Persuasive Strategies utilized in the Political Speeches of King Abdullah II: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This study investigates the persuasive strategies used in seven speeches of King Abdullah II of Jordan delivered before the UN, European Parliament, Islamic Countries Cooperation, and Arab League between 2007 to 2021. The study adopted the persuasive strategies: Intertextuality, Creativity and Metaphor, References, and Circumlocution to uncover how the King employed the rhetorical/persuasive strategies in his speeches. The discourse analysis approach of Fairclough is also adopted to analyze the speeches. The study revealed that King Abdullah II used creativity and metaphors, reference, circumlocution, and intertextuality. He used creativity strategy to highlight reality as it is. Besides, he uses intertextuality to convince the international community of his vision. On the other hand, the King utilizes neutral references (we, our, your, you) in his speeches to avoid impersonalistion. The study concluded that the King successfully used persuasive strategies to convey his vision toward political issues.

Keywords

• Persuasive strategies
• King Abdullah II speeches
• critical discourse analysis
• political discourse analysis