PERSUASION OR MANIPULATION: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF IMRAN KHAN’S UN SPEECH USING NEURO-LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING (NLP)

Abstract

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is a set of methods that enable one to understand human behaviour in all aspects. Neuro-Linguistic Programming helps individuals gain insight into their psychological behaviour or that of others. The paper provides a critical analysis of persuasive means in Imran Khan's speech at the 2021 United Nations General Assembly, employing an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), and computational linguistic tools. The paper lists fifteen types of rhetorical patterns, including embedded commands, presuppositions, cause-and-effect structure, and gaslighting, in tandem with the psychological and linguistic theories of influence. These patterns were detected and visualized with the help of Python-based scripting (NLTK and regular expressions), and ChatGPT helped perform the interpretive annotation and thematic classification. The manual verification was conducted to ensure contextual accuracy and eliminate automation bias. This analysis demonstrates that the results form a careful sandwich of emotional appeals, moral appeals, and rhetorical shortcuts that avoid overanalysis and redefine political discourse. Techniques such as universal quantifiers and time distortion help develop the sense of urgency and the semblance of consensus. The findings are presented with the aid of visual aids, such as word clouds and pie charts, to illustrate the strategic rhetorical construction of the speech. This paper contributes to the emerging body of literature on political language, presenting an understanding of how neuro-linguistic and computer-based deliberation procedures operate in high-stakes international communication. It poses serious ethical concerns about the thin boundary between persuasion and manipulation in the political rhetoric of modernity's tactics.