Ideology

Strategic Ambiguity and Discursive Power in The Contemporary Political Media Discourse: A Critical Discourse Analysis (Published)

The Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach is used in this study to examine the connection between strategic ambiguity and discursive power in the political discourse of the contemporary media. Ambiguity has become a key language and ideology in contemporary political communication, a method used by political actors and media institutions to create persuasive stories, mediate ideational conflict and consolidate institutional power. This study seeks to investigate the role of strategically ambiguous language in political media discourse and its role in creating/producing discursive power. This study is of a qualitative nature, following Fairclough’s three-dimensional model of Critical Discourse Analysis, which is further strengthened by the socio-cognitive perspective of van Dijk and discourse-historical perspective of Wodak. The texts are selected political media texts such as political speeches, televised interviews, news report, press conferences and social media’s political statements. The analysis is concerned with the identification of linguistic elements linked to strategic ambiguity like vagueness, euphemism, modality, metaphorical framing, implication and lexical indeterminacy. The results show that strategic ambiguity is a conscious communication tactic to allow political figures interpretive latitude, deflect direct blame and reach ideologically different audiences at once. The study also shows the active participation media in consolidating the ambiguity of political narratives, either by framing or selective representation, which is used to consolidate the ideology and public opinion management. Ambiguous political discourse was identified as a discursive and symbolic power that works not only as a rhetorical imprecision, but as an advanced rhetorical device. Furthermore, the analysis shows that today’s digital environments amplify the persuasive power of ambiguity by speeding up the flow of disembodied and politically charged messages that are both loaded with emotion and uncertain. This means that ambiguity fosters ideological polarization, multiplicity of interpretation and the normalization of hegemonic political narratives in today’s society. The study ends with the finding that strategic ambiguity is one of the core elements of the political media discourse of today and is an effective discursive power. It additionally shows how the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) method can be useful for revealing ideological patterns and power dynamics in political communication. The research is useful for discourse studies, political linguistics, and media analysis since it helps to better understand the role of language as a tool of ideological manipulation and socio-political control in current media environments.

Keywords: Ideology, Media Discourse, Political Communication, critical discourse analysis, discursive power, linguistic manipulation, political media discourse, strategic ambiguity

A Contrastive Critical Analysis of George Floyd’s Death in China Daily and The New York Times (Published)

Based on Fairclough’s three-dimensional model, the paper conducts a critical contrastive analysis of the reports related to George Floyd’s death in China Daily and The New York Times to reveal the hidden positions and ideologies of the Chinese and American media. It is found that at the description stage, China Daily objectively presents the main participants and holds a critical attitude towards the violent law enforcement, while The New York Times portrays George Floyd and the protesters as negative images and affirms the actions of the US police. In the interpretation level, specified sources and direct speeches are used more frequently in both media reports. But China Daily had a wide range of news sources, and a higher percentage of direct speeches than The New York Times. Regarding explanation, social factors and institutional factors contribute to the similarities and differences in constructing images of key players in the two media.

Keywords: Floyd’s death, Ideology, critical discourse analysis, three-dimensional model

Discursive Construction of Ideology in Print Media Political Interviews in Nigeria (Published)

This study examines the ideological orientations of discourse participants in selected print media political interviews (PMPIs) in Nigeria. Twenty political interviews were purposively selected from Vanguard and The Sun newspapers published between 2014 and 2016. The newspapers were selected because of their wide readership, accessibility, and coverage of political events. Privileging van Dijk’s socio-cognitive model of critical discourse analysis (CDA) and transitivity system of Halliday’s systemic functional grammar (SFG), the study unearths four main ideological constructions to characterise the PMPIs: nationalist, supremacist, sectionalist and constitutionalist. These ideologies are realised through discursive strategies such as lexicalisation, polarisation, self-glorification and negative other-presentation, with material, mental, existential and verbal processes. The study concludes that a linguistic study of political interviews enhances the understanding of political leaders’ political ideologies which will ultimately help to ameliorate the problem of leadership and governance in Nigeria.

Keywords: Ideology, Nigeria, Print Media, Transitivity, political interviews, socio-cognitive model

The Apple Store as a site of language ideologies: Arabic language as an example (Published)

Even though advertisements are thought to be mainly published for economic reasons, they are not ideology neutral. In online platforms, developers of language learning apps will need to advertise in a way that reaches a larger population and is persuasive. Utilizing Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough, 1992), Multimodal Discourse Analysis (Kress and van Leeuwen, 2008), and Bhatia’s (1993) model of rhetorical moves, this study explores how developers of some Arabic Language Learning Applications (ALLAs) make use of discursive rhetorical persuasive strategies to advertise their products. The study also investigates how these advertisements can be ideology loaded by analyzing the descriptions of three ALLAs available on the Apple store. Findings show that ALLA developers connect the Standard Arabic language with Islamic religion and the Arabs’ identity as a rhetorical persuasive move. Also, success in Arabic language learning is promised with native Arabic speakers. Other moves link Islam to multimodal discursive units, such as colors and textile.

Keywords: Apple Store, Arabic, Ideology, advertisement, rhetorical

Ideology in Unequal Treaties: A Social Actor Representations Study (Published)

This paper is an analysis of the social actors in bilateral and multilateral unequal treaties investigating the system of ideas that expresses the interests of the powerful states engaged in the treaties in question. It tries to answer the following: how do the unequal treaties represent the social actors? Thus, the study aims at uncovering the ideological stance behind including or excluding treaties’ participants.  For this end, the study analyzes six treaties using Van Leeuwn’s (1996:66) model .It has been found that social actors are represented in various ways and for various rationales. They are included to be assigned a responsibility, and to legitimate the stipulations agreed upon. They are excluded when the most significant part of the message is introduced instead, as being more important than its doers or to generalize the intended acts. In all cases, the ideological perspective involves satisfying the states’ interests.

Keywords: American treaties, Ideology, Power, critical discourse analysis

A Critical Discourse Analysis of Newspaper Headlines on the Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon (Published)

This research explores private and public newspaper headlines on the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon from a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) perspective. The aim is to find out the lexical choice and rhetorical questions used in reporting the crisis, and how they portray the ideologies of the reporters and newspaper ownership, as well as shape readers’ thoughts. Data for this study comprises 130 headlines collected from 29 randomly selected newspapers in Cameroon. Results show the use of vocabulary that shows imposition, tension and dialogue. Some rhetorical questions were also discovered. However, there was a lot of incompatibility in the way government and private newspapers reported the Anglophone crisis. Lexical choice in private newspaper  headlines paint a negative picture of the Cameroon government, and pushes readers to see the government as deliberately refusing to show great attention to the crisis, and unable to protect its citizens. On the other hand, Cameroon Tribune hedge information on the crisis, swallows tension and advocates national unity. The state owned newspaper presents the Anglophone contestants in the crisis as perpetrators or terrorists who are frustrating children’s future. Therefore, the newspaper publishers exercise power through language to influence the thought and opinion of Cameroonians on the Anglophone crisis.

Keywords: Anglophone Crisis, Ideology, Newspaper Headlines, critical discourse analysis

Investigating Feminist Tendency in Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” In Terms of Sara Mills’ Model. A Feminist Stylistic Study (Published)

This paper purports to explore the relationship between linguistic structures and socially construed meanings in a narrative text. A stylistic analysis is conducted to unravel the design agilities of Margaret Atwood’s novel “The Handmaid’s Tale”. It tries to investigate her stylistic traits whereby much of the time her words seem to cloak or obscure what really happened. By adopting Sara Mill’s Model, the researcher attempts to reveal the ideology and power relations that underpin a literary text from different levels (according to the model) word, phrase, and discourse. The evidence seems to be strong that the model, however, has identifiable functions which contribute to the effective meaning of the novel. On this basis, it may be inferred that these elements trigger and play significant roles in passing the intention of the writer across.

Keywords: Feminism, Focalization, Fragmentation, Ideology, Stylistic Analysis, Stylistics

Ideology in News Reports: Al-Jazeera Reporters As Representative: A Critical Discourse Analysis (Published)

This paper adopts a critical discourse analysis approach to investigate the way reporters of Al-Jazeera English Satellite Channel use to covey events and actions during the Syrian crisis. The study aims to find out whether reporters are neutral in their coverage or they carry an ideology which accords with one of the warring parties of conflict. It also aims at finding out the ideological implications that reporters have in the news texts toward the parties of conflict in Syria. The study hypothesizes that news reporters of Al-Jazeera are not neutral, but rather they have a prejudiced and a one-sided ideology towards the conflicted parties. For the analysis of the data, the study follows Van Dijk’s (1998) model of ‘ideological square’. The analysis is limited to investigate some discourse features, among many others, for their importance and their abundance in the data under scrutiny. Finally, the study has come with some conclusions that validate the hypotheses.

Keywords: : Modality, CDA, Contrasts, Crisis, Ideology, Media, Topics, Transparency