ENGLISH LANGUAGE VI

‘CLINT
SMITH. “How
to raise a black
son in
America.”’
Alba García Apezteguia
 Table of contents

1 Analysis of 5 P’s 2 Body Language

Pace
Pauses
Pitch
Projection
Pronunciation

3 Conclusion
 Introduction

In this video, Clint Smith uses his voice

to protest for the unjust racial
discrimination that has ruled all his life.

His father told him that he could not

behave like his white friends.
 1
Analysis of 5 P’s
 1 Pace
• Pace speeds up gradually as the speech progresses.
• Stable pace, although less relaxed until minute 02:40. Moment when he
reproduces the critical words his father told him: “You can’t act the same as your
white friends, you can’t pretend to shoot guns.” (sadness, concern, and grief)
• In minute 03:18, the pace accelerates  his social denunciation starts. The
content of the speech becomes intense, and the pace reinforces this intensity.
• At the end, he slows down to pronounce the last sentences “A place where every
single one of us can breathe.”  emphasize the message and makes it emotional.
 2 Pauses
• Not very used by the speaker.
• Minute 02:40  when he remembers his fathers’ words:
“He looked me in the eyes fear consuming his face [PAUSE] and said: ‘Son, I’m
sorry [PAUSE] but you cannot act like your white friends [PAUSE] you can’t pretend
to shoot guns [PAUSE] you can’t run around in the dark [PAUSE] you can’t hide
behind anything other than your teeth [PAUSE].’”
• Pauses, slow pace and his facial expressions create the sorrowful environment
that he intends to create
 3 Pitch
• Subtle stress put on words, but noticeable.
“I didn’t always UNDERSTAND why my PARENTS made me follow the RULES that they did”
(second 14)
• In some statements, he remarks the emphasis on some words in a very clear way:
“I think of how HARD it must have been, how PROFOUNDLY UNFAIR it must have felt.” (minute
01:54)
• Tone: 1st friendly easygoing with some jokes. Then, (second 34) tone changes  more
serious. In minute 01:50 changes again: now is firmer and takes force.
• Major change (02:40): tone declines.
• Finally, (03:15) the tone becomes powerful and angry. He makes this to protest
 engages and keeps the public attention.
 4 Projection

• Significant changes in accordance with the content of the speech.

• He uses his voice loudly and clearly.
• (03:15) He accelerates the pace, his tone gets powerful and angry and, similarly, he
raises his voice. He is making a protest  demands attention and respect
 5 Pronunciation

• His pronunciation is easily understood. Correct intonation and stress.

• Makes use of gemination  occurs when the last consonant of a word and the first
consonant of the following are the same so consonants are linked and pronounced as
one: “this skin – I want to – It’s simply”
2 Body Language
 3 Conclusion

• Pace accelerates, the voice gets louder, and body language becomes stronger and
powerful.
• Pace slows down, pauses come into play, the tone is more relaxed, hands gestures
and facial expressions are softer…
• THEY ALL ARE POWERFUL WHEN CORRECTLY COMBINED.
 Thanks!
Do you have any questions?
id00745265@usal.es

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