“Inspiring Hope, Accelerating Peace and Progress: A Discourse Analysis of Social Change and Sustainability" on Speech by Sima Bahous

Abstract

This study focuses on the textual analysis of the speech of Sima Bahous (UN Women Executive Director) opting a Multi Modal Discourse Analysis to find out can discourse of hope and progress, influence of power relations and role of language to accelerate social identities and relationships. The findings show that language has a powerful role in developing power relations and shaping the discourse of hope and progress. The study concludes that the speaker uses appropriate, commissive and assertive and authoritative language along with complex syntactical structures coined with rhetorical devices e.g., alliteration, similes, metaphors and cohesive devices which made her speech more powerful and influential.