Addressing Hegemony in the Speech of the US President, Barack Obama The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words.” –Philip K. Dick

Hegemony not only serves as a process of binding together the society without the use of physical power but also is sometimes used tacitly in discursive patterns as a means of persuasion and dictation of ideological perspectives. This paper is trying to discuss how patterns of discursive hegemony are linguistically realized at the lexicogrammatical level in political speeches of the president of the United States, Barack Obama, and how he exercises power as a means of persuasion when addressing the world community. Using aspects of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFG), such as tenor of discourse, modality and appraisal theory the researchers are trying to identify persuasive features latent and visible in Barack Obama’s speech. The result of the study reveals how the president of the US, using political speeches, is trying to exercise persuasion as a means of making the world community obedient and submissive to the USA.

Keywords:

hegemony , power , persuasion , community , submissive