A Comparative Study of Political Rhetoric in the Speech of Presidents of Iran and USA

Political language is a complex language filled with various strategies to persuade public opinion. One of the major strategies of linguistics to be analyzed in political discourse is the political rhetoric. Therefore, the main purpose of the present study is to analyze the rhetorical notion in the context of political discourse of two different speech communities from the perspective of Beard’s (2000). The main issue in this research is to explain the similarities and differences of the rhetorical strategies of politics used by the two Presidents of Iran and the USA in an attempt to gain power, persuasion and to reach their audience's consent. To this end, we have collected the data in a library process and analyzed them analytically to answer these questions that how do both presidents use language trying to get their listeners' consent and persuading them? What are the rhetorical similarities and differences between the two presidents? The results show that both presidents use contrastive pairs, repetition and three-part lists, utilizing pronouns, verb voices, and sound-bites strategies. Rouhani’s main strategy is the utilizing pronouns in different ways and Trump's most common strategy is the use of repetition. The use and avoidance of analogy is another aspect of difference between speeches of mentioned speakers. Overall, the present study illustrates the fact that through the study of Beard's strategies (2000) one can easily discern politicians' different linguistic strategies, in particular top executives to persuade audiences, make speech more and present more positive and popular face.

1. Introduction

Utilizing appropriate linguistic strategies is critical for politicians. Gaining the support of the masses, legitimizing political approaches, or succeeding in public debates and negotiations, largly depends on the kind of language a politician uses. Linguistic strategies in political language are one of the most important tools to achieve these goals. One of the major linguistic strategies that is analyzed in political discourse is the rhetoric. Beard (2000) believes that the rhetoric is the art of persuasion, and the rhetorical strategies in the political language can work in a variety of ways, both for persuasion or cunning. Although the rhetoric is a common feature of politicians’ communication and speech, it can have similarities and differences depending on the cultural and political characteristics of each country. The importance of political rhetoric led us to select two of the highest political officials in Iran and the United States (President Rouhani and President Trump) to examine the rhetoric of each of them that can be a symbol of the political discourse of the two countries. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to reveal some of the strategies of rhetoric in the political language of the two presidents from Beard’s perspective.

Beard (2000) considers tools such as analogy, contrastive pairs, repetition and Three-part lists, pronouns, voice and sound-bites as criteria for examining rhetorics in political discourse. His view of political discourse is one of the most comprehensive and specialized views in the field of politics, which has been the basis of data analysis in this research to answer these questions: how did both presidents, as the best example of political leaders, use language to try to reach their audience’s consent? What are the similarities and differences between the two presidents’ rhetoric?







2. Methodology

The data of this study include the speeches of Mr. Hassan Rouhani, the winner of the 2017 presidential election in Iran, and Mr. Donald Trump, US presidential election’s winner in 2016. A total of 6 speeches for each president are collected (3 campaign speeches and 3 post-victory speeches), about 6 hours and 30 minuts for each of them. This data has been collected in a library manner with the help of Internet sites such as the official website of President, Aparat, Youtube and Fact Base. Then the linguistic strategies of political rhetoric are identified and analyzed analytically.



3. Results and Conclusion

In the present study, with the help of some of the most important political rhetoric strategies of Beard (2000), we examined the rhetorical tools used in political discourse. Regarding the analogy strategy, we saw that Rouhani, unlike Trump, uses this tool, and the analogies used are often based on citing religious events such as Ashura Uprising. Both presidents have used the tools of contrastive pairs in a similar way for emphasizing and increasing audience’s attention to words. The other strategy under consideration, repetition, has been used more by Trump, so much so that this strategy can be considered his main strategy. By using repetition and three-part lists, both presidents have tried to maintain the coherence of their speeches, to emphasize the key points without tiring the audience and to arouse their feelings.

Both presidents have used a variety of pronoun roles in a variety of ways. They use pronoun “I” for different purposes. They both use pronoun “we” to talk about what has been done in their government or to introduce themselves as a member of the nation. Rouhani sometimes uses “we” to refer to others and criticize their action. This usage is not seen in Trump’s speeches. Both use pronoun “they” to create us and them division for criticizing their opponents and often their predecessors. Rouhani uses indefinite pronouns to name his opponents, a tool that Trump does not use in his speeches. Both presidents employ the passive voice in their speeches. In terms of sound-bites, we see that both consciously or unconsciously use phrases that have the potential to become the headlines of newspapers and news agencies.

The findings show that both presidents use Beard’s rhetorical tools, and the similarities between the strategies in their speeches outweigh the differences. Numerous similarities show that the languge of politics, regardless of any particular language and culture, is a common tool among all politicians, and this can be a confirmation for the existence of global strategies and the effectiveness of Beard’ rhetorical strategies.