Language, Ideology, Power, and Persuasion: A Case in Arabic

The present paper handles the intricate relationship between language, power, ideology, and persuasion. The study tackles this important aspect of people's daily lives and focuses on religious discourse that aims at changing people's lives that could lead to subversive consequences. The researchers selected a well-known Arabic speech delivered to the inhabitants of Mecca (in Saudi Arabia) by a member of dissidents (Khawarij) and analyzed it within two frameworks, one proposed by Fairclough (2001) and the other proposed by Aristotle. The purpose of selecting these two models is to put the two to robust testing to find out which can successfully handle the chosen text well. After applying the former model, it was found that the chosen text has met all the points proposed by Fairclough in being so tightly woven as to be called a coherent and unified text. However, when the latter model was applied, it was found the speech failed to meet the three elements proposed by Aristotle, namely, logos, ethos, and pathos. The authors have found that the framework proposed by Fairclough is appropriate for texts that could be analyzed socio-linguistically, while the model proposed by Aristotle is more appropriate for religious and political speeches. It is hoped that this study and similar others underpin the relevant ongoing research and accentuate the intriguing and profound relationship between language, power, ideology, and persuasion. However, the speaker is unlikely to achieve what he intends if all or at least one of the Aristotelian rhetorical triangle's components are missing.