Ministry of education and training university of danang nguyễn thị ngọc diệP

4.4.3. Euphemisms in Economy and Social Life 
(4.79) “We mourn promising life cut short…. We can never 
fully understand what would cause a student to take the lives of 32 
innocent people…. 
We reflect on what as been lost and comfort those enduring a 
profound grief.”
[42] 
The disaster is so horrible that he is afraid that people may 
lost trust in the government and do not regard America as a safe 
country to live in. Euphemism is used as a political strategy to cover 
up this blood accident. 
4.5. RHETORICAL QUESTIONS IN OBAMA’S SPEECHES 

---

21 
4.5.1. Yes-no question forms 
(4.83) “Are there further cuts that we need to make?” [16] 
(4.84) “Is that how we define hope?”
[30] 
In the examples (4.83), (4.84), rhetorical questions were used 
to attract the listeners’ attention by emphasizing the necessary matter 
at the present time. 
4.5.2. Yes – No Questions with Modal Verbs 
(4.88) “Will she see a country that is freer and kinder, more 
tolerant and more just than the one she grew up in? Will she see 
greater opportunities for every citizen of this country? Will all her 
childhood hopes be fulfilled?
”
4.5.3. Yes – No Questions without Verbs 
(4.89) “Fired up?"
4.5.4. Wh-Question form 
(4.97) “What other adjustments is it going to take for us to 
have a sustainable budget level?”
[16] 
CHAPTER 5 
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 
A linguistic analysis of political discourse in general and of 
political speeches in particular, can be most successful when it relates 
the details of linguistic behavior to political behavior. This can be 
achieved from two perspectives. We can start from the linguistic 
micro-level and ask which strategic functions specific structures (e.g. 
word choice, a specific syntactic structure) serve to fulfill. Or we can 
start from the macro-level, i.e. the communicative situation and the 
function of a text and ask which linguistic structures have been 
chosen to fulfill this function. Therefore, for both perspectives, the 
speakers – the presidents always use stylistic devices in their 
22 
speeches in order to make them more interesting, effective and 
persuasive. 
Stylistic devices are variations of literal or ordinary form of 
expressions. Their use is to make the thought more striking and 
effective, for they have the power to vivify and illustrate. A fresh, apt 
stylistic device appeals to the imagination, creates mental images and 
makes the speeches vivid, impressive and appealing. For this reason, 
the presidents were found to often use stylistic devices such as 
metaphor, repetition, rhetorical questions, etc to increase the 
listener’s attention and attraction of a speech and to arouse listeners’ 
interest of their ideas or policies. Moreover, the presidents often used 
stylistic devices because they wished to impart news and information 
to the listeners vividly and persuasively. As a result, a study on 
stylistic devices plays an important role.