Cover not available

Article published In: Language and Dialogue
Vol. 11:2 (2021) ► pp.271–299

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

Speaker’s verbal behavior and collective audience responses in Korean political oratory

 | University of Oxford
 | University of York
Published online: 18 March 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.00090.cho
Abstract
An analysis was conducted of the discourse of South Korean political speakers in relation to collective audience responses, based on three situational contexts. Results showed marked contextual differences in the formatting of messages used to invite audience responses. In campaign speeches, explicit (dialogic) rhetorical devices (RDs) occurred most frequently, thereby supporting Bull, Peter and Karolis Miskinis. 2015. “Whipping it up! An analysis of audience responses to political rhetoric in speeches from the 2012 American presidential elections.” Journal of Language and Social Psychology 34(5): 521–538. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar hypothesis that such RDs are characteristic of political speech-making in collectivist far eastern societies. However, this hypothesis was substantively qualified by findings that (1) in the acceptance and inauguration speeches, implicit RDs were utilized more frequently than explicit (dialogic) RDs, and (2) in those two contexts, it was non-formatted messages that occurred more frequently than either explicit or implicit RDs separately.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Speaker-audience interaction
    • 1.2Review of the literature and previous findings
  • 2.Method
    • 2.1Data
    • 2.2Analytic procedure
    • 2.3Reliability
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Overall results
    • 3.2Non-formatted messages
    • 3.3Complex
    • 3.4Formatted and non-formatted messages
    • 3.5Implicit and explicit invitations
    • 3.6Summary
  • 4.Discussion
  • 5.Conclusion
    • 5.1Implications
    • 5.2Future research
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
References (36)
References
Atkinson, John Maxwell. 1984a. Our Masters’ Voices: The Language and Body Language of Politics. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1984b. “Public speaking and audience response: some techniques for inviting applause.” In Structure of Social Action: Studies in Conversation Analysis, ed. by Atkinson John Maxwell, John Heritage, and Keith Oatley, 370–409. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bull, Peter. 1986. “The use of hand gesture in political speeches: Some case studies.” Journal of Language and Social Psychology 5(2): 103–118. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015. “Collectivism and individualism in political speeches from the UK, Japan and the USA: a cross-cultural analysis.” Politics, Culture & Socialisation 6(1–2): 71–85. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bull, Peter and Ofer Feldman. 2011. “Invitations to affiliative audience responses in Japanese political speeches.” Journal of Language and Social Psychology 30(2): 158–176. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bull, Peter and Karolis Miskinis. 2015. “Whipping it up! An analysis of audience responses to political rhetoric in speeches from the 2012 American presidential elections.” Journal of Language and Social Psychology 34(5): 521–538. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bull, Peter and Merel Noordhuizen. 2000. “The mistiming of applause in political speeches.” Journal of Language and Social Psychology 19(3): 275–294. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bull, Peter and Pam Wells. 2002. “By invitation only? An analysis of invited and uninvited applause.” Journal of Language and Social Psychology 21(3): 230–244. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Choi, Hyangmi, Peter Bull, and Darren Reed, D. 2016. “Audience Responses and the Context of Political Speeches.” Journal of Social and Political Psychology 41: 601–622. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clayman, Steven E. 1992. “Caveat orator: Audience disaffiliation in the 1988 presidential debates.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 78(1): 33–60. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1993. “Booing: The anatomy of a disaffiliative response.” American Sociological Review, 110–130. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clayman, Steven E. and John Heritage. 2002a. The News Interview: Journalists and Public Figures on the Air. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2002b. “Questioning presidents: Journalistic deference and adversarialness in the press conferences of US Presidents Eisenhower and Reagan.” Journal of communication 52 (4): 749–775. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cohen, Jacob. 1960. “A coefficient of agreement for nominal scales.” Educational and Psychological Measurement 20(1): 37–46. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cockcroft, Robert and Susan Cockcroft. 2005. Persuading People: An Introduction to Rhetoric. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Drew, Paul. 1991. “Asymmetries of Knowledge in Conversational Interactions.” In Asymmetries in Dialogue, ed. by Ivana Markova and Klaus Foppa, 21–48. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fairclough, Norman. 2002. New Labour, New Language?. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fein, Steven, Goethals R. Goethals, and Matthew B. Kugler. 2007. “Social influence on political judgments: The case of presidential debates.” Political Psychology 28(2): 165–192. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Feldman, Ofer and Peter Bull. 2012. “Understanding audience affiliation in response to political speeches in Japan.” Language and Dialogue 2(3): 375–397. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Greatbatch, David and Thimothy Clark. 2003. “Displaying group cohesiveness: Humour and laughter in the public lectures of management gurus.” Human Relations 56(12): 1515–1544. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heritage, John and David Greatbatch. 1986. “Generating applause: A study of rhetoric and response at party political conferences.” American Journal of Sociology 92(1): 110–157. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hofstede, Geert. 2001. Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations across Nations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014. The Hofstede centre: Cultural tools and country comparison. Retrieved August, 4, 2014.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hofstede, Geert H., Gert Jan Hofstede, and Michael Minkov. 2010. Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind: Intercultural Cooperation and Its Importance for Survival. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Iversen, Stine and Peter Bull. 2016. “Rhetorical devices and audience responses in Norwegian political speeches.” Politics, Culture and Socialization, 97–118.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lang, Gladys Engel and Kurt Lang. 1976. “Immediate and mediated responses: First debate.” The Great Debates: Carter vs. Ford, 298–313.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McIlvenny, Paul. 1996a. “Heckling in Hyde Park: Verbal audience participation in popular public discourse.” Language in Society 251: 27–60. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1996b. “Popular public discourse at Speakers’ Corner: negotiating cultural identities in interaction.” Discourse & Society 71: 7–37. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McQuarrie, Edward F. and David Glen Mick. 1992. “On resonance: A critical pluralistic inquiry into advertising rhetoric.” Journal of Consumer Research 19(2): 180–197. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Psathas, George. 1995. Conversation Analysis: The Study of Talk-in-Action. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shaiq, Hafiz Muhammad Abdullah, Hafiz Muhammad Sufyan Khalid, Aisha Akram, and Bakhtiar Ali. 2011. “Why not everybody loves Hofstede? What are the alternative approaches to study of culture?” European Journal of Business and Management, 3(6): 101–111.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stewart, Patrick A. 2015. “Polls and elections: Do the presidential primary debates matter? Measuring candidate speaking time and audience response during the 2012 primaries.” Presidential Studies Quarterly, 45(2): 361–381. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stewart, Patrick A., Reagan G. Dye, and Austin D. Eubanks. 2018. “The Political Ethology of Debate Humor and Audience Laughter.” Political Humor in a Changing Media Landscape: A New Generation of Research, 1171.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
West, Darrel M. 1984. “Cheers and jeers: Candidate presentations and audience reactions in the 1980 presidential campaign.” American Politics Research 12(1): 23–50. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yonhap News. 2012. Comparing Presidential Candidates’ Approval Ratings. Retrieved from [URL]
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Choi, Hyangmi & Peter Bull
2023. Invitation to respond by rhetoric or delivery. Language and Dialogue 13:1 ► pp. 51 ff. DOI logo
Choi, Hyangmi & Peter Bull
2023. Orators’ Nonverbal Behavior in Generating Audience Responses: Speaker-Audience Interaction in South Korean Political Speeches. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 47:3 ► pp. 403 ff. DOI logo
Bull, Peter & Maurice Waddle
2021. Speaker-audience intercommunication in political speeches: A contrast of cultures. Journal of Pragmatics 186 ► pp. 167 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 25 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue