Language and Power: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Political Speeches

Abstract

Most of the times, political speeches have been observed to be a workable instrument in influencing the minds of the people, the politics of a nation and the ability to improve on the societal norms. Such speeches are also important to establish a form of power relations, provision of authority and recruitment of supporters through their language. The correlation between power and language denoted by the latter implies the relationship between these two factors which is regarded in the present paper that provides the analysis of the critical discourse analysis (CDA) conducted on the political speeches. The paper examines the work of language that politicians can use in passing off photographs and defining identities as well as controlling the perception of the people. According to the framework that was compiled by Fairclough (1995) in light of the CDA, the paper at hand is going to consider the speech of various political leaders with a view of determining the linguistic tools they utilized to favor specific ideologies and to promote the existing state of affairs. It enables one to make inquiries about the role that language plays in upkeep and/or violation of powerfare, based on the basis of the study of the use of language, metaphors, rhetorical techniques, and discourse structures. These conclusions make it obvious that the political discourse is not only the mirror of the power, it is the way the power is really built and reproduced. Regarding research, the current study shall point out the usefulness of the examination of the role of language in political communication and the effect that this role has on democracy and social justice