Conceptual and Ideological Framing in the Arab Spring Political Speeches: A Cognitive Discourse Analysis of Mubarak’s Speeches: A Contrastive Study
The study adopts a Cognitive Critical Discourse Analysis (CCDA), integrating the frameworks of Lakoff (1987), Lakoff & Johnson (1980) van Dijk (2008), Hart (2014, 2023), and Chilton (2004). It explores how discourse reflects changes in speakers’ mental representations, conceptualizations, and ideological positioning. Using a qualitative and contrastive research design, the analysis examines how conceptual metaphors, conceptual framing, mental models, and ideological framing are employed to construct representations of leadership, responsibility, national identity, political change, political legitimacy, and the relationship between the president and the Egyptian people. The findings reveal substantial transformations in Mubarak’s discursively constructed political mentality across the two historical contexts. In the inaugural speech, his discourse predominantly reflects a future-oriented and developmental mentality characterized by conceptualizations of leadership as nation-building, collective progress, and institutional reconstruction. By contrast, the Arab Spring speeches exhibit a defensive and preservation-oriented mentality in which leadership is framed primarily as protection, responsibility, and the maintenance of political stability amid perceived national crisis. These shifts are manifested through systematic changes in conceptual metaphors, cognitive frames, and ideological strategies that legitimize political authority under contrasting political circumstances.
