A Pragmatic Analysis of Misrepresentation in American Political Interviews

Salih, Mohammed Jassim; Mohammed, Ashwaq Jassim

doi:10.25130/Lang.9.3.P2.11

	A Pragmatic Analysis of Misrepresentation in American Political Interviews
Journal of Language Studies
Volume 9, Issue 3, Part 2, September 2025, Pages 154-172 PDF (796.34 K)
Document Type: Original Article
DOI: 10.25130/Lang.9.3.P2.11
Authors
Mohammed Jassim Salih; Ashwaq Jassim Mohammed
Tikrit university, English Department College of Education for Humanties
Abstract
Misrepresentation, whether intentional (fraudulent) or unintentional (innocent), involves false or misleading statements that influence decision-making. Although misrepresentation plays a crucial role in influencing public discourse, it has been largely overlooked in scholarly research from a pragmatic standpoint, especially within the framework of political interviews." This study highlights misrepresentation in political interviews featuring Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris from a pragmatic perspective. The study aims to achieve several objectives: (1) classifying and analyzing the types of misrepresentation employed by American politicians in American political interviews , (2) examining the pragmatic models used by politicians that lead to the distortion of facts in political communication, (3) determining the frequency and prevalence of violations of Grice’s cooperative principle—particularly the maxim of quantity—in political discourse. To address these objectives and test the hypotheses, the study adopts a qualitative supported with numbers and figures. It begins with a comprehensive literature review on misrepresentation from a pragmatic standpoint. A sample of political interviews conducted by the aforementioned politicians across various American media outlets is collected and analyzed using an adapted pragmatic model for qualitative analysis.
Keywords
Misrepresentation, Speech acts, Grice’ s Maxims

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