3.3 Comparison of the speeches

In previous chapters, all speeches were described and commented on by qualitative approach. Such analysis, however, sometimes incline to be a bit subjective. This is the main reason why, in the following chapters, all speeches are evaluated also by quantitative approach. The aim is to find out, on the base of particular paragraphs, Obama's approach to the domestic and foreign audience and to trace possible similarities or differences.

The focus is put on the main goal or intention of these paragraphs and whether the stress is put on persuasion by presenting the facts from the past, description of recent situation or the steps that have been done and have affected the time of the speech itself, promises for the future or various proposals; moreover, the concern of analysis is also focused on investigation of the usage of reference, inference or entailment in order to gain more interest of the audience to act accordingly to Obama`s will. Entailment is a common feature of political speeches because it facilitates highlighting of particular information; therefore, the purpose is to compare whether Obama is also able to manage sometimes even without it. By reference, it is understood speaking about concrete people, steps or actions and by inference, on the other side, general hints to unnamed people or common traits or features of particular group or nation, such as in the statement: “We have fought fiercely for our beliefs. And that’s a good thing. That`s what a robust democracy demands. That`s what helps set us apart as a nation“. There is no reference to concrete actions or people and thus the message of this passage must be inferred or decode. The aim is therefore to Compare how the explicitness differs in all Obama`s speeches as well.

The results are presented not only as the counts of the paragraphs, but, more practically, especially to the fact that not all speeches have the same length, also in per cents. All results are summarized in particular tables as well. The results in per cents are always approximated to centesimal numbers.

3.3.1 Comparison of Obama’s domestic speeches

President Obama's victory speech contains all features that would be expected in such speech: acknowledgements to everybody who helped him win his battle, projection of the general past events that help to bound US citizens together, retelling of a concrete story, general promises to the future and some general proposals. In other words, all examined features could be found here. All results are summarized in tables 1-3.

More than four fifths of paragraphs, concretely 26 of total 30 and therefore 86.67 per cent, contain entailment. As it has been stressed out the use of entailment belongs to the key features of political speeches; and as Obama's presidential carrier was only starting at that time, it could hardly surprise that he used it so frequently. He probably wanted to support his arguments more emphatically.

A significant space in the speech is occupied by retelling of the story of 106 years old Ann Nixon Cooper and listing of significant changes that the United States have gone through this time. Above all, this influences especially the fact that the proportion of the paragraphs with reference and inference is totally rated by 50 per cent, i.e. exactly 15 paragraphs with reference to the rest 15 paragraphs with inference. Although the paragraphs in the passage dealing with the story of Ann Nixon Cooper are marked as explicit and based on the past event, it must be repeated here again what has been commented on in chapter 3.2.1: Obama wanted to gain the sympathy of the audience by stressing of the steps that he personally could not influence yet; the whole passage may thus also evoke the impression of generality.

Retelling of the story also raises the overall number of paragraphs dealing with the past events. This thus reaches 11 paragraphs, i.e. 36.67 per cent. As the number of paragraphs dedicated to the contemporary situation is 10 of 30, i.e. one third, it is quite surprising that promises and proposals occur altogether in 10 paragraphs, i.e. again only in one third of paragraphs.

Table 1: Themes in Obama’s Victory Speech

Prevailing theme	Paragraph(s)	Per cent
Past time	11	36.67%
Present time	9	30.00%
Promise	5	16.67%
Proposal	5	16.67%

Table 2: Entailment in Obama`s Victory Speech

Entailment	Paragraph(s)	Per cent
Yes	26	86.67%
No	4	13.13

Table 3: Explicitness in Obama`s Victory Speech

Explicitness	Paragraph]s]	Percent
Reference	15	50.00%
Inference	15	50.00%

The occurrence of Entailment is the most characteristic feature of Obama's inaugural speech as well. It appears also in 26 paragraphs; however, as inaugural speech consists of 31 paragraphs, entailment is represented in a slightly less per cents than in the previous case, concretely in 83.87 per cent of paragraphs. Both speeches are from the beginning of Obama's presidential career and therefore they may trace the very similar aims, such resemblance of presence of entailment does not have to be perceived as something too much extraordinary.

Both speeches, however, differs more significantly in the proportion of their paragraphs with inference and reference. Unlike equal proportion of these features in victory speech, in his inaugural speech, on the contrary, Obama is speaking about general topics in 23 paragraphs, which means 74.19 per cent. This result may be considered to be more expected in such kind of speech, and as he is not talking about one topic so long as in the case of Nixon Cooper`s story in victory speech, it seems to be also more presumable because he has not yet made such significant steps which he could have tried to show or explain.

The difference might be seen also in the proportion of topics. The most prominent range of paragraphs is dealing with the present events. Obama is talking about them in 48.39 per cent of paragraphs. The rest 16 paragraphs thus make just a bit more than one half of the whole speech and yet are divided among the remaining topics. The main attention dealing with past events is represented in 8 paragraphs which is the same range as the number of paragraphs dealing with promises and proposals together. In other words, it is 25.81 per cent in each case.

The results of features in Obama`s inaugural speech are summarized in the following tables 4-6.

Table 4: Themes in Obama`s Inaugural Speech

Prevailing theme	Paragraph(s)	Per cent
Past time	8	25.81%
Present time	15	48.39%
Promise	3	9.68%
Proposal	5	16.13%

Table 5: Entailment in Obama`s Inaugural Speech

Entailment	Paragraph(s)	Per cent
Yes	26	83.87%
No	5	16.13%

Table 6: Explicitness in Obama`s Inaugural Speech

Explicitness	Paragraph(s)	Per cent
Reference	8	25.81%
Inference	23	74.19%

Barack Obama's address to the joint session of US congress represents rather a different kind of speech. First of all, the speech is much longer than two previous ones; nevertheless, the speech also differentiates in other aspects. Tables 7-9 bring together their summary.

The most characteristic feature of this speech is relatively high degree of concreteness. Altogether 59 paragraphs refer to concrete entities, i.e. 64.84 per cent. The speech thus brings much more information that could be marked as helpful in order to draw a clearer picture of Barack Obama's intentions.

Also in this case, entailment is a feature that appears in the majority of paragraphs, however, its occurrence is significantly lower than in two previous cases. Only 51.65 per cent of paragraphs uses it, which means 47 of 91. This result supports the suggestion that the whole speech is more informative and does not need just to focus on inexplicit hints.

As far as the topics are concerned, the number of paragraphs dealing with present situation and paragraphs dealing with promises together with proposals is the same, i.e. 38. It means 41.76 per cent in both cases. This result influences especially a higher occurrence of promises in 29 paragraphs, i.e. 31.87 per cent of the whole speech.

Table 7: Themes in Obama`s Address to the Joint Session of Congress

Prevailing theme	Paragraph(s)	Per cent
Past time	15	16.48%
Present time	38	41.76%7
Promise	29	31.87%
Proposal	9	9.90%

Table 8: Entailment in Obama`s Address to the Joint Session of Congress

Entailment	Paragraph(s)	Per cent
Yes	47	51.65%
No	44	48.35%

Table 9: Explicitness in Obama`s Address to the Joint Session of Congress

Explicitness	Paragraph(s)	Per cent
Reference	59	64.84%
Inference	32	35.16%

In terms of the number of paragraphs, Barack Obama's state of the union 2010 address is the longest speech not only among the domestic speeches, but in the whole corpus of speeches. It consists of 105 paragraphs. Their overview is summarized in tables 10-12.

The raising tendency to refer to concrete entities is also among the characteristic features of state of the union 2010 address. Explicitness appears in 60 paragraphs and that means 57.14 per cent. Obama spent the first year in his office and thus might introduce more concrete steps that he had made during this time. Moreover, also his promises have solider background and clearer features. These facts thus may explain such high degree of explicit references.

Unlike the address to the congress, the usage of entailment is again a component of the significant amount of paragraphs. Entailment appears in 75 paragraphs, i.e. in 71.43 per cent. Although this number is a bit lower than in the first two speeches, such high occurrence confirms the suggestion that the use of entailment belongs to the key characteristics of political speeches.

For the first time in this research, the promises together with proposals reach a high degree of occurrence. Some kind of promise or proposal for the future occurs in 45 paragraphs; it means more than two fifths of them, concretely 42.85 per cent. Yet the highest occurrence is again reached by speaking about the current situation itself, it dominates in 41 paragraphs, i.e. 39.05 per cent.

Table 10: Themes in Obama`s State of the Union 2010

Prevailing theme	Paragraph(s)	Per cent
Past time	19	18.10%
Present time	41	39.05%
Promise	23	21.90%
Proposal	22	20.95%

Table 11: Entailment in Obama`s State of the Union 2010

Entailment	Paragraph(s)	Per cent
Yes	75	71.43%
No	30	28.57%

Table 12: Explicitness in Obama`s State of the Union 2010

Explicitness	Paragraph(s)	Per cent
Reference	60	57.14%
Inference	45	42.86%

Nearly coincident proportion of occurrence of paragraphs with reference and inference might be traced in Barrack Obama's states of the union for the years 2010 and 2011. In the later one, 61 paragraphs refer to concrete entities, and this means 58.65 per cent. The rest 43 of total 104 paragraphs try to strengthen the mutual unity by referring inexplicitly to people or events and therefore, the hidden message has to be inferred by the audience. The resemblance among the two states of the union addresses enforces the theory that such speeches are relatively concrete and informative and not just merely persuasive.

The similarity among these two states of the union addresses might be seen also in the case of occurrence of entailment. State of the union 2011 address consists of 71 paragraphs where entailment is represented. In other words, only 31.73 per cent of paragraphs manage entirely without it.

A relatively high degree of proposals in this speech is quite surprising. In other words, 26 paragraphs, and this is directly one quarter of them, contains some kind of proposal. Yet together with various promises, they reach just 49.04 per cent and therefore do not prevail in the speech. Also in this case, referring to the current events is the most favorable theme, it occurs in 41 paragraphs, i.e. 39.42 per cent. Tables 13-15 bring together summary.

Table 13: Themes in Obama`s State of the Union 2011

Prevailing theme	Paragraph(s)	Per cent
Past time	12	11.54%
Present time	41	39.42%
Promise	24	24.04%
Proposal	26	25.00%

Table 14: Entailment in Obama`s State of the Union 2011

Entailment	Paragraph(s)	Per cent
Yes	71	68.27%
No	33	31.73%

Table 15: Explicitness in the State of the Union 2011

Explicitness	Paragraph(s)	Per cent
Reference	61	58.65%
Inference	43	41.35%