Jay Leno interviews President Obama

genre

transcript of recorded interview

audience

studio audience was primary audience. Viewing audience of the live. Fans of the host Leno. Those online viewing the clip. News broadcasts such as BBC

Purpose

inform of presidents perspective and political aims. Element of entertainment as the public get to see President in informal context. Later he persuades the viewers of his political views. 

framed by phatic talk and wishes relating to presidents birthday

his amusing anecdotes serve dual purpose-making his experiences sound universal

he uses colloquial register- celebration with a bunch of “old guys”

presidents relaxed personality yet he seamlessly moves into a more formal register to present views on need to combat terrorism

linguistic/literary techniques

provides paralinguistic info on how the language is produced and received

reflects the structure and style of anecdotal recount

relies heavily on reported speech and uses basic conjunctions (and) which is often avoided in formal spoken contexts

leno aims to encourage a relaxed yet respectful interaction

words such as “threat and violent” are used to describe extremist behavior

pre and post modification help audience understand threat by linking ideas to semantic fields of terrorism