scholarly journals English Personal Pronouns as a Manipulation Strategy in Political Discourse: A Critical Discourse Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (44) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Raid Muhammad Jasim ◽  
◽  
Sabah S. Mustafa ◽  

Manipulation is a discursive concept which plays a key role in political discourse by which politicians can impose some impact on their recipients through using linguistic features, most prominent of which are personal pronouns (Van Dijk, 1995). The aim of this study is to investigate how politicians utilize the personal pronouns, namely; We and I and their possessive forms as a tool of manipulating the audience's mind based on Van Dijk's "ideological square" which shows positive-self representation and negative-other representation (Van Dijk,1998:p.69). To this end, American President Donald Trump's 2020 State of the Union speech was chosen to be the data of analysis. Only (8) examples out of (226) extracts of his speech involving the use the personal pronouns along with their indications were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. Results reveal that Trump uses these pronouns to exercise an ideological influence on his audience, basically to present himself positively. The study concludes that Trump strategically uses personal pronouns as a functional indication of collectivity, nationalism, and direct/shared responsibility. Findings might help linguists and political analysts to understand how politicians have the ability to exploit the linguistic characteristics in their language to fulfill their ends manipulatively.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raid Muhammad Jasim ◽  
Sabah S. Mustafa

Manipulation is a discursive phenomenon used by speakers to affect the thoughts ( and indirectly the actions) of the recipients. This study is concerned with manipulation in two political speeches; one in English delivered by the American President Donald J. Trump, while the other in Arabic delivered by the Iraqi President Barham Salih to be the study's data. Each one of these two speeches is divided into serial-numbered extracts( henceforth Ext.). The study aims at investigating the semantic and rhetorical devices utilized as manipulation strategies in these speeches. To this end, the qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis will be followed in this study. The significance of the study stems from how the ideological dimension based on bettering off the speaker's image and derogating others' image plays a vital role in the political speeches. This study draws on Van Dijk's ideological approach to Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of political discourse, and accordingly, it is adopted as a model. Results revealed that both speakers use lexicalization, a list of three, repetition, and citing as effective techniques in their two speeches to affect their recipients' minds. The study concluded that the ideological framework of "positive self-presentation" and "negative other-presentation" is the central umbrella under which manipulation can exist and work freely. The findings might help linguists and political analysts to understand how politicians use the linguistic features in their discourse to affect the audience's thoughts and behaviors manipulatively.


Dialogos ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 38/2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaalan Najem Abdullah SHAMMARI

This article focuses on the linguistic aspects of Trump’s political discourse, as reflected in some of his tweets targeted at specific countries, political groups and immigrants, posted on Twitter between 2015 and 2019. A qualitative research design, using a descriptive and interpretative analysis, has been applied in this study, which is part of a broader research on Trump’s discourse. The underlying theoretical framework is the one provided by Norman Fairclough's 3-dimensional model of discourse. The current study, thus, aims to critically explore both the main linguistic features present in the corpus analysed and the ideological aspects possibly associated with Trump’s selection of linguistic means. One of the underlying considerations in this research endeavour is that the ideological standpoint is a particularly important one, since presidential discourses are typically molded by their authors’ status and authority. It is hoped that this work will make a contribution to the field of Critical Discourse Analysis applied to political discourse, in the current period.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 426-444
Author(s):  
Raid Muhammad Jasim ◽  
Sabah S. Mustafa

Manipulation is a discursive phenomenon used by speakers to affect the thoughts ( and indirectly the actions) of the recipients. This study is concerned with manipulation in two political speeches; one in English delivered by the American President Donald J. Trump, while the other in Arabic delivered by the Iraqi President Barham Salih to be the study's data. Each one of these two speeches is divided into serial-numbered extracts( henceforth Ext.). The study aims at investigating the semantic and rhetorical devices utilized as manipulation strategies in these speeches. To this end, the qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis will be followed in this study. The significance of the study stems from how the ideological dimension based on bettering off the speaker's image and derogating others' image plays a vital role in the political speeches. This study draws on Van Dijk's ideological approach to Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of political discourse, and accordingly, it is adopted as a model. Results revealed that both speakers use lexicalization, a list of three, repetition, and citing as effective techniques in their two speeches to affect their recipients' minds. The study concluded that the ideological framework of "positive self-presentation" and "negative other-presentation" is the central umbrella under which manipulation can exist and work freely. The findings might help linguists and political analysts to understand how politicians use the linguistic features in their discourse to affect the audience's thoughts and behaviors manipulatively.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adib Rifqi Setiawan

The Critical Discourse Analysis is often applied to analyze political discourse including the political speech. This article analyzes Grace Natalie Louisa’s Speech, mainly in Festival 11 by Partai Solidaritas Indonesia (PSI), that is exclusively based on the perspective of Teun Adrianus van Dijk. It reveals that we can learn how to deliver our ideology to public. Moreover, we can have a better understanding of the political purpose of these speeches.


Multilingua ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine Shenk

AbstractThis article examines the perspectives of Puerto Ricans living in the United States in response to a publicity campaign that focuses on the correction of linguistic features that appear in some Puerto Ricans’ spoken Spanish. The campaign addresses phonetic, morphological, lexical, and syntactic features, including a specific set of words or phrases that are named as lexical and semantic borrowings from English. Participants were invited to respond to the content and ideologies present in the campaign by means of semi-structured interviews. Through a framework of Critical Discourse Analysis and language (de)legitimation, the article analyzes the ways in which interviewees (de)legitimize loanwords in Puerto Rican Spanish. A Critical Discourse Analytical framework allows for the mapping of spoken and written texts (e. g. the campaign texts) onto discourses


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 256-275
Author(s):  
Mustafa Menshawy

Abstract In this article, I examine a corpus of texts that address the 1973 war; these texts cover the period from 1981 to 2011, marking the beginning and end of Hosni Mubarak’s rule. Utilizing Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), I explore how Mubarak’s regime employed the war to legitimize its power and defend its policies by deploying longstanding culturally-embedded ‘macro themes’. These macro themes refer to the war as an overwhelming and undisputed ‘Egyptian victory’ and, more significantly, they portray Mubarak himself as ‘war personified/war personalized’. The analysis of linguistic and extra-linguistic features in al-Ahram newspaper (the mouthpiece of the state), among other media texts on the war, show how the discursive construction was made consistent, coherent and resonant in a managed context that characterized the political and media landscapes. Depending on unique access to those who produced, edited and even censored the texts under analysis, this method unravels a complex set of cultural messages and conventions about the war, and fills a lacuna in the literature by offering insight into the deliberate and well-coordinated process of shaping and reshaping a specific discourse for a specific purpose.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Imron Hizbullah ◽  
Muhammad Taufiq Al Makmun

<em>This paper investigates the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) in studying the inauguration speech of Donald Trump at the Capitol Hill, Washington DC on January 20, 2017. The objective of the study is to uncover the hidden messages regarding ideologies shared and critiques appointed to Obama’s presidency. The paper uses the theory of CDA by Norman Fairclough by focusing on the three aspects of research which are (1) micro or linguistic analysis, (2) Mezzo or discursive analysis, and (3) macro or contextual analysis. The three dimensional model of CDA is aimed to uncover the ideologies shared and critiques appointed to based on linguistic features, socio-political aspect, and discursive practice. The American Dream is represented in seven issues risen which are (1) US economic condition during Obama’s presidency, (2) US political condition during Obama’s presidency, (3) US social condition during Obama’s presidency, (4) The concept of making America great again, (5) Anti-radical Muslim immigrants, (6) America First, and (7) Nationalism. The result of the study reveals that the speech brought some ideologies or thoughts shared to the audiences and might change the people’s perception on Obama’s two periods of presidency who is considered as failure.</em>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaina Singh

On August 13th 2010, the MV Sun Sea ship carrying 492 Tamil asylum seekers arrived off of the coast of British Columbia. Immediately upon arrival the Tamil asylum seekers were detained for a prolonged period of time, subjected to intensified interrogation techniques, and unfairly questioned even when in possession of identifying documents. This paper examines how the government used political discourse to try and justify the unusually harsh detention of asylum seekers. Through a critical discourse analysis strategy, eight newspaper articles will be analyzed and the theories of securitization, discourse, and orientalism will be used to advance certain political ideologies. The political justifications of detention operate through the theme of the egocentric state, and the theme of categorizing and demonizing asylum seekers. The final theme discussed is the concept of victimization, which will offer an alternate perspective to this paper’s main focus on political discourse.


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