Sermons possess a thoughtful formal composition and detailed content argumentation. The study aims to interpret linguistic devices from selected rhetorical speeches that influence the addressee persuasively, didactically as well as aesthetically. Special-occasion rhetorical speeches have a more complex linguistic-compositional structure; a certain degree of subjectivity and expressiveness is applied in these speeches (cf. Aristotle, 2009; Findra 2004, 2013; Mistrík, 1997; Slančová, 1996). Through the research method of textual content analysis, we excerpted and subsequently analysed stylistically marked and emotionally expressive lexemes from selected sermon texts delivered during 19th-century weddings, which were used deliberately by the speaker to fulfil communicative, didactic, or aesthetic intentions. With these lexical devices, the speaker influenced the addressees and tried to reinforce as convincingly as possible the desired appealing moral-religious influence on the believers. Special-occasion wedding speeches were rich in figurative metaphorical and metonymic expressions, thus reinforcing the aestheticising intent of the sermon, while at the same time possessing a wide range of different kinds of sermonic expressions to fulfil the communication goals. The didactic dimension of the theme of marital union in marriage speeches is referred to by the analogies of biblical and evangelical scenes.

Authors:
Zdenka Kumorová, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, Slovakia

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Zdenka Kumorová is a University Assistant Professor/Lecturer at University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava in Slovakia

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