Language and Manipulation: A Critical Discourse Analysis of All Progressive Congress (APC) and People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) War of Words

Authors

  • Ebere Celina Krisagbedo University of Nigeria
  • Jacinta Ukamaka Eze University of Nigeria
  • Juliana Ginika Mamah University of Nigeria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1107.11

Keywords:

manipulation, critical discourse analysis, ideological square, positive self

Abstract

This paper examines the crucial role language plays in manipulating the act of discourse comprehension as a means of constructing mental models meant to effect mind control against the people’s best interests. To achieve this, the study utilises the rich resources of critical discourse analysis (CDA) precisely, the socio-cognitive framework, to analyse media political discourse within the Nigerian context. A number of discourses that hinge on the APC and PDP’s war of words over the issue of corruption extracted from the online editions of Nigerian newspapers constitute the data used for the study. The result of the data analysis indicates that Nigerian politicians consciously indulge in positive self-presentation and negative-other presentation by making use of the ideological square in the portrayal of self for the sole purpose of imposing their ideological designs on the entire populace in order to gain political dominance. Through the ideological square, each of the political parties aims at emphasizing the positive sides of its actions and the negative aspects of the other party while de-emphasizing its negative activities and the positive sides of the other through the use of manipulative language. Such manipulative use of language disables the people’s critical thinking for the manipulators’ benefit.

Author Biographies

Ebere Celina Krisagbedo, University of Nigeria

Use of English Unit, School of General Studies

Jacinta Ukamaka Eze, University of Nigeria

Department of Linguistics, Igbo and Other Nigerian Languages

Juliana Ginika Mamah, University of Nigeria

Department of Linguistics, Igbo and Other Nigerian Languages

References

Agbedo, C.U. (2019). Sounds of double speak in Nigerian media political discourse. In E.E. Mbah & C. U. Agbedo (Eds). Sound Matters: A Festschrift in honour of Prof. Clara Ikekonwu. Nsukka: University of Nigeria Press Ltd.

Akwanya, A. N. (2005). Language and the Habits of Thought 3rd ed. Enugu: New Generation Books.

Albert, C. S. & Salam, A.F. (2013). Critical Discourse Analysis: Towards Theories in Social Media. Proceedings of the Nineteenth Africa’s Conference on information Systems.1-8.

Amoussou, F. & Allagbe, A. (2018). Principles, theories, and approaches to critical discourse analysis. International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature 6(1), 11-18.

Awotayo, O. B. (2018). "contextualizing “change”: a critical discourse analysis of the “change” slogan in Nigerian Political Discourse (2014 to present)", Open Access Master's Thesis, Michigan Technological University. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/etdr/561/ on 24 April 2019.

Brown, G. & Yule G. (1983). Discourse Analysis. Cambridge, Cambridge UP.

Ehineni, T.O. (2014). A Critical Discourse Analysis of Modals in Nigerian Political Manifestos. International Journal of Linguistics 6(3), 109-117.

Fairclough, N. (1993). Critical discourse analysis and the commodification of public discourse. Discourse and Society 4(2), 133-168.

Fairclough, N. (1995). Critical Discourse Analysis. London: Longman

Fairclough, N. & Wodak, R. (1997). Critical Discourse Analysis. In Discourse as Social Interaction, T. van Dijk, (Ed.) London: Sage. 258-84.

Hammersley, M. (1997). On the Foundations of Critical Discourse Analysis. Language and Communication 17, 237-248.

http://www.dailypost.ng/

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/

https://www.vanguardngr.com/

https://www.scribd,com/

https://www.nigeriastandardnewspapers.com/

https://www.mafiadoc.com/

htttps://www.grim.com/

https://www.hdl.handle.net/

https://www.journal.euser.org/

http://www.thedefenderngr.com/

https://www.newsbreak.ng/

https://paulsals.org.uksa/

https://www.repository.essex.ac.uk/

http://www.digitalcommons.hamline.edu/

https://www.brisjat.com/

https://www.peopleandpolitics.com.ng/

http://punch.org.com/

Ines, G. (2014). A Critical Discourse Analysis of Self-presentation through the use of cognitive processes Associated with ‘we’. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 5(3), 550-558

Jamie, S. (2007). North Korea, South Korea, and 007 Die Another Day. Critical Discourse Studies 4(2), 207-235.

Jorgensen, M. & Phillips, L. (2000). Discourse Analysis as Theory. London: SAGE Publications.

Nicole, M. .E. (2020). LGBTQ+ Civil Rights: Local Government efforts in Volatile Era. Public Administration Review 80(6), 107-1086.

Ogunmuyiwa, H. O. (2015). A Critical Discourse Analysis of Corruption in Presidential Speeches. International Journal for Innovation Education and Research 2(12), 31-50.

Page, M. T. (2018). A New Taxonomy for Corruption in Nigeria. Washington DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Pennycook, A. (1994). Incommensurable discourses? Applied Linguistics, (15), 115-138.

Sheyholislami, J. (2001). Yesterday’s “separatists” are today’s “resistance fighters”: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the representation of Iraqi Kurds in The Globe and Mail and The New York Times. M.A. Dissertation. Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.

Richard, B. & Nwuizu, S. S. (2017). A Critical Discourse Analysis of Courtroom Proceedings in Nigeria. International Journal of Arts and Humanities 6(4), 93-102.

Rogers, R. (ed) (2004). An Introduction to Critical Discourse Analysis in Education, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Rotimi, T. (2007). Language, Ideology and Power Relations in Nigerian Newspaper Headlines. Nebula 4(1), 218-245.

Suileman-shika, M. (2019). A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Moral-Boosting Songs and Chants of Soldiers in 14 Brigade Barracks, Ohafia, Abia State of Nigeria. Journal of English and Cultural Studies 2(1). 19-32.

Ugwuona, C. N. (2015). Boko Haram as a Discourse Topic in Nigerian Print Media. Journal of Culture, Society and Development 5, 53-57.

svan Dijk, T.A. (1993). The principles of critical discourse analysis. Discourse and Society 4(2), 249-283.

van Dijk T. A. (1998). Ideology: A Multidisciplinary Approach. London: Sage Publications.

van Dijk, T. A. (2001). Critical Discourse Analysis. In D. Tannen, D. Schiffrin & H. Hamilton (Eds.), Handbook of Discourse Analysis. (pp. 352-371). Oxford: Blackwell. Retrieved from http://www.discourses.org/ Retrieved: 12 April 2019.

van Dijk, T.A. (2006). “Discourse and manipulation.” Discourse and Society 17(2), 359-383.

van Dijk, T. A. (2009). Critical discourse studies: A socio-cognitive approach. In R. Wodak & M. Meyer (eds.) Methods of critical discourse analysis. London: Sage, 62-86.

Weiss, G. & Wodak, R. (Eds). (2003). Critical Discourse Analysis Theory and Interdisciplinarity. Palgrave: MaCMillan Ltd.

Widdowson, H.G. (2000). On the Limitations of Linguistics Applied. Applied Linguistics 21(1), 3-25.

Wodak, R. (2007). Pragmatics and critical discourse analysis: A cross-disciplinary inquiry. Pragmatics & Cognition 15(1), 203-225.

Wodak, R. & Meyer M. (Eds.) (2001). Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis, London: SAGE Publications.

Yasemi, K. & Aghagolzadeh, F. (2015). Critical Discourse Analysis of Face to Face Book by van Dijk Framework. Magnet Research Report 3 (2), 627-636.

Downloads

Published

2021-07-01

Issue

Section

Articles