Political Discourse Analysis in Presidential Campaigns in the US: Trump’s and Biden’s Speeches in Florida and Georgia in 2020 Presidential Election

master's thesis

• Author: Lana Bosak
• Mentor: Marina Grubišić (mentor)
• Granter: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; (Department of English language and literature); Zagreb
• Defense date and country: 2023-09-29, Croatia
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: HUMANISTIC SCIENCES; Philology; Anglistics

Abstract

Language and politics are two interlinked notions in such a way that language can exist without politics, but it is not possible for politics to be conducted without the use of language. This thesis explores the complex nature of political discourse and various strategies and techniques used to achieve certain goals with the discourse. The thesis stresses the significance of political discourse analysis in the context of presidential campaigns in the United States, which have gained global attention. The thesis focuses on analyzing political discourse of the 2020 US presidential campaign, based on four transcribed speeches given by the two candidates, Joe Biden and Donald Trump, on their campaign trail in Florida and Georgia. The objective is to demonstrate the principles of political discourse analysis, its methodologies, and their application in examining the speeches of both candidates. Several strategies from several linguists were used in the analysis of the speeches. The analysis showed that both candidates mostly use positive self-representation, positive attributes about themselves and their politics, and negative other-representation, negative attributes about the opponent and their politics. Aside from this aspect, persuasion is one of the most used strategies to influence people’s opinions and votes, which in turn relies on the positive representation of oneself and negative representation of the other.

• Keywords: political discourse analysis; presidential campaigns; USA; Donald Trump; Joe Biden
• Language: english
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:131:412117
• Study programme: Title: English Language and Literature (double major); specializations in: Linguistics, Literature and Culture, Translation; Course: Linguistics; Study programme type: university; Study level: graduate; Academic / professional title: magistar/magistra engleskog jezika i književnosti (magistar/magistra engleskog jezika i književnosti)
• Type of resource: Text
• File origin: Born digital
• Access conditions: Access restricted to students and staff of home institution
• Created on: 2024-03-13 11:32:46