Investigating Linguistic Choices Affecting Motivation in Motivational Speakers’ Speeches

Motivation remains one of the important factors in current research (Altalib, 2019; Dörnyei, 1998, 2003; Furman et al., 2022; Moskovsky et al., 2013; Oxford & Shearin, 1994; Ryan & Deci, 2000a; Steinmayr et al., 2019). Moreover, research has been done on the stylistic analysis of motivational speeches (Aflahah, 2017; Rahayu & Kurniawan, 2020; Sutrisno & Sunarsi, 2019). Very little research has been done on the linguistic choices in the speeches of motivational speakers. This article aims to find out linguistic choices of motivational speakers affecting the motivation of their audience. It will also highlight the two categories (intrinsic and extrinsic) of motivational word choices, motivational speakers use in their speeches. Eric Thomas, one of the reputed motivational speakers, speeches are selected for the current research work. Data will be collected from his speeches. Self-determination theory of Deci and Ryan (1985) will be applied. The result will be the linguistic choices (lexical) affecting the type of motivation whether intrinsic or extrinsic. Even though, the current study is limited to Eric Thomas’ speeches, it can be used to investigate the speeches of other motivational speakers.