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Article published In: Pragmatics and Society
Vol. 6:4 (2015) ► pp.517–537

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A socio-pragmatic investigation of the persuasive strategies in "al-ittijāh al-muʿākis" (‘The Opposite Direction’) on Al-Jazeera TV

Published online: 21 December 2015
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.6.4.03iss
This study is a socio-pragmatic analysis of persuasive strategies used by the participants in “al-ittijāh al-muʿākis”, “The Opposite Direction”, on the Al-­Jazeera TV channel. An ethnographic approach was adopted in the research; the analysis focused on the use of politeness strategies and face-saving and face-­threatening interactions in order to find out their persuasive factors. I observe that religious citations, prophetic sayings, proverbs, and metaphor are used predominantly by the participants in communicating various political issues. I argue that the persuasiveness of these rhetorical strategies stems from their aesthetic influence in establishing moral credibility and in evoking emotional responses. I also argue that these rhetorical strategies are speech acts that indirectly provoke responses and/or aim at saving the speakers’ and/or addressees’ face. The study concludes that persuasiveness is facilitated in part by transferring socio-pragmatic meanings through the use of some politeness and figurative devices such as honorific modes, metaphors and proverbs.
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