Analyzing the introduction of TED Talks: A corpus–based analysis of discourse organization

Abstract

Rhetoric plays a powerful role in public speeches. Recognizing the rhetorical power can help speakers achieve successful communications. This study investigates the rhetorical move structure and the linguistic features in the introduction part of TED Talks. The selected talks were the top 20 talks in the most viewed category on the topic of ‘Life’ which are diverse in terms of speakers’ backgrounds and experiences. In this study, (1) the rhetorical move structure was investigated by using a move analytical approach and (2) the linguistic features, lexical characteristics in particular, were analyzed through keyword analysis. The findings show that the introduction part of TED Talks consists of two main moves which serve different functional proposes. Moreover, the analysis of keywords shows that in the introduction part, speakers used words which are associated with the concepts of (1) self orientation, (2) being unspecific and referencing, (3) intention, (4) action and mental orientation, and (5) being told/informed. Keywords: introduction, keyword analysis, move analysis, public speech, TED Talks