ANALYSIS OF THE SPEECH OF THE EX UK PRIME MINISTER GORDON BROWN ABOUT EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS

How do the language features reflect the contextual factors of your given text?

G - SPEECH

R - FORMAL

A - PUBLIC

M – ORAL/WRITTEN

P – TRANSACTIONAL/PERSUADE

S – EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS

From the language features present in the text I can deduce that it is a speech.

The first thing I can notice is the register: it is formal and full of rhetorical devices that give to the text a powerful spirit.

In the first paragraph I can see an asyndetic listing: “And the Britain I want to strive is a Britain with no cap on ambition, no ceiling on hope, no limit to where your potential will take you, how far you can rise a Britain where the talents of each us (…)”. Again, in the first paragraph is it is written: “Today what matters is who has the skills, the ideas, the insights, the creativity”. The asyndetic listing sometimes is useful for the strong and direct effect it has, much more emphatic than if a final conjunction were used.

In the first paragraph there is also a triplet: “I believe each young person has talent and potential, each has some gift to develop, each something to give to the good of community”. Triplets are used to highten a piece of writing. The use of triplets adds energy and enthusiasm to a speech and that’s the purpose of the politician who is speaking.

Similar to triplets are anaphora. We can see one in the fifth paragraph: “We can no longer tolerate failure, that it will no longer be acceptable for any child to fall behind, no longer acceptable for any school to fail its pupils, no longer acceptable for young people to drop out education without good qualifications without us acting”. Including anaphora in speeches is useful, because key words or ideas are emphasized, often with great emotional pull, repetition makes the line memorable, the politician’s words have rhythm and cadence.

In the fifth paragraph Gordon Brown uses inclusive pronouns. He says: “We have moved from an education system (…)”, “But we now have to do much more (…)”, “It’s time to say not just that we will aim high (…)”, “We can no longer tolerate failure”. It gives an effect of unity as it addresses everyone as a whole community or team.

Speaking about sentence functions, the speech is full of declarative sentences, as the politician has to explain his point of view. “That is what I want for every children in the country”, “Britain is full of talented people”, “This idea of excellence in education is not just a noble ideal”, “Today what matters is who has the skills, the ideas, the insights, the creativity”.

Gordon Brown also uses imperative sentences. In this case, who is speaking wants to communicate to the interlocutors what he is going to do for improving the situation of the educational system in the UK and, for doing that, he spurs the public. “Our ambition must be nothing less than to be a world class in education and to move to the top of the global education league”, “Son no more toleration of second best in Britain, no more toleration of second best for Britain”.