Analysis of Speech Situation on

 

 www.ronpaul2008.com

 

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Remember Nünning: 

 

 

“An analysis of the communication or speech situation (…) is often a good starting point for    

        interpretation.”  

 

 

To get the speech situation we have to ask: "who ist the textual speaker?", "who is addressed?" and "where and when are speaker and addressee situated?"

 

 

    “The poet does not generally express him- or herself directly (…); instead he or she

     delegates statements and feelings to the fictive speaker in the text.” Nünning p.

 

 

    “This persona can be presented to a greater or lesser degree as a subjective personality, but cannot        be equated with the historical author.” Nünning p.

 

 

 

So the arising question is:

 

 

Who is the real author and who is the “speaker” or “voice” on www.ronpaul2008.com

 

 

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1. Who is the real author of the official Ron Paul page?

 

• There are two real authors of the official Ron Paul page:

 

a)

 

 

  --> www.ronpaul2008.com

 

 

b)

 

 --> http://www.terraeclipse.com/services

 

 

 2. Where does Ron Paul speak?

 

a) We find several pictures of Ron Paul:                             b) We find texts written by Ron Paul:

 

                                                                       

 

c) and we can actually see and hear Ron Paul speaking to us via streaming video:

 

 

d) and there are texts about the page itself:

 

 

 

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Conclusion Speaker:                                                     

 

 

The real author is a symbiosis of                              The fictive speaker:

 

 

 a) the Ron Paul campaign                                       a) Ron Paul (the politician)

 

     --> Ron Paul genuine                                          b) various unidentified speakers

 

 b)www.terraeclipse.com                                         c) supporters of Ron Paul   

 

 

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   Subject of ronpaul.com

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1. Donations

 

• Matters dedicated to donations are rather dominant

 

 

           

 

 

 

2. Support

 

       

 

• Another main theme on the Ron Paul Homepage is win supporters. Supporters are asked to promote for Ron Paul and thus win new supporters.

 

                                 

 

 

3. Issues by Ron Paul

 

a) Issues 1.0

 

• Issues 1.0 are Issues by others like press articles.

 

 

 

b) Issues 2.0

 

• Issues 2.0 are Issues by others like videos about Ron Paul. There is a section on the hompage where all the videos from youtube are brought together and there is also a featured video channel by Ron Paul

 

                      

 

 

 

 

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  Reader vs. Lyric thou

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Remember Nünning again:

 

"An analogous distinction [to the speaker situation] must be made on the side of the addressee between the real reading public and the fictive addressee named or implied (...). Even if the reader is at first inclined to identifiy him- or herself with the lyric thou, it soon becomes apparent that this would be as erroneous as an equation of the author with the lyric persona"(53)

 

Who is addressed by www.ronpaul2008.com explicitly?

 

 

1. On a few occasions the supporters are addressed directly

 

2. The "no one": There are many purely informative texts that are not explicitly directed at anyone

 

 

--> We don't know exactly about the real reader, we can only guess!

 

 

• We know for sure about the Ron Paul supporters, because they are explicitly addressed 
• Further: People with an interest in the opinions of Ron Paul (backsplappers?supporters?)

   

   

• Further: People interested in the Ron Paul phenomenon

 

 

 

Generally speaking:

 

 

Ronpaul2008 suggests that there are a lot of supporters for Ron Paul. Even though, besides a few exceptions that address

 

supporters directly, the page does not address anyone. Therefore, no one can feel excluded.

 

 

 

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Overall Conclusion 

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Real author:             Ron Paul campaign + PR company

 

Fictive speaker:       Ron Paul + supporters

 

Subject matter:        Raise support and money for Ron Paul + provide information about campaign

 

Fictive addressee:  Supporters and people interested in politics

 

Real reader:            Supporters + people interested in politics + SPECTATORS

 

 

 

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 Sources:

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http://www.ronpaul2008.com/

 

Vera and Ansgar Nünning. An introduction to the Study of English and American Literature. Stuttgart: Ernst Klett Sprachen GmbH, 2004.