SAUDI ARABIA’S TRANSFORMATION AND ITS GLOBAL IMPACT ON LINGUISTIC AND DISCOURSE-PRAGMATICS

Abstract

This dissertation examines the evolving Western perceptions of Saudi Arabia under HRH Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s (MBS) leadership, focusing on U.S. online discourse and MBS’ communication strategies. Employing a multi-perspective analysis, the study investigates how MBS’ leadership has affected Western, particularly American, views of Saudi Arabia as reflected in media discourse and public opinion. The research is structured around three interconnected studies. The first study examines MBS’ hedging strategies in his 2023 Fox News interview with Bret Baier, highlighting how linguistic devices are employed to navigate sensitive topics, manage ambiguity, and maintain public image. The analysis reveals that MBS strategically uses hedges, such as modal verbs and approximators, to convey pragmatic functions such as caution and avoidance of firm commitments on controversial issues. It demonstrates that his use of hedging is comparable to that of other politicians, such as President Barack Obama (of the United States) and King Abdullah II (of Jordan). The second study employs Conversation Analysis (CA) methodology to subject YouTube comments on MBS’ 2023 Fox News interview to empirical inspection, focusing on adjacency pairs (AP) with the view to synthesizing and analyzing the interactional patterns and thematic content of the interview. This study reveals varied comments showing strong feelings about MBS’ leadership, vision for Saudi Arabia, and handling of international issues. User interactions demonstrate the negotiation of meaning, highlighting the contentious nature of MBS’ public image. The third study is a longitudinal analysis of Reddit users’ discourse from primarily US-focused subreddits about the political image of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 2015 to 2023, utilizing computer-mediated discourse analysis (CMDA) and the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) tool. The study finds increased analytical thinking over time, particularly following major political events. Clout, authenticity, and emotional tone fluctuated, with clout peaking during significant events like the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The discourse generally maintained a negative emotional tone, with a slight positive trend in later years. By integrating pragmatic, conversational, and computational methodologies, this dissertation provides a nuanced understanding of how MBS’ leadership and Saudi Arabia’s reforms have been portrayed and debated in digital spaces. It contributes to discourse analysis, media studies, and international relations by offering insights into the interplay between leadership rhetoric, media representation, and public opinion in the digital age.