Thesis (M.A.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Arts - Department of English

This paper applies a political discourse analysis approach to study the techniques of inviting applause and conceptual metaphors employed by Presidents Barak Obama and Donald Trump in their inaugural speeches. Firstly, it uses the quantitative method to count and categorize the data into coded categories and calculate the frequency of occurrence of each rhetorical device. After that, the qualitative method is employed to describe and analyze the data. The study came up with several findings. Firstly, Obama employed more techniques of inviting applause in his speech than Trump. Nevertheless, Trump got more applause than Obama. This shows that the techniques of inviting applause alone are not enough to get the audience's approval. Secondly, Trump's inaugural included more conceptual metaphors than Obama's. Hence, it recorded more applause occurrences. Therefore, both rhetorical strategies supplement each other to hold the attention of their audience and generate positive response for persuasive political communication. Another conclusion to be drawn from this study is that it is important to be aware of how politicians use various rhetorical devices in order to convey their ideas and gain the audience's support

Issued also as CD