A Critical Discourse Analysis of Self-representation in English and Arabic Presidential Back to School Speeches

Abstract

This study is interested in the most common rhetorical, argumentation, and meaning ideological tactics utilized in the presidential back-to-school speeches in Arabic and English and aims to add something new on politicians' self-representation in critical discourse analysis. Based on Tajfel and Turner's (1979) Social Identity Theory and van Dijk's (2006, 2008) Socio-Cognitive Approach and Ideological Square, the research is eclectic in model and compares four excerpts, two from Barack Obama and two from Mohammed bin Zayed. The study seeks to get responses to three basic questions: (1) Which rhetorical, argumentative, and meaning-based techniques are most and least frequently employed in these speeches? (2) How are these strategies used in both Arabic and English contexts? (3) Why do the two presidential levels adopt different approaches? The findings confirm that actor description is the most utilized meaning strategy, while authority and presupposition dominate argumentation tactics, and metaphor and repetition are major rhetorical devices. Both leaders construct social and personal identities and frame themselves as responsible who determine the future of the students, on the basis of shared ideological and communication norms between cultures.