Unveiling Persuasion: An Analysis of Person Deixis in Leni Robredo's Letter to Harry Roque

—Various studies have delved into persuasion, aiming to understand how individuals influence others' beliefs. In political discourse, politicians leverage language manipulation and devices like person deixis to persuade audiences effectively. Most research focused on analyzing person deixis in political speeches while limited number of studies investigated its utilization by politicians in written contexts. There has been minimal studies of how politicians employ person deixis as a persuasive strategy, except for a few studies within the rhetoric discipline. This study sought to examine how person deixis was utilized as a persuasive instrument in Leni Robredo's letter to Harry Roque. The research utilized both quantitative and qualitative analysis methods, examining a corpus sourced from CNN Philippines' official Twitter account. The researchers then identified and analyzed instances of person deictic expressions within the letter. The letter includes 106 instances of person deixis. Leni Robredo utilized a variety of person deixis in her letter to Harry Roque, with a predominant use of 'we' to emphasize collective efforts. Additionally, she strategically employed 'I' to convey her personal belief and 'we' to outline both challenges and proposed solutions for government attention. The strategic use of person deixis can enhance the persuasive impact of politicians' communication strategies.