Discursive Chain and Movement in Crisis-Driven Nigerian Political Discourse: Corpus Evidence from Herdsmen Newspaper Headlines

A central tenet of critical discourse analysis spells that language in discourse meant for mass consumption is often permeated with a reproduction and/or a resistance of certain ideologies, assumptions, and knowledge characteristic of different social groups making up the society. One of such best s...

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Main Authors: Mayowa Akinlotan, Ayo Ayodele
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Institute of English Studies 2021-09-01
Series:Anglica. An International Journal of English Studies
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author Mayowa Akinlotan
Ayo Ayodele
author_facet Mayowa Akinlotan
Ayo Ayodele
author_sort Mayowa Akinlotan
collection DOAJ
description A central tenet of critical discourse analysis spells that language in discourse meant for mass consumption is often permeated with a reproduction and/or a resistance of certain ideologies, assumptions, and knowledge characteristic of different social groups making up the society. One of such best scenarios is news headlines narrating crisis-driven national discourse in Nigeria, where almost all national discourses are driven by certain inherent ideologies and political power. In this paper, we propose a discourse chain principle uncovering the underlying socio-psychological idiosyncrasies of the participants (inclusive of agents and recipients) and processes in most national discourses in Nigeria. Combining concepts in corpus methods with critical discourse analysis, the paper shows a basic approach to operationalising ideologies in notational form. Applying corpus analytic method to 761 herdsmen news headlines extracted from Nigerian newspapers, the present paper nicely illustrates the extent to which these news headlines move the discourse-at-hand (i.e. herdsmen crisis) to discourse-around. Such movement is performed by reproducing institutionalised ideological patterns revolving around identity politics (ethnicity), religion, question of nationhood, corruption, citizenry distrust, and political power imbalance. The paper argues that this discursive movement is often driven by a chain of discourse that defines the existence of the nationhood.
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spelling doaj-art-7775e9bd91fe4f8abc58f55770fb42e72025-01-02T08:24:21ZengInstitute of English StudiesAnglica. An International Journal of English Studies0860-57342021-09-013028710610.7311/0860-5734.30.2.05Discursive Chain and Movement in Crisis-Driven Nigerian Political Discourse: Corpus Evidence from Herdsmen Newspaper HeadlinesMayowa Akinlotan0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5142-7168 Ayo Ayodele1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6481-508XCatholic University Eicshstaat-Ingoldstadt/University of Texas at AustinLagos State University Ojo, NigeriaA central tenet of critical discourse analysis spells that language in discourse meant for mass consumption is often permeated with a reproduction and/or a resistance of certain ideologies, assumptions, and knowledge characteristic of different social groups making up the society. One of such best scenarios is news headlines narrating crisis-driven national discourse in Nigeria, where almost all national discourses are driven by certain inherent ideologies and political power. In this paper, we propose a discourse chain principle uncovering the underlying socio-psychological idiosyncrasies of the participants (inclusive of agents and recipients) and processes in most national discourses in Nigeria. Combining concepts in corpus methods with critical discourse analysis, the paper shows a basic approach to operationalising ideologies in notational form. Applying corpus analytic method to 761 herdsmen news headlines extracted from Nigerian newspapers, the present paper nicely illustrates the extent to which these news headlines move the discourse-at-hand (i.e. herdsmen crisis) to discourse-around. Such movement is performed by reproducing institutionalised ideological patterns revolving around identity politics (ethnicity), religion, question of nationhood, corruption, citizenry distrust, and political power imbalance. The paper argues that this discursive movement is often driven by a chain of discourse that defines the existence of the nationhood.discourse chaindiscursive movementherdsmen discoursecorpus-based discourse analysisnigeria political discourse model
spellingShingle Mayowa Akinlotan
Ayo Ayodele
Discursive Chain and Movement in Crisis-Driven Nigerian Political Discourse: Corpus Evidence from Herdsmen Newspaper Headlines
Anglica. An International Journal of English Studies
discourse chain
discursive movement
herdsmen discourse
corpus-based discourse analysis
nigeria political discourse model
title Discursive Chain and Movement in Crisis-Driven Nigerian Political Discourse: Corpus Evidence from Herdsmen Newspaper Headlines
title_full Discursive Chain and Movement in Crisis-Driven Nigerian Political Discourse: Corpus Evidence from Herdsmen Newspaper Headlines
title_fullStr Discursive Chain and Movement in Crisis-Driven Nigerian Political Discourse: Corpus Evidence from Herdsmen Newspaper Headlines
title_full_unstemmed Discursive Chain and Movement in Crisis-Driven Nigerian Political Discourse: Corpus Evidence from Herdsmen Newspaper Headlines
title_short Discursive Chain and Movement in Crisis-Driven Nigerian Political Discourse: Corpus Evidence from Herdsmen Newspaper Headlines
title_sort discursive chain and movement in crisis driven nigerian political discourse corpus evidence from herdsmen newspaper headlines
topic discourse chain
discursive movement
herdsmen discourse
corpus-based discourse analysis
nigeria political discourse model
work_keys_str_mv AT mayowaakinlotan discursivechainandmovementincrisisdrivennigerianpoliticaldiscoursecorpusevidencefromherdsmennewspaperheadlines
AT ayoayodele discursivechainandmovementincrisisdrivennigerianpoliticaldiscoursecorpusevidencefromherdsmennewspaperheadlines