An Analysis of Personal Deictic Expressions in Selected Victory Speeches of Ghanaian Presidents

Ebenezer Asare ORCID iD, Benjamin Amoakohene ORCID iD, Margaret Ivy Gyan ORCID iD & Obed Atta-Asamoah ORCID iD

Issue: Vol. 6 No.12 Article 29pp. 3285 – 3300
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.202561229 | Published online 28th  November, 2025
© 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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The essential role that language plays in politics has engendered several studies exploring language use across different political subgenres, such as inaugural addresses, concession speeches, campaign speeches, victory speeches, and state-of-the-nation addresses.  However, little has been done on the use of personal deixis (person deixis) in Ghanaian presidents’ victory speeches. In filling this gap, this study adopted the qualitative approach using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) from the perspective of van Dijk to explore instances of personal deixis in the 2012 and 2016 victory speeches of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and President John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). In addition, the study used Levinson’s (1983) framework of deictic expressions to analyze the data. The findings confirmed that all three categories of personal deictic expressions and their variants were used in the victory speeches of the two presidents. The results further show a few disparities in how the two presidents employed personal deixis in crafting victory narratives, regardless of political party affiliation. The study emphasizes the significance of deictic expressions in political communication, highlighting their influence on Ghanaian politicians’ perceptions and ideologies. The study further recommends the effective use of deictic terms, tailored to specific contexts and target audiences, in political leaders’ communication. It offers insights into deictic expressions employed by Ghanaian presidents to assert authority and promote collective identity. Ultimately, the study’s findings contribute to a deeper understanding of linguistic strategies such as personal deixis used in political discourse.

Keywords: Critical discourse analysis, presidents’ victory speeches, deictic expressions, political discourse.

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Ebenezer Asare is pursuing a PhD in English at the University of Cape Coast. He lectures at the College for Distance & e-Learning (CODeL) at the University of Education, Winneba (Ejisu Centre). He is also a part-time lecturer at Valley View University, Kumasi. His research interests include pragmatics, genre studies, and political discourse.

Benjamin Amoakohene (PhD) is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of General and Liberal Studies of the University of Health and Allied Sciences, where he teaches Academic and Communicative Skills. He had his terminal degree in Applied Linguistics from the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. He has had the privilege to serve as the Examination Officer and the Head of Department at the Department of General and Liberal Studies of the University of Health and Allied Sciences at different times. His areas of research are Genre Studies, Discourse Analysis and Sociolinguistics. He is a member of the Systemic Functional Linguistics Group, Ghana, and the Linguistic Association of Ghana.

Prof. Margaret Ivy Gyan is an Associate Professor and, formerly, the Acting Director of the then School of Communication Studies at the University of Ghana, where she has taught Public Relations, Qualitative Research Methods, and Mass Communication since September 1992. She was Ghana’s High Commissioner to Canada from 2006 to 2009. In furtherance of her academic career and research interests, Prof. Margaret Ivy Gyan has participated in and presented papers on various aspects of communication, the environment, the media, public relations, politics, governance, and women and gender at many seminars and conferences, both nationally and internationally.

Obed Atta-Asamoah is affiliated with St. Ambrose College of Education, Dormaa Akwamu, as an Assistant Lecturer. He is a PhD candidate in the Department of English at the University of Cape Coast. His research interests include (systemic) functional use of language, (digital) discourse analysis and syntax-semantic interface. His research papers have appeared in the International Journal of Humanity Studies (IJHS), Studies in Linguistics and Literature and Human Arenas.

Asare, Ebenezer, Benjamin Amoakohene, Margaret Ivy Gyan, and Obed Atta-Asamoah “An Analysis of Personal Deictic Expressions in Selected Victory Speeches of Ghanaian Presidents.” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 6, no. 12 (2025): 3285 – 3301, https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.202561229

© 2025 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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