Tikrit University

Political Discourse Analysis: Topoi in Haider Al-Abadi's Discourse during Basra Crisis in 2018

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Department of English, College of Education for Women, Tikrit University

Abstract
Political discourses always carry various messages to the public. This can be done through many tools used by decision makers in order to manipulate or persuade the public. Topos (plural is topoi) is tool of developing argumentation in political discourse. It is a part of any political speech used either to persuade people, show the politician's upper hand or produce successful speeches. This paper will discuss the conceptualization of topoi as part of political discourse. It also studies the usage of topoi in Al-Abadi's weekly statement during Basra crisis of 2018. Protests in Basra were the most serious seen in Iraq during Al-Abadi's era because of the importance of the city as a heart of some world's largest oilfields. The paper also shows how Al-Abadi utilizes topoi in his speeches to deal with this robust crisis. Methodology of analysis will be Ruth Wodak's Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA) 2011. DHA is designed to integrate systematically all the available background information in the analysis and interpretation of the many layers of written or spoken texts.

Keywords


Volume 3, Issue 4
Autumn 2020
Pages 131-144

  • Receive Date 01 September 2020
  • Accept Date 22 September 2020
  • Publish Date 01 October 2020