Figurative and Rhetorical Language Style of the Speech of His Royal Highness Sultan Nazrin Shah the Sultan of Perak

Abstract

This study is a textual analysis on the figurative and rhetorical language style used in the speeche of DYMM Sultan Nazrin Shah, the Sultan of Perak, in conjunction with the “Konvensyen Memperkukuh Pasak Negara” convention. The objective is to examine the direct and indirect language styles used by the King in his formal speech and ideas he intended to convey. Gorys Keraf and Enos & Brown’s Modern Rhetorical Theory provides the theoretical grounding for this study. Both the figurative and the rhetoric expressions were extracted and classified according to suitable types. Results of the study show that Sultan Nazrin Shah has used various figurative and rhetoric language styles in his speech. These included the use of metaphor, personification, simile, antithesis, allegory, synecdoche, alliteration, assonance, acetone, tautology, hyperbole and paronomasia. The dignity of the Sultan Nazrin Shah is very much in line with his intellectual powers. His form of articulation has thus become his trademark as a sultan and a ruler of the State of Perak, in line with his desire to uphold Malay as the national language. The study also shows the sovereignty of the Malay language that, when upheld, could be the language that bridges the royal and the people. Hence, a research on leadership discourse such as this ought to be sanctioned in order to further strengthen Malay as the national language of Malaysia.