The President’s word: Construction of presidential authority in April 25th speeches

Abstract

The celebration of April 25 is an institutional discursive event that has as its central part the presidential speech.
The main goal of this paper is the analysis of the construction of the speaker’s authority image, within a pragmatic-enunciative theoretical perspective.
The presidential celebration speeches of the Revolution highlight the social-political function of the President of the Republic and the speaker’s image, a characteristic of this discursive genre. The aim is to consider the construction of the presidential ethos, while image of authority in two parts that combine the institutional image of President of the Republic with the public image of the President. The data consists of presidential speeches of the celebration of the 25 April (from 1974 to the centenary of the Republic), covering the speeches of the four elected presidents after April 25.