A Critical Pragmatic Analysis of Manipulation in Trump's Political Speeches

Abstract

According to the socio-cognitive nature of ideologies that is manifested in the belief system and ideologically based practices that shared by members of social groups, critical pragmatics(CP henceforth) has come to existence. CP is a sub field of socio-pragmatics that works within macro pragmatics which deals with cognitively , socially , and culturally issues such as domination , power , language , ideology ,etc.(Al-hindawi& Al-khazali, 2021: 1). It is well –known that language is not only a tool for communication and transition of information but it can be manipulated to be an instrument of offence and defense. Language remains a rich and adaptable tool for configuration of life events . It can bring solidarity , harmony and brotherhood if it is properly utilized , but if it wrongly applied it can provoke animosity , conflict and violence . Manipulation is one of the strategies in which language is utilized for negative goals . This study is concerned with an important feature of political discourse, that is; manipulation which is analyzed from critical pragmatic perspective . This feature has become the most prominent feature of this type of discourse due to the nature of politics itself. This study examines manipulation in ten of Trump's political speeches and involves discovering how Trump constructs ideological discourse to present reality for his audience that frames his ideology by using manipulating strategies . Such strategies are conducted by Trump to marketing his agenda , ideology and programme to his audience

Keywords

• Critical pragmatics, Manipulation, Ideology, Dominant, Power, Tactics.