• Abdulrahman Alkhirbash

  Author

It has been observed that rhetorical studies focus on Western rhetoricians and societies.
Research and studies from non-western societies and cultures is still inadequate and limited. The
present study investigates the utilization of speech acts as persuasive devices by a non-western
politician as an effort to expand the scope of rhetoric from different societies. The study conducts
a rhetorical analysis on selected speeches of Mahathir Mohammad (the fourth Prime Minister of
Malaysia) to identify how he employed speech acts to persuade his audience to accept or
perform a specific action. The findings revealed that ‘Directives and Assertives’ speech acts
were utilized as persuasive devices. ‘Directives and Assertives’ speech acts were employed by
Dr. Mahathir as central elements of persuasion in his rhetoric to influence his audience and
attain persuasion.

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