THE GENRES OF MLK’S ”I HAVE A DREAM”

Abstrak

ABSTRACT

In general, official speeches, either political or general speeches,
in Indonesia linguistically use more direct-language. That is, the meanings or thoughts in the speeches can be understood simply through—to use Brown et al’s terms—the “process of fairly basic linguistic abilityâ€
(see: Brown et al., 1994: 13). This kind of speech is in one way or the
other quite acceptable when the speech is meant to deliver some
simple information. In other words, this way of conveying a thesis is suitable when it is simply to inform. When the purpose of the speech is
meant to win the assent of the audience, however, in one way or the
other it should be presented differently. That is, although a speech is
in a formal and official setting, it should—by the justification of the listeners as the community of minds— be rhetorically acceptable to most
(if not all) audience. To meet that purpose, the speaker should present
his idea persuasively, argumentatively, intellectually, and cooperatively—
that is, in terms of linguistics, rhetorically.