Language and Politics: Pragmatic and Strategic Aspects of Language in Imam Khomeini's Leadership in the Process of Islamic Revolution in Iran

Islamic revolution realized in Iran under the leadership of a religious leader. Although the leader was in exile but he had strong connections with his followers despite his deprivation of communication means. This issue in this paper is the basis of reviewing the relationship between language and politics; so the paper tries to explain pragmatic and strategic aspects of language in Imam Khomeini's leadership in the process of Islamic revolution. In the field of study of relationship between language and politics, there are two general approaches: politics as theory and knowledge and politics as power and the realm of collective action to sustain or to change the current situation. This paper, by focusing on the second approach and by using the theories of language competence and language pragmatics in the realm of media and in mobilization of mass, will try to examine influential functions and pragmatic aspects of language in Imam Khomeini's thoughts. The findings indicate that Imam Khomeini as a scholar in mystics, ethics and jurisprudence and by his own classification of Islamic sciences introduced the pragmatism as the core of those sciences and used the language along political and revolutionary actions. Mobilizing the mass, criticizing and opposing the current situation and inviting the people to realize the Islamic state are among Imam Khomeini's pragmatic aspects of leadership.