Language use by politicall eaders in Azerbaijani media: shaping power dynamics and influencing public perception

Abstract

This thesis examines how political discourse in Azerbaijan constructs the concept of stability as a central element in state communication. The research focuses on how political language is used to justify authority, marginalize opposition, and frame dissent in relation to national unity and external threats. The study applies a combination of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and corpus-based methods to a selection of political speeches and media texts published between 2018 and 2024. The data consists of 38 texts from both state-controlled and independent media outlets. These were analyzed using AntConc (Antrony 2024) and manually to identify patterns in keyword usage, collocations, and rhetorical strategies. The analysis focuses on how terms such as stability, sovereignty, democracy, and foreign are used in different contexts to promote or contest dominant narratives. The findings show that state-aligned sources frequently link stability with legitimacy and national strength, while using exclusionary language to describe critics and oppositional actors. Independent media, on the other hand, report on repression and censorship, but face structural and legal limitations that restrict their impact. The study shows how political language in Azerbaijan functions as a tool for shaping public perception and maintaining existing power relations. It contributes to the understanding of discourse practices in semi-authoritarian contexts and the role of media in constructing political legitimacy.