Precedent phenomena in speeches of business coaching (based on personal Facebook pages)

Abstract

The article deals with the precedent phenomena employed in business coaching and their significance in affecting target audience. Methodology. The data totaled 600 videos that were sourced from personal Facebook pages of business coaches between 2016-2017. The texts have been explored through functional analysis to investigate precedent phenomena from the viewpoint of their sphere-source and role in affecting target audience. The major findings of the research demonstrate that business coaches employ precedent phenomena to draw attention, to facilitate communication in order to achieve peculiar conversational goals. The following types of precedent phenomena are singled out: precedent names, precedent utterances, precedent texts, precedent situations. The data confirm that use of precedent phenomena in business coaching is a rhetorical strategy to persuade addressees, modify their potential behaviour, and move them finally to contact the addresser. The findings of our research are quite convincing, and thus the following conclusions can be drawn: precedent phenomena employed in business coaching are well-known precedent names and precedent utterances that are easily recognized and reproduced in the minds of English language speakers and correspond to the goals of business coaches. The sphere-source of the most frequently used precedent names is “Mass culture.” Precedent utterances are more frequently employed in business coaching to attract attention and arouse emotional response of target audience.