Rhetorical Analysis Of Spoken Language

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Spoken Language: JK Rowling and Oprah CA J K Rowling adapts her language in both, the Blue Peter and Oprah Winfrey’s interview by extending and narrowing her language, vocabulary and sentence structures. Her body language varies as well as the topics discussed within the interviews. Rowling is often open and cooperative with her responses. However the concept of Oprah’s interview allows her to be more comfortable in the conversation, Oprah prompts her to communicate her thoughts and feeling clearly to her audience by the format of her questions. The Oprah and J K Rowling interview is in Scotland, Rowling’s home country; this could contribute to how comfortable she is at answering questions. At first, Oprah gives insight into Rowling’s life.…show more content…
Their speech demonstrates this, by using adjacency pairs, “And were you ready?” to which Rowling responds, “Yeah, I was really ready.” Furthermore, the pitch and pace at which Rowling speaks supports her affectionate communication. She speaks at a high pitch either when Oprah is in agreement with her “in my selection of -” “Which is what we do-” then “first husband” at a higher pitch. She may have done this as she felt uncomfortable with what she is saying and is unsure if the audience disagrees with her. However when Oprah agrees this eases the awkwardness and perhaps changes the audience’s opinion of what Rowling said as fans of Oprah and aware of her status. We also see Rowling change pitch when laughing, she laughs quickly and this may just be her laugh. Although, other audiences may pick up on the contrast from her speech and laugh. Her laugh sounds relieving, due to this, perhaps she changes pitch when feeling understood. Usually, when one changes to a higher pitch they are said to be lying, however, in this context Rowling used pitch to show relief. She also laughs in irony of the situation, “I mean her death is on virtually every other page of the Harry Potter books” this is said with resentment or hate towards the books. Oprah and Rowling enforce turn taking which creates a rhythm when talking. This reassures the audience that both people understand each other. Plus, the audience know who will talk next and therefore both people are heard correctly and fully. Rowling slows down when thinking hard about a response. This is simply done to make sure she is not misinterpreted and to some extent makes the audience like her more because the pauses really allow you to feel closer to her as it shows the reality of the interview. Rowling reassures Oprah that the facts about her are true by the use of intonation. Her quitter endings to sentences. She is very calm and

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