A cognitive semanto-pragmatic analysis of the gesture-speech ensemble in Field Marshal Al-Sisi’s resignation and presidency speech

Grounded in an integrative cognitive model in which the researcher incorporates McNeill’s (2005, 2013) model of growth point (GP) where the two opposite modes of speech and gesture intersect in the context of speaking, together with Kendon’s (2004) concept of gestures as visible actions and Müller’s (2013) gestural functional model, the present article investigates the gesture-speech ensemble in Field Marshal Al-Sisi’s resignation and presidency speech, delivered on 26 March 2014, from a cognitive semantopragmatic perspective. AKVIS Sketch software version 17.0.2946.11963-r and Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended software version 12.0x64 were used as data transcription tools paving the way for the analysis. Findings indicate that the integrative cognitive model constitutes a valid tool of analysis in the present study. Moreover, the interplay of the two modes (speech and gestures) in Al-Sisi’s talk is an instantiation of the discourse of charismatic leadership delineated in the content of the speech and discerned in the use of different gestures. This article, thence, contributes to the understanding of the rhetoric of charismatic leaders from a cognitive linguistic perspective.