Political Discourse in Light of Semiotics of Passions: Classification and Dimensions
Chafik El Oudghiri, Abdellah Boughaba
Traditional analytical approaches, such as historical, structural, and stylistic methods, have often provided incomplete analyses of political discourse, missing out on the complex structures and operational methods. Modern semiotic approaches offer more practical tools by focusing on the linguistic construction of discourse, examining the discourse producer as an active subject. This study uses the semiotics of passions to analyze emotions—such as desire, love, hate, concern, persuasion, appeal, conflict, and sarcasm—carried by the discourse producer. These emotions are reflected in expressive choices and the contexts in which they arise, aiming to clarify the meaning or highlight the emptiness of meaning within the interactive context between producer and receiver. This paper focuses on classifying political discourse into specific layers based on the semiotic proposition of “passions,” which refer to the surface-level emotions perceived in discourse. It then identifies the general dimensions of these passions within the judicial content of political discourse, considering it as influential rhetoric with specific declared or implied objectives.