A Rhetorical and Linguistic Analysis of Mohamed Morsi’s Final Speech

Abstract

Language is a tool used by politicians to support their interests and to persuade their audience of the correctness of their stance. This study provides a rhetorical and linguistic analysis of Mohamed Morsi’s final speech which was delivered on Tuesday July 2, 2013. In particular, this study aims to scrutinize Morsi’s use of rhetorical and linguistic devices to serve his overall political goal, i.e., to remain in power and to prolong the regime of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). In order to examine to what extent Morsi used these devices, I employ the principle of triangulation through using a variety of theoretical perspectives including Wodak et al.’s (2009) strategies, argumentation schemes and traditional rhetorical devices. The findings reveal that rhetorical strategies and argumentation schemes were utilized in a desperate attempt to improve the effectiveness, emphasis, and focus of Morsi’s message and to construct three main themes: Morsi’s credibility, his confrontation of challenges and conspiracies, and finally his suggested initiative for resolving the situation.