Abstract
The speech we are going to analyze was held the day before the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum by Gordon Brown, former Labor Prime Minister of the UK, as part of the Better Together campaign. Brown was a firm defender of the "No" vote, and in this speech, he clearly establishes his position against Scotland's independence. The speech is mostly written in a rhetorical style, with a touch of forensic approach (numbers and facts) to ground the words into reality.
Extract
[...] Better Together: Speech by Ex-Prime Minister Gordon Brown on the Eve of the Scottish Independence Referendum in September 2014 - What rhetorical techniques are adopted by the former Minister during his speech in order to persuade the audience of his arguments? Instructions Question: Watch the following speech by Ex-Prime Minister Gordon Brown on the eve of the Scottish Independence Referendum in September, 2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J39bBV7CBJk Identify and discuss the rhetorical techniques adopted by the former Minister during his speech in order to persuade the audience of his arguments. [...]
[...] In this very carefully crafted speech, Gordon Brown tries to draw a clear line between the people and the partisans of the Yes, who he accuses of misusing the legitimate feelings of popular patriotic pride. The speech is part factual, part lyrical, with a strong attention to not overflowing the sentences with too many austere numbers. The main take-away from it would be that voting to remain is an act of patriotism, a patriotism that is inclusive, democratic and economically reasonable. [...]
[...] These anaphoras achieve two main objectives: calling on the patriotic proud of the people (the "silent majority") and excluding the Nationalists from any responsibility in the great achievements of Scotland. This results in creating a clear opposition between the people, whose patriotic pride is legitimate, and the Nationalists, who want to divide the country and are depicted as enemies of this pride. Brown makes it clear that, contrary to what the SNP want the people to believe, voting No is not an anti-patriotic act, on the contrary. [...]
[...] After clearly stating his intentions (he is not against patriotism but encourages it; the Yes campaigners are the one acting against the interests of the Scottish people) Brown dives into the forensic part of his speech by explaining the economical risks that the Scottish independence would trigger. The audience is now at ease, reassured by his statements on patriotic pride and this allows him to enumerate the risks without scaring the crowd too much. He mixes the enumeration with his trademark anaphora ("real risk"). [...]
