Pronouns in inaugural and farewell speeches A study in the speeches of former US President Bill Clinton

Abstract

This study seeks to reveal the importance of personal pronouns and their impact on political discourse and how they affect the public in the inaugural and farewell speeches of former US president Bill Clinton.

The study proceeds from the premise that pronouns play a prominent role in influencing audiences' responses positively or negatively. From this point of view, I decided to study pronouns as one of the solidarity and inclusion strategies that the speaker seeks to select very carefully according to the type of audience receiving the speech and according to the desired goal of the speech and its pre-planned dimensions. To achieve this goal, I tackle the following research questions:

1-   What are the reasons for the speaker's use of singular and plural pronouns in political speech?

2-  What image does the preacher present of himself versus the image of the audience receiving the speech? What are its functions? And how to accomplish these functions by using pronouns?

I employ Fairclough’s critical discourse approach with its sequential stages. It enables me to identify pronouns, their connotations, and their impact on audience responses.