A Comparative Study of Feminist Speeches: Malala Yousafzai and Angelina Jolie through Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This study aims to conduct a Critical Discourse Analysis of Malala Yousafzai’s 2013 speech at the United Nations Youth Assembly and Angelina Jolie’s “Equality for Women” speech, both delivered at the United Nations. The objective of this research is to analyze the persuasive elements and linguistic structures present in these speeches, utilizing Fairclough’s Three-Dimensional Model of Critical Discourse Analysis as a framework for interpreting the feminist discourse. The findings reveal that both Malala Yousafzai’s and Angelina Jolie’s speeches employ persuasive language and linguistic structures that show similarities and little differences. Malala most frequently uses modes of the sentence (22.97%), thematic structure (21.62%), and nominalization (20.95%), while Angelina emphasizes nominalization (22.84%), modes of the sentence (21.73%), and thematic structure (20.89%). Other features, including pronouns, figurative language, repetition, and modality, appear less frequently but still contribute to the persuasive and ideological impact of their speeches.