Speech Acts in Strategic Diplomacy: An Analysis of Joe Biden’s Address on the Israel–Hamas Conflict

Degaf, Agwin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8551-0867, Hidayah, Rofiatul, Anggrisia, Nur Fitria and Setyawan, Agustinus Hary (2025) Speech Acts in Strategic Diplomacy: An Analysis of Joe Biden’s Address on the Israel–Hamas Conflict. Langkawi: Journal of The Association for Arabic and English, 11 (2). pp. 313-334. ISSN 2549-9017

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Abstract

Political speeches play a crucial role in shaping public opinion, constructing ideological narratives, and guiding international diplomatic relations. This study seeks to identify and analyze the illocutionary acts employed in U.S. President Joe Biden’s Oval Office address concerning the Israel–Hamas conflict, as well as to explore how linguistic choices are used to convey political positions and strategic diplomatic intentions. Drawing on Searle’s classification of speech acts—assertive, directive, commissive, expressive, and declarative—this research adopts a descriptive qualitative approach using the official transcript published by The New York Times and the corresponding video released by Sky News. The findings reveal that assertive acts are the most prevalent, serving to affirm factual information, build credibility, and articulate the United States’ foreign policy stance. Commissive and expressive acts are also frequently employed to signal moral responsibility, empathy, and alignment with particular stakeholders, while directive and declarative acts occur less often and function mainly to encourage support without imposing direct action. These findings suggest that Biden strategically utilizes speech acts to maintain a balance between authoritative leadership and humanitarian discourse within a sensitive diplomatic context. This study contributes to pragmatic analyses of political discourse by highlighting the role of speech acts as strategic instruments in managing international crises. Future studies may expand this research by investigating audience reception and the perlocutionary impacts of political speeches.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Keywords:	Illocutionary acts; Israel–Hamas War; Joe Biden; Political discourse; Speech act analysis
Subjects:	20 LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE > 2004 Linguistics > 200403 Discourse and Pragmatics > 20040301 Pragmatics - Speech Acts (incl. Locution, Illocution Perlocution)
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities > Department of English Language and Letters
Depositing User:	Dr. Agwin Degaf
Date Deposited:	15 Dec 2025 09:56

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