Abstract

This article is devoted to examine political discourse, in particular features of political speeches in English and Arabic Language. Political speeches are often shaped in a specific cultural and social context, using various linguistic features to persuade the public of the speaker’s goals. The study has two aims: firstly, it intends to highlight the prominent features of political discourse in English and Arabic. For example, the use of metaphor and metonymy, pronouns, intertextuality, repetition, style and code-switching. In addition, the study examines the way these features were employed by the speakers. Secondly, the comparison across English and Arabic language establishes similarities and differences between the features of political discourse in English and Arabic, and understands to what extent are the features of political discourse universal and shared between languages, and to further examine in which ways they differ. Three main features were identified as shared between the two languages: pronouns, repetition, and intertextuality. Even though there were shared features, it emerges from the study that these features, as well as others, are employed differently based on the language convention and the culture it exists in.

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