Contrast as expressive opposition in discourse of the orator

The article deals with the notion of contrast in the orator's discourse on the example of speeches by the American pastor, leader of civil movement for human rights and public figure Martin Luther King Jr. Following the studies of M.Ya. Blokh and O.P. Martynova, the contrast in the discourse of the orator is regarded as expressive opposition with the help of which the orator exerts his influence over the audience. The dicteme, which was introduced by M.Ya. Blokh, is taken as a unit of analysis since it enables the author to better comprehend the ideas and meanings that the orator conveys. Based on the theory of contrast introduced by M.Ya. Blokh and O.P. Martynova, the three types of expressive opposition in the discourse of Martin Luther King Jr. are analysed, i.e. structural, semantic and compositional. The structural type includes contrast on the morphological and syntactic levels. The semantic type consists of contrast in the plot of the speech; and semantic and associative contrast by which the author means the opposition of the theme lines of the text. The composition type comprises contrast in the types of the speech and contrast in the composition types of the speech (introduction, basic part, conclusion). Contrast in stylistic devices is demonstrated on the example of antithesis and oxymoron. The use of contrast in the convergence of stylistic devices is also analyzed. The conclusion with regard to the role of contrast in the discourse of Martin Luther King Jr. is drawn