Discourse Analysis of Prominent Politicians’ Public Speeches: Pre and Post Election 2013 Pakistan

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to analyze the rhetorical devices: Repetition, modality, positive self- presentation, negative other- presentation, ethnicity and figurative speech (metaphor, simile and personification) in pre and post-election speeches of relatively popular political leaders of Pakistan. The paper investigated the linguistic implications of these rhetorical devices. A qualitative content analysis of data (collected from a sample of fifteen prominent politicians) was undertaken to address the underlying research questions. Frequency of persuasive devices was measured to figure out the variation in pre and post-election data. The findings uncover that the politicians exploit persuasive devices to foster consent, demonstrate ideologies and assert power. The use of rhetorical devices seemed more or less context dependent.