The Influence of Epistemic Modal Nouns on Public Opinion: A Study of Bush's Presidential Speeches on the Iraq War & Implications for Educators

Abstract

The controversy surrounding the justification for the Iraq War has sparked numerous political and linguistic studies to explore the issue of Iraqi war and analyze how George W. Bush convinced the world to remove the Iraqi government. This study focuses on the Iraq War and analyzes the use of epistemic modal nouns in political speeches, specifically The State of the Union Speeches and The War Speeches, which were chosen due to their significance in persuading the public about the war. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyze epistemic modal nouns based on Biber (2006), Varttala (2001) and Vukovic (2014) framework. The findings show that George W. Bush relied heavily on 10 functions of epistemic modal nouns in both genres, including anticipation, contemplation, conviction, desire, likelihood/possibility, making decisions, prediction, and tricky/elusiveness. These modal nouns were intended to persuade the public rather than inform them about Bush's actions and objectives to resist and eliminate Saddam Hussein's regime. Additionally, the study highlights that explanations beyond the use of epistemic modal nouns generated public agreement and support, reassured the public, and reduced concerns raised by the opposition. This study has implications for linguistics educators.