Trump speech 2:

Ambiguity is an effect, and to achieve this effect there are multiple ways. I would
like to address three different methods from texts excerpted from 2 of Trump’s
speeches on immigration.
The first is called exaggeration ambiguity, including inflated language,
overstatements, and intensifiers to make ordinary things seem extraordinary. Trump
personally loves this kind of figure of speech to achieve ambiguity. “To make
America great again”, “this is gonna be huge” (with gesture). Here, …. It often
contradicts to the real degree of importance or extent since been exaggerated,
therefore causes torsion, an ambiguous sensation to the audience.
The second is called gobbledygook, or bureaucratese, first defined and discussed
in a ground-breaking paper on doublespeak published by Gibson and Lutz in 1991, as
a matter of pilling on words, of overwhelming the audience with words——the bigger
the better. “It is a tricky problem to find the particular calibration in timing that would
be appropriate to stem the acceleration in risk premiums created by falling incomes
without prematurely aborting the decline in the inflation-generated risk premiums”.
Audience won’t probably really understand what one is trying to express, and since
this authority has absolute superiority over individuals, one tends to believe what
being heard is true. Therefore, speaker will use this to achieve recognition and
agreement of the audience, and at the same time avoid real solid statements been
made. Trump here, answering a question regarding Muslim immigrants at the
inauguration debate, says…. He basically addressed nothing in the middle, but
succeeded in patronizing the audience. Gobbledygook can also link to the book….
The third is called association, been classified in Rank’s model of persuasion as a
strategy that links a person with an idea, attribute, or a know figure through
metaphors, allusion, and similes, by keep referring these 2 objects. For example, in
this case, trump tries to connect Obama and Clinton administration with loose
management, low law enforcement effectiveness, and safety carelessness, and his
administration with the opposite. This kind of association will create ambiguous
through the audience, and thus help Trump to secure his position as president.

Antony’s Funeral Speech:

There are also 2 aspects of ambiguity I would like to discuss, namely: strategic
ambiguity, repetition in the text Julius Caesar.
I feel necessary to give a very brief background introduction. Caesar was just
murdered by Brutus, and Antony gives a speech to people in order to persuade them to
go against Brutus.
To begin with repetition, repetition serves as creating ambiguity with political
motives was first recorded in a paper “The Political Economy of Instrument Choice”
published in 1989. Message will be intensified through reiteration, and that’s exactly
what Trump likes to use such as “make America great again”. We have to say it’s very
effective because regarding Trump’s hundreds of speeches, our most memorable
phrase is “make America great again”. Also like Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous
quote: “I have a dream…”. Here the idea that has been repeated is “Brutus is an
honorable man”, and “Caesar is indeed NOT ambitious”. “Caesar is indeed NOT
ambitious” will be accepted by more and more people, and thus achieve the purpose
of Antony, however, this idea “Brutus is an honorable man” is gradually intensified
throughout Antony’s speech, yet the interesting part is the audience will become more
and more repulsive towards this belief that Brutus is honorable. And why? Because of
strategic ambiguity.
Strategic ambiguity is well-defined. According to Eric Eisenberg, who first wrote
extensively about it, strategic ambiguous describes the way people communicate
unclearly intentionally to accomplish goals. It is widely used by many high-level
speakers, because sometime it would be very intrusive and disadvantageous to speak
clearly, for people may use your claim against you in the future. And different from
gobbledygook, you actually have something to express. Here, …, clearly, Antony
wants the audience to know that Brutus is not honorable. We can clearly see this from
“sure”. However, directly question Brutus’s credibility will 1) reveal Antony’s
ambitious goal of usurp Rome, and 2) create anger among the audience, therefore
Antony managed to elude this “flammable” region by using strategic ambiguity. This
method is very important in understanding how ambiguity connects with power in
language.

Conclusion:
We talked about these topics, and I would like to give a summary on what we
discussed.
Firstly, what are some methods of creating ambiguity? Well, we learned 5
methods, namely: exaggeration ambiguity, gobbledygook, association, strategic
ambiguity and repetition. Exaggeration ambiguity is the extensive use of “great
words” that conflicts with the original degree of importance of an event, like
“legendary” in HIMYM. Gobbledygook or bureaucratese is commonly used by all
government officials, as to create a insignificantly long sentence in order to confuse
the audience and thus cause ambiguity. Association, a mean of connecting some event
with some ideas in order to defend/undermine. Strategic ambiguity, to express ideas
indirectly or even in an opposite way yet achieve the purpose, and repetition
ambiguity.
We also discussed how these methods are used to in political speeches (the
trump’s view on immigrants) and literary texts (Julius Caesar), and how are these
methods achieve ambiguity in each case, as well as the motif of creating this
ambiguity——all relatable to power.
Finally, I want to emphasize the ethical implication of ambiguity. It is often
regarded as unethical, because ambiguity in power disputes often serves as a mean of
covering wrongdoing, hiding important facts, and limiting audience’s ability to make
objective judgments. However, we would like to point of that there are also ethical
aspects. For example in cases that you can’t express directly, strategic ambiguity can
help you express your thoughts but at the same time avoid been directly accused.
I hope our presentation gives you a clearer understanding of how power can be
achieved through ambiguous language.
Thank you.