An Analytical Study of Rhetorical Questions of Male Celebrities' English Speeches

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Suwit Tikham

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         Nowadays, celebrities have been expressing their viewpoints through various mass media outlets, including social media, interviews, and speeches. Giving speech is one strategy that can incorporate rhetorical question (RQs) into the contents. The objectives of this study were 1) to investigate the use of RQs in English speeches delivered by male celebrities featured on the English Speeches Channel on YouTube, and 2) to analyze the use of RQs in English speeches given by male celebrities. Data was collected through purposive sampling from 45 speeches delivered by male celebrities from 2018 to 2022. The study found that Debating, Arguing or Questioning was the most used, followed by Evaluation and Functionality, A Series of RQs, A Question that is Immediately Answered, and Highlighting a New Subject respectively. However, the Combination of RQs were the least frequently used. The research results demonstrated that the speakers employed RQs to encourage the audience to recognize and appreciate the importance of the message they intended to pass on in their speeches. Furthermore, using RQs strengthens the valuable speech.

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How to Cite
Tikham, S. (2023). An Analytical Study of Rhetorical Questions of Male Celebrities’ English Speeches. มนุษยสังคมสาร (มสส.) คณะมนุษยศาสตร์และสังคมศาสตร์ มหาวิทยาลัยราชภัฏบุรีรัมย์, 21(2), 129–150. https://doi.org/10.14456/jhusoc.2023.19
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