<p>Abstract</p><p>This paper aims to determine the validity of the hypothesis that the effective and eloquent use of language can result in shaping beliefs and altering people’s perception of certain phenomena. In order to explore this hypothesis, a speech given by George W. Bush concerning the Iraq war is examined, followed by a brief study of two corpora, the Time Magazine Corpus and the Corpus of Contemporary American English, where the collocationpatterns of the words Iraq, evil and terror are examined. The paper starts by presenting the main concepts upon which this study is based, i.e. mental frames, the co-operative principle and conversational maxims and finally, various rhetoric devices. An analysis section follows, where George Bush’s speech is examined with the help of the concepts mentioned above and the analysis continues with the corpora-study. One of the conclusions drawn in this study is that, indeed, it is possible that language can be successfully used in order to achieve political means, and that there seems to be a shift in the American public’s perception of concepts such as Iraq and terror, visible in the use of language. However, it cannot be said with certainty whether the Bush Administration has managed to dominate public discourse, through a study as minor as this one.</p>

Lokal politik har en viktig roll i samhället och dess faktakonstruktion kan ha en påverkan på individen. Lokalpolitikern konstruerar i sina anföranden beskrivningar av verkligheten som görs trovärdiga genom retoriskt arbete. Arbetet använder en diskurspsykologisk metod för att undersöka kommunpolitikers anförande i debatten rörande kommunens styrdokument, Inriktning, verksamhet och ekonomi (förkortat IVE) för åren 2015 till 2018. Studien kommer fram till att problem och lösningar görs till fakta genom användandet av offensiv och defensiv retorik. I konstruerandet av problemet finns också ett konstruerande av en politisk motståndare som föranlett problemet. Producerandet görs trovärdigt genom retoriska resurser som främst är av offensiv karaktär. I konstruerandet av lösningar positionerar kommunpolitiker sig nära lösningen och som kapabla och ansvarsfulla aktörer. I producerandet nyttjas retoriska resurser som främst är av defensiv karaktär. / Local government has an important role in society and their facts construction can have an impact on the individual citizen. In their speeches, local politicians construct descriptions of reality that are made credible by their rhetorical work. This study utilizes a discourse psychological method to investigate municipal politicians’ speech in the debate on the municipal policy regarding Orientation, Services and Economics (abbreviated IVE) for the years of 2015 throughout 2018. The study concludes that problems and solutions become facts through utilization of offensive and defensive rhetorical techniques. In the construction of the problem there is also a construction of the political opponent that has prompted the problem. The production is made credible through rhetorical resources of primarily offensive characteristics. In constructing the solution the municipal politicians position themselves close to the solution and as capable and responsible actors. In the production they use rhetorical resources that are mainly in defensive form.

Abstract This paper aims to determine the validity of the hypothesis that the effective and eloquent use of language can result in shaping beliefs and altering people’s perception of certain phenomena. In order to explore this hypothesis, a speech given by George W. Bush concerning the Iraq war is examined, followed by a brief study of two corpora, the Time Magazine Corpus and the Corpus of Contemporary American English, where the collocationpatterns of the words Iraq, evil and terror are examined. The paper starts by presenting the main concepts upon which this study is based, i.e. mental frames, the co-operative principle and conversational maxims and finally, various rhetoric devices. An analysis section follows, where George Bush’s speech is examined with the help of the concepts mentioned above and the analysis continues with the corpora-study. One of the conclusions drawn in this study is that, indeed, it is possible that language can be successfully used in order to achieve political means, and that there seems to be a shift in the American public’s perception of concepts such as Iraq and terror, visible in the use of language. However, it cannot be said with certainty whether the Bush Administration has managed to dominate public discourse, through a study as minor as this one.