A critical discourse analysis of Donald Trump's Inaugural Speech as compared to the speeches by Kennedy, Reagan and Obama

The dissertation introduces a critical discourse analysis of Donald J. Trump's inaugural speech. The first part of the study is focused on political discourse and its main features as well as the definition of the genre of the inaugural speech, and it has been based on studies conducted by Charteris-Black (data) and Simpson and Mayr (data). In the first chapter several extracts from the speeches of three different presidents are taken into consideration, namely those by: Kennedy, Reagan and Obama. Each extract is analyzed considering one of the three linguistic strategies taken into consideration in this dissertation (e.g. Kennedy and the use of lexical repetition, Reagan and the use of binary us/them, Obama and the use of metaphors). The second chapter is mainly focused on the analysis of the whole inaugural speech by Donald Trump, considering the three linguistic strategies listed above. Before presenting the results of the analysis an account of Critical Discourse Analysis is provided. In the final part of the dissertation, a comparison is made between Trump's and Kennedy's use of lexical repetition, Trump's and Reagan's use of binary us/them and finally, Trump's and Obama's use of metaphors. This step was taken in order to outline differences and similarities in the use of such linguistic strategies.