Persuasion, Figure-Ground and Major's Speech in George Orwell's Animal Farm

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Résumé

Abstract:
This article explores persuasion in George Orwell’s Animal Farm through Major’s speech. It is grounded on the figure-ground conceptual pair in cognitive linguistics. Major’s speech in George Orwell’s Animal Farm has been taken in chunks and the figures and grounds it embeds have been identified, analyzed and frequency counts established. The results and the discussion reveal that Major’s choice of figures and grounds puts men and their actions as the roots of the animals’ problems. This choice contributes to convince his audience for animals’ cause and prime them for action against men

Mots-clés

animals, clause, figure, ground, persuasion.