A Critical Analysis of Humor in the Speech of Donald Trump
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Date
2023-07
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
جامعة الوادي - University of Eloued
Abstract
The current study aims at analyzing selected samples from Donald Trump‟s humorous speeches
delivered in various contexts. It mainly focuses on the strategic and pragmatic functions used in his
utterances. To achieve this objective, Gaines‟s theory (2007) is adopted for the strategic functions
analysis, as Searl‟s (1976) illocutionary acts theory for the pragmatic analysis. The identification of
strategic functions shows that Trump used the dispositional, topical, and personal functions in his
speech. The analysis of the findings revealed that he overused the topical function to introduce an
issue. Besides, the identification of illocutionary acts indicates the presence of representative acts,
directive acts, commissive acts, expressive acts, and declarative acts. The interpretation of the
results unveiled the dominance of expressive acts, which reflect Trump‟s psychological state while
addressing the audience. The research concludes that the study of both rhetorical and pragmatic
functions has made it easy to comprehend the messages in former President Donald Trump‟s
speech. It is recommended that additional studies should be conducted to examine the impact of
humor on political discussion. Furthermore, it is important to take into account the public‟s
perspective regarding Trump‟s use of insulting sarcasm.
Description
Literature and Civilization
Keywords
Humorous Speech, Illocutionary Acts, Pragmatics, Speech Acts, Strategic Functions.