El-Sisi’s Speech on the 47th Anniversary of the October Victory: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is a modern branch of linguistics. The current study applies CDA to a televised speech of El-Sisi, the Egyptian president, on the 47th anniversary of October Victory in its English version. The study aims to reveal ideologies behind the publishing of the speech and its role in shaping the mentality of Egyptians. The researcher applies Fairclough’s (2014a) three-dimensional model. She also uses Halliday and Matthiessen’s (2014) metafunctions of systemic functional grammar (SFG) as the tool for analysis. The analysis is mainly qualitative. The research answers some questions. The first one is: ‘How the constructive ideologies are expressed through their linguistic structures and features in the English version of El-Sisi’s speech on the 47th of October victory ceremony?’ The second is ‘what is the explanation for including such confidential ideologies in the published English version of El-Sisi’s speech?’ A significant finding is that the delivered messages of the speech reflect some ideological orientations. The ideological orientations are affected and determined by the dominant social ideologies and the general orientation of institutions in Egypt. The study aims to help readers use their skills in analyzing any discourse systematically. The study also highlights the fundamental ideologies needed to direct Egyptians for the benefit of their country. Future researches can focus on the role of words in reflecting ideologies or the role of explicitation and implicitation techniques in conveying beliefs and confidential ideologies.