Linguistic annotation provides additional information asserted with a particular purpose in a document or other piece of information. It is widely used in various fields, from computing and bioinformatics, through imaging, to law and linguistics. There is also a clear distinction between what is communicated through the written/spoken natural language and how this is passed on. A new problem of linguistic annotation is the annotation of classical rhetorical figures --- patterns of text in which a characteristic syntactic form modifies the standard meanings of words, and leads to a change or an extension of meaning. Rhetoric studies the effectiveness of language comprehensively, including its emotional impact, as much as its propositional content. The annotation of rhetorical figures is therefore important not only for the linguistic point of view, but also for discovering different styles of writing, purpose and effect of written documents, and for better natural language understanding in general. The purpose of this thesis is the automated annotation of rhetorical figures. In the thesis we primarily focus on the figures of repetition, which include the repetition of words, phrases, and clauses. Additionally, we also describe the work we have done on the detection and annotation of figures of parallelism, as well as those that pertain more to the semantics than to the syntax, or positioning. We have developed a rhetorical figure annotation tool dubbed JANTOR (Java ANnotation Tool Of Rhetoric), which enables manual and automated annotation of files in HTML format. We have applied a lexicalized probabilistic context-free grammar parser for the recognition of the figures of repetition. We also describe a simple parse tree distance used for calculating the difference between similarly structured phrases, which is necessary for the recognition of some of the figures of parallelism. Moreover, we have applied the semantic relationships contained in the WordNet lexical database and extended Porter stemmer algorithm for finding derivationally related words. Finally, we present a method for finding pairs of words which are ordinarily contradictory, which is crucial for detecting the interesting figure of speech: oxymoron. For this purpose typed dependency grammars together with WordNet are used. The experiments we have conducted on the detection of selected subset of rhetorical figures have yielded very promising results. Lastly, we present the visualization of the occurrences of the figures and comparison between 14 American presidents' inaugural addresses including the most recent one by President Barack Obama. The provocative results of this comparison show that a) automated analysis of meaningful rhetorical information is possible and tractable, and b) help us with understanding what creates a successful orator.

Linguistic annotation provides additional information asserted with a particular purpose in a document or other piece of information. It is widely used in various fields, from computing and bioinformatics, through imaging, to law and linguistics. There is also a clear distinction between what is communicated through the written/spoken natural language and how this is passed on. A new problem of linguistic annotation is the annotation of classical rhetorical figures --- patterns of text in which a characteristic syntactic form modifies the standard meanings of words, and leads to a change or an extension of meaning. Rhetoric studies the effectiveness of language comprehensively, including its emotional impact, as much as its propositional content. The annotation of rhetorical figures is therefore important not only for the linguistic point of view, but also for discovering different styles of writing, purpose and effect of written documents, and for better natural language understanding in general. The purpose of this thesis is the automated annotation of rhetorical figures. In the thesis we primarily focus on the figures of repetition, which include the repetition of words, phrases, and clauses. Additionally, we also describe the work we have done on the detection and annotation of figures of parallelism, as well as those that pertain more to the semantics than to the syntax, or positioning. We have developed a rhetorical figure annotation tool dubbed JANTOR (Java ANnotation Tool Of Rhetoric), which enables manual and automated annotation of files in HTML format. We have applied a lexicalized probabilistic context-free grammar parser for the recognition of the figures of repetition. We also describe a simple parse tree distance used for calculating the difference between similarly structured phrases, which is necessary for the recognition of some of the figures of parallelism. Moreover, we have applied the semantic relationships contained in the WordNet lexical database and extended Porter stemmer algorithm for finding derivationally related words. Finally, we present a method for finding pairs of words which are ordinarily contradictory, which is crucial for detecting the interesting figure of speech: oxymoron. For this purpose typed dependency grammars together with WordNet are used. The experiments we have conducted on the detection of selected subset of rhetorical figures have yielded very promising results. Lastly, we present the visualization of the occurrences of the figures and comparison between 14 American presidents' inaugural addresses including the most recent one by President Barack Obama. The provocative results of this comparison show that a) automated analysis of meaningful rhetorical information is possible and tractable, and b) help us with understanding what creates a successful orator.

From Jimmy Carter’s self-identification as a “born again Christian” in the 1976 presidential campaign to George W. Bush’s declaration of “Christ” as his favorite political philosopher “because he changed my heart” in a Republican primary debate of the 2000 campaign, presidential speeches and campaigns are often laced with religious language. Such an observation is nothing new. However, many scholars and political observers do not know what to make of such religious references. Such language is often dismissed as either shameless pandering to religious constituencies or something hopelessly out of place in American politics. This dissertation attempts a deeper analysis of this controversial subject by identifying how presidents use the rhetorical resources of religion by employing religious argument patterns stemming from the Jewish and Christian religious traditions in presidential speeches. Specifically, this dissertation explores how the last five presidents (Jimmy Carter through George W. Bush) have used such religious rhetorical forms in attempts to strike a symbolic chord within the larger American public. The religious rhetorical forms explored herein, if employed judiciously, can serve as political shibboleths—or passwords—which indicate a basic level of identification with the public thanks to the basic elements, such as transformation, atonement, and renewal, which comprise the mythical core of these forms.

Rebirth language has traditionally been associated with the initiation rite of baptism and relegated to discussions within this limited framework. Analyses of 1 Peter—where rebirth language is particularly dominant—have focussed almost exclusively on a baptismal framework for understanding this language. However, a detailed reading of the letter does not reveal any association between rebirth and Christian rites of initiation. Whatever action, activity or idea triggered the use of this language, its role in the letter has never been adequately explored. This study employs socio-rhetorical analysis to examine the role of rebirth language within the letter of 1 Peter and within its larger cultural and textual context. Rebirth language is employed in the key opening section of the letter and, within the framework of familial language, serves as a central distinctive of the letter’s recipient-focussed argument. As part of the familial metaphor, rebirth highlights the readers’ identity as children whose πατήρ (“father”) is God. A comprehensive analysis of all other extant (first century) texts employing rebirth language, reveals that, while 1 Peter’s use of such language shares some points of contact with other expressions of rebirth, the meaning of rebirth in 1 Peter is not directly tied to any related language. More likely, 1 Peter contains cultural allusions to the developing idea of rebirth that is also shared—in different ways—with other extant materials. No other source, however, contains the same usage and implied meaning of rebirth language as 1 Peter. Instead, 1 Peter’s author, building upon the powerful father-child analogy, intends to shape his readers’ self-perceptions using this language to provide a sense of identity without encouraging extensive alienation from the larger society. 1 Peter’s use of rebirth language builds upon and intensifies the cultural familial metaphor in order to help firmly establish the recipients’ Christian identity in the midst of their associations and interactions within their social context.

Rebirth language has traditionally been associated with the initiation rite of baptism and relegated to discussions within this limited framework. Analyses of 1 Peter—where rebirth language is particularly dominant—have focussed almost exclusively on a baptismal framework for understanding this language. However, a detailed reading of the letter does not reveal any association between rebirth and Christian rites of initiation. Whatever action, activity or idea triggered the use of this language, its role in the letter has never been adequately explored. This study employs socio-rhetorical analysis to examine the role of rebirth language within the letter of 1 Peter and within its larger cultural and textual context. Rebirth language is employed in the key opening section of the letter and, within the framework of familial language, serves as a central distinctive of the letter’s recipient-focussed argument. As part of the familial metaphor, rebirth highlights the readers’ identity as children whose πατήρ (“father”) is God. A comprehensive analysis of all other extant (first century) texts employing rebirth language, reveals that, while 1 Peter’s use of such language shares some points of contact with other expressions of rebirth, the meaning of rebirth in 1 Peter is not directly tied to any related language. More likely, 1 Peter contains cultural allusions to the developing idea of rebirth that is also shared—in different ways—with other extant materials. No other source, however, contains the same usage and implied meaning of rebirth language as 1 Peter. Instead, 1 Peter’s author, building upon the powerful father-child analogy, intends to shape his readers’ self-perceptions using this language to provide a sense of identity without encouraging extensive alienation from the larger society. 1 Peter’s use of rebirth language builds upon and intensifies the cultural familial metaphor in order to help firmly establish the recipients’ Christian identity in the midst of their associations and interactions within their social context.

This study examined the effect of tag questions, hesitations, and hedges on participants' attitudes toward an advocacy, perceptions of the speaker, message, and cognitive responses regarding the message. Results from 351 participants showed that although linguistic power markers affected attitudes when participants were motivated to process the message, the markers did so through different processes. The use of hesitations in an advocacy affected influenced attitudes by affecting participants' perceptions of the speaker, whereas the use of hedges influenced attitudes by affecting participants' perceptions of the message. The use of tag questions in a message influenced attitudes, but this study failed to find the mechanism this effect. The overall finding suggest a more complex relation among linguistic power components and aspects of a persuasive appeal than once thought and researchers should consider the different aspects underlying the effects of linguistic power components on persuasion. / Department of Psychological Science

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During the last few decades the academic re-gendering has reached the field of rhetorical discourse and differences of speech and rhetoric has been determined. Another gender shift has occurred during the last few decades in the appointments of foreign policy representatives, from being one of the last patriarchal strongholds the change towards equality has been remarkably swift. However, the norms of masculinity and formality within the sphere of foreign policy are still persistent. The first aim of this thesis was to determine if the rhetorical style of men and women differed even in a context heavily laden with norms, such as the UNGA. The secondary aim is based upon the concept of masculinity and femininity in culture, to determine if the gender of culture influenced the speaker’s rhetorical style, even in the UNGA. This thesis generates its own theoretical framework from the works of rhetoric and linguistics to separate masculine and feminine rhetorical style. The method used is a qualitative textual analyze applied to transcribed speeches held by Swedish and U.S. representatives in UNGA. The analysis proved that there is a difference in rhetorical style between genders and culture, even in a context such as the UNGA, but only a small one.

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