Title

Jim Jones’s use of language as a loaded weapon: Acomponential analysis

Creator

Loucks, Joanna

Abstract

Jim Jones, a cult leader from 1954-1978, used strong loaded language to convince the nearly one thousand members of Peoples Temple to take part in a mass suicide in protest of the U.S. government. Jargon, such as the term “revolutionary suicide,” and othering are used to load the language with emotional weight and create an in-group/out-group division between cult members and the rest of the world. This essay conducts componential analysis of words Jones uses in his speech in order to see the illocutionary and perlocutionary effects of his speech on the members of Peoples Temple.

Keywords

cults

componential analysis

weaponized language

Date Available

May 28, 2026

Type

Oral presentation

Course

EN3365 L5 Semantics and Pragmatics

Instructor

Tsantila, Natasha

Session

Oral presentation

Location

Art Center Auditorium

Event

Year 2026 | 10th Annual Student Research and Creative Arts Symposium