摘 要

随着社会的不断进步，心理健康问题逐渐成为人们生活中不可忽视的话题，而聆听心理演讲从某种程度上也会成为人们生活中的日常。心理演讲需要在理解受众需求和接受能力的基础上，针对生活或学术中涉及的心理健康问题，以层次化、结构化的方式向受众输出适合的内容，因此，对其中叙述策略的研究显得十分重要。

本文首先在伯克“同一”理论视角下分析心理类演讲的主要特征，接着通过分析几段典型的心理演讲，运用类比和比较的方法，探究共情同一、对立同一和误同与心理演讲的联系，分析心理演讲中的叙事结构，总结一套“同一”理论下有效的叙述策略，同时探究心理演讲中的叙事结构和策略对观众移情产生的影响，以期对心理演讲和其他类演讲提供积极的参考意义。

关键词：英语心理演讲；“同一”理论；叙述策略

Abstract

With the continuous progress of society, mental health has gradually become an important topic in people's life, and listening to psychological speech will become a daily life to some extent. On the basis of understanding the audience's needs and receptive ability, the psychological speeches need to output suitable content to the audience in a hierarchical and structured way in view of the mental health problems involved in life or academic. Therefore, the research on narrative strategies is very important.

This paper first analyzes the main characteristics of psychological speech from the perspective of Burke's “Identity Theory”. Then, the relationship between “identification by empathy”, “identification by antithesis” and “identification by inaccuracy” in psychological speeches is investigated through analyzing several typical psychological speeches by using the methods of analogy and comparison. Analyzing the narrative structure in psychological speeches, an effective narrative strategy then is summarized under the “Identification” theory. Finally, the influence of the narrative structure and strategy in psychological speeches on the audience's empathy is explored in order to provide positive reference for psychological speech and other kinds of speech.

Key words: English psychological speech; Identity Theory; Narrative strategy

Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 Literature Review 2

2.1 Burke and Identification Theory 2

2.2 Studies of Identification Theory at Home and Abroad 3

3 Identification Theory and Psychological Speech 3

3.1 By empathy 4

3.2 By antithesis 4

3.2 By inaccuracy 5

4 Narrative Strategies in Psychological Speech 6

4.1 Introduction part 6

4.2 Expansion part 7

4.3 End part 9

5 Conclusions 10

References 12

Acknowledgements 13

Narrative Strategies in English Psychological Speeches

1 Introduction

Speech refers to a kind of language communication activity in public, which mainly uses the spoken language, supplemented by the body language, and aims at a specific problem to express their own opinions and opinions clearly and completely, clarify the reasons or express their emotions, and achieve the purpose of publicity. Psychological speech is based on the speech on a certain psychological topic. The content of psychological speech includes a series of categories, such as loneliness, anxiety, time management and many other subjects, which are usually more and more concerned about mental health. Speaking from the purpose, psychological speech can be classified as persuasive speech, that is to say, a speech could gain the audience's recognition and affect people's thinking or behavior to a certain extent. Mental health problems are not the same as mental illness. At the same time, people's exploration of mental health problems will not lead to mental illness. On the contrary, it can avoid some mental problems. Therefore, in the face of this particular type of speech, appropriate narrative strategies are needed to establish the relationship between the speaker and the audience, so as to better achieve the purpose of persuasion.

“Identification Theory” is a rhetoric theory put forward by Burke on the basis of Western classical rhetoric. As a representative of “new rhetoric”, he thought that the purpose of rhetoric should not be limited to “Persuasion”, but should be expanded into unconscious identification. The persuasive purpose of a speech adapts to the persuasive purpose in rhetoric. Furthermore, the persuasive purpose of a speech adapts to the identification purpose of “Identification Theory”. Therefore, the combination of psychological speech and “Identification Theory” can lead to a set of speech strategies aiming at gaining recognition. Burke put forward three ways to obtain identity, namely “empathy identity”, “antithesis identity” and “inaccuracy identity” (Liu Li, 2008). The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between the three ways of identification and the psychological speech and the application of “Identification Theory” in the psychological speech. Through the analysis of typical cases, a set of narrative strategies based on “Identification Theory” which is applicable to the English psychological speech is finally concluded.

2 Literature Review

2.1 Burke and Identification Theory

Kenneth Burke (1897-1993), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, is the most influential scholar in contemporary American rhetoric, enjoying the reputation of “Aristotle second”. Burke has made outstanding achievements in literature, sociology, philosophy and other fields. He is not only a literary theorist and critic, but also a philosopher, thinker and sociologist (Deng, 2008). Burke is recognized as the co-founder of “new rhetoric” (Wang, 1986) with British rhetorician Richards.

The core theory of Burke's new rhetoric is “identification theory”. Burke believes that human beings can eliminate contradictions through language, and rhetoric is a function of language. According to traditional rhetoric, people use rhetoric to achieve the purpose of persuasion or expound the truth, while Burke believes that people use rhetoric to help people overcome their contradictions (Wang, 1986). Burke believes that rhetoric with the purpose of persuasion limits the scope of rhetoric. The proposition of “identification theory” is to expand the meaning of rhetoric, and to divide the activities with the purpose of persuasion into the territory of rhetoric (Burke, 2002). Therefore, Burke's “identification theory” is the inheritance and development of Aristotle's “Persuasion” theory. (Gu, 1989). Burke's definition of new rhetoric can be summarized as follows: rhetoric studies use language as a symbolic means to induce the cooperation of animals that can respond to signs in nature (Deng, 2001). Therefore, new rhetoric is not only a theory, but also a set of functions of language which can explain human behavior. Burke's definition of “human” is: man is a symbol using (symbol making, symbol misusing) animal, inventor of the negative (or moralized by the negative), separated from his natural condition by in - structures of his own making. (Burke, 1969, p. 3-16)This definition laid the foundation of rhetoric.

2.2 Studies of Identification Theory at Home and Abroad

Scholars at home and abroad have been carrying on the research of new rhetoric. In theory, Aristotle first put forward rhetoric. His rhetoric is regarded as the theoretical core of Western classical rhetoric. Burke's rhetoric theory is not only the inheritance and development of classical rhetoric, but also the representative of “new rhetoric”. “Identification theory” is the core content of Burke's new rhetoric theory and method. It obtains identity through three ways: sympathy identity, opposition identity and unconscious identity (Liu, 2008).

In the United States, the study of Burke began as early as the 1920s, and it is still enduring. Kenneth Burke and the “new rhetoric” of hochmuth (1952) is a well-known paper in the early study of Burke. In terms of works, Kenneth Burke of Wess (1966): rhetoric, subjectivity, postmodernism, Kenneth Burke and contemporary European thought of Brock (1995): Rhetoric in transition and so on (Deng, 2008). The research on Burke also benefited from the Burke Research Society of the United States, which was founded in 1984, and then held an international seminar every three years, attended by first-class rhetoricians from all over the world. As many as 100 members of the research association come from English linguistics, speech communication, sociology, economics, rhetoric, philosophy and other fields. Foreign researches on Burke's theory focus on “identification” and “pentad”. Among them, the application of Burke's theory in rhetoric criticism is the most profound and influential. By systematically using Burke's rhetorical devices, we can help the audience to re-examine their original views (Jensen, 2018). The basic expression of Burke's “identity” in early Sociolinguistics (Jordan, 2005). Burke paid more and more attention to the study of new rhetoric through Paul Hindemith's Mathis Symphony (Overall, 2017).

The lack of systematic research on Burke in China tends to use “new rhetoric” and “identification theory”. Deng Zhiyong has published research on new rhetoric and the identification theory, mainly analyzing the main characteristics of new rhetoric and the structural thought of Burke's theory. Burke focuses on the innovation of rhetoric, which is regarded as the core of life and plays an irreplaceable role in life (Ju amp; Xiao, 2009). By studying the application of the theory of “identity” in discourse analysis, we can help people master the methods of interpreting Speech Discourse and help them understand the speaker's behavioral motivation in the context of speech rhetoric (Zhang, 2017).The method of building “identity” in English speech (Wang, 2010). In the application research of the same theory, it is relatively more.

3 Identification Theory and Psychological Speech

3.1 By empathy

Empathic identity emphasizes the establishment of a connection through the common interests or emotions between the speaker and the audience, so that they have the same emotional attitude, so as to achieve identification (Zhang, 2017). This coincides with some of the essence of the speech. The emotion expressed in the speech is mostly to make the audience resonate emotionally, so as to achieve the purpose of persuasion. Psychological speech focuses on the inner feelings. The speaker's speech topic is a psychological topic that people may encounter in their life. While expressing their views in the speech, they should also reflect the same inner feelings or inner pursuit as the audience. For example, in the psychological speech on the topic of “anxiety disorder”, we should not only objectively state the symptoms, causes and treatment methods of anxiety disorder, but also need to explain the psychological state and inner activities of patients from the perspective of patients. In addition, curing anxiety disorder is the common wish of all patients and their families, also the common interest of the speaker and the audience. Emotionally, it can make the audience have more anxiety disorders Deep understanding. “Empathy and identity” is often the most common speech strategy in the speech. If the speaker does not respond to the audience's emotions in the psychological speech, it is difficult to achieve the purpose of persuasion in the speech. This kind of emotional resonance can make the audience narrow the distance between the speaker and the audience, and it also has a significant effect on the image construction of the speaker, which is conducive to strengthening the persuasive effect of the psychological speech.

3.2 By antithesis

Antithetical identity refers to the cooperation between the speaker and the audience by setting a common opposite (Zhang, 2017). For a popular example, peace is the common expectation of humanity, and its opposite is war. When this common opposite of humankind appears, cooperation becomes a natural choice for people. Similarly, in the psychological speech, mental health is the common wish of people, and mental illness is the common opposite of all people to both the speaker and the audience. After grasping this principle, the audience will have a stronger sense of substitution in the speech, and it would become the natural choice of the audience to think with the speaker's speech content. Starting from the content of the psychological speech, take the theme procrastination as an example: under this theme, the speaker almost does not need to deliberately set the antithesis. This theme itself can be considered as the common antithesis to both the speaker and the audience. When the audience enters the speech situation with the mood of overcoming the procrastination, compared with the absence of this opposite, the audience can better follow the speaker's listening and thinking. From the perspective of persuasion purpose, it can also achieve better results. Therefore, Antithetical identity has an important effect support for the speech. Adding the strategy of Antithetical identity in the speech can make the audience and the speaker think from the same angle, and produce stronger psychological identity for the speech content.

3.3 By inaccuracy

Inaccurate identification refers to the way in which the speaker uses the words or sentences “including the audience” to make the audience identify unconsciously. The most common is to use “we” to express in the subject or person, and include the audience in the situation set by the speaker when speaking, so as to achieve the purpose of identification (Zhang, 2017). At the same time, “identification by inaccuracy” is also considered as the most profound and influential point of view in the identification theory (Liu, 2008). In all kinds of speeches, inaccurate identification is the strategy that speakers often use. From the perspective of speech effect, identification by inaccuracy and identification by antithesis can achieve a certain same effect, that is, they can make the speaker and the audience think from the same perspective, as well as close the mental distance between them. In terms of the emphasis of use, “inaccurate identification” is often used in the expression of speech, usually interspersed in the sentence of speech, to achieve emotional identity in the form of a certain word; while “antithetical identity” is usually used in a large situation, to achieve the purpose of identity through the overall sense of substitution. In addition, “antithetical identity” can make the audience feel the same unconsciously, that means, on the basis of not needing to understand the whole speech content, only one word or sentence can produce identity. Compared with other types of speech, psychological speech needs the participation of “antithetical identity”. For example, in a speech on the topic of “negative emotions”, we will talk about “how to eliminate the negative emotions in our life?” “We” here will make the audience more associate with their own life, and generate the recognition of the speaker unconsciously.

4 Narrative Strategies in Psychological Speech

Speech is a narrative stage combining hearing and vision. Most English speeches take 10-30 minutes. In this period of about 20 minutes, which has mastered a lot of valuable time of the audience, the narrative strategy becomes an indispensable part of the speech. A reasonable narrative structure and time allocation can enable the speaker to give the speech interest to the maximum extent and deepen the theme of the speech. It also enables the audience to obtain more useful information in a limited time. The narration in a speech is usually divided into three parts: topic introduction, content expansion and theme deepening. These three parts of the content is progressive relationship, so that the logic of the speech gradually clear, the atmosphere gradually into the climax of the final conclusion.

4.1 Introduction part

English psychological speech is usually introduced in two ways: questions arouse the audience's thinking and stories of speakers attract the audience's interest. It is usually not the theme part of a speech, so it will not occupy too many paragraphs in the speech. However, it is an essential part of the speech. The introduction part usually takes up 1 / 6 of the speech time or less. Through such a question and answer or a story, an argument is made and the content is naturally expanded in depth. A good beginning often determines the direction of a speech. Therefore, similar to writing an article, the opening usually needs to arouse the interest of readers and audience. It is a process that the interest of audience is on the rise. Only when this part reaches the height of audience's psychological interest, the next speech will be more smooth and natural.

But unlike writing an article, the beginning of an article usually doesn't use questions or stories to attract readers' interest. On the contrary, this is exactly what is needed in a speech. In the introduction part, it is a good strategy to introduce the main topic (Wang amp; Zhai, 2015). Experts need to construct their identities in their speeches so as to maintain close interaction with the audience without losing the authority of the industry (Chen amp; Zhang, 2018). From the traditional point of view, the relationship between the speaker and the audience is the relationship between persuading and being persuaded, which virtually constructs the opposite relationship between the two in the speech. From the perspective of “empathy identification”, the speaker needs the audience to actively participate in the construction of the text. In the introduction part, in order to attract the audience, the questions raised and the stories told by the speaker are often the same as people's general interests or emotional needs. After the audience has emotional resonance with the speaker, they choose to receive the following speech content. This is a the process of two-way selection. In the Ted speech getting stuck in the negatives, the first sentence is “Hi everyone. Gosh, I wish I could dance, but I can't, and you really don't want me to.” With a simple opening sentence, the audience's sense of distance is eliminated and the speech enters a relaxed atmosphere. Then, it directly introduces the theme of the speech “so instead I thought I would talk a little today about how people think.” Next, the speaker uses a combination of illustration and story to introduce the argument. On the screen, a picture entitled “a week in the life of an academic...” is displayed. Under the title, “match man” shows several stages of the speaker's experience in a few days and the change process of her emotional and psychological state in a dynamic linear form. Finally, the question of “why does a failure see to stick in our minds so much longer than a success” is put forward to arouse everyone's thinking. Then the core question of “do our minds get stuck in the negatives?” is put forward. The speaker uses 1.5 minutes to import the theme of the speech through the combination of story telling and questions, which makes the whole speech set a relaxed tone and greatly reduces the audience's resistance to the topic of “negative emotions”. It is worth mentioning that in this part, at the beginning of the speech, the speaker cleverly set up a common opposition between the audience and the speaker, that is, “negative emotions”. Then the whole speech was launched according to this antithesis, so that the audience and the speaker reached “identification” in the theme in the way of “antithesis”. When the core question “Do our minds get stuck in the negatives?” is put forward, the speaker uses “our” to make the audience unconsciously participate in the speaker's speech content and hope to be answered in the following content, and uses the strategy of “identification by inaccuracy” to make the audience and the speaker achieve “identity”.

In the process of two-way selection between the formal speaker and the audience at the beginning of the speech, the audience enters the situation of the speech topic under the guidance of the speaker, and chooses whether to accept the speaker's thinking logic. Questioning is often an important means to attract attention. People often have a reflection of thinking about questioning, and the continuity of story will also attract people's attention. Curiosity about the development of things will make the audience keep the freshness of the speech.

4.2 Expansion part

The second part is the main part of the whole speech, focusing on the enrichment of the content. For the psychological speech, we should pay special attention to the emotional and emotional communication with the audience, that means, we need to achieve “identification” with the audience emotionally. The speaker usually adopts the narrative strategy of combining theory with case, which makes the audience accept the knowledge about psychology from the scientific and rational level, while the case will make the audience resonate from the perceptual point of view in reality. After the speech enters the main part, it is far from the expected effect to rely on data stacking alone. What the audience needs most is clear and hierarchical logic (Tan, 2019). There are three main forms of argument development and demonstration in psychological speech: put forward the concept of discipline first and explain it with examples; give examples of psychological phenomena or experiments or illustrations and then explain the scientific basis. The most obvious difference between these two forms is the order of examples and explanations. Another common way is to assume a situation first, then let the audience put their imagination into the situation and follow the story. In the demonstration, three forms of appropriate switching can achieve better results.