A CORPUS-BASED ANALYSIS OF RHETORICAL STRATEGIES AND PERSUASIVE LANGUAGE IN IMRAN KHAN’S POLITICAL SPEECHES

Abstract

This paper carries out a corpus-based research of the rhetorical actions and the use of persuasive language in the political speeches of Imran Khan, and aims at understanding how repeated language structures are used to persuade the audience, as well as create authority. The corpus of the chosen speeches, which was given at the rallies, in parliament, during other public events, was collected and processed with the helpQ of frequency, keyword, collocation, and concordance. It can be seen that repetition is one of the most important strategies, which supports the main topics of justice, accountability, corruption, and change as well as produces the rhythm and emphasis which improves the retention of the audience. Open-minded pronouns such as we and our are commonly utilized in establishing solidarity with the people, whereas those addressing the opponents with the term they put a moral and ideological gap between them. Metaphoric phrases where corruption is a disease or any political struggle is a battle help to simplify complex political matters and have an emotional appeal and this makes the person delivering the speech sound like a moral and reform-oriented leader. Patterns of collocation always establish a positive trait with the vision of the speaker and negative qualities with the opponents, which reinforce the ideological framing. Also, the appeals to religious and historical principles, e.g. Riyasat-e-Madinah, support the moral authority and validity in the socio-cultural context of Pakistan. The paper comes to the conclusion that the persuasive power of speeches delivered by Imran Khan is due to the combination of classical rhetorical appeals ethos, pathos, and logos with modern populist approach. The results are applicable to the disciplines of political discourse analysis, corpus linguistics, and rhetoric because they helped to understand the strategic utilization of language to persuade, form and maintain identity, and legitimize leaders in modern Pakistani politics.