Award Acceptance Speeches as a Genre In Linguistics

The topic under investigation concerns the field of speech genres in linguistics. The paper analyses the Academy Award acceptance speeches as a distinctive genre. Acceptance speeches are often delivered on important social occasions and make a great contribution to the understanding of linguistic genres, as they have distinct features that developed overtime, structures and communicative purposes. The research aims to identify and study reoccurring patterns in the acceptance speeches delivered throughout the years 1939 to 2022 at the Academy Award Ceremony, commonly and officially known as The Oscar, and answer the following research questions: 1) What defines the stylistic and linguistic aspects of award acceptance speeches as a genre? 2) In what ways could award acceptance speeches strike a mix between formal and social standards and personal expression? 3) In order to captivate and motivate listeners in prize acceptance speeches, which rhetorical devices are used? The findings contribute to the understanding of the nature of genres, providing insights into linguistic means and strategies used in the speeches and expanding the field of linguistic genre analysis.