Ambiguity as Discursive Strategy: A Critical Analysis of Pakistani Political League’s Selected Discourse Regarding Covid-19

This study unearths the ambiguities found in the discourseof prominent Pakistani political league during the outbreak of the pandemic covid-19 from the perspective of critical discourse analysis (CDA). CDA is an approach to the analysis of discourse which considers language as a social practice and takes particular interest in the ways in which ideologies and power relations are expressed through language (Fairclough, 2015). This paper presents a reflection to unveil the discursive strategies which are being used by the major Pakistanipolitical parties’ leaders as they did not come up with any plan of action pertaining to covid-19 yet. These statements are merely based on criticism only for the sake of criticism without any systematic planning and logical way out to get rid of this critical situation. This analysis is guided by the framework of Fairclough’s model of CDA (2015) which consists of three inter-related processes of analysis tied to three inter-related dimensions of discourse. This paper highlights the ideological perspective of Prime minister Imran Khan, opposition leaders i.e., PML-N leader ShahbazShareef, Chairman Pakistan People’s Party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and MolanaFazal-u-Rehman. This study found out that the statements which are given by the major political parties on different political forums are full of vague ideas and uncertainty about Coronavirus outbreak which is, in a way,an evidence regarding their failure to understand and tackle the dire situation.

Download Full-text

HIDING AGENCY OF SEVERE ACTIONS IN ENGLISH PRINT MEDIA: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF 2014 ISLAMABAD SIT-INS

10.31227/osf.io/7vc9f ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

ice alfionita ◽

Wendy Pandapotan Sahat Martua Simangunsong

Keyword(s):

Political Parties ◽

Critical Discourse Analysis ◽

Social Practice ◽

Basic Assumption ◽

Analytical Framework ◽

Critical Discourse ◽

Passive Voice ◽

Political Events ◽

The Media ◽

Ideological Structure

Political events of grave political importance took place in Pakistan after the 2013 elections. Suspicions of fraud in the election and murder of 14 workers at the Minhaj Trust in Lahore led two main political parties, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan AwamiTehreek (PAT) to march to Islamabad with plans to continue the demonstration visit. to overthrow the allegedly corrupt and cruel government. While covering the sitting demonstrations, the media seemed to cover the event in a slightly different way. The media support government or opposition, with more passion than ever before. Based on the CDA's basic assumption that language, as social practice, is a different network of choices that can limit and define ideological meaning, this study aims to study the role played by the election of active or passive voice structures in social development. which means three major British newspapers Pakistani-Dawn, The News, and The Nation. The analytical framework has been borrowed from major CDA analysts who see that passive voice separates agents of action or events, reduces agents/actors from action responsibilities, and builds social meaning by choosing an embedded ideological structure.

Download Full-text

Analyzing Canadian PM Justin Trudeau’s Speech about Terrorist Attack on a Muslim Family in Ontario’s London: A Critical Perspective

International Journal of Linguistics Studies ◽

10.32996/ijls.2021.1.2.2 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. 11-17

Author(s):

Ali Furqan Syed ◽

Samina Naz ◽

Rizwana Yousaf ◽

Muhammad Ali Shahid ◽

Shahnawaz Shahid

Keyword(s):

Critical Discourse Analysis ◽

Social Practice ◽

Prime Minister ◽

Terrorist Attack ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Critical Discourse ◽

Three Dimensional Model ◽

Political Leaders ◽

Critical Perspective ◽

Muslim Communities

Language considers a form of social practice in Critical Discourse Analysis, and it is frequently used in political discourse written, verbal and visual including public speeches. This paper examines the Prime Minister of Canada's press conference speech, held at the House of Commerce on June 8, 2021 (https://www.rev.com/blog, 2021), in the aftermath of a Muslim family's murder in Ontario's London. The Three-Dimensional Model of Fairclough has been used to investigate the implicit/explicit power displayed in PM Justin's speech, as well as the display of power at the textual, discursive, and societal levels, in the context of the speech's two key themes: anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobia. The study examines speech using a qualitative approach and addresses power within the discourse as well as the power behind the discourse. The findings show how language reflects political leaders' ideologies and how social behaviors can shape and be shaped by speech. The Prime Minister skillfully employed language to convey the ideological divides between Muslim communities and the western communities. After drawing the line of demarcation, he urged world leaders to take steps to resolve their differences to achieve global harmony and peace. This study enables the general public to comprehend Justin Trudeau's position on prevalent intolerance and the ideology of Islamophobia, as well as its effects.

Download Full-text

Imag(in)ing the Nation

Journal of Language and Politics ◽

10.1075/jlp.14.5.02teo ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 14 (5) ◽

pp. 645-664 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Peter Teo ◽

Cui Ruiguo

Keyword(s):

National Identity ◽

Critical Discourse Analysis ◽

Prime Minister ◽

Real Life ◽

Critical Discourse ◽

Discursive Construction ◽

Content Type ◽

Discursive Strategies ◽

Close Analysis ◽

Concrete Image

This article focuses on the discursive construction of national identity through a National Day Rally speech delivered by Singapore’s Prime Minister in 2010. Inspired by the theoretical framework of Critical Discourse Analysis and using methods developed by Halliday and van Leeuwen, it offers a close analysis of the speech, which uncovers patterns related to the type, extent and effects of various agentive roles attributed to the country, government and people of Singapore. Macro-discursive strategies like the use of specific references and real-life anecdotes calculated to reify the success of the Singapore ‘brand’ and inspire Singaporeans are also discussed. Through this multi-layered analysis, the article demonstrates how discourse transforms an imagining of Singapore’s nationhood into a concrete image of what Singapore is and what being a Singaporean is all about.

Download Full-text

Gendered Ageism and Organizational Routines at Work: The Case of Day-Parting in Television Broadcasting

Organization Studies ◽

10.1177/0170840614550733 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 35 (11) ◽

pp. 1585-1604 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Simona Spedale ◽

Christine Coupland ◽

Sue Tempest

Keyword(s):

Critical Discourse Analysis ◽

Critical Discourse ◽

Court Case ◽

Age And Gender ◽

Discursive Strategies ◽

Television Broadcasting ◽

The Social ◽

Discursive Strategy ◽

And Gender ◽

Different Levels

This article contributes to the study of gendered ageism in the workplace by investigating how the routine of day-parting in broadcasting participates in the social construction of an ideology of ‘youthfulness’ that contributes to inequality. Critical discourse analysis is applied to the final judgment of an Employment Tribunal court case where the British public service broadcaster, the BBC, faced accusations of discrimination on the basis of both age and gender. Three interrelated findings are highlighted. First, the ideology of youthfulness was constituted through discursive strategies of nomination and predication that relied on an inherently ageist and sexist lexical register of ‘brand refreshment and rejuvenation’. Second, the ideology of youthfulness was reproduced through a pervasive discursive strategy of combined de-agentialization, abstraction and generalization that maintained power inequality in the workplace by obscuring the agency of the more powerful organizational actors while further marginalizing the weaker ones. Third, despite evidence that the intersection of age and gender produced qualitatively different experiences for individual organizational actors, in the legitimate and authoritative version of the truth constructed in the Tribunal’s final judgment, ageism discursively prevailed over sexism as a form of oppression at work. These findings support the view that the intersection of age and gender in the workplace should be explored by taking into account different levels of analysis – individual, organizational and societal – and with sensitivity to the context. They also suggest that the notion of gendered ageism is still poorly articulated and that the lack of an appropriate vocabulary encourages the discursive dominance of ageism over sexism, making the intersection of the two more difficult to study and to address.

Download Full-text

Analysis of Political Discourse in Pakistani Party Manifestos

Global Social Sciences Review ◽

10.31703/gssr.2019(iv-ii).30 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol IV (II) ◽

pp. 231-237

Author(s):

Mehwish Malghani ◽

Shabana Akhtar ◽

Farhat Farooqi

Keyword(s):

Political Parties ◽

Critical Discourse Analysis ◽

Political Discourse ◽

Cognitive Model ◽

Critical Discourse ◽

The Political ◽

Discursive Strategies ◽

Party Manifestos ◽

Self Image ◽

Social Identity Approach

Political discourse is inarguably deemed an essential tool, impercetably influencing people’s perception within a socio-political zone. The present research revolve around the critical discourse analysis of manifestos of Pakistani political parties, pertaining to the general election of 2013. The theoretical framework for the study triangulates VanDijks (1998) Socio-Cognitive Model, along with the support of Turner and Tajfels (1979) Social identity approach and Budge and Farlies Salience theory (1983). The research revealed that all the political parties under study used the discursive strategies in their party manifestos in order to enhance the positive self-image of party to in-group people, by focusing the negative aspects of the out-group, thereby (re)constructing peoples political identities and ideologies and achieving the desired hegemony for itself.

Download Full-text

Discursive strategies in Nigeria’s 2015 Facebook campaign discourse

Discourse & Society ◽

10.1177/0957926518770266 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 29 (5) ◽

pp. 471-494

Author(s):

Oamen Felicia

Keyword(s):

Critical Discourse Analysis ◽

Social Practice ◽

Democratic Party ◽

Social Groups ◽

Critical Discourse ◽

Discursive Strategies ◽

Computer Mediated ◽

Mediated Discourse ◽

General Elections ◽

Political Groups

This article examined the discursive strategies employed in Facebook feedback comments which were circulated during Nigeria’s 2015 general elections’ campaigns. This was done with a view to revealing citizens’ calculated struggle for access to state resources. Data for the study comprise 2000 selected comments posted on the Facebook walls of Jimi Agbaje of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Akinwunmi Ambode of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from January to April 2015. The data were analyzed using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach, with emphasis on Fairclough’s discourse as social practice and notions from sociolinguistics and Computer-Mediated Discourse (CMD). The study reveals that commenters employed discursive strategies in the form of categorization of social groups, code switching for inclusive/exclusive discourse and representation of political groups through party symbols to characterize the in-group and others positively/negatively, respectively. Viewed against Nigeria’s challenging socio-cultural background, it could be argued that the comments though deployed to persuade reflect unequal power relations among the country’s citizenry.

Download Full-text

A Critical Discourse Analysis of Representations of Travellers in Public Policies in Ireland

Societies ◽

10.3390/soc11010014 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 14

Author(s):

Claire Jane Snowdon ◽

Leena Eklund Eklund Karlsson

Keyword(s):

Discourse Analysis ◽

Critical Discourse Analysis ◽

Social Relations ◽

Social Practice ◽

Expert Knowledge ◽

Minority Group ◽

Critical Role ◽

Critical Discourse ◽

Discursive Practice ◽

Negative Stereotypes

In Ireland, negative stereotypes of the Traveller population have long been a part of society. The beliefs that surround this minority group may not be based in fact, yet negative views persist such that Travellers find themselves excluded from mainstream society. The language used in discourse plays a critical role in the way Travellers are represented. This study analyses the discourse in the public policy regarding Travellers in the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy (NTRIS) 2017–2021. This study performs a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of the policy with the overall aims of showing signs of the power imbalance through the use of language and revealing the discourses used by elite actors to retain power and sustain existing social relations. The key findings show that Travellers are represented as a homogenous group that exists outside of society. They have no control over how their social identity is constructed. The results show that the constructions of negative stereotypes are intertextually linked to previous policies, and the current policy portrays them in the role of passive patients, not powerful actors. The discursive practice creates polarity between the “settled” population and the “Travellers”, who are implicitly blamed by the state for their disadvantages. Through the policy, the government disseminates expert knowledge, which legitimises the inequality and supports this objective “truth”. This dominant discourse, which manifests in wider social practice, can facilitate racism and social exclusion. This study highlights the need for Irish society to change the narrative to support an equitable representation of Travellers.

Download Full-text

‘A long, narrow and uphill road’: The representation of Turkey–EEC/EU relations in the Turkish newspapers Cumhuriyet and Hürriyet (1959–2019)

European Journal of Communication ◽

10.1177/0267323121999518 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 026732312199951

Author(s):

Ayça Demet Atay

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Discourse Analysis ◽

Critical Discourse Analysis ◽

Prime Minister ◽

Negotiation Process ◽

Critical Discourse ◽

Front Page ◽

The European Union ◽

News Discourse

Turkey’s membership process to the European Union has been a ‘long, narrow and uphill road’, as former Turkish Prime Minister, and later President, Turgut Özal once stated. This study analyses the representation of the European Union–Turkey negotiation process in the Turkish newspapers Cumhuriyet and Hürriyet from 1959 to 2019 with the aim of understanding the changing meaning of ‘Europe’ and the ‘European Union’ in Turkish news discourse. There is comprehensive literature on the representation of Turkey’s membership process in the European press. This article aims to contribute to the field by assessing the representation of the same process from a different angle. For this purpose, Cumhuriyet and Hürriyet newspapers’ front page coverage of selected 10 key dates in the European Union–Turkey relations is analysed through critical discourse analysis.

Download Full-text

The Enemy Next Door: The Image of Russia in Georgian and Ukrainian Political Discourses Amid Conflicts Escalation

Open Political Science ◽

10.1515/openps-2021-0018 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 194-203

Author(s):

Aram Terzyan

Keyword(s):

Discourse Analysis ◽

Critical Discourse Analysis ◽

Identity Construction ◽

Image Representation ◽

Critical Discourse ◽

Democratic Values ◽

Discursive Strategies ◽

Political Discourses ◽

The Core ◽

Standing Up

Abstract This article presents an analysis of the evolution of Russia’s image representation in Georgian and Ukrainian political discourses amid Russian-Georgian and Russian-Ukrainian conflicts escalation. Even though Georgia’s and Ukraine’s troubled relations with neighboring Russia have been extensively studied, there has been little attention to the ideational dimensions of the confrontations, manifested in elite narratives, that would redraw the discursive boundaries between “Us” and “Them.” This study represents an attempt to fill the void, by examining the core narratives of the enemy, along with the discursive strategies of its othering in Georgian and Ukrainian presidential discourses through critical discourse analysis. The findings suggest that the image of the enemy has become a part of “New Georgia’s” and “New Ukraine’s” identity construction - inherently linked to the two countries’ “choice for Europe.” Russia has been largely framed as Europe’s other, with its “inherently imperial,” “irremediably aggressive” nature and adherence to illiberal, non-democratic values. The axiological and moral evaluations have been accompanied by the claims that the most effective way of standing up to the enemy’s aggression is the “consolidation of democratic nations,” coming down to the two countries’ quests for EU and NATO membership.

Download Full-text

Constructing the myth of protest masculinity in Chinese English language news media

Gender and Language ◽

10.1558/genl.18823 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Yating Yu ◽

Mark Nartey

Keyword(s):

Critical Discourse Analysis ◽

News Media ◽

English Language ◽

Critical Discourse ◽

Social Harmony ◽

Chinese Media ◽

Research Attention ◽

Discursive Strategies ◽

News Reports ◽

The Media

Although the Chinese media’s construction of unmarried citizens as ‘leftover’ has incited much controversy, little research attention has been given to the ways ‘leftover men’ are represented in discourse. To fill this gap, this study performs a critical discourse analysis of 65 English language news reports in Chinese media to investigate the predominant gendered discourses underlying representations of leftover men and the discursive strategies used to construct their identities. The findings show that the media perpetuate a myth of ‘protest masculinity’ by suggesting that poor, single men may become a threat to social harmony due to the shortage of marriageable women in China. Leftover men are represented as poor men, troublemakers and victims via discursive processes that include referential, predicational and aggregation strategies as well as metaphor. This study sheds light on the issues and concerns of a marginalised group whose predicament has not been given much attention in the literature.

Download Full-text