الفهرس 
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Abstract
The present thesis employs a critical discourse analysis approach to Barak Obama’s 2012 Presidential Inaugural speech. Critical Discourse Analysis has become the general label for a contemporary approach to the study of speech and talk. CDA, as it is often abbreviated, targets all levels and dimensions of discourse, viz. those of phonology, syntax, semantics, speech acts, pragmatic strategies, and those of interaction, among others. It studies discourses in political and social institutions and focuses on how social relations, identity, knowledge and power are constructed through written and spoken texts. It is ’critical’ as it aims at revealing the implicit social, political, and ideological mechanisms at work in spoken and written tasks. It is applied to any kind of discourse: real, political, social, literary, etc. Its ultimate goal is social and political, namely change. A candidate must speak not only to the brain but also to the heart, not only to the ears but also to the eyes through the messages of their speeches. CDA focuses on relations of power, dominance and inequality and the ways these are reproduced or resisted by social group members through text and talk. It employs manipulation, legitimation, and the manufacture of consent to influence the minds of people in the interest of the powerful. This uncovers the discursive means of mental control and social influence of the powerful and the elites who abuse their power. Furthermore, it is a program of social analysis that critically analyses discourse - that is to say language in use - as a means of addressing social change. The present thesis analyzes Barak Obama’s 2012 Presidential Inaugural Speech from a critical discourse perspective. It spotlights Obama’s linguistic dexterity which manifests itself in his ability to effect an amazingly high degree of mind control and hence change in the mentalities of all those who listen to him, American citizens or others.