Argumentative analysis of the electoral debates in the campaign 28-A: The construction of the enemy

Abstract

Introduction: Verbal aggressiveness and attack strategy towards the rival have been two of the main characteristics of political speeches during the April 2019 Spanish national election campaign. Methodology: This paper analyses the two only TV debates, which were held on April 22 (RTVE) and April 23 (Atresmedia), using a linguistic and pragmatic approach. The objective is to identify, through discourse analysis, the argumentative strategies that the four leaders of the parties invited to use to define and construct the enemy. Results and conclusions: Analysis of their speeches shows that Pedro Sánchez (PSOE), Pablo Casado (PP), Albert Rivera (Ciudadanos) and Pablo Iglesias (Unidas Podemos) create frames and develop their arguments to reinforce the image of their adversaries as enemies of Spain. The four candidates use numerous linguistic and rhetorical resources and pragmatic mechanisms of linguistic (im)politeness.