Persuasion strategies in the Egyptian political discourse towards the Libyan issue In the context of critical discourse analysis

Abstract:
This qualitative study analyzing Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi speech televised on the 20th of June 2020 while inspecting Egypt’s Western Military Zone accompanied by military leaders and the heads of Libyan tribes, investigates the most remarkable argumentation features used by the speaker to asseverate his point, in order to persuade the target audience as an ultimate goal of political speeches.
The data are two videos published in the Egyptian online newspaper Sada Elbalad were depicting the president visiting the Western Military Zone, inspecting the troops readiness and addressing the gathering there. The study conducted two levels of analysis to investigate both the semantic macro structure and micro semantics of the speech.
The textual analysis of the president actual choice of words, and his delivery traits have
reflected him using three primary modes of persuasion: 1) a logos appeal to assure the logical reasoning of Egypt’s political handling of the situation in Libya. 2) pathos appeal to evoke fears about the consequences of the Libyan conflict and showing pity to prompt proactive behaviors. 3) ethos appeal to affirm the speaker authority, credibility and good intentions by emphasizing the altruistic approach of Egyptian policy toward the escalating situation in Libya. The findings have shown that the speaker adopted various engaging strategies like collective (we, our, us), empathy, role structure (implying his relationships with the immediate audience especially the heads of military branches and the soldiers), and second person (you Egyptians, your)
 
Regarding the visual components and the broader setting of the speech, the analysis has indicated seriousness of the speaker tone, gestures and attire in accordance with the military context of the conveyed messages.