Vol. 16, Issue 1, Jul-Dec 2023

Page: 78-88

MOBILIZATION OF WORDS TO THE BATTLE FIELD: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF ARABIC POLITICAL DISCOURSE ON WAR ON TERROR

Haider Hussein Katea, Hayder Kubashi, Jaafar Hachim Malih

Received Date: 2019-09-18

Accepted Date: 2019-10-21

Published Date: 2019-10-29

Language is not an objective and innocent tool to share information with people. Language can also be used for subtler purposes of exercising power, expressing attitudes and emotions, and for controlling, commanding, and persuading people. Well-spoken words can motivate people to go to war and sacrifice their live. Words can change peoples attitude and thinking. Words of a leader are the most influential lethal weapon for war and most effective inspirer for peace. History has recorded innumerable occasions from Alexanders speeches to his soldiers to the Speeches of JF Kennedy and FD Roosevelt during the Second World War when political leaders mobilized words to the battlefield to fight a war. The most recent examples are the speeches of various countries on War on Terror in the wake of rising threat of the Islamic State. In this paper I am going to present an analysis of select Arabic speeches on War on Terror in order to understand how various discursive strategies have been successfully used to persuade the audience to support their War on Terror. This paper highlights the discursive construction of persuasive discourse against terror outfits in the speech of Haider Al Ibadi, the prominent Iraqi leader. Ruth Wodaks Discourse Historical Approach (DHA) has been used as a model for analyzing these speeches. The analysis shows how these speakers have been successful in persuading the Iraqis and the international community to join and support the War on Terror through the strategy of argumentation and the topoi of history and emotion in more particular.

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