Following the fields of Critical Discourse Analysis and the Theory of Argumentation in pragmatics, this comparative master’s thesis focuses on the lexical (propositional), intentional (illocutive), and predicative (syntactic) strategies that Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Pedro Sánchez employ to build their political persona as well as their rapport with the public during the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective is to determine, on the basis of a mostly qualitative analysis of six selected public statements, how and to what degree a language choice functions as a discursive strategy to obtain specific political effects.
|