Purpose: In Kenya today, many politicians have faced significant backlash from the public regarding their statements, often attributing their situations to being “misquoted”. For a politician, being straightforward can lead to dismissal from their elective or appointed positions or result in the loss of an elected position. As a result, politicians frequently opt for indirect communication to maintain their reputations, often using euphemisms. This study focused on politicians from the Central Region of Kenya, specifically Kiambu County, who speak Gikuyu, which is the language relevant to the research topic. The research examined the discourse of 10 politicians, comprising 5 women and 5 men. The three main objectives of the study were: (a) to analyze the Gikuyu euphemisms used by politicians in Kiambu County as face-saving strategies; (b) to explore how politicians utilize euphemisms to protect their public image; and (c) to assess the impact of these euphemisms on the electorate. Methodology: The study primarily referenced Brown and Levinson’s Politeness Theory, along with other related materials on politeness. The researcher gathered data through direct interviews at live political rallies and by observing attendees at these events. Primary data was collected from these sources, while secondary data was sourced from recorded Gikuyu political speeches available on YouTube, as well as from radio and television interviews. The gathered data were analyzed qualitatively using Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory (1978, 1987) as the framework. A purposive sampling technique was employed for the study. Findings: The findings indicated that politicians frequently use euphemisms as a method of saving face in their public discourse. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: This study recommends raising public awareness of political euphemisms.

This research seeks to examine the application of Abdullah Nashih Ulwan’s moral education theory in cultivating polite behavior among students at SMP Negeri 2 Cikajang, and to explore the supporting and inhibiting factors, as well as the outcomes of its implementation. The study employs a qualitative case study design. Data were gathered through classroom observations, in-depth interviews, and document analysis. The data analysis process involved data condensation, data display, and the formulation of conclusions. The findings indicate that Ulwan’s moral education theory has been applied through several strategies, including exemplary behavior, habituation, moral advice, attention and supervision, and educational discipline. Factors supporting the successful implementation include teachers’ exemplary conduct and the development of a religious school culture, while external environmental influences constitute the main obstacle. Overall, the application of Ulwan’s theory contributed positively to students’ moral development, as reflected in improvements in polite speech, respectful attitudes toward teachers and peers, and enhanced spiritual awareness. Therefore, it can be concluded that Abdullah Nashih Ulwan’s moral education theory remains relevant and effective in shaping polite behavior among junior high school students.

This paper explores the application of quantitative and statistical methods in the study of political discourse. The research is based on a comparative analysis of political speeches delivered in Uzbek and English. Particular attention is paid to lexical frequency, key terms, modal constructions, and evaluative language. The findings indicate that statistical analysis enables the identification of ideological orientations and pragmatic strategies embedded in political communication. The integration of corpus-based techniques with discourse analysis provides a more objective perspective on the structural and semantic characteristics of political texts

This study explores the linguistic, cultural, and ideological challenges faced the interpreters in translating politically sensitive speeches, focusing on the case of former U.S. President Barack Obama’s 2008 victory speech in Chicago. Employing a qualitative comparative analysis, the research examines simultaneous Arabic translations provided by Al Jazeera and Sky News Arabia, identifying the strategies used and their impact on meaning and reception. The findings highlight that interpretation is influenced by cultural contexts, ideological nuances, and linguistic constraints, with literal translation often compromising meaning fidelity. Through discourse and thematic content analysis, the study shw the necessity for interpreters to balance accuracy and cultural sensitivity. Insights from this research contribute to improving interpreter training for politically charged and inspirational speeches, advancing practices in diplomacy and media translation.

This paper explores the influence of gender in persuasion and politics as a means to build political power in political speeches in Pakistan by politicians. On this basis of understanding that leadership is practiced by use of language, the study explores whether male and female speakers have different rhetorical strategies that they use to establish legitimacy and congruence with the audience. The proposed study assumes comparative mixed methods study in the context of Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies (CADS) with the quantitative corpus methodology and the interpretation of the findings through a qualitative lens, using the Critical Discourse Analysis and gender performance theory. A purposive sampling was used to compile a special corpus of transcribed speeches in order to achieve a representation of similar public events and political status of male and female politicians. Recurrent persuasive tendencies were identified using such tools as the analysis of key words, collocation analysis, pronoun analysis, stance analysis and modality analysis and applied to the Pakistan socio-political context. Results show that there are patterned variation and not absolute division. Rhetoric of urgency, confrontation, categorical commitment enjoy more frequent use by male politicians, building the power by force and mobilization. Female politicians are more likely to predict inclusion, service and joint advancement, to rationalize leadership using accountability and care. They both are convincing but take discursive paths. It suggests that to gain better knowledge about gendered political communication, the study should increase the multilingual corpora and include reception analysis as well as cross-national comparisons.

ABSTRACT This article explores anti-gender discourse in political debate over 30 years. Expanding scholarship on the transnational anti-gender movement and connecting it to the ‘crisis of masculinity’ discourse, we examine political discourse across the ideological spectrum and its contribution to the persistence and normalization of anti-gender narratives. Using a discourse-historical approach, we analyse speeches delivered in the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic between 1993 and mid-2024, answering two research questions: Did anti-gender discourse change over time in political speech? What are the threats to patriarchal manhood identified in this discourse? Our longitudinal analysis reveals a remarkably stable discursive pattern: since the early 1990s, three overarching discursive themes consistently appeared – threat to the heteronormative family, threat of gender equality and the demise of society and humankind. Politicians have repeatedly framed gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights as endangering traditional male roles, evoking fear to back their arguments. These findings demonstrate not only the continuity of anti-gender rhetoric but also its diffusion beyond extremist or religious groups into mainstream political discourse.

ABSTRACT In both translation studies and journalism research, there is growing recognition that inter-lingual quotations of political speeches, though often presented as faithful renditions, frequently involve mediation in translation and recontextualization. However, little attention has been paid to how stance mediation operates when news media translate and recontextualize foreign leaders’ metaphors. Drawing on Appraisal Theory (Martin & White, 2005) and Critical Metaphor Analysis (Charteris-Black, 2014), this study investigates how metaphors from Chinese President Xi Jinping’s speeches at international conferences have been translated and recontextualized in U.S. media, specifically The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. The findings reveal that these outlets systematically mediate Xi’s attitude and stance on contentious issues by (1) foregrounding negative source-domain imagery, (2) distorting or omitting key conceptual mappings from the original metaphors, and (3) embedding quotations of metaphorical expressions within narratives that invite judgment or misinterpretation. The study further explores the underlying factors driving such mediation. By illuminating these discursive strategies, the research contributes to understanding the ideological reframing of political discourse in cross-linguistic media representation.

Purpose This paper explores the relationship between populist rhetoric and political communication within the context of Dravidian politics in Indian politics. Populist rhetoric has been a strategic tool used by both national and regional party leaders, but here, we are specifying regional parties’ usage, particularly the Dravidian Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the All India Anna Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), to articulate issues of socio-economic inequality, equality in caste status, and linguistic and cultural Tamil identity? These include Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai (ANNA), Muthuvel Karunanidhi (Kalaignar), Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (MGR), and Jayaram Jayalalithaa (JJ & AMMA). They were key figures in the construction of these narratives, and Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin (Thalapathy) utilized their iconic status to cultivate an emotional attachment with the masses and grassroots support. Kalaignar is given special attention because his literary prowess, his theatrical skills and his rhetoric policy were of great use to reinforce the Dravidian ideals and consolidate his political legacy. It analyses the election manifestos, political speeches and public perceptions to understand recurring populist themes in the form of anti-elitism, welfare-oriented policies and identity-driven politics. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study incorporates document analysis, field surveys, semi-structured interviews and historical comparisons to trace the evolution of populist narratives within Dravidian politics. The findings indicate the dual nature of populist rhetoric, both mobilizing an apparatus for inclusive governance and potentially turning out to be the harbinger of societal polarization. Situating this with regional and global political contexts is exactly what this study will be adding to the debate on the dynamic interplay between identity, governance and democratic participation in Tamil Nadu and Indian politics. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, a mixed-method design is used to analysis the nexus between political party identification, welfare policies and electoral behavior in Tamil Nadu. Virudhunagar district has been chosen due to its high literacy rate, HDI (2017) ranking and prevalence of strong Dravidian parties (Dravidian Munnetra Kazhagam & AIADMK). The research uses quantitative surveys (210 people: 121 rural, 89 urban) and qualitative interviews. Stratified random sampling was used so that representation cut across income levels, grounded communities, gender and party platforms. Findings The findings indicate the dual nature of populism – both mobilizing an apparatus for inclusive governance and potentially turning out to be the harbinger of societal polarizations. Originality/value Situating this with regional and global political contexts is exactly what this study will be adding to the debate on dynamic interplay between identity, governance and democratic participation in Tamil Nadu, India.

ABSTRACT Social media has become a prominent platform for political discourse, with celebrity endorsements playing a crucial role in political communication. Both significantly influence political campaigns and public opinion on political issues. A key factor in this impact is how a celebrity’s political message is perceived by their audience. This research explores whether a celebrity’s political speech affects how their audience perceives the use of their celebrity status and their place in political conversations. The study employs an experimental design, utilising the theoretical framework of source characteristics to examine individuals’ attitudes towards political information shared by celebrities. The findings reveal that when a celebrity’s political message conflicts with an individual’s views, the celebrity is perceived as having lower credibility, with audiences often believing that the celebrity should ‘stick to what they [celebrities] know’ best – entertainment and not politics. Conversely, when a celebrity’s political stance aligns with an individual’s views, they are more welcomed to discuss politics. Additionally, the study examines parasocial relationships, finding that stronger parasocial connections enhance the perceived credibility of the celebrity. This research underscores the complex dynamics between celebrity influence, audience perception, and political communication.

Political speeches are an important medium for conveying a country’s leader’s vision, mission, and policy directions to the public. This study aims to identify and analyze the main topics in the video transcripts of President Joko Widodo’s political speeches during the 2014–2024 period using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) method. The data consist of 185 press conference speech videos obtained from the Indonesian Cabinet Secretariat’s YouTube channel and converted into text using speech-to-text technology. The dataset is divided into 81 videos from the 2014–2023 period as training data and 104 videos from 2024 as testing data. The analysis process includes text preprocessing, rule-based automatic labeling, LDA model training, and evaluation using coherence score and perplexity. The results show that in the training data, the topics of Infrastructure and Economy are the dominant topics, reflecting the government’s focus on physical development and economic growth. In contrast, in the 2024 testing data, Healthcare emerges as the most dominant topic, followed by the topics of Infrastructure, Economy, Education, and Technology. The Infrastructure topic consistently achieves the highest coherence score of 0.85, indicating strong semantic consistency among its constituent terms. This study contributes to understanding the temporal dynamics of political communication and demonstrates the effectiveness of LDA in analyzing political speech data derived from video transcripts.

Political speeches play a critical role in shaping public opinion, building consensus, and legitimising power. In Nigeria, where political rhetoric is a vital tool for governance and electoral mobilisation, the effectiveness of persuasive strategies in political discourse cannot be underestimated. The study aims to investigate the persuasive strategies in the political discourse of Sule Lamido. The study adheres to van Dijk's Critical Discourse Analysis model as its theoretical framework. The study was conducted through the lens of the qualitative research method in order to interpret the persuasive meanings of language used in the political speeches of Sule Lamido The study found Lamido's speech to contains rhetorical techniques, ideological framing, and appeals to identity, religion, and governance shortcomings to strategically build the PDP's favourable image, delegitimise the APC, and rally support. The study concludes that Sule Lamido's speeches are an effective persuasion tool that shape public opinion and strengthen political allegiance.

This research analyses Spanish teenagers’ perceptions of political polarization, the role of social media in political debate and the normalization of hate speech in digital environments through four focus groups with 26 participants aged 16–17 from different regions of Spain. The results reveal a paradox: although adolescents recognize the importance of politics, they tend to disengage from political debates due to their association with conflict and social risk. Fear of judgement and exclusion leads them to restrict conversations to trusted circles, reinforcing ideological bubbles. In general, they do not trust schools as places to mitigate polarization. Gender differences in political engagement are modest: some female participants express emotional detachment from politics, fearing potential interpersonal conflicts. In contrast, male participants generally view ideological conflict as an inherent and acceptable part of democratic discourse. Social media, especially TikTok and Instagram, subtly shape their opinions through entertainment, contributing to the normalization of polarized narratives. Regional differences also emerge, with greater political engagement in nationalist contexts such as Catalonia and the Basque Country. This study highlights the importance of taking gender and regional context into account when fostering democratic engagement among young people.

We propose a computational framework for modeling opinion dynamics in electoral competitions that combines two realistic features: voter memory and exogenous shocks. The population is represented by a fully-connected network of agents, each holding a binary opinion that reflects support for one of two candidates. First, inspired by the classical voter model, we introduce a memory-dependent opinion update: each agent’s probability of adopting a neighbor’s stance depends on how many times they agreed with that neighbor in the agent’s past m states, promoting inertia and resistance to change. Second, we define an electoral shock as an abrupt external influence acting uniformly over all agents during a finite interval [t 0 , t 0 + Δt], favoring one candidate by switching opinions with probability p s , representing the impact of extraordinary events such as political scandals, impactful speeches, or sudden news. We explore how the strength and duration of the shock, in conjunction with memory length, influence the transient and stationary properties of the model, as well as the candidates’ advantage. Our findings reveal a rich dynamical behavior: memory slows down convergence and enhances system resilience, whereas shocks of sufficient intensity and duration can abruptly realign collective preferences, particularly when occurring close to the election date. Conversely, for long memory lengths or large election horizons, shock effects are dampened or delayed, depending on their timing. These results offer insights into why some sudden political events reshape electoral outcomes while others fade under strong individual inertia. Finally, a qualitative comparison with real electoral shocks reported in opinion polls illustrates how the model captures the competition between voter inertia and abrupt external events observed in actual elections.

Hate and weaponized speech, addressed to vilify and demonize political opponents and minorities, has turned into a common feature in current political communication, particularly in populist parties. Simultaneously, political organizations have turned to TikTok looking for a way to reach out to and connect with younger, potentially less interested in politics, audiences. This study measures, compares, and characterizes the use of hate speech in the messages posted on TikTok by far-right and far-left political parties and politicians (from Italy, Germany, France, and Spain) during the 2024 European electoral. We used content analysis on those messages ( N = 668) to identify targets, rhetorical resources and emotional appeals used on such messages. We specifically compared hate messages addressed to minorities to weaponized content targeted at political rivals. We found that only a minority (10.1%) of messages included hate speech elements, with such messages being more frequent on the far right, specifically on those parties that still haven't been elected to positions of power. The political hate is mainly addressed to progressive politicians and their supporters. While messages against minorities, such as immigrants or LGBTQ+ people, were based on fear and employed otherness and dehumanization, weaponized content was built on rage and used mostly meta-perceptions and attribution of blame.

This study aims to analyze communication and ethical crises in teacher-student relationships in senior high schools (SMA) in the digital era, with a focus on the importance of strengthening Hifzhul Lisan and Birrul Muallim ethics as solutions to these problems. The increasing phenomenon of violence in schools, such as mobbing teachers and insults on social media, reflects a moral degradation that can damage the harmony of education. Through a literature study, this research explores the concept of Hifzhul Lisan, which emphasizes polite and correct speech, and Birrul Muallim, which emphasizes respect for teachers as spiritual parents. The results show that applying these two ethics in schools can reduce potential conflicts and build more harmonious relationships between teachers and students. This study also finds the importance of curricular approaches, school culture (hidden curriculum), and collaboration with parents in creating a supportive and civilized educational environment. In addition, the application of technology as a means of literacy can help strengthen Islamic educational values in facing moral and social challenges in the Society 5.0 era. This study concludes that to create character-based and dignified education, there needs to be a reconstruction of the interaction system in high schools based on the ethics of Hifzhul Lisan and Birrul Muallim, which are in line with Islamic spiritual values and national culture.

The justification for ambiguity and hedging is known as pseudo-ignorance strategy; speakers may pretend not to know something, but they may subtly imply that they do, making assertions that do not require supporting evidence. These kinds of seeming knowledge are usually seen in disclaimers, like “I don't know, but...” which, in spite of the ignorance claimed, affirms the truth of the but-clause, which is also a tactic used in impression management. This study tries to be an attempt to contrast the political employment of the strategy pseudo-ignorance between two English and Arabic political speeches, drawing on investigating the four syntactic, semantic, lexical, and pragmatic levels of Van Dijk (1995) and James (1980) for analyzing the data contrastively. The study opines to choose speeches of two American and Iraqi politicians, Donald Trump and Ayad Allawi to be investigated and contrasted. The study concludes that pseudo-ignorance is the political strategy that is used by both politicians Trump and Ayad Allawi in order to achieve their personal and political purposes.

This study examines the relationship between language, power, and ideology through Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), applying Fairclough’s three-dimensional framework to Donald Trump’s 2017 Inaugural Address and selected political news headlines from BBC and CNN. The analysis investigates how linguistic features, discursive practices, and social contexts interact to construct and reproduce power relations. Textual analysis identifies lexical choices, grammatical patterns, metaphors, and nominalization that embed ideological meaning. Discursive practice explores the production, distribution, and interpretation of texts, while social practice situates discourse within broader societal structures. Findings reveal that both political speeches and media discourse strategically frame social reality, legitimize authority, and influence public perception. This study underscores the critical role of language in shaping power dynamics and highlights the importance of examining discourse to understand contemporary political and media contexts.

This article examines how political leaders from Lithuania, Hungary, and Ukraine construct security discourse in the context of the Russia–Ukraine War (2022–2025), focusing on the relationship between democratization and sovereignty. The study applies critical discourse analysis (CDA) based on Teun van Dijk’s sociocognitive approach, integrating micro-level textual analysis, meso-level cognitive framing, and macro-level examination of social and political context, and is structured around three interrelated categories – Security framing, Legitimization strategies, and Geopolitical positioning – to reflect the specific focus of the research. The dataset consists of political speeches and addresses delivered between 2022 and 2025 by national leaders at high-level international forums. The findings reveal divergent strategies shaped by each country’s political trajectory, threat perceptions, and historical narratives, demonstrating how discourse serves both to articulate national interests and to shape international perceptions. Lithuania and Ukraine frame security through collective defense, democratic values, and Euro-Atlantic integration, while Hungary emphasizes sovereignty, strategic autonomy, and selective engagement with both East and West, revealing tensions within Europe’s collective security architecture.

Over the past decade, the U.S. has hosted a new set of ‘culture wars’ that have targeted trans youth and their families. Transgender children and their families have been increasingly subjected to political speech and laws that attempt to define and limit them and their lives. While progressive groups have countered with support and visibility, the climate for trans youth and their families remains difficult. How do families find their way through such unsettled cultural terrain? When parents look for support and advice about caring for trans children, what range of framings of transgender identities and people are they likely to encounter? What cultural stories, symbols, and world views are part of the cultural offerings for parents seeking advice? To answer these questions, this paper uses a sample of 17 advice books aimed at parents of trans children to discern what kinds of advice, support, nonsupport, definitions, and shaping of meaning parents might encounter when they seek advice or support in parenting transgender children. We find that readers are presented with three different strategies—affirming, questioning, and disaffirming—each of which has consequences for how parents try to make sense of a transgender child’s identity.

ABSTRACT Historical memory and its emotional baggage is used increasingly by political actors to push forward specific domestic interests and to revive old schismatic relationships between European states. The proposed paper aims to analyse this development by asking the following questions: Under which conditions does the memory of the past get mobilized and how does it acquire salience in EU policy-making? How do interpretations of the past and the deployment of emotions influence political decision-making in the present? Using Russia’s war on Ukraine as a case study, the paper analyses two moments in time: the invasion of Crimea in 2014 and the outbreak of war in 2022. By examining the framing devices and analogies used in political speeches, resolutions and press releases by the EP, it analyses where, how by whom and to which effect historical analogies are being taken up as tools of interpretation. The aim is to study the cultural heritage of war and conflict as related to political mobilization of contested memory in the present.