Language

Sentence structure

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd mainly uses long sentences in his apology speech, as he expresses various ideas in detail. For example, he uses long sentences to criticise the previous government’s refusal to apologise to the indigenous population:

Instead, from the nation's parliament there has been a stony, stubborn and deafening silence for more than a decade; a view that somehow we, the parliament, should suspend our most basic instincts of what is right and what is wrong; a view that, instead, we should look for any pretext to push this great wrong to one side, to leave it languishing with the historians, the academics and the cultural warriors, as if the stolen generations are little more than an interesting sociological phenomenon. (ll. 111-116)

Short sentences help the speaker highlight certain ideas by creating a dramatic effect. For example, Rudd states: “That is how the complex questions of post-reformation theology were resolved in the Australian outback in the 1930s. It was as crude as that.” (ll. 82-83)

In the same manner, he states the following about the past governments’ intent to eliminate the indigenous population, as illustrated through a quote by the Northern Territory Protector of Natives (ll. 131-136): “These are uncomfortable things to be brought out into the light. They are not pleasant. They are profoundly disturbing.” (ll. 140-141)

Choice of words and style of writing

The choice of words reflects a formal style, which is appropriate for the circumstances of the speech: “For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.” (ll. 21-22)

The speech is characterised by a strong contrast between negative words - which are used to describe the previous ...