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“Stirring it up!” Emotionality in audience responses to political speeches

Bull, P; Waddle, M

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Authors

P Bull

M Waddle



Abstract

Speaker-audience interaction in political speeches has been conceptualised as a form of dialogue between speaker and audience. Of particular importance is research pioneered by Atkinson (e.g., 1983, 1984a, 1984b) on the analysis of rhetorical devices utilised by politicians to invite audience applause. Atkinson was not concerned with emotionalisation in political speech-making, rather with how applause was invited in relation to group identities through ingroup praise and/or outgroup derogation. However, his theory has provided important insights into how speakers invite audience responses, and a powerful stimulus for associated research. The purpose of this article is to address the shortfall of emotionalisation research within the realm of political speeches. We begin with an account of Atkinson’s influential theory of rhetoric, followed by a relevant critique. The focus then turns to our main aim, namely, how key findings from previous speech research can be interpreted in terms of emotionalisation. Specifically, the focus is on audience responses to the words of political speakers, and how different forms of response may reflect audience emotionality. It is proposed that both duration and frequency of invited affiliative audience responses may indicate more positive emotional audience responses, while uninvited interruptive audience applause and booing may provide notable clues to issues on which audiences have strong feelings. It is concluded that there is strong evidence that both invited and uninvited audience responses may provide important clues to emotionalisation - both positive and negative - in political speeches.

Citation

Bull, P., & Waddle, M. (2021). “Stirring it up!” Emotionality in audience responses to political speeches. Russian journal of linguistics (Online), 25(3), 611-627. https://doi.org/10.22363/2687-0088-2021-25-3-611-627

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date May 21, 2021
Publication Date Jan 1, 2021
Deposit Date Nov 2, 2021
Publicly Available Date Nov 2, 2021
Journal Russian Journal of Linguistics
Print ISSN 2687-0088
Electronic ISSN 2686-8024
Volume 25
Issue 3
Pages 611-627
DOI https://doi.org/10.22363/2687-0088-2021-25-3-611-627
Publisher URL https://doi.org/10.22363/2687-0088-2021-25-3-611-627
Related Public URLs http://journals.rudn.ru/linguistics/index

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