Critical Discourse Analysis of Iranian Presidents’ Addresses to the United Nations General Assembly (2007-2016)
Date
2018-05-15
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
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ORCID
0000-0001-7586-7862
Type
Thesis
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
Critical Discourse Analysis studies of communication in political contexts have scrutinized the use of language by politicians striving to win public opinion and votes. Utilizing Teun A. van Dijk’s framework for political discourse analysis, this thesis examines linguistic features in eight addresses of Iranian Presidents, Hassan Rouhani and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to the United Nations General Assembly. The study described in this thesis combines micro-level text analysis (following 25 discursive devices introduced by Van Dijk, 2005) with a macro-analysis focusing on the dichotomy of ‘positive self-representation’ and ‘negative other-representation.’ The data analysis demonstrates that President Rouhani made more use of the discursive devices ‘consensus’, ‘illustration’, ‘hyperbole’ and ‘polarization’, whereas President Ahmadinejad employed more frequently ‘lexicalization’ and ‘vagueness’. The comparison of the speeches by two presidents at macro-level shows that Rouhani relied more on ‘positive self-representation’ and Ahmadinejad on ‘negative other-representation’. The results of the study also show that the two presidents convey different viewpoints on most topics covered in the eight UNGA addresses although their ideological stances on a few topics, such as world Zionism and the occupation of Palestine, seem quite similar.
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Keywords
Critical Discourse Analysis, Hassan Rouhani, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Van Dijk
Citation
Degree
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Department
Linguistics and Religious Studies
Program
Linguistics