Making Sense of Leadership Language: An Analysis of Mr. Imran Khan’s Spoken Political Discourse

Abstract

Language has variety of roles in the lives of human beings. It speaks volumes about how someone uses language and makes it distinct from one culturally diverse person to another. Language in this sense plays a crucial role in determining how and what individuals say and, in turn, such language use in the political discourse will be reflected upon by others, positively or negatively. Politicians within any system, often depends on the language to assert power, persuade and convince people of their ideologies. This paper considers the language used by the Former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Imran Khan as demonstrated in his spoken political discourse. More specifically, it attempted to analyse the language as used by a well-known politician and leader. The study holds qualitative analysis of Mr. Imran Khan’s spoken political discourse to interpret Imran Khan’s word choices to reflect his intention in a political realm. For sure, it can convince and persuade people in believing particular desire, ideology or even action. For this purpose, Imran Khan during his leadership locally and internationally were analysed based on the theoretical framework of Fairclough's three-dimensional model. The study reveals several findings including Mr. Imran’s linguistic and rhetorical strategies in demonstrating his leadership in Pakistan and abroad.