• Salih Usun

  Author

This study analyzes the linguistic means and strategies used in the UN General Assembly (UNGA) speeches for the period of 2020 to 2025. It is aimed at revealing how language is used to influence diplomatic discourse and its impact on international relations. Using discourse analysis and corpus linguistics, the study analyzes speeches of state leaders and high-profile diplomats in order to identify linguistic characteristics and figures of speech used by speakers. This study also shows how the studied linguistic tools are utilised to express certain power relations, resolve conflicts, and promote global cooperation. In this study, analyze the sample consisting of 150 UNGA speeches over five years, containing 450,000 words in total. The texts were analyzed manually and using automated tools, including AntConc and NVivo. Typical for diplomatic language were such phrases as "cooperation," "peace," and "global community." Regarding the analysis, concerning the frequency of different linguistic elements, it has been identified that the frequency rate of hedging was 40.9 times per 10,000 words, whereas the frequency rate of modality was 47.3 times per 10,000 words. Metaphors and politeness strategies performed an equal role, where the frequency rate of politeness strategies was 14.3 times per 10,000 words. These findings indicate variability in linguistic trends according to regionality instead of static regional differences. The results show that there is a possibility for the use of a more assertive tone in some speeches from the Global North, and an indirect and more polite approach in some from the Global South. They represent specific tendencies from these data sets, not general features. In sum, the research demonstrates how language impacts diplomacy and international negotiations.

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