Pronouns and Metaphors in Obama’s and Trump’s Inaugural Speeches: A Comparative Analysis through Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

A political speech is usually characterized by the use of different linguistic techniques and strategies that allow politicians to convey their political messages and persuade people of their ideologies and thoughts. The American presidential inaugural address is therefore a form of political discourse that imbues the characteristics of both written and oral discourse. This study consequently looked at how Presidents Barrack Obama and Donald Trump of America have used Linguistic resources (Pronouns and metaphors) to construct individual and collective ideologies and persuade America to accept their political ideologies. This exploration was carried out within the frameworks of Lakoff and Johnson Conceptual Metaphor Theory, Charter is – Black’s Critical Metaphor Theory and the content method of data analysis. The corpus was drawn from the respective official websites of Barrack Obama and Donald Trump. It was discovered that their speeches were characterized by skilful choice of rhetorical strategies to make their speeches effective in order to convince the electorates. President Obama used more of inclusive pronouns and metaphors to support and advocate for multilateralism and internationalism while Donald Trump used pronouns and metaphors that distanced him from the corrupt government that led to unemployment in America while supporting and advocating a strong American interest.