基于2016年美国总统大选第一场辩论的多模态分析_英语论文

A Multimodal Analysis of US 2016 the First Presidential Debate 

摘要

每四年举行一次的美国总统大选吸引着全球的目光。大选中，每位总统候选人独特的辩论和演讲风格也无不吸引着人们眼球。候选人使用不同的策略来传递自己的语言和非语言信息。其中候选人采用不同的句型、重复方式和修辞手段等来传递自己语言部分的信息，并配合多种手势、声音、表情等的使用来传递非语言部分的信息。尽管辩论中所使用的语言对大选辩论的成败至关重要，非语言因素也在很大程度体现了总统候选人的特质。本文将基于2016年美国总统大选第一次辩论，通过多模态的研究方法，对2016年两位美国总统候选人唐纳德·特朗普和希拉里·克林顿进行语言层面和非语言层面的分析，以期发现两者的辩论策略和风格。本研究将采用多模态视频分析软件MMAVEDIO，以量化研究为主、定性研究为辅，从而全面地探究两者的辩论策略和风格。本文最后得出两者在辩论风格和策略的特质：特朗普作为来自商界的政客，辩论风格极具个性，无论是语言还是非语言表达都带有随意性和主观性，他独特的策略如重复、诘问，打断虽然有失风度却给观众深刻的印象；希拉里·克林顿作为政界老手，熟谙辩论规则和技巧，演讲辩论流畅自然，措辞严谨，善于与观众互动以营造情绪和氛围，仪态大方，但在辩论中相较特朗普更显得中规中矩。本研究从多模态分析角度出发，研究结果有助深化政治话语研究。从软件分析中得出的具体数据，可从一个细微的揭示两位政治候选人的话语风格和辩论策略。

关键词: 美国总统大选；总统辩论；语言；非语言；多模态

Abstract 

US general election attracts global attention every four years. Presidential candidates express their political ambitions, attacking others and defending themselves at the same time. Various debate styles strategies are manifested in candidates’ verbal delivery as well as their nonverbal expressions. Apart from candidates’ verbal language use, their nonverbal expressions such as smiles, gestures and eye contact reveal candidate’s underlying characteristics and debate strategies. This research studies the first US presidential debate and analyzes debate features of two candidates—Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton. This research analyzed their debate speech from the perspective of multimodal analysis, in which different modes of speech have been taken into consideration. Our analysis is Multimodal Analysis Video Software (MMAVEIDO), from which quantitative data of two candidates is retrieved. In addition to empirical analysis, qualitative method is also adopted to analyze the language features of two candidates. Based on quantitative and qualitative analysis, this research arrives at the conclusion that as a politician with commercial background, Donald Trump is an individualistic debater with subjective speech and arbitrary debate manners. Whereas Hilary Clinton proves herself to be a diplomatic and seasoned politician who debates with appropriate debate manners such as measured diction and good interaction with audience. This research helps to deepen the study of political discourse analysis from a multimodal analysis perspective. The data drawn from the software analysis can provide many detailed information of candidates’ language styles and debate strategies. 

Keywords: US general election；presidential debate；verbal；nonverbal；multimodal analysis

Contents

1.Introduction 1

1.1 Background of the study 1

1.2 Purpose and Significance of the Study 1

1.3 Outline of the Thesis 2

2. Literature review 2

2.1 Conversation analysis 2

2.1 Critical discourse analysis 3

2.2 Conceptual metaphor analysis 3

2.3 Multimodal Discourse Analysis 4

2.4 Other Researches on Political Discourse Analysis 4

3. A Multimodal Analysis of the Debate 5

3.1 Description of MMAVEIDO Software 5

3.2 Procedures for the Analysis 5

4. Analysis of the verbal features of the presidential debate 6

4.1 Sentence structure distribution 6

4.2 Repetition 7

4.3 Figure of Speech 9

4.4 Attack and defense strategies 11

5. Analysis of the nonverbal features of the presidential debate 13

5.1 Super-fragmental features 13

5.1.1 Timbre 13

5.1.2 Pace 13

5.1.3 Pause 14

5.2 The correlative features between verbal and nonverbal language 15

5.2.1 facial expression 15

5.2.1.1 facial expression and timbre 15

5.2.1.2 facial expression and figure of speech 16

5.2.1.3 facial expression of debate and attack methods 16

5.2.2 Gestures 17

5.2.2.1 Concurrence of gestures and attack method of two candidates 17

5.2.2.2 Concurrence of gestures and figure of speech of two candidates 18

6. Conclusion 19

6.1 Summary of Trump and Clinton’s style and strategy 19

6.2 Implication of this study 19

6.3 Limitations of this Study 20