Politeness Strategies in Public Speeches: A Case of Commencement Speeches in Graduation Ceremonies

Abstract

This study aimed to: 1) discover the types of politeness strategies employed in commencement speeches by Taylor Swift and Chadwick Boseman, 2) compare the politeness strategies found in the two speeches and 3) analyze the use of politeness strategies in the two speeches. The theoretical framework for the textual analysis and frequency counting was based on the six maxims of politeness proposed by Leech (1983). The data consisted of Taylor Swift's commencement speech at New York University and Chadwick Boseman's at Howard University. The data was collected from the official YouTube channels of each University and analyzed by using textual analysis to determine the type of politeness strategies. The maxims of politeness were counted and revealed as frequency and percentage. Subsequently, the results were compared to find the differences applications. The study results revealed that six maxims were employed in both commencement speeches. Generosity maxim was the most frequently applied in Taylor Swift’s speech while Approbation maxim was the most frequently applied in Chadwick Boseman’s speech. Despite the differences in dominant maxims, both speeches shared the same top three maxims: Tact, Generosity, and Approbation, indicating the similar purpose of the speeches.