Examination of Rhetorical Devices in President Kikwete's 2014 Constituent Assembly Inaugural Speech

Abstract

Language has been an important tool for politicians to get their  messages perceived the way they prefer. This paper analyzed a text of  the constituent assembly inaugural speech by President Jakaya  Kikwete. It sought to examine the ways he appealed to linguistic  techniques to amplify on the challenges of a proposed three-government  union structure proposed by the Constitutional Review Commission. By  using Fraiclough ' s (1992) Text Oriented Discourse Analysis (TODA),  the study examined linguistic features of the speech amplifying on the  two major challenges of the proposed three-government union  structure. The data show that President Kikwete relied on choice of  words, reference to comments made by famous individuals about the  union structure as well as rhetorical question as he amplified on the  two challenges of a proposed three-government union structure.Key words: critical discourse analysis, political discourse, persuasion, Constituent Assembly