Political Language in Zohran Mamdani’s Victory Speech: A Critical Discourse Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15575/jp.v10i1.425Keywords:
Critical Discourse Analysis, Democracy, Ideology and Power, Political Discourse, Zohran MamdaniAbstract
This study examines how progressive political discourse articulates ideology, constructs collective identity, and negotiates power relations between the public and political elites within the context of contemporary democracy. Using a critical qualitative design, the research was grounded in Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis framework: micro, mezzo, and macro. The data were taken from Zohran Mamdani’s victory speech published by the official ABC News YouTube channel. At the micro level, Mamdani frames the electoral victory as the result of a collective struggle through lexical, modal, metaphorical, rhetorical, and agency constructions that delegitimize elites and normalize demands for structural change. At the mezzo level, the speech reconstructs the victory speech genre by linking it to a narrative of ongoing struggle through historical intertextuality and media distribution strategies that position the audience as active political subjects. At the macro level, the discourse operates as an ideological intervention that challenges neoliberal and oligarchic hegemony by asserting democratic socialism as a response to inequality in contemporary democracy. Hence, the study concludes that critical discourse analysis provides a robust analytical lens for uncovering the role of language in both reproducing and contesting power relations, thereby contributing to a more critical understanding of political discourse in democratic contexts.
References
Ahmed, B. (2024). The Electoral College’s Impact on Presidential Mandates and Agendas. Aresty Rutgers Undergraduate Research Journal, 1(5). https://doi.org/10.14713/arestyrurj.v1i5.230
Alexandrovna, S. O., & Andreevna, N. K. (2025). Just War: Critical Discourse Analysis of US Presidential Speeches. International Journal of Arabic-English Studies, 25(1), 387–402. https://doi.org/10.33806/ijaes.v25i1.604
Ato, R. A. (2025). Language and Power: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Political Speeches in English. Journal of Asian Multicultural Research for Social Sciences Study, 6(3), 67–82. https://doi.org/10.47616/jamrsss.v6i3.651
Barasa, M. N., Moinani, A. M., & Khasandi-Telewa, V. (2023). Conceptualising nationalism, revolution and opposition in political discourse by use of metaphors: the case of Raila Odinga in Kenya. Journal of Languages and Linguistics (JLL), 2(1), 44–53. https://doi.org/10.51317/jll.v2i1.347
Benschop, Y. (2009). The Micro‐politics of Gendering in Networking. Gender Work and Organization, 16(2), 217–237. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0432.2009.00438.x
Bian, Z. (2024). Human capital and socialism builders: a happy marriage? Analysing the construction of ‘high-level talent’ in Chinese higher education policy. Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-024-01379-8
Bigsby, E., & Shen, L. (2013). The effects of message features: Content, structure, and style. The SAGE Handbook of Persuasion: Developments in Theory and Practice, 20–35.
Bilandzic, H., & Busselle, R. (2013). Narrative persuasion. The SAGE Handbook of Persuasion: Developments in Theory and Practice, 2, 200–219.
Bucholtz, M., & Hall, K. (2005). Identity and Interaction: A Sociocultural Linguistic Approach. Discourse Studies, 7(4–5), 585–614. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445605054407
Dewangga, D. P. W., Budianto, S., & Wijaya, K. (2025). Fairclough’s Three Dimensions Critical Discourse Analysis of Malcolm X’s Speech at Oxford Union Debate. Gudang Jurnal Multidisiplin Ilmu. https://doi.org/10.59435/gjmi.v3i3.1475
Fairclough, N. (1995). Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language. London and New York: Longman.
Fairclough, N. (1992). Discourse and Social Change. Polity Press.
Fairclough, N. (1995). Media discourse. Edward Arnold London.
Foner, E. (1984). Why is there no socialism in the United States? History Workshop, 57–80.
Gilens, M., & Page, B. I. (2014). Testing theories of American politics: Elites, interest groups, and average citizens. Perspectives on Politics, 12(3), 564–581. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592714001595
Gormley, S. (2018). Deliberation, Unjust Exclusion, and the Rhetorical Turn. Contemporary Political Theory, 18(2), 202–226. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41296-018-0254-z
Kanwal, S., & García, M. I. M. (2019). Representation of gender through framing: A critical discourse analysis of Hillary Clinton’s selected speeches. International Journal of English Linguistics, 9(2), 321–331. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v9n2p321
Mills, C. W. (1990). Power Elite. Oxford University Press.
Patrona, M. (2025). From Victim to Avenger: Trump’s Performance of Strategic Victimhood and the Waging of Global Trade War. Journalism and Media, 6(3). https://doi.org/10.3390/journalmedia6030134
Rebollo-Bueno, S. (2024). Debating threats: fear in Spanish political election propaganda. Cuadernos.Info, 60, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.7764/cdi.60.81898
Siadari, E. (2025). Anak Semua Bangsa: Pidato Kemenangan Zohran Mamdani Ditinjau dari Fitur-fitur Pesan dan Persuasi Naratif. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.20700.65925
Sosrohadi, S., Hasjim, M., Dalyan, M., & Fathu Rahman, F. (2024). Understanding Indonesian President’s Speech in Critical Discourse: Political Power through the Power of Language Perspective. American Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Research, 12, 66–77. www.ajhssr.com
van Dijk, T. A. (2008). Discourse and Power. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-07299-3
Wodak, R., & Meyer, M. (2009). Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
Woolard, K. A. (2020). Language ideology. The International Encyclopedia of Linguistic Anthropology, 1–21.
Yates, M., & Youniss, J. (1998). Community Service and Political Identity Development in Adolescence. Journal of Social Issues, 54(3), 495–512. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1998.tb01232.x.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Citation Check
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Muhammad Nurfazri, Afita Nur Hayati, Sajidin Sajidin, Dedi Sulaeman, Vini Rizki Nurodiah, Anis Khoirunnisa Syahrussalamah, Hanifa Mawadah, Nabiel Azhari Husaeni
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in Jourrnal Perspektif agree to the following terms:- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
