Linguistic and Pragmatic Devices in King Abdullah’s Speech: A Political Discourse Analysis

This article investigates a speech delivered by King Abdullah of Jordan at Oxford University. The study is carried out on the basis of political discourse analysis. The researcher commences by outlining the growth of concept of discourse, and elucidating features of political discourse. At a later stage, the scrutiny deals with the analysis of linguistic and pragmatic devices which are utilised in the speech. This paper has revealed those features that are employed in the discourse; to be precise, these are: the use of first person deixis, metaphor as a rhetoric figure, repetition, term choice, and the pragmatic use of language. Eventually, the text analysis demonstrates that the King’s speech can be envisaged as a political discourse whose structure is convincing and influential. The researcher has proved that the speech is rich in linguistic elements which are certainly indispensable in language of politics.