Expressive Speech Acts in Discourse: "President Barzani's Speech on the Referendum as a Case Study"

Abstract

Expressive speech acts are an essential category of speech acts that reveal the psychological state of the speaker. These acts play a crucial role in conveying the speaker's message, as they reflect emotions and attitudes toward situations, events, and people. This study focuses on expressive speech acts as a key communicative tool, especially significant in political discourse during critical and decisive moments. In such contexts, political leaders use expressive acts to display their emotions, gain public support, and legitimize their actions and positions. Therefore, expressive speech acts serve to evoke emotional responses from the audience. The aim of this study is to identify how President Masoud Barzani expressed his psychological state in his speech during the Kurdistan independence referendum. It also investigates the functions of these expressive acts-why he used them and how he influenced the audience. The research adopts (Searle and Vanderveken's) model of speech acts and employs a qualitative descriptive method. Data were collected from Barzani's referendum speech delivered in Duhok Governorate. The findings indicate that 49 instances of expressive speech acts were identified in the speech These acts varied in function, with complaining, praising, and thanking being the most frequently used. Most of these acts were delivered directly and effectively, reflecting the speaker's strategic intent and the rhetorical goals behind the speech. This research underscores the importance of pragmatic analysis in political discourse to better understand the speaker's objectives and intended messages.