Rhetoric and Semiotics
– DOI 10.55206/TLGC2544
Azad Mammadov
Azerbaijan University of Languages, Department of General Linguistics
Email: azad.mammadov@adu.edu.az
Maryam Isgandarli
Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Linguistics,
Email: maryamisgandarli@yahoo.com
Abstract: The article analysis Donald Trump’s communication style and political discourse through methodology including methods from linguistics and rhetoric. The research focus is in lexical and syntactic repetitions, elliptical constructions and word order changes used by Donald Trump in his political speeches sending strong signals to his real and potential voters. The assumption is Donald Trump’s communication style has the features of grandiosity, informality and dynamism. These three concepts have strong association with populist rhetoric, which plays a very important role in his political discourse, the first two concepts imply two conflicting trends: a desire to be above all and at the same time a desire to be closer to the audience. The article studies the way how, why, when and where Donald Trump uses the repetitions of words, phrases and sentences, ellipsis and word order changes as the linguistic verbalizations of grandiosity, informality and dynamism in his political discourse.
Keywords: Donald Trump, political discourse, rhetoric, lexical and syntactic repetitions, ellipsis, word order change.
Rhetoric and Communications Journal, issue 57, October 2023