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Oral Communication · Oral Communication: Critical Listening, Academic Discussion and Persuasive Speaking

Analysing Oral Texts in Their Situation: Exigence, Kairos, Structure and Sound

1.7About 70 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can describe a speech's rhetorical situation: speaker, audience, purpose, exigence, constraints and context.
  • I can explain how kairos makes a speech effective at a particular moment.
  • I can analyse where techniques appear in a speech's structure and why.
  • I can analyse how sound, rhythm and pronouns influence listeners, in speeches and in Shakespeare.

Words to know

rhetorical situation
The speaker, audience, purpose, exigence, constraints and context that a speech responds to.
exigence
The problem or event that makes speaking necessary now.
constraints
Factors that limit a speech, such as time, rules or the audience's attitudes.
kairos
The right moment, and the right words for that moment.
classical arrangement
A five-part speech structure: introduction, facts, proof, refutation, conclusion.
epistrophe
Repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive clauses.
apostrophe
Directly addressing someone absent or something non-human, such as the wind.
plosive
A consonant made by stopping and releasing air, such as b, p, t or k.

Remember from Grade 11

In Grade 10 you analysed oral texts with element, example, effect, purpose and named ethos, logos and pathos. In Grade 11 you analysed how statistics and expert opinions are framed, separated tone (the speaker's attitude) from mood (the listener's feeling), and studied how Shakespeare's language, such as Lady Macbeth's shift into prose, captures an audience's emotions. Grade 12 analysis looks at the whole speech in its situation: who is speaking to whom, why now, under what limits, and how the speech's structure and sound work together to shape the listener's response.

Let's start with the same words at two moments

Imagine a student stands up at a school assembly in September and says: "We will not give up." Polite applause. Now imagine the same student says the same words the morning after the school's arena roof collapsed under heavy snow, closing the rink for the season. The room goes silent, then cheers.

Nothing about the words changed. The situation did. Grade 12 analysis starts by asking what situation a speech answers, then asks how the speaker's choices fit that situation.

The rhetorical situation

Every speech is a response to a rhetorical situation:

  • Speaker: who is speaking, and what credibility (ethos) do they bring or need to build?
  • Audience: who is listening, what do they already believe and feel, and what do they need (pathos)?
  • Purpose and message: what does the speaker want the audience to think, feel or do (logos for the reasoning)?
  • Exigence: the problem or event that makes speaking necessary now.
  • Constraints: what limits the speech: time, rules of the occasion, the audience's attitudes, the speaker's position.
  • Context: the time, place and events surrounding the speech.

The ancient Greeks also had a word for the right moment and the right words for it: kairos. A speech has kairos when it says what the audience needs to hear at exactly the moment they need it.

The rhetorical situationCONTEXT: time, place, events, what the audience already knowsSPEAKERethos: who is talking?AUDIENCEpathos: who is listening?PURPOSE / MESSAGElogos: what and why?EXIGENCEwhy speak now?CONSTRAINTS: time limit, rules, attitudesKAIROS: the right moment and words
Speaker, audience and purpose form the triangle; the exigence sits in the middle because it is the reason the speech exists. Context, constraints and kairos surround everything.

Analysing structure: the classical arrangement

Many formal speeches still follow a structure that ancient Roman teachers of rhetoric described:

  1. Introduction (exordium): gain attention and goodwill; establish ethos.
  2. Statement of facts (narratio): explain the situation or background.
  3. Proof (confirmatio): the main arguments and evidence.
  4. Refutation (refutatio): answer objections.
  5. Conclusion (peroratio): sum up and make the strongest emotional appeal.

When you analyse a speech, ask where each technique appears. An emotional appeal in the conclusion has a different effect than the same appeal in the opening. A speech that skips the refutation may be speaking to an audience that already agrees.

Analysing sound

Speeches are heard, so analyse how they sound: repetition (anaphora at the start of clauses, epistrophe at the end), rhythm (long rolling sentences followed by a short one), alliteration and plosive consonants (b, p, t, k) that sound forceful, pronouns (we builds unity; you can challenge or accuse; they can divide).

The classical arrangement of a speechIntroductionattention,goodwill, ethosFactsbackground: thesituationProofarguments andevidenceRefutationanswer theobjectionsConclusionsum up;strongestappeal
Analyse where each technique appears. Many speakers save their strongest emotional appeal for the conclusion, when the audience has already accepted the reasoning.
Worked example

Let's analyse a famous wartime speech in its situation

On 4 June 1940, after the evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill told the House of Commons:

"...we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender..."

Analyse how the passage communicates its idea and influences listeners, considering the rhetorical situation.

  1. Exigence: a military disaster had just been narrowly turned into a rescue; Britain faced the real possibility of invasion. Listeners needed to know whether their leaders would keep fighting.
  2. Audience: members of Parliament first, and through reports of the speech, the British public and the wider world.
  3. Anaphora: we shall fight repeats at the start of each clause, building a drumbeat of determination.
  4. Movement through places: beaches, landing grounds, fields, streets, hills. The list moves inland, from where an invader would land to the heart of the country, so listeners picture resistance everywhere.
  5. Pronoun: we unites speaker and listeners as one people with one decision.
  6. The final clause breaks the pattern: after four we shall fights in a row, we shall never surrender changes the verb. The change makes it the climax.
  7. Kairos: the words answered exactly the question the moment raised: will we give up?

Churchill answers the exigence (possible invasion after Dunkirk) with anaphora (we shall fight), a list of places that moves inland to show resistance everywhere, and the unifying pronoun we. Breaking the pattern with we shall never surrender creates the climax. The passage has kairos: it gives a frightened audience the answer the moment demanded.

Worked example

Let's analyse how Shakespeare communicates theme in the storm

In Act 3 of King Lear, Lear, now rejected by his daughters, stands on a heath in a violent storm and cries:

"Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow! You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks!"

Analyse how the speech communicates the play's themes and influences the audience.

  1. Apostrophe: Lear speaks directly to the winds and rains, as if they could hear him. A king who has lost his power still gives orders, but now to the weather.
  2. Imperatives: blow, crack, rage, spout. Commands with no one to obey them sound both mighty and helpless.
  3. Sound: the plosive b in blow and the hard c/k sounds in crack and cocks make the lines explode when spoken aloud, matching the storm.
  4. Hyperbole: he wants rain to flood the church steeples and drown the weathercocks on top of them: the whole world drowned.
  5. Theme: the storm outside mirrors the chaos inside Lear's mind and kingdom (nature reflecting human disorder). It also shows how much power he has lost: he commands, but only nature answers, and not because he told it to.
  6. Effect on the audience: a mix of awe at Lear's force and pity for a man shouting into the rain.

Through apostrophe and imperatives addressed to the storm, harsh plosive sounds and hyperbole, Shakespeare makes Lear sound both mighty and powerless. The storm mirrors the disorder in Lear's mind and kingdom, and the audience feels awe and pity at once.

Situation first, technique second

Before naming techniques, write one sentence about the situation: who, to whom, why now, under what limits. Then every technique you analyse can be explained as a choice that fits (or doesn't fit) that situation.

Hands-on activity

Analyse a speech in its moment

You need: a recording or transcript of a speech given at an important moment (for example, a speech after a disaster, an election, a sports victory, a graduation or a national apology), paper and a pen.

  1. Research the context: date, place, what had just happened.
  2. Fill in the rhetorical situation: speaker, audience, purpose, exigence, constraints.
  3. Mark the speech's structure using the five classical parts. Which parts are missing or merged?
  4. Find three techniques of sound (repetition, rhythm, pronouns, plosives) and explain each one's effect.
  5. Read one passage aloud to a family member. Then explain the situation and read it again. Ask: did knowing the situation change how it sounded?
Just for fun

Kairos is the Greek idea of choosing the right moment to speak.

For example: the moment to tell your family you dented the car is not while they're stuck in traffic on the 401.

Your turn

1

What is exigence?

2

Define kairos.

3

Name the five parts of the classical arrangement.

4

Why does Churchill's list of places (beaches, landing grounds, fields, streets, hills) matter?

5

What device is Lear using when he speaks directly to the winds?

6

Give one effect of each pronoun in a speech: we, you, they.

7

Name two constraints that might affect a graduation speech.

More practice: warm-up

1

What are the three points of the rhetorical triangle?

2

What is anaphora?

3

What is epistrophe?

4

Which part of the classical arrangement answers objections?

5

Name two plosive consonants.

More practice: on your own

1

Explain why the same sentence ("We will not give up") can have kairos in one situation and fall flat in another.

2

A speech to a friendly audience skips the refutation. Is that a weakness? Explain.

3

Explain how breaking a repeated pattern creates emphasis, using Churchill's "we shall never surrender."

4

Analyse the sound of "Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!"

5

How does Lear's storm speech show his loss of power?

Challenge

1

Write a three-sentence analysis of the rhetorical situation of a school principal's announcement that a beloved teacher is retiring.

2

Compare how kairos works in Churchill's 4 June 1940 speech and Lear's storm speech, considering that one is real and one is fictional.

3

Choose any speech you know. Explain where its strongest emotional appeal is placed in the classical arrangement and why that placement is effective (or not).

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

The exigence of a speech is:

2.

A speech said at exactly the moment the audience needs it has:

3.

In the classical arrangement, the refutation:

4.

Lear's "Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks!" addresses the wind directly. This is:

5.

Churchill's repeated "we shall fight" at the start of clauses is:

6.

Using we throughout a speech usually:

For parents and teachers

Big idea: ENG4U expectation 1.7 asks students to analyse oral texts, including increasingly complex texts, focusing on how they communicate information, ideas, issues and themes and influence the listener's response. Grade 12 analysis places a speech in its rhetorical situation and examines structure and sound.

How to help at home:

  • Watch or listen to a speech at an important public moment together, and ask: "Why did this need to be said now?"
  • Read the Lear storm lines aloud together. Shouting them (in a safe place) shows the plosive sounds at work.
  • Ask your teen to explain one technique as a choice: "Why that word, in that place, for that audience?"

Common difficulties:

  • Listing techniques without the situation. Start with who, to whom, why now.
  • Ignoring structure. Ask where in the speech a technique appears.
  • Mixing up anaphora and epistrophe. Anaphora repeats at the start; epistrophe at the end.