A president at war: why Volodymyr Zelensky's speeches work

Analysis: His speeches in extraordinary circumstances have been a huge factor in telling the story of Ukraine's war

By Anastasiia Skichko, Kyiv Polytechnic Institute

Political speeches have been of linguistic interest for many decades because of their uniqueness, versatility and diverse structure. Modern linguistic theories are aimed at analysing the peculiarities of verbal performances. However, the process of their examination seems interminable, since each speaker has brought about changes in the basis of rhetoric functioning.

When a public figure speaks, they convey absolutely eccentric linguistic patterns deeply related to their traits of character, life experience and way of thinking. In addition, each speech is enhanced by the speaker’s image as perceived at first by the public. The more vibrant personality, the stronger the audience's attention. Numerous politicians have been carefully creating their images starting from scratch.

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Address by Volodymyr Zelensky to the Ukrainian people on February 26th 2022

But what about the rare exceptions and the instantaneous success conditioned by extraordinary circumstances? For instance, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, what's his phenomenon? There has been worldwide interest in his character over the last year. Besides being a symbol of resistance and resilience in the fight against authoritarianism, he is now established in the ranks of influential world leaders due to his mode of delivering speeches, manner of behaviour and civil position.

The audience are now used to seeing him as brave, courageous, straightforward, and ready to accept any challenges in order to defend the country. Furthermore, a warm relationship with his wife Olena reveals him also as an exemplary family man and softens the image of a "constant warrior". Hence, the world has recognised the Ukrainian nation through Zelensky’s positive image.

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From RTÉ News, Ukraine president Volodymr Zelensky urges allies to 'hurry up' with support

His path to power is remembered for it bright use of disruptive technology, media experience and eloquent debates. The well-known fact is that he featured in the TV series Servant of the People as a caring president that was willing to build a prosperous country without corruption. Thanks to that, he always approached people on the same social standing.

Back then, Ukraine was in need of new "faces" with totally distinctive approaches to the political system. After the Revolution of Dignity in 2014, Ukrainian citizens were eager to become a part of a democratic society and eliminate the pace of stealing the State budget. During Zelenskyy’s former career, all his projects were successful and received great public approval thanks to teamwork, creativity, and realism.

From RTÉ Nine News, speech by Volodymyr Zelensky on February 5th 2023 on how situation on eastern front lines is 'getting tougher'

The majority of Ukrainians, especially the youth, believed in his inner force, intelligence and readiness for transformations. They believed his presidential campaign would be successful and that the TV series would match reality by means of conceptual blending.

From a linguistic viewpoint, Zelensky’s former acting career has come in handy while he is delivering speeches. Because of his previous experience, he knows how to act in front of the camera, use body language, make contextual pauses, amplify his voice and articulation and how to correctly build the utterances to be persuasive.

The Ukrainian president’s speeches are remarkably catchy and memorable due to a range of factors. Firstly, he implicitly embodies his emotions in the structure of the sentences and mostly speaks on behalf of the Ukrainian nation to show that he is its integral part. For example, the most common number in his speeches is first person plural, third person singular, and third person plural. Obviously, the main characters are inanimate objects: countries, weapons, abstract notions etc.

From RTÉ News in 2019, report on the election of Volodymyr Zelensky as president

One communication tool that everyone uses without thinking about it too much is metaphor. In 1980, George Lakoff and Mark Johnson published Metaphors We Live By, a consideration of the ways that as humans using language we make certain connections between our personal experiences and those of the human race. Using metaphors connects our physical world with the conceptual space all around us. For example, when things are going well, we talk about them being up: Profits are up; Lauren has climbed up the ladder. This is predicated on the metaphor that 'up is good'.

Zelensky equates Ukraine and Russia to the two living entities, which is a vivid example of the usage of the conceptual metaphor 'country is a living being'. Generally, the most frequent conceptual metaphors of his speeches are the following: 'life is a war', 'life is a journey', 'freedom is a valuable thing', 'freedom is a living being', 'life is a length', 'country is a container', 'country is a target' 'a living being is a building material.'

From The Telegraph, "We will fight until the end," Volodymyr Zelensky's speech to mark 31 years of Ukrainian independence from the Soviet Union in August 2022

The sentences within the discourse are constructed in a very simple and clear manner that is accessible to all, with the frequent application of simple structures. All utterances are construed with unmarked modality, active voice, assertive polarity and neutral evaluation. Abstract nouns such as 'freedom', 'fight' and 'democracy' have become integral leitmotifs embodied in all speeches. The clauses of the sentences are also full of material, relational and mental processes caused by the description of the event on the battlefields, losses, needs and inquiries for the Armed Forces.

In reality, all politicians are actors and public policy is a theatre. Standing before the crowd, they are seeking to reunite their images with perfectly logical, well-structured and persuasive speeches delivered to all required standards.

But does successful policy depend on perfectly pressed suits, polished shoes and eloquent promises? What if simplicity, sincerity, and purity are all that people need? What if spectators are tired of 'drama' and are waiting for action? The image of Zelensky, then, is considered to be iconic because of numerous psychological factors and a totally new approach to governing.

Anastasiia Skichko is a PhD student at Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and an Erasmus+ visiting PhD student at UCD School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics.

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ

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