Investigating the Rhetorical Strategies and the Argumentative Structure Used in Political Discourse The Case of Theresa May Brexit Speech in January 17th, 2017

Abstract

This study aims to analyse the different rhetorical, linguistic, and argumentative strategies used in one of the speeches delivered by the previous British Prime Minister (PM) Theresa May in January, 17th 2017 concerning Brexit issue to persuade Irish people of her plan. The objectives behind this analytical study are to emphasize the importance of Toulmin's Model of Argumentation (TMA) in political discourse analysis, and to examine PM Theresa May use of linguistic strategies along with the argumentative structure of Toulmin‟s model and Aristotle‟s rhetorical strategies. The research main question is that did Theresa May apply the rhetorical strategies and argumentative structure in her Brexit speech. The sub questions which are: what is the structure of May‟s Brexit speech using Toulmin‟s Model? How are Aristotle rhetorical strategies used and applied in her speech? What are the linguistic argumentative strategies used in the speech? What the functions of the linguistic strategies in the speech? This study is conducted qualitatively and it is composed of two chapters. The first chapter is the theoretical part about argumentative strategies and political discourse. The second chapter is the field work that includes the methodology and the methods of analysis, the sample, the analysis ,and the discussion of findings, The methods used in the analysis which are TMA, rhetorical analysis of Aristotelian strategies along with the linguistic features of political speech. The speech was chosen because it was introduced to its public for the purpose of persuasion so that it is full of arguments and reasons. The findings reveal that Theresa used logos and ethos as rhetoric strategies. The TMA elements were found, and the linguistic features used were first plural personal pronoun and first singular personal pronoun.