“Spoken and monologic”: modelling oratory, past and present, through the framework of systemic functional linguistics

Abstract

Abstract This article focuses on instances of spoken communication which qualify commonly as “oratory” and which can be modelled within the socio-semiotic of “spoken and monologic”. This includes both “podium oratory”, as exemplified by political speeches delivered from a stage to an audience that is physically present, as well as forms of “digital oratory” which have developed via the digital interface, including videos posted to social media. The study proposes to model both types of oratory with respect to a range of multimodal and linguistic resources. The study notably explores spoken and monologic discourse in regard to grammatical intricacy and lexical density, the two types of information packaging which respectively inform prototypical speech and writing. Digital oratory reflects trends associated with the technologisation of discourse, and its underpinnings as socio-semiotic. The discussion also makes the case that systemic functional linguistics (SFL) theory, via its articulation between system and function, provides an ideal lens through which these activities can be modelled, as well as their social role and the symbolic power attached to them.