A Political Discourse Analysis of the Speeches of Iraqi Designated Prime Ministers

Khalid Shamkhi Sharhan [1]

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10207932

[1] Imam Al-Kadhum College, English Department, dr.khalidsharhan@alkadhum-col.edu.iq

Abstract

The present paper carries out a political discourse analysis of three Iraqi designation speeches which were delivered respectively by three different designated prime ministers Mohammad Alawi, Adnan Al-Zurfi, and Mustafa Al-Kadhimi in the first half of 2020 after the resignation of the then Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mehdi as a consequence of October 2019 Uprising which broke out as a reaction to corruption, social injustice and bad services. The analysis is based on the categories suggested by Van Dijk (1997) which include topics, superstructure, syntax, lexicon and rhetoric. The results of the analysis have revealed a great similarity in the overall structure of the speeches and some but interesting differences in some parts or aspects of the speeches. The similarity reflects the convergence in the topics as well the circumstances at the time of delivering the speeches while the differences indicate the approach each of the speakers adopts in identifying the problems and suggesting solutions as well his personal style of expressing things.

Keywords: Political discourse analysis, political discourse, designation speeches, designated prime minister, Alawi, Al-Zurfi, Al-Kadhimi

 

References

Alawi, M. (February 1, 2020). https://img.Thebaghdadpost.com/ar/Story/187802.

Al-Kadhimi, M. (April 9, 2020). “The Full Text of Mustafa Al-Kazemi’s Speech: Al-Iraqi will not be Subservient. We are Equal to our Opponents” NAW News. https://www.nasnews.com/view.php?cat=28458  

Al-Zurfi, A. (March 17, 2020) https://www.rudawarabia.net/arabic/middleeast/iraq/1703202024.

Chilton, P. (2004). Analyzing Political Discourse: Theory and Practice. London: Routledge.

“Iraq”. (2022). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia; https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Iraq&oldid=1104328508

“Iraqi Governing Council”. (2022). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia; https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Iraqi_Governing_Council&oldid=110474777                        

Simpson, P. (1993). Language, Pedology and Point of View. London: Routledge.

Sharhan, K. S. (2017). “A Rhetorical Analysis of US Presidential Farewell Addresses: Bill Clinton’s and George W. Bush.” Global Journal for Research Analysis, 6(12),458-465.

Van Dijk, T. A. (1980). Macrostructures: An Interdisciplinary Study of Global Structures in  Discourse, Interaction, and Cognition. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Van Dijk, T. A.  (1997). “What is Political Discourse Analysis?” In J. Blommaert and C. Bulcaen eds 1997. Political Linguistics, pp.11–52.

Van Dijk, T.A. (2002). “Political Discourse and Political Cognition.” In Paul Chilton and Christina S. eds 2002. Politics as Text and Talk: Analytic Approaches to Political Discourse, pp. 203-237.

Wilson, J. (1990). Politically Speaking: The Pragmatic Analysis of Political Language. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Woods, J. E. et al. (2022). “Iraq”. Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at https://www.britannica.com/place/Iraq.