Leadership and expressivity: The interplay of speech and gesture in Andrzej Duda’s anti-war rhetoric

The paper discusses the relationship between leadership and expressivity as exemplified by the Polish President's address to the Ukrainian Parliament delivered on 22 May 2022. The study draws on existing understandings of expressivity and discursive leadership as well as previous studies on ges...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Res Rhetorica Vol. 11; no. 2; pp. 130 - 151
Main Authors: Tereszkiewicz, Anna, Szczyrbak, Magdalena, USHCHYNA, VALENTYNA
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Polish Rhetoric Society 01.01.2024
Polskie Towarzystwo Retoryczne
Polskie Towarzystwo Retoryczne/ Polish Rhetoric Society
Subjects:
expressivity
gesture
identity
leadership rhetoric
Media studies
Politics / Political Sciences
Psychology
Sociology
Theory of Communication
Ukraine
leadership rhetoric
expressivity
identity
Ukraine
gesture
ISSN:2392-3113, 2392-3113
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The paper discusses the relationship between leadership and expressivity as exemplified by the Polish President's address to the Ukrainian Parliament delivered on 22 May 2022. The study draws on existing understandings of expressivity and discursive leadership as well as previous studies on gesture in political rhetoric. Co-speech gestures are discussed as an interactional resource linked to emotion and evaluation, and as an inseparable part of the speaker’s public persona and identity. Following Bednarek (2011), the analysis considers the president’s expressivity at the micro-, meso- and macro-level, and it identifies a range of linguistic and gestural resources with which Andrzej Duda constructs a positive involved style while “communicating emotion” and “doing intensity.” The analysis also links the president’s linguistic expression of ardour and gestural behaviour to leadership capabilities, explaining how “relating to the audience” and “visioning” can stir and mobilise the audience in times of war and uncertainty
ISSN:2392-3113
2392-3113
DOI:10.29107/rr2024.2.8