Language and Diplomacy: The Depiction of Mexican Immigrants in Donald Trump's Anti-Immigrant Discourse

Document Type : Original Article

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Department of English Language and Literature The British University in Egypt

Abstract

It is widely believed that proper language use plays a crucial role in successful international relations between countries. Therefore, the current paper aims to analyze the language used by President Donald Trump addressing the issue of Mexican immigration to the USA from the lens of the appraisal theory of Martin and White (2005). The study uses data of Trump’s language including tweets, speeches, press conferences, and round table discussions from the White House records. Furthermore, the study applies quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis and relies on two software wares, TagAnt and Antconc to facilitate the research process. The findings demonstrate that Trump used negative attitudinal resources, with Judgment resources as the predominant attitude. Also, the results show that Trump portrayed a negative image of Mexico and the Mexican immigrants to justify his coercive measures against Mexicans. The findings indicate that Trump's language regarding Mexican immigrants was undiplomatic, highlighting the impact of the language choices used by diplomats and political leaders on maintaining effective international relations when addressing concerns with other countries.

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