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CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
This chapter will be divided into two main parts. The first part of the analysis covers euphemism in the speech transcript and the componential analysis strategy
applied to observe what semantic properties are missing from the euphemistic expressions. It answers the first problem formulation of the study. The second part of
the analysis covers Bashar al-Asad’s ideologies revealed through the semantic properties which are missing from the euphemistic expressions in the speech
transcript. It answers the second problem formulation proposed in the study. There are twenty euphemistic expressions found in the transcript. These
euphemistic expressions are found in sentences in which Bashar al-Assad referred to his oppositions and the situation that the Syrian people are facing. Since this study
approaches euphemism with lexical semantics’ componential analysis strategy, the data obtained in this study are limited to the content words. They belong to different
word class or part of speech. Although most of them fall under the word class noun, some of them belong to the adjective and verb. This distribution of the euphemistic
expressions shows that Assad’s use of euphemism is not limited to certain word class. He uses euphemism whenever possible and deemed necessary. The euphemistic
expressions are displayed below in the order of their occurrences in Bashar al- Assad’s inauguration speech transcript:
No. Euphemism Word class
No. Euphemism Word class
1 subservience
noun 11
lackey noun
2 patronize
verb 12
adversity noun
3 sedition
noun 13
backward adjective
4 master
noun 14
flunky noun
5 orchestrator
noun 15
spectacle noun
6 satellite state
noun 16
shortsightedness noun
7 obedient
adjective 17
mislead verb
8 opportunist
noun 18
amateur noun
9 hypocrisy
noun 19
foreigner noun
10 challenger
noun 20
military operation noun
Table 1. Data Findings
A. Euphemism in Bashar al-Assad’s Speech
This part scrutinizes Bashar al-Assad’s use of euphemistic expressions and the meanings which are hidden due to the choice of expressions. Each expression will be
compared to other expressions using a componential analysis strategy. In componential analysis, each euphemistic expression’s lexical meaning is presented in
the form of its semantic properties, or components of meaning which altogether comprise the whole meaning of a certain word. This strategy also applies when
scrutinizing the meaning of the words which are closely related to the euphemistic expression. If a word contains a particular semantic property it is symbolized as +
and if it does not contain the said semantic property it is symbolized as -. If a word may or may not contain a particular semantic property, it is symbolized as ±.