FIGURES OF SPEECH AND STEPS OF EMPOWERMENT REFLECTED IN KID PRESIDENT’S SPEECHES

Abstract

This research aims to identify the types of figures of speech used by Kid President in his top ten 
speeches, the functions of those figures of speech, and the steps of empowerment reflected through those 
figures of speech. In this research, the researcher applied descriptive quantitative-qualitative approach. The 
researcher employed some steps to collect the data: downloading the videos and scripts, checking the sripts 
and the videos, and collecting words, phrases, and sentences containing figures of speech. The researcher 
found that there are eleven types of figures of speech which are applied by Kid President in his top ten 
speeches. Those types are metaphor, metonymy, personification, synecdoche, hyperbole, simile, apostrophe, 
paradox, litotes, symbol, and irony. The functions of those figures of speech are to give the listeners an 
imaginative pleasure, to bring additional imagery, to add emotional intensity, and to say much in a brief 
compass. Moreover, there are four steps of empowerment which are reflected by the speaker. They are being 
involved in a crisis or life transition, acting on anger or frustration, responding to new information, and 
building on inherent strengths and capabilities. However, there is no type or function which is identical with a 
certain step of empowerment.

Keyword
figures of speech, functions, empowerment, steps of empowerment, Kid President, speech