Approach of the study

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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 ±.