INDIRECT SPEECH ACTS AND POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN POLITICAL DISCOURSE: A PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF IMRAN KHAN SPEECHES

Abstract

The present qualitative research focuses on discovering how indirect speech acts and politeness strategies are used in the political speech of Imran Khan, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan. The framework includes two theories that are respectively Searle’s Speech act theory and Brown and Levinson  (1987) Politeness Theory.  A particular sample of five speeches (2018-2022) has been picked up through the application of purposive sampling as the part of an attempt to understand how the concepts of indirectness and politeness are used strategically to shape the perception of the listeners, control their actions, and to project political positioning. The results highlight the importance of politeness as having an persuasive and defensive role in political rhetorics to protect an image and be a people’s navigator through power dynamics of politics. The study is useful in examining the role of pragmatism strategies in South Asia high stakes political communication.