Speaker
Description
This article presents a discourse analysis of two prominent public speeches by world-renowned artist Taylor Swift: the 2019 Billboard Music Awards “Woman of the Decade” Acceptance Speech and the 2022 New York University Commencement Address. Grounded in classical rhetorical theory by Aristotle from ancient times and critical discourse analysis theory (Fairclough, 2003), this study explores the way Swift constructs her identity and evokes empowerment among the audience through linguistic strategies. Findings reveal that Swift frequently uses personal anecdotes, humor, and collective pronouns like “we” and “us” to establish ethos and enhance solidarity. Moreover, she effectively employed a variety of metaphors and repetitive structures in addressing the challenges, social norms, and industry biases, which reframed personal struggles as collective victories. Through these rhetorical choices, Swift makes her public persona more relatable while inviting audiences to embrace authenticity and shared experience. By unpacking Swift’s rhetorical strategies, this study deepens our understanding of identity negotiation in English public discourse and offers practical guidance for language educators.
Key words: rhetorical strategies, discourse analysis, public speech, empowerment, identity negotiation
Biography
- Thanh-Long Cao is a third-year student at VNU University of Languages and International Studies. He is currently a student in Faculty of English Language and Culture, with a major in English Language Teaching. His main research fields are Teaching methodology and Applied Linguistics, with an interest in Discourse Analysis.
- Xuan-Ha Pham, who received a Doctorate in Comparative and Contrastive Linguistics in 2024 at Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, is currently the Head of Department of English Practice, English Faculty, Thuongmai University. She has 17 years of experience working as a lecturer teaching English for majored and non-majored undergraduates. She participated in compiling 02 reference books to serve her teaching work, and wrote domestic and international scientific articles relating to linguistics and teaching pedagogy. The main research fields are English teaching methodology, Cognitive Linguistics and Comparative Linguistics.
