The 2008 Democratic primary season in the USA brought up once more the issue of gender and women’s power in the presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The lively debate showed that Hillary’s experience and steadiness could have provided a turning point for America, and represent a great leap forward in women's empowerment. This research, focusing on some speeches delivered by the ex-First Lady, Senator for New York state, democratic nominee in the just concluded American elections and currently Secretary of State in President Obama’s government, is an investigation aimed at discovering how particular linguistic features can reflect and reveal the intertwining of language, power, gender, and conflict. Argument is war, and political and electoral campaigns are fought with the weapon of language. The speeches are investigated both as the channel through which a woman in position of power has been able to find her own personal way and original political linguistic style in a male-dominated environment, and as a rhetorical weapon she uses to transmit her personal vision of conflict, both social conflict and military conflict, with special interest in the ongoing and strenuous war fought by the USA in the Middle East countries.
Conflict in Hillary Clinton's Political Speeches: A Rhetorical Analysis
GIORDANO, MICHELA
2010-01-01
Abstract
The 2008 Democratic primary season in the USA brought up once more the issue of gender and women’s power in the presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The lively debate showed that Hillary’s experience and steadiness could have provided a turning point for America, and represent a great leap forward in women's empowerment. This research, focusing on some speeches delivered by the ex-First Lady, Senator for New York state, democratic nominee in the just concluded American elections and currently Secretary of State in President Obama’s government, is an investigation aimed at discovering how particular linguistic features can reflect and reveal the intertwining of language, power, gender, and conflict. Argument is war, and political and electoral campaigns are fought with the weapon of language. The speeches are investigated both as the channel through which a woman in position of power has been able to find her own personal way and original political linguistic style in a male-dominated environment, and as a rhetorical weapon she uses to transmit her personal vision of conflict, both social conflict and military conflict, with special interest in the ongoing and strenuous war fought by the USA in the Middle East countries.
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