CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF SELECTED CAMPAIGN SPEECHES OF PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI AND PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN IN THE 2011 ELECTIONS

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Date
2020-02
Authors
ISA, Saratu Shuaibu
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Abstract
This study emphasizes that the pursuit, gain for, and exercise of power is characterized by the crafty use of language. Persuasion and conviction of the electorate to obtain their support and acceptance, manipulating the audience towards accepting a particular ideology depends to a large extent on the kind of language used by the politician. The aim of the study is to investigate the pattern of language used in the selected campaign speeches with a view to determining the extent to which language works in any political dispensation. In this regard therefore, the study is a critical discourse analysis of selected campaign speeches of President Muhammadu Buhari and President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2011 elections. The study utilizes the eclectic approach to CDA which consists of Fairclough‘s (1992) three dimensional model, van Dijk‘s (1998) ideological model and Chilton‘s (2004) representation model. Data for the study were speeches purposively selected and obtained from National Television Authority (NTA), Abuja and downloaded written speeches from the internet. The speeches are of the two strong presidential aspirants from the leading parties in the country, Muhammadu Buhari, Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and Goodluck Jonathan, People‘s Democratic Party (PDP). The data obtained were analysed through the following mechanisms: Power Relations, Rhetorical Devices, Identity Construction, and Ideological Interests. The findings revealed that both speakers used different rhetorical devices to persuade and appeal to the audience to attain political power; that the discourse structure of campaign speeches is such that politicians first of all carry out their image construction before they address national issues, and that the use of intertextuality permeated the campaign speeches where the mechanism was used to portray the background of the two aspirants. The study has concluded that campaign speeches by politicians are ideological and often invested with the tendencies to confuse, persuade, dominate and control the minds of the electorate. The study therefore, recommends that for any rigorous analysis to be carried out in campaign speeches, attention should be given to two matters: matter of language and matter of politics which are ultimately ideological.
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A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE POST GRADUATE SCHOOL, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY NIGERIA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (Ph.D) DEGREE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND LITERARY STUDIES, FACULTY OF ARTS, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, NIGERIA
Keywords
CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS,, SELECTED CAMPAIGN SPEECHES,, PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI,, PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN,, 2011 ELECTIONS.
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