The language of American political discourse: Aristotle's rhetorical appeals as manifested in Bush's and Obama's speeches on the war on terror

https://doi.org/10.21744/ijllc.v6n4.904

Authors

  • Iman Raissouni Department of English, King Fahd School of Translation, Abdelmalek Essaadi University (UAE), Morocco

Keywords:

Aristotle, critical discourse analysis, persuasion, political discourse, rhetoric

Abstract

This article employs critical discourse analysis to analyze the representation of the “war on terror” in the political speeches of Presidents George Bush and Barack Obama in the decade following 9/11; it examines Aristotle's approach into the study of the language of persuasion through his three main rhetorical appeals: ethos, pathos, and logos, identifying several strands of the war on terror discourse and analyzing the way they influence the persuasiveness of the speeches and therefore the ability to generate public debate. The findings show substantial similarities in representation patterns among the two presidents' discourses and end up to the conclusion that the language of the war on terror is not simply a neutral or objective reflection of policy debates of terrorism and counterterrorism; rather, it is a carefully and deliberately constructed public discourse designed to make the war on terror look reasonable and morally justified.

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Published

2020-05-11

How to Cite

Raissouni, I. (2020). The language of American political discourse: Aristotle’s rhetorical appeals as manifested in Bush’s and Obama’s speeches on the war on terror. International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Culture, 6(4), 38–48. https://doi.org/10.21744/ijllc.v6n4.904

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 4 (2020): Special Issue in International Association for Technology, Education and Language Studies (IATELS)

Section

Research Articles
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