Presented by:
Romana Levytska
Scientific advisor:
Onchulenko M.I.
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Clitics in
Politic Discourse
During the last few decades, contracted forms have been
studied by scholars with different aims. Some have focused on grammatical and
register-related factors, conditioning the use of contractions in corpora of
spoken and written English (Black (1977), Forsheden (1983), Hiller (1984),
Kjellmer (1995)); others, within the framework of generative syntax, have
concentrated on ‘knock-out’ factors, blocking contraction of auxiliaries (Zwicky
(1970), King (1970), Kaisse (1983) and (1985)). It is generally accepted that
contracted forms are primarily a feature of spoken, informal English. The role
of contracted not in spoken American English characterized by discoursensituationsnandnspeakerninteractionnofndifferentnkindsnhasnbeenninvestigatednbynYaeger-Drorn(1996). The object of the present article is
contracted forms, theirnclassificationnandnpeculiarmfeaturesminmpoliticalmdiscourse.
The subject of the
investigation is the usage of clitics in political discourse. The actuality of the chosen topic is
caused by necessity:
1)
To observe the contracted forms and their classification;
2)
To determine what discourse(political discourse) is;
3)
To study the frequency of usage of clitics in political discourse.
The aim of the present work is to determine the
frequency of usage of contracted forms in political discourse, on the basis of
B. Obama’s discourse.
The clitic is called a bound morph and it
seems to occupy an intermediate position between an affix and a word. The clitic is divided into two groups, proclitic and enclitic [3]. A subgroup of clitic which
is attached at the beginning of a stem is called a proclitic. Another group of clitic which is attached at the end of
a stem is called an enclitic (e.g. I’ve been to that house. =I have been to
that house. It’s hard to believe. = It is hard to believe.). Other types of
clitic are mesoclitic and endoclitic. Mesoclitic is a clitc which appears between
the stem of the host and other affixes (e.g. rock'n'roll). Endoclitic is a clitic which splits
apart the root and is inserted between the two pieces [2].
We also can distinguish informal (which are short forms of other words that people
use when speaking casually, e.g. gimme = give me, ya = you, lemme = let me) and
formal contractions. We may divide clitics into positive (e.g. I’m, he’s,
we’ve) and negative (don’t, isn’t, won’t). Contracted forms may also be divided
into positive (aux-contractions) and negative (not-contractions).
Aux-contraction or verb-contraction is a shortened form of two words one of
which is a verb (e.g. I’ll, he’s, and we’re). Not-contraction are contracted
forms in which verb is used with not
(isn’t, wasn’t, hadn’t).
Contracted
forms are used either in informal or formal communication, e.g. political
discourse.
Discourse (L. discursus,
"running to and from") means either "written or spoken
communication or debate"
or "a formal discussion or debate [7]." Political discourse-is
a discourse the purpose of which is to create consensus
among citizens
as to which course of action will best solve a problem. To define the
frequency of usage of clitics in political discourse, we will use discourses of
American President B. Obama.
In discourses of B. Obama positive
contracted forms have a higher frequency of usage than negative contractions. In general B Obama
used 78 positive contracted forms. The most prominent positive contraction used
by B. Obama is I’m (13.78 %). A high
frequency of usage also has such positive contractions as I’ll (8.58 %), we’re (7.8
%) ( e.g. But we are certainly taking into account what we are hearing
in the field, from mid-level officers and a general assessment that we’re receiving from them, is the same
assessment that you’re reporting in
the newspapers, which is that the surge has had some impact that is to be hoped
for [4].), it’s
(7.02 %) (According to reports, it's reached
a tentative deal with Senate Democrats that would make it much harder for
opposition Republicans to block the reforms being proposed in next year's
budget [5].) and I’ve, we’ve (6.24 %). More rarely B. Obama
uses such positive contractions: you’ve,
you’ll (4.68 %), we’ll, you’ve (3.9 %), it’ll (3.12 %), it’d, they’re
(2.34 %) and they’ve (1.56 %). In
general B. Obama used in his speeches 61 negative contracted forms. The most prominent
negative contraction (not-contraction) used by B. Obama is shouldn’t (7.32 %). A high frequency of usage also has such
not-contractions as hasn’t (6.1 %), isn’t, don’t (5.49 %) (e. g. It would
appear that the White House isn't prepared
to sacrifice its plans to reform the country's health care system on the altar
of bi-partisanship [5]. "Don't be
discouraged by what's happened in the last few weeks," Mr. Obama told a
large audience who applauded and cheered when he first appeared before them [6].),
wasn’t, didn’t (4.88 %), aren’t, doesn’t, mustn’t and weren’t (4.27 %). And more rarely B.
Obama uses such negative contracted forms: needn’t,
hadn’t, can’t (3.66 %), won’t (3.05 %) and couldn’t (2.44 %).
Bibliography
1. Compact Oxford
Dictionary, Thesaurus and Wordpower Guide. - New York: OUP, 2001. - 121 p.
Illustrative Sources:
3. EnglisnClub.com
4. Hishman Melhem.
Interview of the President. http://news.bbc.co.uk
5. Obama diary: The
first 100 days. http://news.bbc.co.uk
6. Marc Ambinder.
Obama Reaffirms Support for CIA. http://news.bbc.co.uk