The speaker began his story as emotionally as possible, even slightly aggressively: constant gestures and moving around the stage prove this. Therefore, his performance can be called good since the audience constantly reacted to his words. The speaker used relatively simple words, without terms, focusing on the unusual context of certain words: when speaking about reading the Bible, he used the words “slumber” and repeated it many times with words like “devil” and “hibernation” (Represent TV, 2019, 0:00:49-0:00:57). Thus, the speaker added specificity to quite a common word at the expense of an unusual context that is on the verge of decency. However, the speaker did not go beyond insults and ridicule, although his gestures betrayed intense emotional surprise and laughter. The words were repeated, taking root in their new specific context, which was even filled with examples from the Bible, replacing the original words with more general ones with an admixture of purely colloquial expressions (Represent TV, 2019, 0:01:38). The use of simple and accessible words to the public in this emotional shell is an excellent tool for conveying an unusual idea.
In my opinion, the use of simple words in the context of religion is always an approximation of faith to ordinary people. The church language is not accessible to everyone, and therefore the opportunity to talk about essential things in an accessible form is vital for everyone. Even if the accessible format raises critical questions, offers a solution in the form of the same questions, and is accompanied by a share of humor.
Diversity is achieved by using common everyday words in the context of a serious topic – religion. The speaker avoids religious isms, jargon, and terms, using short phrases, once jumping on a non-literary word “jackass” (Represent TV, 2019, 0:01:36). However, his aggressive and highly emotional image fits well with the style of speech. The language was unbiased, as evidenced by a new point of view on the question posed that we should unite with God in our activities: “it’s gonna take us making everybody say time for him to speak” (Represent TV, 2019, 0:04:01). The speaker tried to reach out to the public in a simple unofficial human language that did not go beyond etiquette but at the same time allowed strong expressions, addressing everyone equally, without dividing people into groups according to race, age, and other characteristics. Moreover, in such a light form, the language is devoid of stereotypes that are characteristic of the trends of our time – sexism, racism, and other types of discrimination.
In my opinion, the speaker is absolutely correct; he chose the presentation style and context for the many words used. Firstly, the conversational tone is less replete with stereotypes, to which activists are incredibly attentive in official speeches. Secondly, spoken language is full of sincerity, which, coupled with an extremely high emotional presentation, is the best tool for capturing the public’s attention. Finally, simple words are again closer to understanding for most people, which helps draw attention to a topic that is important enough for everyone.
Contributing to the ever-increasing dynamics of the entire speech, the speaker used a wave-like form of emotional accents. His voice periodically went into a breakdown, like a person who is surprised to the maximum (Represent TV, 2019, 0:00:58). The tempo took a quick turn from the very beginning of the speech when the stream of words was going with incredible speed, but at the same time without loss of semantic load due to the simplicity of each term. Metaphors were like a periphery of religious issues in everyday language, and there were practically no displacements of meanings into a figurative meaning: each word was used in its own understandable and unique meaning in the context. When a sentence ends, it is hard to remember how it began and how long ago it was since the speaker constantly introduces complex and subordinate parts of the sentence, linking all speech into one large chain. The stops were rarely used, but they did not help maintain the pace in some places. The speaker most often used the repetition of words, sometimes not so much to focus on the dish itself as to maintain the emotional intensity of the sentence: the repetition of the word “prayer” and “secret sauce” in this interval is a confirmation of this (Represent TV, 2019, 0:02:19-0:02:30). Parallelism was not used in this speech, in contrast to alliteration and rhythm.
In my opinion, such a recitative made it possible to tell in more than four minutes what could have been stretched for more than an hour in the case of another lecturer. This topic creates room for interaction with the public and long-term interaction. However, this speaker quickly dealt with the flow of information and established close contact with the public than in a long lecture. The logos and pathos of this short speech are pretty obvious, while the ethos raises the question of the ingrained and customary concept of religion in modern realities without going beyond the framework of respect. Ultimately, the speaker presented his sincere point of view, leaving the audience with the right to either agree with it or remain unconvinced.
Reference
Represent TV. (2019). How Does God Speak to Us? [Video]. YouTube.