the black people which not only touched his audience but also the government. The tenor of this speech is the interaction between Martin Luther King and his audience under the stage and before the radio. They maybe strange or familiar to each other， but Marin Luther King touched their feelings and inspired the blacks to fight for their democratic rights by his powerful words. The mode of it is spoken language. As a public speech， the choice of words has to be easy to understand and make it appealing to the audience. As for Bai Yansong’s speech， the field of it is a speech delivered to the Yule students coming from different countries， most of which is the United States and China. As a result， his speech can be quite attractive when the dream of Chinese people and relations between China and the U.S. is talked about. The tenor of Bai Yansong’s speech is the interaction between him and the students and teachers presented in the hall. Since Bai Yansong’s speech’s not a persuasive speech as Martin Luther King’s， it is rather a informative one whose aim is to increase the mutual understanding between American and Chinese people. Therefore， he can choose casual way of communication and create relaxed atmosphere by his use of humor. The mode of this speech is similar to that of I have a dream. It is also spoken language.

In a public speech， the speaker’s choice of word and way of speaking has a lot to do with his or her readership. Martin Luther King’s speech is delivered to call for an end to racism in the United States. In his speech， the use of repetition and parallelism successfully get his determination crossed. In contrast， Bai Yansong’s audience is mainly students of Yule

University who have different cultural background. His American audience wanted to hear what happened in China and life of Chinese people， while his Chinese audience wanted to know the Chinese society and American society in his mind. Therefore， Bai Yansong’s speech needs not to have so many rises and falls like I have a dream. He can just delivered his speech in a relaxed way and get response and understanding from his audience by telling stories and his intelligent thought of Chinese and American culture.

In conclusion， from Martin Luther King’s and Bai Yansong’s speech which focus on the same topic， we can see that structure， context， intended readership and writer’s purpose are carried out differently. Lexical cohesion and structural cohesion are more often used by Martin Luter King and grammatical cohesion is mainly adopted by Bai Yansong. Difference between parataxis and hypotaxis are also suggested. In addition， context of situation including field， tenor and mode are discussed separately to have a thorough understanding of the two speeches. What’s more， readership and writer’s purpose are also different which influence the speaker’s choice of words and way of speaking.

Reference：

[1]Halliday， M. A. K. Language as Social Semiotic： The Social Interpretation of Language and Meaning[M]. London： Edward Arnold，1978.

[2]许高渝，张建理.20世纪汉外语言对比研究[M].北京：高等教育出版社，2006.

[3]许余龙.对比语言学[M].上海：上海外语教育出版社，2002.

作者简介：戴嘉谊（1990-），女，籍贯：山东省莱芜市，学历：在读硕士，研究方向：商务英语。