Language of Politicians- American vs British

 

Politicians through the ages have always been known to give a heartfelt speech or a heated rant to gain popularity or influence. In todays globalised world this is even more so, in particular with countries such as Britain and the U.S.A who share a language in common.

The following article demonstrates how politicians when it comes to their public speaking tend to all use the same techniques whether it alliteration, making witty rhetorical questions or repetition. http://www.teachit.co.uk/armoore/lang/power.htm#politics

This being true it is also noticeable the difference in Lexis that politicians from different countries choose to use. Examples of this can be drawn from the following sources: http://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/speeches/rhetoric/rmnresig.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33221966

What you may have picked up from that first source, President Nixon’s resignation speech, is that in American politics there is a greater use of Abstract nouns such as “faithfulness” and “Friendship.” On the other hand the second source, a speech from David Cameron, is quite the opposite and has more frequent use of concrete nous such as “taxes” and “wages.” It can be suggested to be so due to a cultural difference, the U.S.A has a society which heavily depends on religion which is also an abstract noun so they try to assimilate their speeches to this by using other abstract nouns which represent similar values; whereas in the U.K there isn’t as much emphasis on religion within society. The U.Ks society can be said to be more based on factual objectives so therefore Politicians adapt their speeches with concrete nouns which is more addressed at what the public want to know about.

Another difference is name dropping of which there seems to be much in British politician’s language and very little in American political language.

http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/102777

This speech of Margaret Thatcher illustrates this with, “Oxford University,” “Winston Churchill” and “Harold Macmillan.”

This is a major difference between American and British political speeches. In America Politicians want to project themselves as average, working class people so that they gain support and the population can feel represented by them. In the U.K however the existence of a predominantly elitist society results in quite the opposite, many politicians attempt to diverge their way of speaking from their audiences as they want to show their superiority and so their aptness to lead. This is a result of Britain’s longevity as a nation and so its hierarchical social structure.

In addition language is also shaped by the political system in both the countries. In America there is a system of personality politics therefore the politicians need to have popular support to win an election regardless of what their policies state. In the U.K there is much less of this and more of manifesto politics which means a politicians popularity is important only to a limited extent what really matters is what policies they choose to implement.

N.Serafino