COMPARATIVE CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESSES OF FORMAL PRESIDENT JOHN AGYEKUM KUFFOUR AND JOHN EVANS ATTA MILLS

Authors

  • Grant Essuman Centre for Communication, Liberal and Research Studies, Anglican University College of Technology, Ghana

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejals.v8i1.574

Keywords:

grammatical cohesive device, lexical cohesive device, lexico-grammatical cohesive device, anaphoric reference, associative reference, repetition, construct-based cohesion polarization, number game, evidentiality and hyperbole

Abstract

This paper seeks to do a comparative critical discourse analysis of the State of the Nation Addresses (SONA) delivered by Ghanaian former presidents John Agyekum Kuffour and John Evans Atta Mills. Using Halliday and Hasan's (1976) cohesive devices and van Dijk’s (2004) ideological discourse structure as the underpinning theory, the study seeks to identify cohesive devices and ideological underpinnings of the two addresses, that is how these formal presidents tried to rationalize their government’s ideas and strategically persuade their onlookers by employing cohesive devices and subtle ideological discourse structures in their speeches. The text used in the study contains the addresses from 2008 and 2009 of the State of the Nation, obtained from www.myjoy.com.

Author Biography

  • Grant Essuman, Centre for Communication, Liberal and Research Studies, Anglican University College of Technology, Ghana

    The author is an Anglican Priest, and applied linguist who teaches Communications Skills and Critical Thinking lecturer at Anglican University College of Technology, Ghana.  He holds B. A. Hons, Bachelor of Theology, Masters of Philosophy in Applied Linguistics and currently a PhD Candidate in the Department of Applied Linguistics at the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana. His Research interests are Applied linguistics, Discourse Analysis, Pragmatics (Post-Colonial pragmatics), Sociolinguistics, Stylistics, Language documentation.

    ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5084-1302,

    ResearchGate: www.researchgate.net/profile/Grant-Essuman,

    Academia.edu: https://uew.academia.edu/GrantEssuman,

    LinkedIn: https://gh.linkedin.com/in/rev-d-fr-grant-essuman-095b5512a.  

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Published

2025-01-10

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 1 (2025)

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Articles

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