A Pragmatic Analysis of a Selected Presidential Funeral Eulogy

Abstract

A eulogy, delivered at the crux of pain and happiness, is a transformative language tool that helps to maneuver expressions of grief into more useful emotions that will help those experiencing grief process it properly and appropriately allow it to run its course and accept its many stages. The word “eulogy” is derived from Greek word εὐλογία, which stands for “praise” signifies that it utilizes positive rhetoric in order to focus nostalgia on comforting memories. Eulogy is redemption of dark circumstances, and a persuasive language form which resounds with hope and a look toward a future changed. Eulogy is a persistent language, seeking through wreckage, trauma, and grief to find the thread of hope that will bring society through. Eulogy is composed of many distinctive types, and employs specific literary devices in order to achieve the objective of calming comfort and acceptance. The paper carries out a pragmatic analysis Eulogy used in well- known political figures' funerals. This study aims at specifying the intended meaning in English eulogy through handling a pragmatic analysis of (eulogy) in the funeral of well-known political figures. It aims also at surveying the types and distribution of eulogia devices in praising speech with specifying the literary aspects that distinguish the meaning of eulogy in such speeches. The study is limited to the pragmatic analysis of eulogy delivered at Reagan's funeral by President Bush in 2004.

Keywords

• : Eulogy – Culture – Pragmatics - Speech acts