Politeness Strategies used in Kamala Harris’s and Donald Trump’s 2024 Post-Election Speeches

Abstract

After the election results were announced, to maintain a personal face and respect the face of the audience, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump performed their post-election speeches on November 6th, 2024. This study focuses on Politeness Strategies used by Kamala Harris to handle her defeat and by Donald Trump to achieve his victory. The problems of the study are: How are the politeness strategies realised in Kamala Harris’s and Donald Trump’s post-election speeches? What are the similarities and dissimilarities of the politeness strategies used in both post-election speeches? This study used a qualitative approach with a content analysis design to analyse and discuss the use of politeness strategies in Harris’s and Trump’s post-election speeches using the politeness strategies framework of Brown and Levinson (1987). The data were collected from the YouTube platform. The data showed that Harris’s and Trump’s speeches used different politeness strategies. According to this study, Kamala Harris was the only speaker to employ all four of the main politeness strategies. However, the usage of positive politeness: including the speaker and the hearer in the activity, was the first dominant strategy between both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris spoke more selectively to show respect for the audience and Trump. She gave encouragement and built emotional connections to her supporter. However, Donald Trump mostly expressed his appreciation and future pledges. He often exaggerated his remarks to the crowd to express his excitement for the audiences.