The Spanish King’s Christmas Messages as a Ritual Genre of Institutional Discourse: A Comparative Study

Abstract

The article deals with the Christmas messages of two Spanish monarchs, Juan Carlos I and Philip VI, issued from 1975 to 2018. These texts are considered to be a ritual genre of institutional discourse and are analyzed in the context of political rhetoric. Since the restoration of the monarchy in Spain in 1975, the Spanish King’s Christmas messages are thought to be the main instrument of communication of the Head of State with his citizens. Although they do not have any legal status and belong to the realm of customs and traditions, these speeches receive wide media coverage because they are one of the few occasions when the monarch addresses the Spanish people on television. This paper highlights the idea that the messages are ideologically driven and politically motivated since their major purpose is to strengthen the image of the monarchy and to convince people of the necessity and advantages of peaceful coexistence, respect for the law, and national pride. The article also focuses on the images of the past, the future, the speaker, the addressee (Spanish society), and the country. The scientific value of this paper is in providing a comparative analysis of the communicative potential of the Christmas speeches issued by Juan Carlos I and Felipe VI. It was revealed that the two monarchs appealed to the same values and feelings of their people. Juan Carlos I and Felipe VI underlined the importance of peaceful coexistence in Spain, a highly democratic country where the monarch is the symbol of its unity and permanence. As for linguistic aspects, the speeches comply with the rules of classical oratory and are characterized by a set of common features: for instance, both monarchs employ the same rhetorical devices and communicative strategies in order to impact the audience and make the message more direct and influential. Nevertheless, Felipe VI makes his messages more personal, emotional and appealing, in comparison with the messages of his predecessor. The authors described invariant and variative features of the Christmas speeches issued by two Spanish monarchs taking into account some differences which can be explained by the social, economic and political context of modern Spain.

Keywords: Christmas message, New Year’s Message, Spanish monarch, ritual genre, institutional discourse, political discourse