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Volume 16, Issue 5
  • ISSN 1569-2159
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Abstract

This article explores legitimacy-building in United States President’s 2013 Address to the Nation on Syria. Based on a slightly modified version of Theo van Leeuwen’s (2008) model of the discursive construction of legitimation and with a view of the war in Syria as the super-macro context of the Address, the investigation illustrates how the speech attempts to legitimate the prospect of a direct American military engagement in Syria on the one hand, and to justify avoiding another war that may prove too costly, on the other. Through the illustration of such discursive practices, the study portrays how critical discourse studies can provide the ground for awareness of a delicate aspect of the discourse of politics and the rhetoric of politicians in shaping public consent and projecting an always-legitimate image of even contradictory political positions, decisions, and actions.

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2017-09-18
2023-03-26

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Discursive double-legitimation of (avoiding) another war in Obama’s 2013 address on Syria
Journal of Language and Politics 16, 706 (2017); https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.16016.mir
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): critical discourse studies; discourse of politics; discursive construction of legitimation; Obama speeches; political discourse analysis; political speeches; presidential speeches; war rhetoric

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