Nelson Mandelas Inaugural Address - Essay Example

Nelson Mandela’s Inaugural Address Unit This paper discusses the inaugural speech that was delivered by Nelson Mandela in relation to Boussoffara-Omar’s (2011) quote; “linguistic choices and discursive practices are never ‘value-free’ or neutral, they are always situated in histories, whether they are personal, local or global.” The speech the first to be delivered by former South African president and the first black president after the abolition of the apartheid rule on May 10, 1994. It was delivered in Pretoria, South Africa. The speech captured diverse aspects of the past and the future of South Africa. Mandela tactfully addressed a number of issues that faced the country in the past while attempting to strike a balance between the minority white and the majority blacks. The speeches raises pays a particular appeal to the pathos of the audience, an aspect that helps reduce the tension and emotions that could have arose. Mandela points out a number of issues that South Africa requires including unity, tolerance, and developing the image of the country. In his address, Nelson Mandela uses a number of linguistic devices to communicate to the people of South Africa when delivering his first inaugural ceremony in the University of Pretoria. The fact that he is not a native English speaker demonstrates an accent in his pronunciation of the English words. The punctuation of his speech is quite impressive. In addition, he demonstrates good command of language and uses a figurative language that has a good choice of semantics and lexical devices. The choice of words in every sentence has been carefully done in order to convey a specific message to the South Africans as well as the rest of the world. His speech demonstrates a dedication to unite South Africans in order that the world may have a view of what it means be have order, equality, justice, and freedom. The linguistic mastery of Mandela in this speech confirms Boussoffara-Omar’s (2011) saying that, “linguistic choices and discursive practices are never ‘value-free’ or neutral, they are always situated in histories, whether they are personal, local or global”. In the inaugural speech, Mandela is very systematic in the way he presents issues. The first thing is that he presents a greeting that acknowledges all the participants in a special way. He refers to them using highly dignified words, “majesties, highnesses, distinguished guests, comrades, and friends.” This opening statement gives a special appreciation to the South Africans as well as the other individuals from the rest of the world that had contributed to the state of the country. He also went ahead to appreciate the people for having come to witness the new dawn in South Africa, characterized by freedom, justice and without discrimination. He also acknowledged the input of the international community for their support in facilitating common justice in South Africa. In his systematic flow of thoughts, he condemns discrimination and aspires that South Africa may have a long lasting peace. In addition, he also highlights the importance of unity among people the South Africans. In the close of his speech, he says a prayer for Africa “God bless Africa.” The speech is characterized by the use of anaphors that have a weight in delivering a message of hope to the South Africans. The anaphoric language creates a tone in Mandela’s speech that is quite inspirational, commanding but very uplifting. He is very consistent in the use of anaphors that adds emphasis to the speech. In addition, the anaphors adds to the authority of the speech making it moving as well delivering a strong message. He uses anaphors such as; “The time for healing of wounds has come” “The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come” “The time to build is upon us” (You Tube 2009). These anaphors stresses three key aspects that were important for South Africa to move forward and forget about the Apartheid state. First, he appreciates that those that were hurt during the oppressive rule should heal. Secondly, he calls for unity and finally, he establishes that through reconciliation they would be able to build a strong nation. The start of the expressions using the words, “time for”, “time to” and “moment to” depicts a strong command while demonstrating a matter of urgency in dealing with the issue that confront South Africa. Repetitiveness in the speech is quite dominant. Mandela has used certain words to stress his views while demonstrating authority in what is talking about. In order to depict the South African society as united and one people, he constantly uses the words “we” and “our.” These words have been repeated severally in the speech. They are used to depict that the end of Apartheid has made all South Africans equals; bot whites and blacks. The following statements confirm this; “We dedicate this day to our heroes and heroines… so that we could be free” “We must act together as a united people” (You Tube 2009). This form of repetitiveness has helped stress a point that the will of Mandela was to have a country that forgets about the past and focusses on the future. The speech applies a myriad of words that show persuasion. Due to the situation in South Africa at the time, there was need for racial tolerance due to the Apartheid policy. The blacks must have been bitter due to the racial prejudice that was directed on them. In calming them down and creating, a situation where all people are perceived equally, Mandela makes a good choice of words. The words are used authoritatively but their persuasiveness is clearly evident. The predominant words in the speech, such as; justice which alludes to fairness in handling of all matters in the country. The word ‘strengthen’ has been used to depict that he endeavors to see a country that is strong in its dealings. ‘Prosperity,’ (You Tube 2009) talks about the well-being all the citizenry of South Africa irrespective of the factors that contribute to diversity. Another word is ‘reinforce’ (You Tube 2009), this indicates the need ‘to intensify’ the fight against societal evils while strengthening the economic, social and political status of the country. He condemns ‘indignity’ and confirms that the rights of the South Africans are ‘inalienable’(You Tube 2009); this indicates that they have rights, which should be protected. Finally, he extorts people to demonstrate ‘nobility’; this is because being of noble character helps in building the country with a good status and reputation. The use of these words is a well calculated strategy of persuading the people to tolerate each other. None of these words arouses emotions among the people that could result to more resentment. The speech applies a high level of clarity and proper language use that can be understood easily. In the speech, he highlights the long struggle for independence and shares what he perceives that humanity should entail. His choice of words makes the information delivered clear and precise. He is limited in the use of vocabularies or jargon and the ones used are strategically positioned to convey a particular meaning. The preciseness in the choice of words has made it possible to avoid any form of ambiguity. Another aspect that enhances clarity is the mode of presentation of the speech. Mandela is very articulate and exhibits a good command in the punctuation of the speech. This brings coherence and flow of the speech. Every point features at the precise time it is supposed to. The paragraphing of the work is also decent. Through the speech, it is clearly identifiable that the paragraphs are small and carry a specific point. He uses special sentences to bridge from point to point. While concluding his speech he utilizes a special appeal to rally the people to support a peaceful society, he says, “Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world” (You Tube 2009). This last point concludes the entire speech by stressing that the country should not be viewed in bad light again. Mandela’s speech presents a number of symbols. He being a detainee under the Apartheid rule and goes presents a speech that calls for integration and unity is highly symbolic. He reiterates that after a long separation from the world, South Africa now has a capacity to move forward, he states, “we who were outlaws not so long ago, have today been given the rare privilege to be host to the nations of the world on our soil” (You Tube 2009). This symbolically shows the kind of South Africa that existed in the Apartheid regime. He highly appreciates the guest’s participation and pleads with them to continue supporting South Africa. His speech was quite in tune with the issues that had confronted the country in the past years such as conflict, isolation, economic decline, as well as racial discrimination. His figurative language not only addressed the concerns of the black majority but also tried to strike a balance with the white minority. In the speech, he singles out the “masses’ (You Tube 2009) for their participation in ensuring that South Africa gets to a point of democracy. Symbolically, he uses the “the famous Jacaranda trees of Pretoria and the Mimosa trees of the bushveld” (You Tube 2009). These two are used ti describe the richness of the soils and the beauty nature of the country. In another dramatic symbol, Mandela singles out his predecessor and his second deputy president F. W. de Clerk for his role in promoting the change in South Africa. This symbolizes the need for integration despite past differences. Mandela chooses wisely his diction in order to appropriately align his discourse to fit his audience. He made a consideration of his audience and adjusted appropriately to their needs. His use of the common language is highly evident throughout the speech, though he uses rhetorical appeals as well as tropes (Borchers 2006). The choice of simplicity in his language was very calculative. He wanted to communicate to both his local people as well as international guests. This would create a persuasion among the locals who would feel the need to unite. Mandela’s choice to call fellow South Africans, “comrades, and friends” (You Tube 2009) establishes a position whereby he wanted all to feel as part of the community. This unity appeal is a good use in the language that helped Mandela relate with his audience. In the speech, there is an application of the pathos. This involves an appeal to the emotions of the audience that is a strategy to persuade the people to agree with his propositions. In his choice of words, Mandela appeals to pathos using statements such as, “extraordinary human disaster,” (You Tube 2009), which is used to describe the past. In addition, he persuades his fellow citizens to “produce an actual South African reality that will reinforce humanity’s belief in justice.” (You Tube 2009), Through this appeal, he is able to get in touch with the emotions of the people hence arousing a sense of hope and encouraging the citizens to focus on the future. In conclusion, Mandela has applied clarity and preciseness in his choice of language and the articulation of the speech. He demonstrates a good command of the English language though he has an accent that emanates from his mother tongue. Mandela has the speech well-structured n such a manner that it captures the past events, then the presents and finally highlights about the future of the country. He places a special emphasis on unity and peaceful coexistence in order to make the country have a good global image. In addition, he uses a simplified language hat is free from vocabularies in order to have the natives have an understanding of his speech as well as the foreign guests who had come to witness the occasion. He is calculative in his choice of words in order to create an environment where there is no side that exhibits feeling that they have been sidestepped. He takes into consideration the Apartheid regime had polarized the country and reconciliation was an important aspect that all South Africans required to embrace. References Borchers, T (2006) Rhetorical theory: An introduction, Waveland Press Inc.: Illinois  Dickson, P (2009), A systemic linguistic analysis of two prime ministerial speeches, retrieved from http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-artslaw/cels/essays/functional/dickinsonFG.pdf Milestone Documents (n.d), Nelson Mandela’s inaugural address, retrieved from http://salempress.com/store/pdfs/Mandelas_Inaugural.pdf You Tube (2009), Nelson Mandela’s Inaugural address, retrieved from www.youtube.com/watch?v=grh03-NjHzc Read More