Expressive-stylistic repetitions as a mean of persuasiveness expression in the motivational speeches by N. Vujicic

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the expressive-stylistic mean of repetition as the main producer of persuasive influence on the listener in the speeches of the famous motivational speaker N. Vujicic. The concept of persuasiveness as the basis of motivational discourse and the influence implementation on the target audience is reviewed. The specifics of the use of stylistic repetition as the most productive means of implementing motivation in the studied speeches were analyzed. In the course of the article, a number of stylistic means were identified, which are based on the repetition of a particular element of the text (amplification, gemination, anaphora, epanalepsis), which serve as emotional intensifiers of certain information in the speech. The use of stylistic repetition in N. Vujicic’s speeches is the most common and frequent device, which, by slowing down the narrative, makes it possible to more closely follow the development of thought, to focus attention on key points by reproducing a particular linguistic element. The main and most common function of repetition is to reinforce information and climax, where repetitions draw the listener’s attention to the main concept precisely by repeating an important lexeme, thus productively concentrating the audience’s attention. In the target speeches, the means of repetition is very often intensified by the mean of accretion, the use of which significantly enhances the impact on the listener’s consciousness, which is usually implemented through the use of synonyms or synonymous series and is used to detail a specific image and increase attention to important aspects of the message. The motivational speaker also resorts to repetitions, which create a kind of «relay effect», where the next thought begins with the final words of the previous one, thus, the series of repetitions, together with the buildup, serve as intensifiers of the initial message, producing the necessary degree of motivation, and, as a result, achieving the speaker’s main goal.