DISCURSIVE STRATEGIES OF IDEOLOGICAL REPRESENTATIONS IN POLITICAL SPEECHES: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF SELECTED SPEECHES OF KWAME NKRUMAH

Authors

  • Aikins Addae Department of Basic Education, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana
  • Hamidu Alhassan Saint Monica’s College of Education, Mampong, Ghana
  • Yaw Sarkodie Kyeremeh Berekum College of Education, Berekum, Ghana

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejlll.v6i2.396

Keywords:

rhetorical devices, discursive structures, linguistic expressions, ideologies

Abstract

To win political power, political actors sometimes adopt linguistic and rhetorical strategies that enable them to communicate effectively with their audience. This makes the study of the language of politics an interesting academic exercise. This study, therefore, attempted a critical discourse analysis of selected speeches of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah to investigate the role of language in creating ideology and sustaining power as well as ideological discursive structures in political speeches. The study specifically investigated linguistic expressions which carry these ideological colourations in the speeches under review. The study employed the qualitative research approach and textual analysis as the design. The purposive sampling method was used to select five speeches of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, and the analysis was done thematically. The study employed the theoretical frameworks of Fairclough’s CDA and Van Dijk’s socio-cognitive approach to analyse the speeches. The study revealed that the ideologies were carried out through these discursive structures: evidentiality, pronouns, agency, metaphor, intertextuality, rhetorical question, and strong modal of obligation. The study further revealed that the discursive structures produce and sustain power and unequal power relations between Nkrumah and his audience. The study afforded much evidence to conclude that politics is a game that can be successfully played through a skillful deployment of language. The study, therefore, concludes that the speeches that were analysed were used as a means of establishing, maintaining, and sustaining power and asymmetrical power relations.

Author Biographies

  • Aikins Addae, Department of Basic Education, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana

    Aikins Addae is a lecturer of English Language at the Department of Basic Education, University of Education, Winneba. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English, an M.Phil. in English Language and a Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Aikins is currently a PhD candidate at the Department of English Education, University of Education, Winneba. His research interests are Critical Discourse Analysis and Pragmatics, Corpus Linguistics, Political Discourse and Classroom Discourse. He has published and also collaborated with colleagues to publish in many reputable journals, e.g. International Journal of Basic Education Research and Policy, Contemporary Journal of African Studies (CJAS) and in a conference proceeding journal by Uhamka International Conference on English Language Teaching and Computer Assisted Language Learning (UICELL) Jakarta, Indonesia. He has also participated and presented a paper at the Uhamka International Conference on English Language Teaching and Computer Assisted Language Learning (UICELL), Jakarta, Indonesia.

  • Hamidu Alhassan, Saint Monica’s College of Education, Mampong, Ghana

    Hamidu Alhassan is a PhD student at the Department of English Education, University of Education, Winneba. He is also a lecturer of English language at St. Monica’s college of Education, Asante Mampong and College of Distance Education and E-learning, University of Education, Winneba. His research focus is on corpus linguistics, Critical Discourse Analysis, Pragmatics and English Pedagogy. His M.Phil. thesis was a corpus-based studies which focused on media discourse, specifically on Newspaper editorials. He has so far published in International Journal of Basic Education Research and Policy, a conference proceeding journal by Uhamka International Conference on ELT and CALL (UICELL), Jakarta, Indonesia and Contemporary journal of African Studies. He has also participated and presented a paper at international conference organized by Uhamka International Conference on ELT and CALL (UICELL), Jakarta. Again, Hamidu Alhassan has participated and presented papers at multidisciplinary research conference organized by Colleges of Education and Social Education Research.

  • Yaw Sarkodie Kyeremeh, Berekum College of Education, Berekum, Ghana

    Yaw Sarkodie Kyeremeh is a lecturer of English Language at Berekum College of Education, Valley View University, Kumasi Campus and College of Distance Education, University of Cape Coast. He holds two master’s degrees, an M.Phil. In English from University of Education, Winneba and a master of Arts in English from the University of Ghana, Legon. His M.Phil. thesis was on Critical Discourse Analysis of metaphor in some selected speeches of former president John Dramani Mahama. He is currently the Head of Department of languages, Berekum College of Education.

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Published

2022-12-20

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 2 (2022)

Section

Articles