The right selection of syllables can change the course of history. As any English teacher or professional editor (or anyone who’s ever confused “they’re,” “there,” or “their”) will tell you, navigating modern English is often chaotic and confounding. In a 2020 blog, Ward Farnsworth of the University of Texas School of Law attempted to explain how it got this way. “English is a language built mostly out of two others. Much of it was created from the language of invaders who came to Britain around 450 AD from Anglia and Saxony (in what we’d now call northern Germany). About 600 years later, the French (Normans) invaded and brought their language with them, too, The ‘Saxon Clincher’ Effect SYLLABLES THAT SHAPE SOCIETY
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derived from Latin. The new French competed with Old English, and the eventual outcome was modern
English, built out of both.” Farnsworth’s observation isn’t new. Various speeches by President Abraham Lincoln, largely considered one of the world’s greatest orators,
made excellent use of this mix of languages by understanding that Anglo- Saxon words tend to be direct and words of French origin tend to be a bit more flowery. Lincoln applied these characteristics to create what some
linguistic circles call a “Saxon clincher,” a straightforward conclusion to a more colorfully worded introduction. A Saxon clincher can be employed to gain attention with impactful opening words before driving the point home more simply. According to Farnsworth, Lincoln’s talent for perfecting this approach shines through in this passage from his “House Divided” speech in 1858: Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as South. Did you notice how the first half includes colorful words such as “opponents” and “extinction,” and the final 14 words are simple with one syllable each? That’s the Saxon clincher, and the pathway to a perfect speech, in a nutshell.
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