Unveiling the Intricacies of the Speeches of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze the common linguistic features used in the speeches of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to articulate his ideological perspectives and influence public perception. Also, this study utilized qualitative research using Critical Discourse Analysis approach and since this is a corpus-based study, the materials of this study were the speeches of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in various occasions. Furthermore, the result of this study presented the morphological processes in the political discourse of the aforementioned president namely affixation, compounding, and initialism, which were used to form politically charged and persuasive language. Also, two semantic dimensions namely denotative and connotative meaning have been analyzed to interpret the word meaning utilized by the president in his speeches to communicate his objectives, engage with the public, and convey ideological perspectives. The analysis of linguistic features in this study was guided by the linguistic concept of Finegan’s Language Structure & Use (2008). Additionally, the speeches exhibited four primary discourse types description, narration, exposition, and argument, each serving a unique purpose in engaging the audience and shaping national narratives. The results further revealed that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. strategically used language to establish his ideological perspectives―such as economic policy, healthcare, education, foreign policy, and agriculture to establish power dynamics, ideological stances, and policy narratives that shape his communicative strategies. These findings hihlight the powerful role of language in political communication and suggest that a deeper understanding of linguistic and discourse strategies can provide valuable insights into how political leaders construct, convey, and legitimize their ideological perspectives