A Pragmatic Analysis of Patriotism in American Independence Speeches
Abstract views: 179
/ 
PDF downloads: 25
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53032/tcl.2025.10.2.32Keywords:
Patriotism, Pragmatics, Speech Acts, Conversational Implicature, Presidential Speeches, Independence DayAbstract
This paper conducts a pragmatic analysis of patriotic language in American Independence Day speeches to explore how presidents construct and reinforce patriotic sentiment through linguistic strategies. While these speeches have been extensively studied from historical perspectives, research on their pragmatic dimensions remains insufficient. The study investigates how patriotism is expressed through pragmatic features, contributing to constructing national identity and reflecting specific historical contexts. The research adopts a qualitative methodology to analyze two presidential Independence Day speeches delivered by George W. Bush (2001, Republican) and William J. Clinton (1993, Democrat) using Searle’s (1969) Speech Act Theory and Grice’s (1975) Conversational Implicature as analytical frameworks. Findings reveal that presidents employ sophisticated layering of speech acts and strategic manipulation of conversational maxims to evoke patriotic sentiment. Each president adapts these pragmatic strategies to address the unique challenges of their era while maintaining connections to enduring American values, balancing the celebration of national achievements with acknowledgment of ongoing challenges, and constructing a vision of inclusive and distinctive patriotism.
Downloads
References
Al-Hilu, M. J. (2017). Complimenting Behaviour in the Performance of Irish English and Iraqi Arabic Native Speakers: A cross-cultural pragmatic study. (Unpublished PhD Thesis). University of Limerick.
Austin, J. L. (1962). How to do things with words. Oxford University Press.
Bar-Tal, D., & Staub, E. (1997). Patriotism in the lives of individuals and nations. Nelson-Hall Publishers.
Beasley, V. B. (2004). You, the people: American national identity in presidential rhetoric. Texas A&M University Press.
Blight, D. W. (1989). Frederick Douglass and the American apocalypse. History Today, 39(11), 37-43.
Bodnar, J. (1992). Remaking America: Public memory, commemoration, and patriotism in the twentieth century. Princeton University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691216188
Bush, G. W. (2001, July 4). Remarks by the President in Independence Day Celebration [Speech transcript]. George W. Bush White House Archives. https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/07/20010704-2.html
Clinton, W. J. (1993, July 4). Remarks at an Independence Day ceremony [Speech transcript]. The American Presidency Project. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-independence-day-ceremony-philadelphia-pennsylvania
Culpeper, J., & Haugh, M. (2014). Pragmatics and the English Language. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-39391-3
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.). (2018). The SAGE handbook of qualitative research (5th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Douglass, F. (1852, July 5). What to the slave is the Fourth of July? [Speech transcript]. Teaching American History. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/what-to-the-slave-is-the-fourth-of-july-4/
Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In P. Cole & J. Morgan (Eds.), Syntax and semantics, Vol. 3: Speech acts (pp. 41-58). Academic Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004368811_003
Hutcheson, J., Domke, D., Billeaudeaux, A., & Garland, P. (2004). U.S. national identity, political elites, and a patriotic press following September 11. Political Communication, 21(1), 27-50. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10584600490273254
Kosterman, R., & Feshbach, S. (1989). Toward a measure of patriotic and nationalistic attitudes. Political Psychology, 10(2), 257-274. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3791647
Lucas, S. E., & Medhurst, M. J. (2007). Words of a century: The top 100 American speeches, 1900-1999. Oxford University Press.
Morris, C. W. (1938). Foundations of the theory of signs. University of Chicago Press.
Patton, M. Q. (2015). Qualitative research & evaluation methods: Integrating theory and practice (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Primoratz, I. (2002). Patriotism: A deflationary view. Philosophical Forum, 33(4), 443-458. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9191.00005
Roosevelt, F. D. (1941, July 4). Radio address commemorating the 165th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence [Speech transcript]. National WWII Museum. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/july-4-1941-fdrs-address-nation
Schiffrin, D., Tannen, D., & Hamilton, H. E. (Eds.). (2001). The handbook of discourse analysis. Blackwell Publishers.
Searle, J. R. (1969). Speech acts: An essay in the philosophy of language. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139173438
Searle, J. R. (1976). A classification of illocutionary acts. Language in Society, 5(1), 1-23. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500006837
Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. Oxford University Press.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
ARK
License
Copyright (c) 2025 The Creative Launcher
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
