IDEOLOGICAL DISCOURSE STRUCTURES IN POLITICAL SPEECHES

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to identify and compare, using tools offered by critical discourse analysis, political discourse structures, i.e. semantic macrostructures, local meanings and linguistic devices which were used in the speeches of two American candidates in the 2008 presidential election, especially those aimed at positive self-presentation and negative other-presentation and explain the global and local contextual levels which shape such discourse structures.