Critical Discourse Analysis Of President Barrack Obama’s Inauguration Speech (january 20, 2009)

This research work examined the persuasive strategies of President Obama's public speaking as enshrined in his inaugural address. The analysis is grounded on Norman Fairclough's assumptions in Critical Discourse Analysis, claiming that ideologies reside in texts that it is not possible to remove or ignore ideologies from texts and that texts are open to diverse interpretations. The selected corpus' ideological and persuasive components were assessed. The analytical part of this research work analyzes the possible interrelatedness of textual properties and power relations, which is also underpinned in Fairclough’s conceptual work, thus revealing Obama's persuasive strategies showing the relationship between language, ideology and reality. This work investigated the ability to empower the people with a new political power by bringing into view the real knowledge of the inauguration speech of President Barrack Obama.

Title pagei

Certificationii

Dedicationiii

Acknowledgementiv

Abstractvi

Table of Contentsvii

Chapter One 

General Introduction 

1.0 Introduction    1       

1.1 Background to the study           1                                       

1.2 Purpose of the study2

1.3Justification of the Study                                         3

1.4 Scope and Delimitation of the Study                                      3

1.5 Authorial Background4                                                

1.6 Conclusion6   

Chapter Two 

Literature Review

2.0Introduction 7

2.1Theoretical Underpinnings7

2.2Liberal Discourse13

Chapter Three 

Data Analysis

3.0 Introduction17

3.1Elements to be used for analysis17

3.2Outline of the Inaugural Speech17

3.3Analysis of the Language and Style20

3.4Ideological Analysis25

3.5Use of Language31

3.6Analysis of Biblical Analysis35

Conclusion36

CHAPTER FOUR 

Summary, Findings and Conclusion

4.0Introduction36

4.1Summary36

4.2Findings37

4.3Conclusion38

REFERENCES40

Appendix44