Browsing by Author "Leino, Hannu-Heikki"

This study examines the leader’s speeches given by Prime Minister Theresa May during the years 2016–2018 after the result of the Brexit referendum on 23 June 2016. The study aims to answer questions concerning what kinds of speech acts, pronouns, and rhetorical devices May uses to refer to Brexit, what are the intended meanings conveyed in her utterances related to Brexit, and how the rhetoric concerning Brexit has changed over time. All utterances in the speeches that have their meaning related to Brexit were selected for the analysis. The identification of speech acts is based on Searle’s (1979) taxonomy for types of illocutionary acts. The most common speech act used by May in relation to Brexit is an indirect commissive. In the 2016 speech, all but one of the commissives are made indirectly. The speech in 2017 focuses on making direct assertive statements instead, whereas the 2018 speech contains both direct assertives and indirect commissives more equally. May’s use of pronouns and rhetorical devices varies between the three speeches. While all speeches contain the devices of lexical choice and repetition, these are not used similarly and to the same extent in all of them. Only the speech in 2016 makes use of the device of metaphor. Repetition is often linked to the use of pronouns across the speeches. Comparison of the findings reveals that the rhetoric concerning Brexit has changed over the years. May’s role as the Prime Minister heavily influenced her choices of rhetoric. In the speeches in 2016 and 2018, May employed indirect speech acts as a strategy in making promises, and she used the rhetorical device of repetition in both speeches to provide emphasis in semantically connected groups of utterances. Throughout both speeches, May remained dedicated to realizing Brexit and her stance did not change. Her use of the personal pronoun we is linked to her stance, and she used the pronoun as means of persuasion to inclusively refer to the Conservative Party, her government and the British people. However, May’s strategy for persuasion changed over the years. She connected Brexit with patriotic ideas in the speech in 2016, but she no longer used similar rhetoric in the two later speeches. The 2017 speech contains few references to Brexit and May appears to have been avoiding discussion on the topic. Brexit is again a central topic in the speech in 2018, and May’s focus was on convincing the audience on her approach to Brexit and the importance of securing a favourable deal before Britain leaves the European Union. The results of the study provide insight into the ways Theresa May used rhetoric in her role as the leader of the Conservative Party and the Prime Minister of Britain to shape the discussion concerning Brexit during her time in office.