Representation of Ordinary People in Political Discourse: An Aggregate Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This study investigates the representation of ordinary people in the inaugural speeches of two Iranian presidents and their underlying ideologies through the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). An aggregate model integrating Fairclough’s three-dimensional (1989), Van Dijk’s socio-cognitive (1993), and Van Leeuwen’s socio-semantic (1996) approaches to CDA was proposed and applied as the analytical tool. Both quantitative and qualitative techniques were employed for the study design. In the quantitative part, statistically significant differences in the use of vocabulary items and structures were investigated based on the description stage of Fairclough’s and van Leeuwen’s frameworks. In the qualitative part of the study, attempts were made to justify the found similarities and differences based on the interpretation and explanation stages of Fairclough’s and van Dijk’s frameworks. The study showed that in spite of differences in the presentation of political self, both presidents design similar strategies in their political discourse to project the identity of common people within their sociocultural context.

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