The power of the tongue: Inherent labeling of persons with disabilities in proverbs of the Akan people of Ghana

2020 ◽  
pp. 147332502091046
Author(s):  
Festus Yaw Moasun ◽  
Magnus Mfoafo-M’Carthy
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Physical Disabilities ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Labeling Theory ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Special Effects ◽  
Persons With Disabilities

Proverbs are an important feature of any language worldwide. In Africa, for instance, people in their everyday conversations use proverbs to add special effects and flavour. However, the inclusion of proverbs in speech goes beyond mere decoration. As a repository of African knowledge and culture, proverbs serve as a medium for educating present and future generations about society’s cultural values, beliefs, and ethics. In this powerful role, proverbs may have significant effects on speakers and their listeners. While these effects may be positive, in terms of their references to certain groups of people, proverbs may have telling effects. In this paper, we examined samples of Ghanaian Akan proverbs on mental and physical disabilities and their meanings, using critical discourse analysis and guided by labeling theory. We conclude that Akan proverbs predominantly label people with disabilities negatively, thereby leading to their stigmatization, marginalization, and exclusion. We recommend using proverbs with negative connotations for people with disabilities as a tool to educate society on how not to treat people with disabilities.

scholarly journals AN EXPLORATION OF GRAFFITI ON UNIVERSITY’S WALLS: A CORPUS-BASED DISCOURSE ANALYSIS STUDY

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nisreen Naji Al-Khawaldeh ◽  
Imad Khawaldeh ◽  
Baker Bani-Khair ◽  
Amal Al-Khawaldeh
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Language Functions ◽  
Analysis Technique ◽  
Teachers And Parents ◽  
The University ◽  
Hashemite University

Graffiti have received a great attention from scholars as they have been considered a vital cultural phenomenon for many years (Trahan, 2011; Divsalar & Nemati, 2012; Zakareviciute, 2014; Farnia, 2014; El-Nashar & Nayef; 2016). Although there are extensive contemporary researches on graffiti in many disciplines, such as linguistics, cultural studies, politics, art, and communication (Pietrosanti, 2010;  Farnia, 2014; Oganda, 2015), there are few studies exploring graffiti on classrooms’ walls in higher education milieus (Farnia, 2014). To the best knowledge of the researchers, very few studies were done on the Jordanian context (e.g. Al-Haj Eid, 2008; Abu-Jaber, et al., 2012) and none was done on the Jordanian universities. Therefore, this study aims at analysing the content and communicative features of writings found on universities’ classrooms’ walls, corridors, and washrooms and their relation to the socio-cultural values of the society in order to explore how universities help students voice their attitudes and thoughts. The linguistic features that characterise these writings were also examined. Graffiti-writings, which were collected from the University of Jordan and the Hashemite University, were coded and analysed using the thematic content analysis technique (Braun & Clarke, 2006) and Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough, 1995). The analysis of the data has shown that graffiti serve different communicative language functions related to personal, social, national, religious, political, and taboo matters. The most salient linguistic features of these graffiti are simplicity and variation. It can be concluded that graffiti are distinctive and silent ways of communication, particularly in students’ society. The study will be of great importance to linguists, sociologists, educators, administrators, teachers and parents. It is enrichment to the available literature on linguistic studies.

‘Man the hunter’: a critical reading of hunt-based conceptual metaphors of love and sexual desire

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
María D. López Maestre
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Sexual Desire ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Critical Reading ◽  
Conceptual Metaphors ◽  
Source Domain ◽  
Critical Attention

AbstractWithin the cognitive linguistics literature, many publications have dealt with conceptual metaphors about love and sexual desire (Lakoff 1987; Kövecses 2003; Barcelona 1992, 1995; Emanatian 1995, 1996.) However, a source domain that has not received the attention it merits is that of the hunt. This source domain deserves to be studied not only because of the interest in the conceptual metaphors it generates, but primarily because of the ideology and cultural values behind it. For this reason, applying a combined methodology based on cognitive linguistics and critical discourse analysis (Charteris-Black 2004; Goatly 2007), this article explores the use of the source domain of the hunt for the expression of love and sexual desire in metaphorical linguistic expressions with male hunters and female prey, paying critical attention to discourse and the ideologies about gender that are conveyed.

scholarly journals Between the Lines: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Disability Policy in Portugal

2011 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Campos Pinto
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Policy Instrument ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Disability Movement

<p>Law and policy around disability in Portugal, as elsewhere, are undergoing rapid change towards a model based on human rights for all. Whether this transformation translates into real gains for people with disabilities, however, is yet to be proved. This paper addresses this question by undertaking a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of the single most important policy instrument in the disability arena in Portugal: the <em>First National Action Plan for the Integration of People with Disabilities and Impairment </em>(PAIPDI)<em>. </em>The analysis demonstrates that while presented under a somehow different package&mdash;one in which a new discourse on rights is highlighted&mdash;there is much continuity in how the problem of disability is represented and managed in the Portuguese society. However, the adoption of the rights discourse on disability also signals an important shift, one that reflects the increased hegemony of the disability movement, not just nationally but globally. In this sense, new and exciting possibilities for disabled people are opening up to reshape the power relations that in the past have sustained their domination. Its potential, however, will greatly depend on the ability of the disability movement to build on this momentum and use human rights as a tool to push for disability justice in social, and not just discursive, practices.</p>

scholarly journals Hegemonic Discourses of Métis Identity in British Columbia, Canada

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-95
Author(s):  
Gabrielle Legault
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Colonial Institutions ◽  
Internal And External Factors

Viewing Métis identity not as a natural, essential, or fixed phenomenon, but as an experience formed through internal and external factors, this article examines the mechanisms by which people residing in British Columbia identify as Métis. Through interviewing Métis Peoples and engaging in Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Narrative Analysis (NA), this research demonstrates how Métis narratives centre on and replicate three hegemonic discourses based on racial mixedness, Métis cultural values, and Métis nationalism. The ‘Métis subject’ is then not an easily described coherent subject, but rather a co-constructed description based on transient identification with multiple and sometimes contradictory texts, which are themselves made meaningful through discourses. Understanding ‘Métis’ in this way allows for an exploration of the role of power in producing meanings of ‘Métis’ and how individuals, groups, and institutions can strategically mobilize particular meanings and resist definitions of Métis prescribed by Eurocentric perspectives embedded in colonial institutions.

Endangered Tshivenḓa Names around Ṱhohoyanḓou in Limpopo South Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matodzi Raphalalani ◽  
Thomas Sengani
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Abuse Of Power ◽  
Democratic Government ◽  
Village Life ◽  
Vhembe District ◽  
The Town

Since the establishment of Ṱhohoyanḓou (a town in Venḓa in the Vhembe district) in 1979 by the Venḓa Homeland government, new sections were identified through labels such as P-East and P-West, F and G. The process continued with the establishment of the Thulamela Municipality under the new democratic government, with more sections carrying more labels such as H, J, K, M, C, D and many more. With the municipality expanding, village names in and around the town have either been wiped out completely or replaced by new names. This is a result of the fast growth of the town in all aspects, which has resulted in the encroachment into village life, villages being engulfed with and the elimination and substitution of names. Using the Critical Discourse Analysis and Critical Eco-Linguistics theories, this article intends to highlight how dominance, control and abuse of power by the municipality have led to cases of linguistic, social and cultural impoverishment and disempowerment. Furthermore, the article demonstrates that the elimination of Tshivenḓa village names in the fast-developing town of Ṱhohoyanḓou is destroying valuable information, which could be used for the creation of knowledge for current and future generations.

scholarly journals Critical Discourse Analysis on TV Advertisements for Beauty Products

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 453
Author(s):  
Falla Nour Rohmah ◽  
Suhardi Suhardi
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Facial Beauty ◽  
Standards Of Beauty ◽  
Beauty Products

This research examines TV advertisements for beauty products on local TV from the perspective of Critical Discourse Analysis. This research mainly focuses on the use of language in beauty advertisements and the strategies used by advertisers to manipulate and influence their customers. This analysis is based on Fairclough's three-dimensional framework, which shows how the ideology of “beauty” is produced and reproduced through advertisements on TV. Qualitative research was conducted on beauty product advertisements from ten TV advertisements for beauty products in 2019. The advertisements taken and analyzed were advertisements for facial beauty products from various brands and types. The findings suggest that advertisers use a variety of strategies to manipulate women. Advertising language is used to control people's thoughts. The better the words the advertisers used to manipulate the viewers, the better reaction that they will get from the viewers. This research shows advertisers are not only promoting their products but highlighting society's standards of beauty and cultural values into the viewers’ lifestyle and how the TV advertisements have shaped the beauty ideology of social practice in Indonesia.

scholarly journals „Klatka bez drzwi i bez klucza”. Analiza aspektów poznawczych i etycznych wybranych przedstawień artystycznych niepełnosprawności i osób z niepełnosprawnościami

2018 ◽  
pp. 143-162
Author(s):  
Eva Zamojska
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Sociology Of Literature ◽  
Ethical Aspects ◽  
Ethical Problems ◽  
The Social

The aim of my paper is to analyze cognitive and ethical aspects of selected literary and film depictions of disabilities. Based on theoretical and methodological assumptions of sociology of literature and critical discourse analysis I set out to demonstrate how selected literary and film works depict situations and problems with social inclusion of people with disabilities. I concentrate on two questions: 1) How do artistic creations build non-disabled people's knowledge of the social situation and position of people with disabilities? 2) What ethical problems can such depictions involve?

scholarly journals A Critical Discourse Analysis for Advertisements in Instagram: Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and H&M

2021 ◽  
pp. 140-148
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Online Advertising ◽  
The Body ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Body Type ◽  
Body Images ◽  
Verbal Language ◽  
Online Advertisements

Online Advertising has a significant influence in this modern century; because of this, famous companies effectively use online advertisements to introduce their products. Such as Calvin Klein, H&M, and Tommy Hilfiger are some famous brand companies that use advertisements on social media for their marketing strategies. Those companies have influential followers on Instagram, and they reach many people around the world. Thus, they use online media to sell their products and deliver their cultural values to reach the target audiences. Namely, famous brand companies want to be part of the social changes. Because of this, they use visual and verbal discursive strategies for their advertisements to influence and change socio-cultural values and stereotypes of people. In other words, advertisers use discursive language to persuade people to buy beliefs, values, and ideas besides commercial products. The visual and verbal language in online advertisements reveals the hidden meanings of stereotypes: body image, racism, and LGBT rights. Therefore, the qualitative analysis method uses to analyze the brands' advertisements. As a qualitative method, the writer applies the Critical Discourse Analysis to reveal the hidden meanings of Tommy Hilfiger, H&M, Calvin Klein’s Instagram Advertisement Photos. The analysis and interpretation reveal that advertisers use different people to show that those companies think about everyone and want to reach everyone. The body type is not essential, and consumers can find different sizes of clothes. In addition, advertisers promote different body images to shape society's ideas to purchase their products and show like celebrities, who are confident, happy with their color, body size, sexual orientation, and ethnic minorities. Even visual and verbal languages show that differences are beautiful and make you forget/remove your boundaries to be free.

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