A Socio-cognitive Approach to the Analysis of Selected American (Athletes) Celebrity Speeches

Abstract

The pervasiveness of celebrity figures in contemporary media and the effect they have on the minds of the public made investigating their discourse and exhibiting the way they think a worthy topic to study closely. Celebrities, as a social group, use language as a means of inspiration, encouragement, and empowerment. In this regard, they become exemplary and inspirational to the public by conveying their opinion, attitude, ideas, and knowledge. It is worth saying, most celebrities are simultaneously influential, especially entertainers like sports stars. Their discourse is usually imbued with and drenched in feelings, qualities, morals, and values that attract people to follow them, share characteristics with them and watch them. Accordingly, the researchers of the current study selected three American athlete celebrities' speeches to analyze and investigate the type of language used and the kind of ideology imbued within the speeches. Van Dijk’s model (1995a, 2016) of the socio-cognitive approach, mainly the discourse-cognition-society paradigm, is applied to analyze the speeches. The main aim is to show how discourse, social and cognitive structures are used to convey ideologies and what types of ideologies are instilled in the (selected) athlete celebrities’ speeches. After conducting the analysis, the study ends with the conclusion that some profile athletes are key influencers as spokespersons in society at large and they mainly depict themselves in a positive bright way that assists in spreading their mindsets and ideologies.