Understanding Discourse Analysis (Languages and Linguistics) 1536176451, 9781536176452

Table of contents :
Contents
Preface
Chapter 1
‘We, the People’: An Analysis of US Presidential Discourse through a Pragma-Dialectic Approach to Argumentation Theory
Abstract
Introduction
Theoretical and Methodological Background
Psychological and Discursive Traps
The Pragma-Dialectic Approach to Argumentation Theory
Findings
President Ronald Reagan and His Discursive Practices
President George W. Bush and His Discursive Practices
President Barack Obama and His Discursive Practices
Conclusion
References
Chapter 2
Analysing Written Texts in Education Policy Research: Does Critical Discourse Analysis Offer Any Prospects?
Abstract
Introduction
Ghana’s Post-Independence Educational Activities: A Brief Historical Account
Theoretical Framework/Resource
Defining CDA
Why CDA?
Access and Selection of Texts/Extracts
Analysis Procedure
Analysis of Selected Texts/Extracts
Extract One: Article 38, Sub-Sections 1 and 2 of the 1992 Republican Constitution of Ghana (GOG 1992)
Linguistic Analysis
Interdiscursive Analysis
Extract Two: Mission Statement for Education: Education Strategic Plan [ESP. Volume 1: 2003 to 2015] (Ministry of Education, May 2003)
Linguistic/Textual Analysis
Interdiscursive Analysis
Extract Three: Government’s White Paper on the Report of the Education Reform Review Committee (GOG 2005: 9-10)
Linguistic Analysis
Interdiscursive Analysis
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
References
Appendix: Extracts/Texts Selected for Analysis
Extract One: Chapter 6, Article 38, Section 1 and 2 of the 1992 Constitution of the Fourth Republic of Ghana (GOG 1992)
Extract Two: Mission Statement for Education: Education Strategic Plan (ESP. Volume 1: 7) 2003 to 2015 (Ministry of Education, May, 2003)
Mission Statement for Education
Goals for the Education Sector
Extract Three: Government’s White Paper on the Report of the Education Reform Review Committee (GOG 2005: 9-10)
The Future Direction of Education in Ghana
Chapter 3
Prediscourses as a Discourse Analytical Tool: Tracing Specters of Marx in Estonian Media Discourse
Abstract
Introduction
Linguistic Materialism in the Study of Ideology: Pêcheux’s Interdiscourse
Linguistic Materialism in the Study of Sociocultural Memory: Paveau’s Prediscourses
‘Marx’ in Estonian Print Media
Our Corpus
Discussion: Marx as a (Problematic) Father
Conclusion
References
Chapter 4
Translating the Discourse Markers ‘wa’ and ‘and’ between Modern Standard Arabic and Present Day English
Abstract
1. Introduction
1.1. Preface
1.2. Goals
1.3. Contrastive Discourse Analysis: Redefinition of Major Paradigms
1.3.1. Contrastive Rhetoric and the Functions of Markers in English and Arabic
2. Method
2.1. Study Design
2.2. Corpus of the Study
2.3. Framework of Data Analysis
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Results of the Arabic Corpus
3.2. Results of the English Corpus
Conclusion
A Summary of Findings
References
Biographical Sketches
Chapter 5
Critical Discourse Analysis in Consumer Studies: Potentialities and Research Agenda
Abstract
Introduction
Theoretical Perspectives
The Discursive Construction of Reality
Discourse Analysis and Its Various Aspects
Critical Discourse Analysis
The Field of Consumption Studies
The Articulations of Consumer Studies with Critical Discourse Analysis
Conclusion
References
Biographical Sketches
Index
Blank Page

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LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS

UNDERSTANDING DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

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LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS Additional books and e-books in this series can be found on Nova’s website under the Series tab.

LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS

UNDERSTANDING DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

ANGELIQUE MAJORY EDITOR

Copyright © 2020 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, electrostatic, magnetic, tape, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the Publisher. We have partnered with Copyright Clearance Center to make it easy for you to obtain permissions to reuse content from this publication. Simply navigate to this publication’s page on Nova’s website and locate the “Get Permission” button below the title description. This button is linked directly to the title’s permission page on copyright.com. Alternatively, you can visit copyright.com and search by title, ISBN, or ISSN. For further questions about using the service on copyright.com, please contact: Copyright Clearance Center Phone: +1-(978) 750-8400 Fax: +1-(978) 750-4470 E-mail: [email protected].

NOTICE TO THE READER The Publisher has taken reasonable care in the preparation of this book, but makes no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of information contained in this book. The Publisher shall not be liable for any special, consequential, or exemplary damages resulting, in whole or in part, from the readers’ use of, or reliance upon, this material. Any parts of this book based on government reports are so indicated and copyright is claimed for those parts to the extent applicable to compilations of such works. Independent verification should be sought for any data, advice or recommendations contained in this book. In addition, no responsibility is assumed by the Publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property arising from any methods, products, instructions, ideas or otherwise contained in this publication. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered herein. It is sold with the clear understanding that the Publisher is not engaged in rendering legal or any other professional services. If legal or any other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent person should be sought. FROM A DECLARATION OF PARTICIPANTS JOINTLY ADOPTED BY A COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION AND A COMMITTEE OF PUBLISHERS. Additional color graphics may be available in the e-book version of this book.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data ISBN: 978-1-53617-645-2 Library of Congress Control Number: 2020934212

Published by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. † New York

CONTENTS Preface Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

vii ‘We, the People’: An Analysis of US Presidential Discourse through a Pragma-Dialectic Approach to Argumentation Theory Maria Ferreira and Pedro Fonseca Analysing Written Texts in Education Policy Research: Does Critical Discourse Analysis Offer Any Prospects? Hope Pius Nudzor Prediscourses as a Discourse Analytical Tool: Tracing Specters of Marx in Estonian Media Discourse Raili Marling and Marge Käsper Translating the Discourse Markers ‘wa’ and ‘and’ between Modern Standard Arabic and Present Day English Amjad Alghamdi and Abdunasir Sideeg

1

63

117

151

vi Chapter 5

Index

Contents Critical Discourse Analysis in Consumer Studies: Potentialities and Research Agenda Marcelo de Rezende Pinto and Georgiana Luna Batinga

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205

PREFACE Understanding Discourse Analysis first intends to analyze a selected group of US presidential speeches building from the articulation between the study of decision-making psychological traps, understood from a discursive perspective, and the meta-theoretical principles of the pragmadialectic approach to argumentation theory. Continuing, the authors analyse extracts from Ghana’s education policy reform documents to exemplify the efficacy of critical discourse analysis as an interdisciplinary analytic tool and/or method for analysing written texts in critical policy research. The work of Marie-Anne Paveau, who has further developed the ideas of Michel Pêcheux, is addressed. Her notion of prediscourse is applied to show how it can productively contribute to our understanding of the creation and perpetuation of ideas. The diverse ways the connectives “wa” in Arabic and “and” in English get translated between the two languages are assessed, with focus on the discrepancies between the discourse functions of these two particles in both languages. The existing current of discursive analysis assumes that reality is involved in hegemonic and ideological processes, allowing for the analysis of cultural imbrications and dynamic processes between structure and human agency in the construction of reality. As such, the possibility of using critical discourse analysis in consumer studies is addressed.

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Chapter 1 - This chapter intends to analyze a selected group of United States’ (US) Presidential speeches building from the articulation between the study of decision-making psychological traps, understood from a discursive perspective, and the meta-theoretical principles of the pragmadialectic approach to argumentation theory (van Eemeren and Grootendorst 2004). The corpus of discursive analysis is constituted by twelve Presidential speeches delivered by US Presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. The Chapter assumes that argumentation theory derives from both discourse analysis and speech-act theory. Due to the early stages of its modern development, there is a literature gap concerning the application of argumentative theory to political discourse. There is also a literature gap regarding the articulation between the study of decision-making traps, argumentative theory, and political leaders’ discourse analysis. The study of US Presidential speeches will be made, taking into consideration its meta-theoretical principles, components, schemes, validity, and particular psychological traps. The chapter will develop three main arguments: 1. That President Reagan’s Presidential speeches illustrate the articulation between the meta-theoretical principle of socialization and the psychological trap known as the anchoring trap. President Reagan’s discursive practices reveal an effort to achieve a broad consensus among Americans regarding the nature of their identity. Such effort was frequently based on the adoption of a protagonist vs. antagonist dichotomy, which is one of the characteristics of socialization as an argumentative principle; 2. That George W. Bush’s Presidential speeches can be interpreted through the association between the meta-theoretical principles of externalization and dialectification and the sunk-cost psychological trap. After the US response to the 9/11/2001 attacks, Bush had to justify the United States’ foreign policy through arguments that entailed commitments to the American people. Those arguments were critically addressed regarding

Preface

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their merits and potential fallacies, which explain the importance of dialectification; 3. Finally, that Barack Obama’s Presidential speeches embody the articulation between the meta-theoretical principle of functionalization and the adoption of a particular psychological trap: the framing trap. Barack Obama’s discursive practices had the explicit purpose of solving fundamental divergences in the US society, namely in what concerns the (re)construction of the American system of redistributive justice. Chapter 2 - Much of the language forms used in traditional policy research come in the form of written texts for analysis purposes. Interestingly, however, these texts, in most instances, get tagged and treated as documents for literature review without any rigorous analysis and/or interrogation. This chapter analyses extracts from Ghana’s education policy reform documents to exemplify the efficacy of critical discourse analysis (CDA) as an interdisciplinary analytic tool and/or method for analysing written texts in critical policy research. The extracts selected for analysis are in documents in the public domain, and constitute part of the body of literature reflecting the Government of Ghana’s thinking and philosophy on education currently. The analyses of the texts selected was undertaken at the linguistics and inter-discursive levels. The former level focused on the linguistic and semiotic choices made in writing and laying out the texts, whereas the latter level of analysis concentrated on identifying ideological discourses drawn upon in the texts and analysing how these work out together with the linguistic level to produce meaning. The critical discourse analysis of the selected extracts suggest a shift in Ghana’s education policy direction and language of implementation, triggered by a significant discursive shift from socialist and social democratic tenets towards neoliberal ideological ideals in recent times. This, the chapter contends, is due to the advent of neo-liberal vision of international competitiveness which appears to be subjugating Ghana’s internal and external priorities to a mirage of international credibility criteria of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and other pro-capitalist institutions. Against the backdrop of

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the analyses and findings, the chapter concludes that owing to its potential to draw on language as a resource for analysing complex social processes, CDA offers better prospects for analysing written texts in two key ways. First, CDA serves to highlight ‘new’ textual formations (in the form of discourses), marginal discourses and ‘silences’ within policy texts. Second, and following up on the first point, CDA is needful in critical policy research for tracing discursive shifts in policy implementation processes. Chapter 3 - There is a wide array of books on discourse analysis in English but very few take advantage of discourse analysis traditions from non-English-speaking contexts. The rich English and French discourse analytical traditions are hardly ever used in fruitful combination. This lack of collaboration leaves gaps in the authors’ discourse analysis apparatus. One gap, as argued by Beetz and Schwab (2018, 29), is the treatment of materialism in English language discourse analysis. In the authors’ chapter, they will introduce the work of Marie-Anne Paveau who has developed the ideas of Michel Pêcheux. The authors will, above all, employ her notion of prediscourse (prédiscours) to show how it can productively contribute to their understanding of the creation and perpetuation of ideas. In the authors’ analysis, they look for references to Marx in Estonian newspapers representing different ideological preferences in 2004–2006 and 2017–2019. Marx is an intriguing object of analysis as his name was ever-present in the formerly compulsory Soviet ideology and the authors will analyze what happens after that compulsion vanishes. This case study will demonstrate the value of the analytical practices established in French discourse analysis for English-language discourse analysis. Chapter 4 - Languages, particularly genetically unrelated languages, display considerable variations in formally identical discourse markers in terms of both contexts and functions. Discourse markers are a broad category that comes from various grammatical categories and usually, they function across sentence boundaries to glue texts to them cohesive and coherent and fulfill specific functions in interpreting discourse. In translational discourse, these markers are highly significant, namely in the translation of key features of coherence. However, the questions of whether “it is possible at all to analyze the target language (re)production of

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coherence in translation,” and how to do that “have so far been neglected or under-researched” (Károly, 2017). This chapter aims to address this underresearched area by exploring the diverse ways the connectives ‘wa’ in Arabic and ‘and’ in English get translated between the two languages with focus on the discrepancies of discourse functions of these two particles in both languages. Sample texts are randomly extracted from two Arabic and four English novels written in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and PresentDay English (PDE). The present analysis employs embedded mixed methods design where a strand of qualitative analysis is used within a dominant quantitative framework. Findings of data analysis indicate that the high frequency of occurrence of wa is a significant feature in modern standard Arabic. When translating from Arabic to English, this discourse marker is often omitted and replaced by other features. The modified version of Kaplan’s (1966/2000) classic model of “contrastive rhetoric” which is a generic typology of cultural writing patterns could find some evidence in the disarray of the functions of the discourse markers ‘wa’ and ‘and’ in Arabic and English respectively. Chapter 5 - Consumer studies based on an articulation between social and cultural theories have gained notoriety and relevance in recent years. Consumption, in this perspective, is understood as a term that permeates the various relations between society and individuals. That is, in addition to the traditional models derived from economic theories and methods of behaviorism, these studies have involved elements not only linked to consumption practices, social identities, consumption communities and the appropriation of meanings in different contexts, but also broader social issues such as traditions, power structures and ideologies. Thus, the historical perspective and the political focus of the discourses linked to consumption are evident. In this context, it seems to be essential the appropriation of other epistemologies, as well as research methodologies that can consider the critical deconstruction of the writings, voices and styles of representation of these discourses, which is the focus of the Critical Discourse Analysis, based on the studies of Norman Fairclough (2003). This current of discursive analysis assumes that reality is involved in hegemonic and ideological processes, allowing the analysis of cultural imbrications and

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dynamic processes between structure and human agency in the construction of reality. It is from these considerations that the objective of this chapter is set to discuss the potentialities and possibilities of using critical discourse analysis in consumer studies. To this end, the authors sought to contextualize the critical discourse analysis to then point out the potentialities of the possible articulations of the critical discourse analysis with the consumption studies. The text also provides a space to suggest a research agenda for interested researchers.

In: Understanding Discourse Analysis ISBN: 978-1-53617-645-2 Editor: Angelique Majory © 2020 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Chapter 1

‘WE, THE PEOPLE’: AN ANALYSIS OF US PRESIDENTIAL DISCOURSE THROUGH A PRAGMA-DIALECTIC APPROACH TO ARGUMENTATION THEORY Maria Ferreira* and Pedro Fonseca Centre for Administration & Public Policies (CAPP), School of Social and Political Sciences/ University of Lisbon (ISCSP-UL), Lisbon, Portugal

ABSTRACT This chapter intends to analyze a selected group of United States’ (US) Presidential speeches building from the articulation between the study of decision-making psychological traps, understood from a discursive perspective, and the meta-theoretical principles of the pragma-dialectic approach to argumentation theory (van Eemeren and Grootendorst 2004). The corpus of discursive analysis is constituted by twelve Presidential speeches delivered by US Presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. The Chapter assumes that argumentation theory derives from both discourse analysis and speech-act theory. Due to the early stages *

Corresponding Author’s E-mail: [email protected].

Maria Ferreira and Pedro Fonseca

2

of its modern development, there is a literature gap concerning the application of argumentative theory to political discourse. There is also a literature gap regarding the articulation between the study of decisionmaking traps, argumentative theory, and political leaders’ discourse analysis. The study of US Presidential speeches will be made, taking into consideration its meta-theoretical principles, components, schemes, validity, and particular psychological traps. The chapter will develop three main arguments: 1.

2.

3.

That President Reagan’s Presidential speeches illustrate the articulation between the meta-theoretical principle of socialization and the psychological trap known as the anchoring trap. President Reagan’s discursive practices reveal an effort to achieve a broad consensus among Americans regarding the nature of their identity. Such effort was frequently based on the adoption of a protagonist vs. antagonist dichotomy, which is one of the characteristics of socialization as an argumentative principle; That George W. Bush’s Presidential speeches can be interpreted through the association between the meta-theoretical principles of externalization and dialectification and the sunk-cost psychological trap. After the US response to the 9/11/2001 attacks, Bush had to justify the United States’ foreign policy through arguments that entailed commitments to the American people. Those arguments were critically addressed regarding their merits and potential fallacies, which explain the importance of dialectification; Finally, that Barack Obama’s Presidential speeches embody the articulation between the meta-theoretical principle of functionalization and the adoption of a particular psychological trap: the framing trap. Barack Obama’s discursive practices had the explicit purpose of solving fundamental divergences in the US society, namely in what concerns the (re)construction of the American system of redistributive justice.

Keywords: discourse, United States of America, presidents, psychological traps, speeches, argumentation theory

INTRODUCTION This chapter tries to answer the following research question: what is the academic significance of analyzing particular United States (US) Presidential discursive regimes building from the articulation between

‘We, the People’: An Analysis of US Presidential Discourse …

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decision-making psychological and rhetorical traps and argumentation theory? The goal is to study discursive practices in the realm of US Presidential rhetorical regimes by establishing an articulation between the study of decision-making psychological traps, understood from a discursive perspective, and argumentation theory. Such an articulation is established through the concepts of discursive traps and meta-theoretical principles developed by argumentation theory (van Eemeren and Grootendorst 2004). By underpinning the rhetorical dimensions of argumentative political strategies, and by questioning the responsibility and accountability of decision-makers for those strategies, psychological traps can be discussed as discursive traps and argumentation studies’ meta-theoretical principles may be employed in order to deepen our knowledge about specific political discursive regimes. The discursive practices of three US Presidents are employed in order to illustrate how particular psychological traps, when embedded into political rhetoric, can be discussed, not as unconscious cognitive bias, but as conscious discursive strategies. Those discursive traps, in association with argumentative meta-theoretical principles (van Eemeren and Grootendorst 2004), may help to explain the idiosyncrasies of US Presidents’ discursive practices. The chapter will develop three main arguments: 1. That President Reagan’s Presidential speeches illustrate the articulation between the meta-theoretical principle of socialization and the psychological trap known as the anchoring trap. President Reagan’s discursive practices reveal an effort to achieve a broad consensus among Americans regarding the nature of their identity. Such effort was frequently based on the adoption of a protagonist vs. antagonist dichotomy, which is one of the characteristics of socialization as an argumentative principle; 2. That George W. Bush’s Presidential speeches can be interpreted through the association between the meta-theoretical principles of externalization and dialectification and the sunk-cost psychological trap. After the US response to the 9/11/2001 attacks, Bush had to

4

Maria Ferreira and Pedro Fonseca justify the United States’ foreign policy through arguments that entailed commitments to the American people. Those arguments were critically addressed regarding their merits and potential fallacies, which explain the importance of dialectification; 3. Finally, that Barack Obama’s Presidential speeches embody the articulation between the meta-theoretical principle of functionalization and the adoption of a particular psychological trap: the framing trap. Barack Obama’s discursive practices had the explicit purpose of solving fundamental divergences in the US society, namely, in what concerns the (re)construction of the American system of redistributive justice.

The selection of the three case-studies was based on two criteria: (1) to address the discursive practices of US Presidents in distinct and critical periods of US political life, where the essence of American identity was widely discussed, and (2) to discuss three historical discursive regimes constructed in a period of US public policy transformation. The selected corpus was composed of the following speeches: President Ronald Reagan: (1) “First Inaugural Address of Ronald Reagan” (1981); (2) “Address to the National Association of Evangelicals” (1983); (3) “Second Inaugural Address of Ronald Reagan” (1985a); (4) “Farewell Address to the Nation” (1989). President George W. Bush: (1) “President George W. Bush’s Inaugural Address” (2001); (2) “9/11 Address to the Nation” (2001); (3) “Second Inaugural Address” (2005); (4) “Farewell Address to the Nation” (2009). President Barack Obama: (1) “Barack Obama’s Presidential Election Victory Speech” (2008); (2) “President Obama’s Inaugural Address” (2009); (3) “Inaugural Address by President Obama” (2013); (4) “President Obama’s Farewell Address” (2017). The corpus was selected due to the importance of the chosen speeches to the comprehension of President Reagan, President George W. Bush, and President Obama’s discursive regimes.

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The policy significance of analyzing particular US Presidential discursive regimes building from the articulation between discursive approaches to decision-making and argumentation theory is related with three main elements: (1) to address the rhetorical strategies of US decisionmakers in specific public policy contexts; (2) to study how those strategies are associated with the political decision-making process; and (3) to highlight the normative importance of discussing ethical and accountability issues in the realm of discursive policy analysis. The chapter is composed of three parts. In the first section, the chapter’s theoretical and methodological backgrounds, as well as a literature review, are addressed. The second section presents research findings. In the third section, the chapter’s research question is answered, building from the arguments presented in the chapter.

THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL BACKGROUND The academic significance of a book’s chapter is justified through the articulation between its theoretical framework and how the chapter, through its findings, contributes to the literature in its field of study. The analysis of how argumentation theory, namely in articulation with discourse studies, can be a useful tool in the realm of discursive policy analysis is still an underdeveloped study arena (van Eemeren 2018). Consequently, the theoretical framework will be based on the establishment of a conceptual distinction between psychological traps and discursive traps and in the articulation between the latter and argumentative meta-theoretical principles (van Eemeren and Grootendorst 2004). The methodological framework is constituted by an association between discursive studies and rhetorical traps and by the analysis of meta-theoretical principles developed in the realm of argumentation studies (van Eemeren and Grootendorst 2004).

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Psychological and Discursive Traps The chapter assumes that there is a fundamental distinction between psychological traps and discursive traps. A distinct body of literature in decision-making theory, namely in the field of public policy analysis, has addressed psychological traps and cognitive bias (Kahneman and Tversky 1974; Hammond et al. 1998; Makarychev 2009). However, there are not many studies focused on the discursive dimension of psychological traps. The concept of discursive traps is seldom employed in the realm of public policy analysis (for an exception see Makarychev 2009). There is a long tradition of discussing accountability questions in the public policy realm (Hill 2003, 252). Psychological approaches to public policy also constitute a distinctive body of literature (Simon 1990). Although, there is a literature gap in the realm of public policy analysis regarding the articulation between psychological traps, discursive traps, and decisionmakers’ accountability. This chapter builds from the belief that new research questions emerge by discussing the question of decisionmakers’ accountability regarding all aspects of decision-making and by articulating such discussion with a study of the rhetorical strategies of public policy decisionmakers. The literature on public policy analysis developed an articulation among political psychology and public policy decision-making through the discussion of the psychological environment that influences policy-makers (Alden and Amran 2012, 21). The concept of “cognitive bias” was developed by Kahneman and Tversky in 1974. The work of Kahneman and Tversky builds from Herbert Simon’s argument (1990, 197), that “human beings have neither the facts nor the consistent structure of values, nor the reasoning power at their disposal” to accomplish what is assumed by the theory of subjective expected utility. Consequently, many political decisions have to be made based on what Kahneman and Tversky (1974, 3) designate as “heuristic principles,” defined as the unconscious habits employed to manage the complex nature of most human decisions (Kahneman and Tversky 1974, 4). Heuristic principles contain simplifying “psychological traps,” which are “hard-wired into the decision-making process” constituting “mental short-cuts,” which guide the decision-maker in

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particular decisional processes (Vavdinos 2018, 12; Hammond et al. 1998). Hammond et al. (1998) identify several psychological traps, namely, the anchoring trap, the sunk-cost trap, and the framing trap. The anchoring trap regards the mental phenomenon known as “anchoring” defined as a mental process whereby the mind allocates overwhelming significance to the initial data it receives (Hammond et al. 1998, 2). Such initial data may take the form of “initial impressions, estimates, or data anchor subsequent thoughts and judgments” (Hammond et al. 1998, 2). However, stereotypes, trends, frequent or past events, and historical traumas also qualify as “anchoring traps” (Hammond et al. 1998, 2). Anchors establish the “framework” through which a specific issue is judged and “decided upon” (Hammond et al. 1998, 2). It empowers the existence of a dominant perspective to frame problems (Hammond et al. 1998, 2). Lack of information and the prevalence of preconceptions are also elements that lead to anchoring traps in decision-making contexts (Hammond et al. 1998, 2). The sunk-cost trap occurs whenever past choices, even if invalid, influence present-day decisions (Hammond et al. 1998, 4). As Hammond et al. claim (1998, 4), “We know rationally that sunk-costs are irrelevant to the present decision, but nevertheless, they prey on our minds, leading us to make inappropriate decisions.” The unavailability to assume a wrong past decision is, frequently, the cause of the prevalence of sunk-costs in presentday decisions (Hammond et al. 1998, 4). The framing trap is at the root of any decision-making process since “The first step in making a decision is to frame the question” (Hammond et al. 1998, 6). It is a particularly sensitive and “dangerous step” (Hammond et al. 1998:6). How a question is framed has significant importance regarding the decisions that will be taken to manage such a question (Hammond et al. 1998, 6). The framing trap may be related to other types of traps, for it can define the “status-quo,” present an “anchor” or underpin “sunk costs” (Hammond et al. 1998, 6). Hammond et al. (1998, 6) identify two types of framing traps, namely, the “gain vs. losses framing trap” and the “framing trap with different reference points.” Both types of framing traps highlight how individuals are “risk-averse when a problem is posed in terms of gains”

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and “risk-seeking when a problem is posed in terms of avoiding losses” (Hammond et al. 1998, 6). Also, studies confirm that individuals tend to espouse the frame, which is “presented to them” and not to construct a new perspective regarding a particular issue (Hammond et al. 1998, 6). Psychological, cultural, and cognitive theories constituted welcomed approaches to public policy analysis since they demonstrated how the notion of “bounded rationality” could open new paths of research in the field of the study of public policy decision-making (Simon 1990). However, the assumption that psychological traps derive from “unconscious habits” (Kahneman and Tversky 1974, 4) or “emotional alterations,” “cognitive limitations,” or even “inconsistent…psychologies and beliefs” (Renshon and Renshon 2008) raises issues of accountability regarding public policy analysis. Foreign and strategic policies, for instance, are public policy fields where, frequently, accountability “mechanisms” are “inadequate” (Hill 2003, 301). The stress on the unconscious dimension of psychological factors affecting public policy decision-making is a problem for those interested in discussing accountability issues, namely in the domain of international politics (Hudson 2014). As Hudson (2014, 9) argues: “it is very difficult to grapple with the issue of accountability in international affairs if the theoretical language cannot... link acts of human agency in that realm to the consequences thereof.” One possible analytical path to study psychological traps in public policy analysis without neglecting the element of accountability is to discuss the narrative dimension of psychological traps through the establishment of articulations with the rhetorical strategies and meta-theoretical principles identified by argumentation theory (van Eemeren and Grootendorst 2004). Increasingly, public policy decisions have to be argued and legitimized before the public sphere (Hill 2003). The study of the discursive dimension of public policy analysis, implementation, and assessment is a growing field in contemporary political science (Hill 2003). Authors have studied the performative role of “language,” as well as how discourse and power are interrelated in the public policy arena (Hill 2003, 9). In the field of US politics, and due to the features of the US Presidential system, US Presidents have to “publicly justify” their public policies and decisions through

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argumentative structures built to persuade the US media, public opinion, and the Congress that their decision is legitimate and constitutes the “right choice” (Coe 2013, 370). There is a specific body of literature that approaches US Presidents legitimating discursive strategies, namely concerning decisions involving military action (Coe 2013; Reyes 2011). Such a body of literature is focused on particular case studies as well as on work focalized on wide-ranging hypotheses that comprise diverse contexts (Coe 2013). Consequently, both types of studies reify the belief that Presidential discourse, particularly in the strategic field, is uniform (Coe 2013). Coe claims that there is a need to constitute a broader group of studies able to empirically categorize essential differences amongst US President’s discursive practices (Coe 2013; Reyes 2011). Wodak and Meyer (2016, 4) conceptualize discourse as the “relatively stable use of language serving the organization and structuring of social life.” The core goal of discourse analysis is, by approaching discursive events through a contextual analysis perspective, to expose the controlling power of the discursive apparatus (Reisigl and Wodak 2009, 88). The concept of discursive trap is, in this context, fundamental. Discursive traps can be understood as a rhetoric mechanism to normalize a “storyline which synthesizes opinions about facts and values” (Curato 2018, 3). Political decisionmakers, through their discursive practices, build and reify narratives that create knowledge about public policy questions (Curato 2018, 3). Discursive traps may, consequently, be comprehended as personifying “linguistic structures of belief and interpretation” (Curato 2018, 3). Accordingly, public policy discursive regimes should be “interrogated” to avoid the explicit and mindful reification and “reproduction” of principles that are, often, “trapped” in “paradigms of thought” that shape how decisionmakers legitimize their policies (Curato 2018, 3). The study of discursive traps through the lenses of argumentation theory, namely through the concept of meta-theoretical principles (van Eemeren and Grootendorst 2004), constitutes a methodological strategy to deconstruct those traps and to discuss how power relations are at the core of discursive traps.

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The Pragma-Dialectic Approach to Argumentation Theory A dialogical argumentation perspective evaluates how disparate opposing arguments about a particular question are reciprocally interdependent and “how each argument is subject to probing critical questioning that reveals doubts about it” (Walton 2009, 4). Surpassing argumentation approaches based on formal logic, the contemporary analysis of argumentation discusses rhetorical structures “in the light of the actual circumstances in which it takes place” and draws from the belief that when individuals argue through “reasoned discourse”, they adopt particular rules that “ensure that their communication can serve its purposes” (van Eemeren et al. 1996, 12). Communication processes mirror specific “standpoints” regarding particular questions, and argumentation dynamics encompass the articulation among contrasting perspectives driven by the existence of conflicting approaches regarding those “standpoints” (van Eemeren 2018, 6). According to van Eemeren and Grootendorst (2004, 12), arguments hold diverse persuasion grades, or “force of conviction,” which are disclosed in the “verbal interaction between language users” and that sanction the idea that arguments possess performative dynamics. Because argumentation is “aimed at increasing (or decreasing) the acceptability of a controversial standpoint for the listener or reader,” its discussion is vital for public policy analysis (van Eemeren et al. 1996, 12). The pragma-dialectical approach to argumentation (van Eemeren and Grootendorst 2004) believes that the analysis of speech-acts ought to be “preceded” by specific “meta-theoretical principles” (van Eemeren and Grootendorst 2004, 52) which embody the “methodological framework” of the above-mentioned approach to argumentation studies (van Eemeren et al. 2013, 5). Those “meta-theoretical principles” are functionalization, externalization, dialectification, and socialization (van Eemeren et al. 2013, 5). The principle of functionalization adopts the perspective that the analysis of a speech-act ought to classify the “specific functions that the speech-act puts forward” as well as how those “functions” are associated to

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the “disagreement space” that a specific argument aims to “resolve” (van Eemeren et al. 2013, 6). Functionalization underpins how discourse is used to accomplish explicit “interactional purposes” (van Eemeren et al. 2013, 6). Those “purposes” arise from “what is at stake” in the dynamics of dialectic argumentation (van Eemeren et al. 2013, 6). Externalization is a “meta-theoretical principle” (van Eemeren and Grootendorst 2004, 52) which holds a specific function: it discloses the intentions and drives of discursive agents ensuring their accountability concerning “things they have said in a particular context and against a certain informational background in the discourse” (van Eemeren et al. 2013, 7). Externalization permits to recognize the “commitments” assumed by speech-utterers and regarding which they may be considered liable for (van Eemeren et al. 2013, 7). Dialectification favors the normative aspect of dialectical argumentation since it allows researchers to critically assess how particular arguments subsidize the resolution of discursive conflicts (Eemeren et al. 2013, 8). As Eemeren et al. claim (2013, 8), “Dialectification means that argumentation is put in the perspective of a critical discussion aimed at resolving a difference of opinion (…).” Consequently, the exposure of what van Eemeren and Houtlosser (1999, 410) call “strategic maneuvering” is central. The principle of socialization highlights the “dialogical” aspect of argumentation, which frequently comprises the articulation between speechutterers with divergent standpoints concerning a specific issue and whose objective is to settle those divergences (van Eemeren et al. 2013, 6). Discursive agents who, commonly, take on the role of “protagonists” and “antagonists,” produce a “discourse in which a party responds methodically to the questions, doubts, objections, and counterclaims of another party” (van Eemeren et al. 2013, 7). The literature on argumentation studies has underpinned the significance of discussing the interaction among argumentation theory and discourse studies (van Rees 2007; Plantin 2002; Cabrio et al. 2013), namely Critical Discourse Studies. Building from the belief that argumentation theory and discourse studies may gain from a scientific interchange, Plantin (2002, 364) argues that to accomplish the core objective of discourse theory,

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particularly “the study of speech on context,” a transformation concerning the essence of discourse theories has to be reached. According to argumentation theory, such a transformation ought to recognize that discursive agents are mindful and liable for their arguments (Plantin 2002). Moreover, discourse analysis, namely Critical Discourse Analysis, should analyze the political significance that originated from the association between argumentation structures and the rhetorical aspects embodied in power relations (Cabrio et al. 2013, 9).

FINDINGS President Ronald Reagan and His Discursive Practices The first argument that we intend to develop is that President Reagan’s Presidential speeches illustrate the articulation between the meta-theoretical principle of socialization and the psychological trap known as the anchoring trap (Tables 1 to 6). The analysis of President Reagan four discourses exemplifies how the former US President employs the meta-theoretical principle of socialization to achieve three main rhetorical goals: (i) to utter counter claims responses to opposing arguments and policy proposals, (ii) to settle discursive divergences and (iii) to reify the dichotomy between protagonists and antagonists, namely within global politics. President Reagan, who was labelled as “the Great Communicator” (Berry and Gottheimer 2010, xiv), utters counter claims responses to opposing arguments and policy proposals to contradict three main ideas that became popular in the late 1970s: the belief on the inevitability of American decline, the idea that American politics and society should maintain a secular vocation and, in the foreign affairs domain, the proposal for a nuclear freeze (Reagan 1983). Regan counters the belief on American decline by stating that Americans will never limit themselves to “small dreams” and, consequently, they are bound to never decay as a political community (excerpt 1; Reagan

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1981, para. 17). Regan also claims that American “greatness” and “goodness” derive from what the President designates as a “spiritual awakening” and the “renewal” of American values (excerpt 2; Reagan 1983, para. 29). In Reagan’s perspective, the decline of America is contradicted by two main factors: economic recovery and the retrieval of American “morale” and global leadership (excerpt 3; Reagan 1989, para. 10). In his “Farewell Address,” President Regan responds to his detractors, arguing that his policies revealed to be not “radical” and “dangerous,” but rather the “right” and “desperately needed” policies (excerpt 4; Reagan 1989, para. 13). Another perspective that is questioned by President Reagan is the standpoint on the fundamental secular nature of American politics and society. Reagan claims that, from a civilizational perspective, the American normative system is not compatible with “modern-day secularism” (excerpt 4; Reagan 1983, para. 13) and that the “majority” of Americans are more “religious” than other political communities (excerpt 5; Reagan 1983, para. 30). Such an argument allows Reagan to conclude, based on public opinion surveys, that Americans reject “adultery, teenage sex, pornography, abortion, and hard drugs” (excerpt 5; Reagan 1983, para. 30). On the foreign policy domain, President Reagan opposed the proposal of a “nuclear freeze,” considering it as a dangerous fraud since, in Regan’s perspective, “peace” can only be found through “strength” (excerpt 6; Reagan 1983, para. 39, 40). In addition to uttering counter claims responses, President Reagan also employs the meta-theoretical principle of socialization to settle discursive divergences and to “unify the country behind his agenda” (Berry and Gottheimer 2010, xiv). Several rhetorical strategies allow him to accomplish such a goal, namely the invocation of mnemonical references, the divinization of America as a political community, or the underpinning of the value of morality in American society. President Reagan summons the memory of the United States’ Founding Fathers to claim that Americans should act “worthy” of their shared past (excerpt 7; Reagan 1981, paragraph 23). Reagan warns against the obliteration of American memory, as well as the corrosion of its “spirit” and “civic rituals” (excerpt 8; Reagan 1989, para. 30). The invocation of mnemonical resources allows Reagan to evade hard political questions and selectively highlight the elements that unite the

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American people (Reagan 1989). The same goal is attained through the divinization of America as a political community (excerpts 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14) as well through the highlighting of the importance of moral values in the regulation of American society. Mystical references comprise the existence, among the American people, of a “brotherhood of man” intended by God for the United States or the argument that the American “exceptional charisma” is God’s “creation” since the country is, above all, a “blessed land” ruled “by God” (excerpts 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14; Reagan 1985, para. 7, 25, 41; Reagan 1983, para. 9). Moral values are normalized by President Reagan as the basis of American society and American public policies (excerpt 15). American moral values empower America’s spiritual global leadership and allowed the country to surpass its own “moral evils” through the “rediscovery” of its “common sense” (excerpts 16, 17, 18; Reagan 1983, para. 17; Reagan 1989, para. 14) Reagan’s discourse regarding foreign and defense policies frequently discloses the need to reify the dichotomy between protagonists and antagonists in international politics. Employing a discursive strategy latter resumed by George W. Bush, Reagan establishes a firm distinction between the American people and America’s “enemies,” classified as the “enemies of freedom” (excerpt 19; Reagan 1981, para. 27). President Reagan argues that the US should refuse a policy of “simpleminded appeasement” (Reagan 1983, para. 47) with the Soviet Union that may compromise basic American’s political values, namely faith in God, the belief in freedom and the safeguarding of human rights (excerpts 20, 21, 22). President Reagan’s Presidential speeches also illustrate the adoption of a particular discursive psychological trap: the anchoring trap. The anchoring trap corresponds to what Mintz and De Rouen (2010, 25) designate as “familiarity with the decision task,” since “the more ambiguous and unfamiliar the decision task is to the decision-maker, the more likely the decision-maker is to employ simplifying heuristics (cognitive shortcuts).” Reagan’s discursive practices are saturated with preconceptions, stereotypes, and the reification of dominant perspectives about the American people, its normative system, and how should America guide its foreign policy. These discursive elements work as “cognitive shortcuts” (Mintz and

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De Rouen 2010, 25) that allow Reagan to make his domestic and foreign policies’ priorities understandable before the American people. In Reagan’s rhetorical strategies, preconceptions are employed to define the President’s perspective concerning domestic and foreign policies. In the realm of domestic policies, one of the main preconceptions regards the need to counter governmental intrusion in American society (excerpts 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28). Reagan, a known partisan of neo and market liberalism, reifies, through his discursive practices, the belief that there is an explicit antagonism among an interfering and interventionist “Federal Government” and the essence and nature of the American people (Reagan 1981, paragraph 14). The Federal Government and its role in American society are argued as disproportionate to highlight how the weight of governmental authority bears adverse costs. President Reagan describes the American government as having “grown beyond the consent of the governed” (excerpt 23; Reagan 1981, para. 12), namely in what regards parental rights and religious freedom (excerpt 24). Considering that “As government expands, liberty contracts” (excerpt 28; Reagan 1989, para. 21), President Reagan claims that ruling authority is vested in the people and that the empowerment of governmental influence is a threat to freedom (excerpts 26, 27). Another significant preconception present in Reagan’s discursive practices regards the importance of the Judeo-Christian tradition that the President summons to condemn abortion (excerpt 29) and to stress the historical and foundational importance of religion in American politics (excerpt 30). The support of market liberalism is a third fundamental element in Reagan’s speeches (excerpt 31, 32). Reagan underpins the need to stimulate the economy through tax cuts, spending cuts, and the reduction of governmental market regulation (excerpt 31). Reagan also establishes an association between “free market” and “free speech” (excerpt 32; Reagan 1989, para. 17). In the domain of international politics, the core belief that can be considered as a preconception within Ronald Reagan’s discursive regime concerns the need to abolish nuclear weapons and to engage in arms control (excerpts 33, 34). President Reagan stresses the need to persuade the Soviet Union to agree on the importance of controlling the proliferation of specific

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types of weapons, particularly “strategic ballistic missiles” and “land-based intermediate-range nuclear missiles” (excerpt 33; Reagan 1983, para. 38). Regarding the proposal for a nuclear “freeze” policy, President Reagan claims that such type of policy would hamper the United States’ capacity to achieve a significant arms reduction since it would “remove” the “incentives” that could prompt the Soviet Union to negotiate (excerpt 34; Reagan 1983, para. 41). In what concerns Ronald Reagan’s discursive regime, the adoption of preconceptions is strongly associated with the normalization of stereotypes, specifically with what can be defined as a pessimistic view on human nature (excerpt 33; Reagan 1983, para. 32), the characterization of Russia as an “evil empire” (excerpt 37; Reagan 1983, para. 48), the establishment of an articulation between “sexually active” girls and promiscuity and the classification of what Reagan designates as “abortion on demand” as a national “tragedy” (excerpt 39; Reagan 1983, para. 25). Reagan’s claim that “living in this world means dealing with what philosophers would call the phenomenology of evil or, as theologians would put it, the doctrine of sin” (excerpt 33; Reagan 1983, para. 32) embodies the adoption of a pessimistic anthropological view on human nature (Glad 1983) and establishes the moral framework that allows Reagan to characterize the Soviet Union as “the focus of evil in the modern world” and as an “evil empire” (excerpt 36; Reagan 1983, para. 45; excerpt 37; Reagan 1983, para. 48). The President employs argumentative structures powerfully based on the importance of religious beliefs (excerpt 35) to claim that those who dwell in “totalitarian darkness” do not know the “joy of believing in God” (excerpt 36; Reagan 1983, para. 45). The cold-war is represented by Reagan as a fight between “right and wrong and good and evil” (excerpt 37; Reagan 1983, para. 48). Consequently, Reagan argues that nuclear freeze proposals would constitute a threat to United States’ security by placing the US in a “position of military and moral inferiority” (excerpt 37; Reagan 1983, para. 48). It is no coincidence that Reagan’s depiction of the Soviet Union as an “evil empire” emerged from a group of discourses delivered for religious addressees (Ivie and Ritter 1989, 437). Reagan’s depiction of the Soviet regime as an “evil empire” was meant to highlight “a heroic vision of

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America and its foreign policy” (Ivie and Ritter 1989, 436). The United States is represented as embodying the normative “reverse” of the Soviet Union, for “if the USSR was the evil empire, America was the divine ordained home of freedom in the world” (Ivie and Ritter 1989, 437). Consequently, America was endowed with the “obligation” to safeguard and develop freedom in the USSR (Ivie and Ritter 1989, 437). Such a narrative about an American divine obligation to uphold freedom in the Soviet Union constituted the moral background that allowed Reagan to criticize the Soviet regime and, at the same time, to open a venue for cooperation with Russian leaders that conducted to efficient nuclear arms reduction talks (Ivie and Ritter 1989, 436). As Ivie and Ritter (1989, 438) claim, “as dark as was Reagan’s vision of the Communist, his theology of foreign relations held the implicit possibility that the Soviets could be forced to be reasonable and to negotiate.” However, in order to “force” Soviets to negotiate, the United States had to be “in a position of strength” (Ivie and Ritter 1989, 438). Faith-based consideration also explain Reagan’s hard stance regarding what the President designates as “abortion on demand” (excerpt 39; Reagan 1983, para. 25) and regarding the existence of medical facilities providing assistance to “sexually active” girls whom the President explicitly classifies as “promiscuous” (excerpt 38; Reagan 1983, para. 16). Evidence of a discursive anchoring trap in Ronald Reagan’s argumentative strategies can also be found in the President’s dominant perspectives regarding the exceptionality of the American people, the importance of freedom, the need to contain communism, and the image of the lasting peace. The core collective image, rhetorically argued by President Reagan, is the belief in the exceptionality of American character. Such a representation is a component of a broader normative framework in which freedom is heralded as the central value of American life. The President stresses the empowerment of the American people (excerpt 40; Reagan 1981, para. 8 and 9), the righteousness of its character (excerpt 41), American’s “right to dream heroic dreams” (excerpt 42; Reagan 1981, para. 18) as well the possession of “the will and moral courage of free men and women” (excerpt 43; Reagan 1981, paragraph 26) and of a “calling to complete great deeds”

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(excerpt 44; Reagan 1981, para. 37, 38). The United States is reified as the “last best hope of man on earth” (excerpt 45; Reagan 1984, para. 34) mainly since its political system “guarantees individual liberty to a greater degree than any other” (excerpt 46; Reagan 1981, para. 2). The praise of American pride was related with the need felt by Reagan to defy what Kagan and Kristol (1996, 19) designate as the 1970s “consensus that favored accommodation to and coexistence with the Soviet Union, accepted the inevitability of America’s declining power, and considered any change to the status quo either too frightening or too expensive.” The underpinning of American exceptionalism reveals a “persistent moralism” as well as the will to “elevate America to a higher moral plane than other countries” (Davis and Lynn Jones 1987, 20). Freedom is argued by Reagan as the most important value within the American normative system (excerpt 47). The value of freedom, which, according to Regan, was rediscovered by Americans during the 1980s (excerpt 48), is represented as imbedding the American spirit (excerpt 49). The international expansion of freedom is argued as constituting one of the most important goals of American foreign policy (excerpts 50, 51). The discursive image of America as a “beacon of hope” for the world is, in this context, particularly significant (Reagan 1981, para. 25). The belief that communism represents the reverse of freedom (excerpt 53), as well as a permanent threat leads Reagan to uphold the need to contain communism (excerpt 52). The containment of communism and the safeguard of the value of freedom are discursively argued as the main pillars of American foreign and strategic foreign policy (excerpt 54). Those pillars are at the hearth of what was latter designated as the “Reagan Doctrine” (Pach 2006), the foreign-policy paradigm that is frequently represented as guiding the United States’ relations with “anti-communist resistance groups” (Pach 2006, 75) during the Reagan Presidency. However, the belief that the US should aid “anti-communist resistance” groups coexisted, sometimes paradoxically, with Reagan’s sturdy opinion that nuclear weapons should be “abolished” since they represented a significant threat to Humanity (Cannon 2000, 252).

‘We, the People’: An Analysis of US Presidential Discourse … Table 1. Ronald Reagan and his discursive practices Counterclaims response Metatheoretical principle of socialization Counterclaims response

Main ideas and message

Excerpts

The denial of American decline

Excerpt 1: “to realize that we’re too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We’re not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline” (Reagan 1981, para. 17). Excerpt 2: “There’s a great spiritual awakening in America, a renewal of the traditional values that have been the bedrock of America’s goodness and greatness” (Reagan 1983, para. 29). Excerpt 3: “The way I see it, there were two great triumphs, two things that I’m proudest of. One is the economic recovery, in which the people of America created -- and filled - 19 million new jobs. The other is the recovery of our morale. America is respected again in the world and looked to for leadership” (Reagan 1989, para. 10). Excerpt 4: “Well, back in 1980, when I was running for President, it was all so different. Some pundits said our programs would result in catastrophe. Our views on foreign affairs would cause war. Our plans for the economy would cause inflation to soar and bring about economic collapse…Well… opinion leaders were wrong. The fact is, what they called “radical’” was really “right” What they called “dangerous” was just “desperately needed” (Reagan 1989, para. 13). Excerpt 4: “Now, I don’t have to tell you that this puts us in opposition … with, a prevailing attitude of many who have turned to a modern-day secularism, discarding the tried and time-tested values upon which our very civilization is based. No matter how well intentioned, their value system is radically different from that of most Americans” (Reagan 1983, para. 13). Excerpt 5: “One recent survey by a Washington-based research council concluded that Americans were far more religious than the people of other nations; 95 percent of those surveyed expressed a belief in God and a huge majority believed the Ten Commandments had real meaning in their lives, and another study has found that an overwhelming majority of Americans disapprove of adultery, teenage sex, pornography, abortion, and hard drugs, and this same study showed a deep reverence for the importance of family ties and religious belief”(Reagan 1983, para. 30). Excerpt 6: “we will never stop searching for a genuine peace, but we can assure none of these things America stands for through the so-called nuclear freeze solutions proposed by some. The truth is that a freeze now would be a very dangerous fraud, for that is merely the illusion of peace. The reality is that we must find peace through strength. (Reagan 1983, para. 39, 40).

The denial of secularism

The denial of nuclear freeze policies

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Table 2. Ronald Reagan and his discursive practices Settling discursive divergences Metatheoretical principle of socialization Settling discursive divergences

Main ideas and message

Excerpts

Memory politics

Excerpt 7: “On the eve of our struggle for independence a man who might have been one of the greatest among the Founding Fathers, Dr. Joseph Warren, President of the Massachusetts Congress, said to his fellow Americans, “Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of.... On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important questions upon which rests the happiness and the liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves” (Reagan 1981, para. 23). Excerpt 8: “I’m warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit. Let’s start with some basics: more attention to American history and a greater emphasis on civic ritual” (Reagan 1989, para. 30). Excerpt 9: “There is no story more heartening in our history than the progress that we have made toward the “brotherhood of man” that God intended for us” (Reagan 1985a, para. 25). Excerpt 10: “The exceptionality of American charisma is, according to Reagan, God’s creation” (Reagan 1985a, para. 41). Excerpt 11: “In this blessed land, there is always a better tomorrow” (Reagan 1985a, para. 7). Excerpt 12: “The basis of those ideals and principles is… a commitment to freedom and personal liberty that, itself is grounded in the much deeper realization that freedom prospers only where the blessings of God are avidly sought and humbly accepted” (Reagan 1983, para 8.). Excerpt 13: “The American experiment in democracy rests on this insight. Its discovery was the great triumph of our Founding Fathers, voiced by William Penn when he said: ‘If we will not be governed by God, we must be governed by tyrants’” (Reagan 1983, para 9). Excerpt 14: “I’ve spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don’t know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind, it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, Godblessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity” (Reagan 1989, para. 33).

Mystical references

‘We, the People’: An Analysis of US Presidential Discourse … Metatheoretical principle of socialization Settling discursive divergences

Main ideas and message

Excerpts

The value of morality

Excerpt 15: “we have ordered clinics receiving federal funds to notify the parents such help has been given. One of the nation’s leading newspapers has created the term “squeal rule” in editorializing against us for doing this, and we’re being criticized for violating the privacy of young people … but no one seems to mention morality as playing a part in the subject of sex” (Reagan 1983, para. 17). Excerpt 16: “Our nation, too, has a legacy of evil with which it must deal. The glory of this land has been its capacity for transcending the moral evils of our past (Reagan 1983, para. 33). Excerpt 17: “While America’s military strength is important, let me add here that I’ve always maintained that the struggle now going on for the world will never be decided by bombs or rockets, by armies or military might. The real crisis we face today is a spiritual one; at root, it is a test of moral will and faith” (Reagan 1983, para. 50). Excerpt 18: “They called it the Reagan revolution. Well, I’ll accept that, but for me it always seemed more like the great rediscovery, a rediscovery of our values and our common sense” (Reagan 1989, para. 14).

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Table 3. Ronald Reagan and his discursive practices - Protagonist vs antagonist dichotomy Metatheoretical principle of socialization Protagonist vs antagonist dichotomy

Main ideas and message The “enemies of freedom”

Excerpts

Excerpt 19: “As for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the highest aspiration of the American people” (Reagan 1981, para. 27). Excerpt 20: “At the same time, however, they must be made to understand: we will never compromise our principles and standards. We will never give away our freedom. We will never abandon our belief in God”. (Reagan 1983, para. 39). Excerpt 21: “But if history teaches anything, it teaches that simpleminded appeasement or wishful thinking about our adversaries is folly. It means the betrayal of our past, the squandering of our freedom” (Reagan 1983, para. 47). Excerpt 22: “It reminded me that while the man on the street in the Soviet Union yearns for peace, the government is Communist. And those who run it are Communists, and that means we and they view such issues as freedom and human rights very differently” (Reagan 1989, para. 24).

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Table 4. Ronald Reagan and his discursive practices – Preconceptions Anchoring trap Preconceptions

Main ideas and message The need to counter governmental intrusion in American society

The JudeoChristian Tradition

Excerpts Excerpt 23: “It is time to check and reverse the growth of government, which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed” (Reagan 1981, para. 12). Excerpt 24: “Many of us in government would like to know what parents think about this intrusion in their family by government. We’re going to fight in the courts. The right of parents and the rights of family take precedence over those of Washington-based bureaucrats and social engineers” (Reagan 1983, para. 19) Excerpt 25: “But the fight against parental notification is really only one example of many attempts to water down traditional values and even abrogate the original terms of American democracy. Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged. When our founding fathers passed the First Amendment, they sought to protect churches from government interference” (Reagan 1983, para. 20). Excerpt 26: “Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: ‘We the People.’ ‘We the People’ tell the government what to do; it doesn’t tell us. ‘We the People’ are the driver; the government is the car” (Reagan 1989, para. 19). Excerpt 27: “Back in the 1960’s, when I began, it seemed to me that we’d begun reversing the order of things -- that through more and more rules and regulations and confiscatory taxes, the government was taking more of our money, more of our options, and more of our freedom” (Reagan 1989, para. 20). Excerpt 28: “There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts” (Reagan 1989, para. 21). Excerpt 29: “Is all of Judeo-Christian tradition wrong? Are we to believe that something so sacred can be looked upon as a purely physical thing with no potential for emotional and psychological harm? (Reagan 1983, para. 18). Excerpt 30: “They [the founding fathers] never intended to construct a wall of hostility between government and the concept of religious belief itself. The evidence of this permeates our history and our government. The Declaration of Independence mentions the Supreme Being no less than four times. ‘In God We Trust’ is engraved on our coinage. (Reagan 1983, para. 20).

‘We, the People’: An Analysis of US Presidential Discourse … Anchoring trap Preconceptions

Main ideas and message The support of market liberalism

The need to abolish nuclear weapons and engage in arm control

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Excerpts Excerpt 31: “in that same year [1981], we began the actions we felt would ignite an economic comeback -- cut taxes and regulation, started to cut spending. And soon the recovery began” (Reagan 1989, para. 11). Excerpt 32: “Countries across the globe are turning to free markets and free speech and turning away from the ideologies of the past. For them, the great rediscovery of the 1980’s has been that…the moral way of government is the practical way of government” (Reagan 1989, para 17). Excerpt 33: “This doesn’t mean we should isolate ourselves and refuse to seek an understanding with them [the Soviet Union]. I intend to do everything I can to persuade them of our peaceful intent, to remind them that it was the West that refused to use its nuclear monopoly in the forties and fifties for territorial gain and which now proposes 50 percent cut in strategic ballistic missiles and the elimination of an entire class of land-based, intermediate-range nuclear missiles (Reagan 1983, para. 38) Excerpt 34: “A freeze at current levels of weapons would remove any incentive for the Soviets to negotiate seriously in Geneva and virtually end our chances to achieve the major arms reductions which we have proposed. Instead, they would achieve their objectives through the freeze” (Reagan 1983, para. 41).

Cannon (2000, 252) argues that Reagan, profoundly influenced by antiwar cinematography, “saw himself as a heroic figure” and believed that the “peacemakers” whose goal is to diminish the “risk” of a nuclear disaster should be regarded as the real “heroes” of the “nuclear age.” In Canon’s (2000, 251) words, “Reagan’s vision of a nuclear apocalypse and his deeply rooted conviction that the weapons that could cause this hell on earth should be abolished would ultimately prove more powerful than his anticommunism.” In his “Farewell Address to the Nation,” Reagan argues that his Administration succeeded in empowering American strength contributing to, namely through nuclear weapons control, the global spread of peace (excerpt 55). As Christopher Hill (2003, 59) argues, Reagan is the “best contemporary example” of a specific type of political leader, since he was capable of “brilliantly” uttering “a cultural narrative of American myths in the interest of restoring confidence and assertiveness to the foreign policy of the United States.”

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Table 5. Ronald Reagan and his discursive practices – Stereotypes Anchoring trap Stereotypes

Main ideas and message Pessimistic view on human nature

Russia as an “evil empire”

Birth control

Abortion “on demand” as a “tragedy”

Excerpts Excerpt 33: “But we must never forget that no government schemes are going to perfect man. We know that living in this world means dealing with what philosophers would call the phenomenology of evil or, as theologians would put it, the doctrine of sin” (Reagan 1983, para. 32). Excerpt 34: “There is sin and evil in the world, and we’re enjoined by Scripture and the Lord Jesus to oppose it with all our might” (Reagan 1983, para. 33). Excerpt 35: “He [a young father Reagan met in California] went on: “I would rather see my little girls die now; still believing in God, than have them grow up under communism and one day die no longer believing in God” (Reagan 1983, para. 43). Excerpt 36 “Yes, let us pray for the salvation of all of those who live in that totalitarian darkness–pray they will discover the joy of knowing God. But until they do, let us be aware that while they preach the supremacy of the State, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world” (Reagan 1983, para. 45). Excerpt 37: “I urge you to speak out against those who would place the United States in a position of military and moral inferiority. … in your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride, the temptation of blithely….declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil” (Reagan 1983 para. 48). Excerpt 38: “For some years now, the federal government has helped with funds to subsidize these clinics. In providing for this, the Congress decreed that every effort would be made to maximize parental participation. Nevertheless, the drugs and devices are prescribed without getting parental consent or giving notification after they’ve done so. Girls termed “sexually active”–and that has replaced the word “promiscuous”–are given this help in order to prevent illegitimate worth/birth” (Reagan 1983, para. 16) Excerpt 39: “Abortion on demand now takes the lives of up to one and a half million unborn children a year. Human life legislation ending this tragedy will someday pass the Congress, and you and I must never rest until it does” (Reagan 1983, para. 25)

‘We, the People’: An Analysis of US Presidential Discourse … Table 6. Ronald Reagan and his discursive practices – Dominant perspectives Anchoring trap Dominant perspectives

Main ideas and message The exceptionality of the American people and of its political system

The importance of freedom

The need to contain communism

Excerpts Excerpt 40: “Americans have the capacity now as in the past to do whatever needs to be done” (Reagan 1981, para. 8). Excerpt 41: “We must do what we know is right and do it with all our might” (Regan 1985a, paragraph 15). Excerpt 42: “We have every right to dream heroic dreams” (Reagan 1981, para. 18). Excerpt 43: “the will and moral courage of free men and women” (Reagan 1981, para. 26). Excerpt 44: “The crisis we are facing today does not require of us the kind of sacrifice that Martin Treptow and so many thousands of others were called upon to make. It does require, however, our best effort, and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds; to believe that together, with God’s help, we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us. And, after all, why shouldn’t we believe that? We are Americans” (Reagan 1981, para. 37 and 38). Excerpt 45 “the last best hope of man on earth” (Reagan 1985a, para. 34). Excerpt 46: “we are a united people pledged to maintaining a political system which guarantees individual liberty to a greater degree than any other” (Reagan 1981, para. 2). Excerpt 47: “Americans must remain freedom staunchest friend, for freedom is our best ally” (Reagan 1985a, paragraph 35). Excerpt 48: “Because that’s what it was to be an American in the 1980’s. We stood, again, for freedom. I know we always have, but in the past few years the world again - and in a way, we ourselves - rediscovered it” (Reagan 1989, para. 7). Excerpt 49: “We’ve got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom - freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is special and rare. It’s fragile; it needs production” (Reagan 1989, para. 29) Excerpt 50: “mission [of the United States should be] to nourish and defend freedom and democracy, and to communicate these ideals everywhere we can” (Reagan 1985a, para. 66). Excerpt 51: “And as we renew ourselves here in our own land, we will be seen as having greater strength throughout the world. We will again be the exemplar of freedom and a beacon of hope for those who do not now have freedom” (Reagan 1981, para. 25). Excerpt 52: “One nation, the Soviet Union, has conducted the greatest military build-up in the history of man, building arsenals of awesome offensive weapons” (Reagan 1985a, para 30). Excerpt 53: “Nothing is less free than pure communism” (Ragan 1981, para. 30).

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Table 6. (Continued) Anchoring trap

Main ideas and message The importance of peace

Excerpts Excerpt 54: “peace is the highest aspiration of the American people. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it; we will not surrender for it, now or ever” (Reagan 1981, 4). Excerpt 55: “Common sense also told us that to preserve the peace, we’d have to become strong again after years of weakness and confusion. So, we rebuilt our defences, and this New Year we toasted the new peacefulness around the globe. Not only have the superpowers actually begun to reduce their stockpiles of nuclear weapons – and hope for even more progress is bright – but the regional conflicts that rack the globe are also beginning to cease” (Reagan 1989, para. 16).

President George W. Bush and His Discursive Practices Our second argument is that President George W. Bush’s discursive practices can be interpreted through the association between the metatheoretical principles of externalization and dialectification associated with the sunk-cost psychological trap (Tables 7 to 12). The meta-theoretical principle of externalization can be identified in George W. Bush’s argumentation structures due to the significance that the intentional dimension of communication (Goffman 1981) and the need to establish political and social commitments towards Americans assume in the political economy of Bush’s discursive regime. The intentional dimension of communication (Goffman 1981) is demonstrated by the President’s use of mystical references to argue that Americans were created in God’s image (excerpts 55 and 57), hold “beliefs” beyond themselves (Bush 2001a, para. 43) and are “directed” by “angels” (excerpt 56, Bush 2001a, para. 44). As an Evangelist, President Bush knew the discursive strength of religious rhetoric, specifically of drawing expressions directly from the Gospels, to appeal to the spiritual beliefs of his electoral group (Stramer 2010). The use of religious rhetoric is specifically meant to represent America as a force predestined to act on God’s behalf (Stramer 2010).

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The President also employs intentional communication to praise the value of American individual and collective agency in the economic, educational and political fields, namely concerning the inculcation of “idealism” into the “hearths” of American children and the protection of freedom (excerpt 58; Bush 2001a, para. 29). Such praise for collective agency became particularly imperative after 9/11/2001, which Bush designates as the “day of fire” (excerpt 64; Bush 2005, para. 3). In his “9/11 Address to the Nation,” President Bush invoked American’s communal “resolve” in securing justice and peace, declaring “A great people has been moved to defend a great nation... These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve” (excerpt 60; Bush 2001b, para. 2). In what regards individual agency, Bush summons America’s Christian foundations to declare American’s commitment to solidarity (excerpt 61). After 9/11/2001, intentional communication was employed by President George W. Bush to securitize American political discourse in “time of danger (excerpt 66; Bush 2009, para. 8) and to legitimize his Administration retribution policies regarding those responsible for the 9/11/2001 attacks (excerpt 62). The “war on terrorism” (excerpt 63; Bush 2001b, para 5) became a personal goal for George W. Bush who, in his “Farewell Address” to the Nation, argued, “As the years passed, most Americans were able to return to life much as it had been before 9/11. But I never did. Every morning, I received a briefing on the threats to our nation. And I vowed to do everything in my power to keep us safe” (excerpt 65; Bush 2009, para. 5). The need to establish political and social commitments towards Americans also reveals the intentional dimension of President Bush’s communication strategies. Through his discursive practices, and following the meta-theoretical principle of externalization, President Bush declares his commitment to build public policies based on equal opportunity and social justice, to promote peace and to foster, among the American population, the values of civility and solidarity. Bush considers that the right to equal opportunities constitutes the embodiment of the American “promise that everyone belongs, that everyone deserves a chance, that no insignificant person was ever born” (excerpt 67; Bush 2001a, para. 7). President Bush

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recognizes the existence of deep economic inequalities among Americans and “pledges” to “work to build a single nation of justice and opportunity (excerpt 68; Bush 2001a, para. 11). In this context, President Bush vowed to “reform” social security and Medicare as well as to reduce taxes to “reward the effort and enterprise of working Americans” (excerpt 69; Bush 2001a, para. 24). Evoking the values of compassion, Bush argues that “in the quiet of American conscience, we know that deep, persistent poverty is unworthy of our nation’s promise” (excerpt 70; Bush 2001a, para. 28). The value of compassion is discursively articulated with the values of justice and responsibility (excerpt 71) allowing Bush to pledge that Americans will, through his Administration’s policies, enjoy “greater freedom from want and fear” (excerpt 72; Bush 2005, para. 21) and that a more just society involves better commitments to “children and community” (excerpt 73, Bush 2001a, para. 37). In his first “Inaugural Address,” President Bush also pledge to uphold global peace and to “confront weapons of mass destruction, so that a new century is spared new horrors” (excerpt 74; Bush 2001a, para. 26). A third commitment undertaken by Bush regards the need to foster within American society the values of “civility, courage, compassion and character” (excerpt 75; Bush 2001a, para. 16). The President argues that civility should be understood as a “choice of trust over cynicism, of community over chaos” (excerpt 76; Bush 2001a, para. 19). The meta-theoretical principle of dialectification can also be employed to understand George W. Bush’s discursive regime. As previously mentioned, after the US response to the 9/11/2001 attacks, Bush had to justify the United States’ foreign policy through arguments that entailed commitments to the American people. Those arguments were critically addressed regarding their merits and potential fallacies, which explain the importance of dialectification. Such importance was heightened by the circumstances that placed George W. Bush into the White House, particularly “contested elections results” and the fact that Bush “did not win the popular vote” (Stramer 2010, para. 36). As Stramer (2010, 36) argues, the “war on terror” provided the Bush Administration with a strong alibi to

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“wash away” discussions about the President’s legitimacy labeling them as “inappropriate.” In order to answer severe criticism, Bush employs several strategies, namely what van Eemeren and Houtlosser (1999) designate as rhetorical maneuvering strategies. Building from van Eemeren and Grootendorst’s pragma-dialectical approach to argumentation theory, van Eemeren and Houtlosser (1999) developed the concept of “strategic maneuvering.” The authors (1999) argue that the goal of argumentation analysis is to develop a critical study of argumentative speech. Strategic maneuvering occurs when speech-utterers, namely decision-makers, faced with the need to settle divergent perspectives, employ argumentation, particularly argumentation’s rhetorical and dialectical dimensions (van Eemeren and Houtlosser 1999). Argumentative dialectical contexts conduct speech-utterers to benefit from “the opportunities available in a certain dialectical situation,” which can be employed to manage situations “most favorably for the speaker or writer” (van Eemeren and Houtlosser 1999, 484). The goal is to diminish the “disagreement space” in a particular decision-making context so that the “confrontation” potential is limited to the speaker or decision-makers’ “preferences” (van Eemeren and Houtlosser 1999, 484). Van Eemeren and Houtlosser (1999, 493) identify four main rhetorical maneuvering strategies, specifically the strategies of “evasion,” “assimilation,” “rubbing in the facts,” and “demeaning the opponents.” The strategy of “evasion” is employed when the “disagreement space” is manipulated and the speechutterer focus his discourse on issues which are “easy to cope with” while addressing indirectly “the issues that the audience expects to be addressed” (van Eemeren and Houtlosser 1999, 493). The “focus” that is at the root of a dialectic controversy is redirected through what van Eemeren and Houtlosser (1999:493) designate as “selective highlighting.” The strategy of “assimilation” is characterized by the involvement of a speech-utterer’s target audience into the discursive agent’s standpoint on a particular subject (van Eemeren and Houtlosser 1999, 493). The discursive strategy of “rubbing in the facts” occurs when audiences are allocated with responsibilities “that are at variance with its present unrealistic attitude” (van Eemeren and Houtlosser 1999, 493). The strategy of “demeaning the

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opponents” involves representing opposing perspectives and agents as “not knowledgeable, lending at the same time the prerogative to causal reasoning based on ‘authorized’ facts” (van Eemeren and Houtlosser 1999, 493). The speech-utterer discursively constructs a narrative that can be “attractive to the public and arranged in causal chains that have only the appearance of being unbreakable” (van Eemeren and Houtlosser 1999, 493). One of the most significant rhetorical maneuvering strategies employed by George W. Bush is the strategy of “evasion” (van Eemeren and Houtlosser 1999, 493). The President selectively highlights questions easier “to cope with,” only speaking indirectly of more difficult questions (van Eemeren and Houtlosser 1999, 493). Bush upholds that the use of force is merely a secondary instrument to fight tyrannical regimes and that the expansion of democracy is the priority of his Administration’s foreign policies (excerpt 77). President Bush also claims that it is “America’s belief in human dignity” that conducts its foreign policies (excerpt Bush 2005, para. 10). Bush also praises the work of American intelligence and foreign policy officials whom the President classifies has leading “the idealistic work of helping raise up free governments, the dangerous and necessary work of fighting our enemies” (excerpt 79; Bush 2005, para. 18). President Bush assesses the evolution of Afghanistan and Iraq claiming that, “Afghanistan has gone from a nation where the Taliban harboured al Qaeda and stoned women in the streets to a young democracy that is fighting terror and encouraging girls to go to school” and that “Iraq has gone from a brutal dictatorship and a sworn enemy of America to an Arab democracy at the heart of the Middle East and a friend of the United States” (excerpt 80; Bush 2009, para. 6). America is represented as a global freedom provider, as a global health benefactor and as a “great republic born alone in liberty” whose role is to lead “the world toward a new age when freedom belongs to all nations” (excerpt 81; Bush 2009, para. 6). The goal of President Bush is to construct a discursive narrative where the United States is represented as the provider of virtues, thereby allocating legitimacy to “a contested Presidency” as well as to a questioned “war on terrorism” (Stramer 2010, 36).

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The strategy of “evasion” is strictly associated with the strategy of “assimilation” (van Eemeren and Houtlosser 1999, 493). President Bush targets audiences into his perspectives and policies (van Eemeren and Houtlosser 1999, 493) by, for instance, highlighting the importance of social duty for American citizenship (excerpt 82). In his first “Inaugural Address,” Bush declared, “Where there is suffering, there is duty. Americans in need are not strangers, they are citizens, not problems, but priorities” (excerpt 82; Bush 2001, para 31). The President vows to be sensitive to the issue of poverty in America: “Many in our country do not know the pain of poverty, but we can listen to those who do” (excerpt 83; Bush 2001, para. 34). Bush also underpins the significance of active citizenship based on the construction of “communities of service” and on the necessity to “defend needed reforms against easy attacks” (excerpt 84; Bush 2001, para. 42). Bush tries, therefore, to present himself and his Administration as people’s allies (van Eemeren and Houtlosser 1999, 493). The strategy of “rubbing in the facts” (van Eemeren and Houtlosser 1999, 493) can be identified in President Bush’s attempt to transfer the mission of ending tyranny to future generations or hold individuals responsible for the choice of democratic leaders. In a 2005 speech, Bush (2005, para. 8) argued that the goal of ending tyranny was “the concentrated work of generations.” The difficulty of the task is no excuse for avoiding it” (excerpt 85; Bush 2005, para. 8). In a 2009 Address, the President claimed that “When people live in freedom, they do not willingly choose leaders who pursue campaigns of terror” (excerpt 86; Bush 2009, para. 10). Another dialectic discursive strategy is the strategy of “demeaning of opponents” (van Eemeren and Houtlosser 1999, 493). President Bush condemns those who have “unwisely chosen to test America’s resolve and have found it firm” (excerpt 87; Bush 2005, para. 9). The President also denounces those who doubt the “global appeal of liberty” in a historical period where, according to Bush, there should be no room for doubt (excerpt 88; Bush 2005, para. 11).

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Employing a dualistic perspective that reifies the view that in the world there is only good and evil, President Bush argues that the US-led fight against terrorism should be understood as component of a “broader struggle” between what the President classifies as a “small band of fanatics,” which require “total obedience to an oppressive ideology, condemns women to subservience, and marks unbelievers for murder” and a rightful system “based on the conviction that freedom is the universal gift of Almighty God and that liberty and justice light the path to peace” (excerpt 89; Bush 2009, para. 9). Bush constructs America’s identity through a negative perspective, namely through discursive practices based on differentiation, dichotomies, binary approaches, and on appeals to forms of “exclusionary belongings” (Erjavec and Volčič 2007, 124). As Morley and Robbins (1995, 36) write: “To see the Evil Other as an embodiment of irrationality” is “to be certain of one’s own rational cause and motives.” Through discourse, President Bush crafted a global context that fostered a sense of “belonging to a discursive community articulated to the so-called ‘war on terrorism’” (Erjavec and Volčič 2007, 124). Following 9/11/2001, America’s social identity was deeply questioned and entered into a phase of uncertainty (Peker 2006, 1). To answer to such a state of uncertainty, President Bush discursively “re-articulated America social identity” through the proposal of a “neoconservative discursive formation” based on an attempt to “recreate the American ‘self’ through the use of social antagonisms” (Peker 2006, 1). Evidence of the meta-theoretical principle of dialectification is also present in the effort developed by President Bush to manage recurrent tensions within American politics, namely the contentious questions of migration (excerpts 90, 91). Bush stresses the civic dimension of American citizenship, praising the existence of “Americans by choice” (excerpt 91; Bush 2005, para. 25). In 2001, the President stated that “America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens” (excerpts 90; Bush 2001, para. 15).

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In his “Farewell Address” to the Nation, and faced with the negative assessment of his policies, President Bush employs a discourse of atonement, claiming: “There are things I would do differently if given the chance. Yet I have always acted with the best interests of our country in mind” (excerpt 92; Bush 2009, para. 14). George W. Bush’s Presidential speeches can also be interpreted as embodying what literature designates as the sunk-cost psychological trap. Evidence of such a trap understood from a discursive standpoint, resides in how President Bush summons the past to represent America as the “new world” and as a “servant of freedom (excerpt 93; Bush 2001; para. 5). The past is also evoked to highlight the significance of the global diffusion of American values whose roots reside in American history and progress as a nation, namely the values of freedom and justice (excerpts 94, 95 and 96). Mnemonical references are employed by Bush to praise the example of courage given, in their own historical time, by America’s “fathers and mothers” (excerpt 97; Bush 2001a, para. 22). Invoking the memory of the past also allows Bush to claim, after the 9/11/2001 attacks, that “America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time” (excerpt 98; Bush 2001b, para. 7). The President constructs a discursive regime where the memory and traumas of America’s past conflicts and the historical value of freedom are summoned to legitimize the United States’ led “war against terrorism”. On 2005, George W. Bush declared: “When our Founders declared a new order of the ages, when soldiers died in wave upon wave for a union based on liberty, when citizens marched in peaceful outrage under the banner ‘Freedom Now,’ they were acting on an ancient hope that is meant to be fulfilled. History has an ebb and flow of justice, but history also has a visible direction, set by liberty and the Author of Liberty” (excerpt 99; Bush 2005, para. 26).

The legitimization of Bush’s “war against terrorism” discourse is also rhetorically accomplished through the invocation of the traumas created by the 9/11/2001 attacks (excerpt 100; Erjavec and Volčič 2007). In his “9/11/2001 Address to the Nation,” the President argued: “None of us will ever forget this day, yet we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good

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and just in our world” (excerpt 101; Bush 2001b, para 7). Another legitimation strategy based on the summoning of the past is constituted by the discursive underpinning of the historical value of freedom and justice, particularly regarding the United States’ foreign policy (excerpts 102, 103, 104, 105). Bush attempts to represent the US-led “war on terrorism” as unfolding from the United States’ long legacy of historical fights to uphold “all that is good and true that came before, ideals of justice and conduct that are the same yesterday, today, and forever” (excerpt 104; Bush 2005, para. 22). The President also argues that contemporary Americans will be judged for how they sustained the “cause of freedom” for such is a role that can only be fulfilled by the United States (excerpt 105; Bush 2005, para. 24; excerpt 106; Bush 2009, para. 17). According to Chag and Mehan (2008, 457), after the 9/11/2001 attacks, the Bush Administration built and employed a “‘war on terrorism’ script” based on the heralding of freedom as America’s “civil religion.” Such a “script,” and in comparison with opposing narratives condemning the US-led “war on terrorism,” was particularly “powerful” since it “created a coherent account of the 9/11 events and advocated a program of action at a time when very little evidence was available regarding who coordinated the 9/11 attacks and whether the Taliban regime was involved” (Chag and Mehan 2008, 457). The importance of the past is also demonstrated by Bush’s references, after 9/11/2001, to the terminology of evil. Argumentative structures based on the question of good and evil were, as previously mentioned in this chapter, employed by Ronald Reagan in the context of his cold-war inspired discursive practices (Reagan 1983). George W. Bush resumes those argumentative structures to represent the 9/11/2001 events and to establish a distinction between the evil nature of those behind the attacks, and the goodness of American character (excerpt 107; Bush 2001b, para. 2). Like Reagan before him, Bush seems to adopt a pessimistic anthropological view of human nature, arguing that “good and evil are present in this world, and between the two there can be no compromise” (excerpt 108; Bush 2009, para. 18). It should be noted that the “war on terrorism discourse,” which relied heavily on the reification of the dichotomy between good and evil, is based on a “principle of exclusion” between social groups that also allowed

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for the “extension” of the “meaning of the word ‘terrorism’ to all the violent acts carried out by Muslims regardless of the specificities of different political-historical contexts” (Erjavec and Volčič 2007, 123). Evidence of the sunk-cost discursive psychological trap can also be identified in President Bush’s attempt to legitimize his policy decisions discursively. Such an attempt is carried through the use of rhetorical practices based on the identification of America’s enemies, on the stressing of the need to fight oppressive regimes, on the claim that internal security policies are intended to keep America safe and, finally, on the discursive praise of the President’s decision-making capacity in the face of extreme crisis. President Bush summons America’s historical legacy to establish an association between the United States’ enemies and the “enemies of freedom” (Bush 2001). Bush argues that. “The enemies of liberty and our country should make no mistake: America remains engaged in the world by history and by choice, shaping a balance of power that favors freedom” (excerpt 109; Bush 2001; para. 27). After the 9/11/2001 events, America’s enemies became, as expected, less general and more concrete: “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them” (excerpt 111; Bush 2001b, para. 4). Bush classifies terrorists as responsible for acts of “mass murder” whose goal “was to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat” (excerpt 110; Bush 2001b, para. 4). President Bush also argues that terrorists have the intention to cause divisions among “free nations” and that the promotion of democracy will ultimately lead to the defeat of terrorism (excerpt 112; Bush 2001b, para. 4). Bush resumes the traditional Wilsonian belief that there is an articulation between international security and the global endorsement of democracy (Gat 2005). In his “Farewell Address,” Bush legitimizes his “war on terrorism” discourse claiming that “the gravest threat to our people remains another terrorist attack” and that America’s “enemies are patient and determined to strike again” (Bush 2009, para. 16; Erjavec and Volčič 2007). Consequently, securitarian policies should continue to be a priority among American public policies since the US “should never let down [its] guard” (Bush 2009, para. 16).

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The need to fight oppressive regimes is legitimized through the argument that tyranny fosters global violence and that, consequently, authoritarian regimes possess a “destructive power” able to “cross the most defended borders and raise a mortal threat (excerpt 114; Bush 2005, para. 4). The dichotomic perspective between good and evil is employed to represent oppressive regimes since oppression is “always wrong,” and freedom is “eternally right” (excerpt 115; Bush 2009, para. 9). The goal is to construct what Erjavec and Volčič (2007, 124) designate as a “new global anti-terrorist discursive order” through which the international system is “divided into those social actors who support terrorism and those who are ready to fight against it.” President Bush argues, in his “Farewell Address,” that despite the controversy surrounding his anti-terrorism policies, Bush’s main priority was achieved: America was kept safe (excerpt 116). The President’s discursive legitimization of his securitarian policies leads him to praise his decision-making capacity even within a highly contentious political environment (Erjavec and Volčič 2007). Before leaving the Presidency, George W. Bush declared: “I have followed my conscience and done what I thought was right. You may not agree with some tough decisions I have made. But I hope you can agree that I was willing to make the tough decisions” (excerpt 117; Bush 2009, para. 14). Table 7. President George W. Bush and his discursive practices The intentional dimension of communication Metatheoretical principle of externalization The intentional dimension of communication

Main ideas and message

Excerpts

The mystification of America

Excerpt 55: “I know this is in our reach because we are guided by a power larger than ourselves who created us equal in his image” (Bush 2001a, para. 13). Excerpt 56: “After the Declaration of Independence was signed, Virginia statesman John Page wrote to Thomas Jefferson: ‘We know the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong, Do you not think that an angel rides in the whirlwind and directs this storm” (Bush 2001a, para. 44). Excerpt 57: “America’s vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one.

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Main ideas and message

Excerpts

The mystification of America

From the day of our founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this Earth has rights and dignity and matchless value, because they bear the image of the Maker of heaven and Earth” (Bush 2005, para. 6). Excerpt 58: “But the stakes for America are never small. If our country does not lead the cause of freedom, it will not be led. If we do not turn the hearths of children towards knowledge and character, we will lose their gifts and undermine their idealism, If we permit our economy to drift and decline, the vulnerable will suffer most” (Bush 2001a, para 29). Excerpt 59: “this is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite for our resolve for justice and peace” (Bush 2001b, para. 7). Excerpt 60: “A great people have been moved to defend a great nation. Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings but they cannot touch the foundations of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve” (Bush 2001b, para. 2). Excerpt 61: “And I can pledge our nation to a goal: When we see that wounded traveler on the road to Jericho, we will not pass the other side” (Bush 2001a, para. 35). Excerpt 62. “The search is underway for those who were behind these evil acts. I have directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice” (Bush 2001b, para. 4). Excerpt 63: “America and our friends and allies join with all those who want peace and security in the world, and we stand together to win the war against terrorism” (Bush 2001b, para. 5). Excerpt 64: “At this second gathering, our duties are defined not by the words I use but by the history we have seen together. For a half a century, America defended our own freedom by standing watch on distant borders. After the shipwreck of communism came years of relative quiet, years of repose, years of sabbatical, and then there came a day of fire” (Bush 2005, para. 3). Excerpt 65: “As the years passed, most Americans were able to return to life much as it had been before 9/11. But I never did. Every morning, I received a briefing on the threats to our nation. And I vowed to do everything in my power to keep us safe” (Bush 2009, para. 5). Excerpt 66: “Our nation is blessed to have citizens who volunteer to defend us in this time of danger” (Bush 2009, para. 8).

The praise of collective agency

The praise of personal responsibility The securitization of American political discourse

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Table 8. President George W. Bush and his discursive practices Political and Social Commitments Metatheoretical principle of externalization Political and Social Commitments

Main ideas and message

Excerpts

Commitment to equal opportunity and social justice

Excerpt 67: “The grandest of these ideals is an unfolding American promise that everyone belongs, that everyone deserves a chance, that no insignificant person was ever born” (Bush, 2001, para. 7) Excerpt 68: “The ambitions of some Americans are limited by failing schools and hidden prejudice and the circumstances of their birth. And sometimes our differences run so deep, it seems we share a continent, but not a country. We do not accept this, and we will not allow it. Our unity, our union, is the serious work of leaders and citizens in every generation. And this is my solemn pledge: I will work to build a single nation of justice and opportunity” (Bush 2001, para. 11, 12 Excerpt 69: “We will reform Social Security and Medicare, sparing our children from struggles we have the power to prevent. And we will reduce taxes, to recover the momentum of our economy and reward the effort and enterprise of working Americans” (Bush 2001, para. 24). Excerpt 70: “America, at its best, is compassionate. In the quiet of American conscience, we know that deep, persistent poverty is unworthy of our nation’s promise. And whatever our views of its cause, we can agree that children at risk are not at fault. Abandonment and abuse are not acts of God; they are failures of love” (Bush 2001, para. 28). Excerpt 71: “I will live and lead by these principles: to advance my convictions with civility, to pursue the public interest with courage, to speak for greater justice and compassion, to call for responsibility and try to live it as well” (Bush 2001, para. 40). Excerpt 72: “By making every citizen an agent of his or her own destiny, we will give our fellow Americans greater freedom from want and fear and make our society more prosperous and just and equal” (Bush 2005, para. 21). Excerpt 73: “We find the fullness of life not only in options, but in commitments. And we find that children and community are the commitments that set us free” (Bush 2001, para. 37). Excerpt 74: “We will confront weapons of mass destruction, so that a new century is spared new horrors” (Bush 2001, para. 26). Excerpt 75: “Today, we affirm a new commitment to live out our nation’s promise through civility, courage, compassion and character” (Bush 2001, para. 16). Excerpt 76: “Civility is not a tactic or a sentiment. It is the determined choice of trust over cynicism, of community over chaos. And this commitment, if we keep it, is a way to shared accomplishment” (Bush 2001, para. 19).

Commitment to peace Commitment to civility and solidarity

‘We, the People’: An Analysis of US Presidential Discourse … Table 9. President George W. Bush and his discursive practices Discursive strategies Metatheoretical principle of dialectification Discursive strategies

Main ideas and message

Excerpts

“Evasion”

Excerpt 77: “So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.” (Bush 2005, para. 7) Excerpt 78: “ We will encourage reform in other governments by making clear that success in our relations will require the decent treatment of their own people. America’s belief in human dignity will guide our policies” (Bush 2005, para. 10) Excerpt 79: “A few Americans have accepted the hardest duties in this cause, in the quiet work of intelligence and diplomacy, the idealistic work of helping raise up free governments, the dangerous and necessary work of fighting our enemies” (Bush 2005, para. 18). Excerpt 80: “Afghanistan has gone from a nation where the Taliban harboured al Qaeda and stoned women in the streets to a young democracy that is fighting terror and encouraging girls to go to school. Iraq has gone from a brutal dictatorship and a sworn enemy of America to an Arab democracy at the heart of the Middle East and a friend of the United States” (Bush 2009, para. 6). Excerpt 81: “So around the world, America is promoting human liberty, human rights, and human dignity. We are standing with dissidents and young democracies, providing AIDS medicine to bring dying patients back to life…” (Bush 2009, para. 10).

“Assimilation”

Excerpt 82: “Where there is suffering, there is duty. Americans in need are not strangers, they are citizens, not problems, but priorities. And all of us are diminished when any are hopeless” (Bush 2001, para. 31). Excerpt 83: “Many in our country do not know the pain of poverty, but we can listen to those who do” (Bush 2001, para. 34). Excerpt 84: “What you do is as important as anything government does. I ask you to seek a common good beyond your comfort; to defend needed reforms against easy attacks.” (Bush 2001, para. 42). Excerpt 85: “The great objective of ending tyranny is the concentrated work of generations. The difficulty of the task is no excuse for avoiding it” (Bush 2005, para. 8). Excerpt 86: “When people live in freedom, they do not willingly choose leaders who pursue campaigns of terror” (Bush 2009, para. 10).

“Rubbing in the facts”

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Table 9. (Continued) Metatheoretical principle of dialectification Discursive strategies

Main ideas and message

Excerpts

“Demeaning the opponents”

Excerpt 87: “Some have unwisely chosen to test America’s resolve and have found it firm” (Bush 2005, para. 9). Excerpt 88: “Some, I know, have questioned the global appeal of liberty, though this time in history, four decades defined by the swiftest advance of freedom ever seen, is an odd time for doubt” (Bush 2005, para. 11). Excerpt 89: “The battles waged by our troops are part of a broader struggle between two dramatically different systems. Under one, a small band of fanatics demands total obedience to an oppressive ideology, condemns women to subservience, and marks unbelievers for murder. The other system is based on the conviction that freedom is the universal gift of Almighty God and that liberty and justice light the path to peace” (Bush 2009, para. 9).

Table 10. President George W. Bush and his discursive practices Conflict resolution Metatheoretical principle of dialectification Conflict resolution

Main ideas and message

Excerpts

The stress on the normative dimension of American citizenship

Excerpt 90: “America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these principles. Every citizen must uphold them. And every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American” (Bush 2001, para. 15). Excerpt 91: “These questions that judge us also unite us, because Americans of every party and background, Americans by choice and by birth are bound to one another in the cause of freedom. We have known divisions, which must be healed to move forward in great purposes, and I will strive in good faith to heal them. Yet those divisions do not define America. We felt the unity and fellowship of our Nation when freedom came under attack, and our response came like a single hand over a single heart” (Bush 2005, para. 25). Excerpt 92: “There are things I would do differently if given the chance. Yet I have always acted with the best interests of our country in mind” (Bush 2009, para. 14).

Expression of regret

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Table 11. President George W. Bush and his discursive practices The importance of the past Sunk-cost psychological trap The importance of the past

Main ideas and message America as the image of the “new world” The global diffusion of American values

Memory politics

Excerpts

Excerpt 93: “It is the story of a new world that became a friend and liberator of the old, a story of a slave-holding society that became a servant of freedom, the story of a power that went into the world to protect but not possess, to defend but not to conquer” (Bush 2001, para. 5) Excerpt 94: “Through much of the last century, America’s faith in freedom and democracy was a rock in a raging sea. Now it is a seed upon the wind, taking root in many nations” (Bush, 2001a, para. 9) Excerpt 95: “The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands.” (Bush 2005, para. 5) Excerpt 96: “The leaders of governments with long habits of control need to know: To serve your people, you must learn to trust them. Start on this journey of progress and justice, and America will walk at your side” (Bush 2005, para. 15). Excerpt 97: “Our national courage has been clear in times of depression and war, when defending common dangers defined our common good. Now we must choose if the example of our fathers and mothers will inspire us or condemn us. We must show courage in a time of blessing by confronting problems instead of passing them on to future generations” (Bush 2001a, para. 22). Excerpt 98: “America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time” (Bush 2001b, para. 7). Excerpt 99: “When our Founders declared a new order of the ages, when soldiers died in wave upon wave for a union based on liberty, when citizens marched in peaceful outrage under the banner “Freedom Now,” they were acting on an ancient hope that is meant to be fulfilled. History has an ebb and flow of justice, but history also has a visible direction, set by liberty and the Author of Liberty” (Bush 2005, para. 26). Excerpt 100: “I remember talking to brave souls who charged through smoke-filled corridors at the Pentagon and to husbands and wives whose loved ones became heroes aboard Flight 93. I remember Arlene Howard, who gave me her fallen son’s police shield as a reminder of all that was lost.” (Bush 2009, para. 4). Excerpt 101: “None of us will ever forget this day, yet we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world” (Bush 2001b, para 7).

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Table 11. (Continued) Sunk-cost psychological trap The importance of the past

Main ideas and message The historical value of freedom and justice

“Axis of Evil”

Excerpts

Excerpt 102: “There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment and expose the pretensions of tyrants and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom” (Bush 2005, para. 4). Excerpt 103: “Across the generations, we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master and no one deserves to be a slave. Advancing these ideals is the mission that created our Nation” (Bush 2005, para. 6) Excerpt 104: “Americans move forward in every generation by reaffirming all that is good and true that came before, ideals of justice and conduct that are the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Bush 2005, para. 22 Excerpt 105: “from the viewpoint of centuries, the questions that come to us are narrowed and few: Did our generation advance the cause of freedom?” (Bush 2005, para. 24). Excerpt 106: “If America does not lead the cause of freedom, that cause will not be led” (Bush 2009, para. 17). Excerpt 107: “Today our nation saw evil – the very worst of human nature – and we responded with the best of America” (Bush 2001b, para. 2). Excerpt 108: “I have often spoken to you about good and evil. This has made some uncomfortable. But good and evil are present in this world, and between the two there can be no compromise” (Bush 2009, para. 18).

Table 12. President George W. Bush and his discursive practices The discursive legitimation of policy decisions Sunk-cost psychological trap The discursive legitimation of policy decisions

Main ideas and message America and its enemies

Excerpts

Excerpt 109: “The enemies of liberty and our country should make no mistake: America remains engaged in the world by history and by choice, shaping a balance of power that favours freedom. We will defend our allies and our interests. We will show purpose without arrogance. We will meet aggression and bad faith with resolve and strength. And to all nations, we will speak for the values that gave our nation birth” (Bush 2001a para. 27). Excerpt: 110: “These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed. Our country is strong” (Bush 2001b, para. 1). Excerpt: 111: “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them” (Bush 2001b, para. 4).

‘We, the People’: An Analysis of US Presidential Discourse … Sunk-cost psychological trap The discursive legitimation of policy decisions

Main ideas and message America and its enemies

The need to fight against oppressive regimes

The need to keep America safe Decisionmaking capacity

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Excerpts

Excerpt 112: “Division among free nations is a primary goal of freedom’s enemies. The concerted effort of free nations to promote democracy is a prelude to our enemies’ defeat” (Bush 2005, para. 16). Excerpt 113: “While our nation is safer than it was seven years ago, the gravest threat to our people remains another terrorist attack. Our enemies are patient and determined to strike again. America did nothing to seek or deserve this conflict. But we have been given solemn responsibilities, and we must meet them. We must resist complacency. We must keep our resolve. And we must never let down our guard” (Bush 2009, para. 16). Excerpt 114: “For as long as whole regions of the world simmer in resentment and tyranny, prone to ideologies that feed hatred and excuse murder, violence will gather and multiply in destructive power and cross the most defended borders and raise a mortal threat” (Bush 2005, para. 4). Excerpt 115: “We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation, the moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right” (Bush 2005, para. 9). Excerpt 116: “There is legitimate debate about many of these decisions. But there can be little debate about the results. America has gone more than seven years without another terrorist attack on our soil” (Bush 2009, para. 7). Excerpt 117: “I have followed my conscience and done what I thought was right. You may not agree with some tough decisions I have made. But I hope you can agree that I was willing to make the tough decisions” (Bush 2009, para. 14).

President Barack Obama and His Discursive Practices Our final argument is that Barack Obama’s speeches embody the articulation between the meta-theoretical principle of functionalization and the adoption of a particular discursive psychological trap: the framing trap (Tables 13 to 19). Literature recognizes President Obama’s “skillful use of speeches as a political tool” (Boyd 2009, 78; Heffernan 2009). Following Greg Jaffe (2016, para. 1), “Few political careers and Presidencies have been more defined by speeches than Barack Obama’s.” President Obama’s discursive practices were frequently able to reach American “consciousness” (Jaffe 2016, para. 1). Such a capacity derives from the fact that Obama’s “oratory” was “meticulous crafted” to address American’s “fears, flaws, shortcomings, and accomplishments” (Jaffe 2016, para. 2).

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The meta-theoretical principle of functionalization is employed by Obama in his discursive practices when the President, through argumentative structures, addresses fundamental ideological disputes in American society, discusses the existence of a “disagreement space” in American political discourse (van Eemeren and Houtlosser 1999, 493), and argues in favor of a new American system of redistributive justice. Obama’s attempt to solve, through discourse, fundamental disputes in American society is achieved through a specific oratory style, particularly, the “homiletic, or preaching, traditions of the black Protestant Churches, where the best rhetoric combines substance and style” (Berry and Gottheimer 2010, xix). It should be taken into consideration that President Obama was fully aware of the impact of his words on the American people (Berry and Gottheimer 2010, xiii). As Berry and Gottheimer (2010, xiii) write, Barack Obama “knew he had to choose his words wisely and that he could persuade, and dissuade, in an instant.” He was also always mindful that, due to the importance of digital media, the “remarks” he gave to “small groups” would “find bigger and less predictable audiences online” (Heffernan 2009, para. 5.) The analysis of Barack Obama’s discourses demonstrates that the President tries, through speech-acts, to solve fundamental ideological disputes in American society, specifically addressing the question of partisanship within American politics and debating the role of government in American society. Obama condemns the “partisanship,” “pettiness” and “immaturity” that afflicts the American political discourse (excerpt 118; Obama 2008, para. 15), as well the ideological “divides” that have hampered American “progress” (excerpt 119; Obama 2008, para 16). One of the hallmarks of President Obama’s argumentation structures is how he frequently “rejected political polarization as a by-product of a dysfunctional Washington” (Jaffe 2017, para 7). The President argues that political disagreement should not be transformed into personal “rancor” (excerpt 120; Obama 2017, para. 50) and that the meaning of the United States of America is more important than the divergences between the Republican and Democratic parties (excerpt 121; Obama 2008, para. 3). Like President Reagan, Barack Obama also discusses, in his speeches, the role of

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government in American society. However, unlike Reagan, President Obama claims that it is not the size of the government that should be discussed, but if the government “works” to ensure American’s welfare and their dignity (excerpt 122; Obama 2009, para. 17). In Obama’s words: “Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time, but it does require us to act in our time” (excerpt 123; Obama 2013, paragraph 23). It is also through speech-acts that President Obama discusses the existence of a “disagreement space” (van Eemeren and Houtlosser 1999, 493) in American political discourse. Berry and Gottheimer (2010, xvii) claim that one of the most significant Barack Obama’s beliefs was that public policies and decisions should be explained to people, even to those who do not agree with them, to allow Americans to understand the reasons behind those policies and decisions. However, the President discusses why attempts to change and transform American public policies were a source of deep contestation (Obama 2009). Obama’s argumentative strategies to legitimize his proposals regarding welfare policies included the constant reminder to the American people that, despite the importance of changing American health care policies, those policies were continuously being questioned (Brambilla 2019, 279). Obama employs the “strawman argument” through which the President “evokes the groundless attacks of his opponents, thereby preserving his face and threatening theirs” (Brambilla 2019, 273). Obama denounces the cynicism and fear-mongering strategies of his political adversaries and how they try to halt any attempt to “bend” the “arc of history” and empower change (excerpt 124; Obama 2008; para. 4). In order to demonstrate the anachronic nature of arguments opposing change within American politics, Obama explicitly claims that, “What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply” (excerpt 125; Obama 2009, para. 13). The President employs discursive utterances to mobilize Americans towards change (excerpt 126). Obama tries to legitimize his policies by normalizing the perspective that the nature of politics is to be contentious and that the existence of disagreement is a fundamental historical element in American politics (excerpts 127 and 128).

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The meta-theoretical principle of functionalization is also visible in Obama’s attempts to construct a discursive legitimation framework regarding his proposals focused on the building of a new American system of redistributive justice. The President establishes an articulation between democracy and social justice, appealing to the need to establish a “new era of responsibility” (excerpt 129; Obama 2009, para. 28). President Obama claims that “great nations” must develop welfare policies to protect its people from life’s worst hazards and misfortune” (excerpt 130; Obama 2013, paragraph 8). Obama summons the memory of the United States’ founding fathers to stress the historical importance of solidarity as an American core value (excerpt 131). The President also argues that democracy has to be associated with public policies that ensure equality among the citizens of a political community (excerpt 132; Obama 2017, para. 20). President Obama’s speeches are also anchored on a specific discursive psychological trap known as the framing trap. Mintz and De Rouen (2010, 150) define framing as how “an issue is presented” to influence “how the public views a particular situation.” Following Beach and Connolly (2005, 163), a frame is “that portion of his or her store of knowledge that the decision-maker brings to bear on a particular context in order to endow that context with meaning.” Entman defines “framing” as “selecting and highlighting some facets of events or issues and making connections among them so as to promote a particular interpretation, evaluation or solution” (Entman 2003, 417). Following Entman (2003, 417), a frame is comprised of four fundamental elements: (1) a problem, (2) relations of causality, (3) moral assessment, and (4) solutions. These elements are present when President Obama discusses the issue that, in his perspective, constitutes the most pressing question of American politics: the American welfare problem. The President identifies the roots of the question, assesses it from a moral standpoint, and presents solutions to address the problem. President Obama discursively constructs the American welfare question arguing about the need to fight inequality among American families (excerpt 133). The President claims that America “cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it” (excerpt 133; Obama 2013, para. 12). Such a claim is associated with the belief that America’s

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progress can only be fully achieved through economic and social equality (excerpts 134 and 135). The President argues against the reification of the belief that in the United States, there is a “struggle between a hardworking middle class and an undeserving minority” (excerpt 136; Obama 2017, para. 27). Obama claims that if such an idea is normalized, “then workers of all shades are going to be left fighting for scraps while the wealthy withdraw further into their private enclaves” (excerpt 136; Obama 2017, para. 27). Inequality conducts, in Obama’s perspective, to an economic “zero-sum game” (excerpt 137; Obama 2017, para. 27). President Barack Obama’s discussion of the question of inequality in American society is associated with a discursive strategy aimed at transforming the United States’ politics of identity (Augoustinos and de Garis 2012). Following Augoustinos and de Garis (2012, 564), it was through discursive practices that President Obama addressed the issue of his social identity and was able to present himself as a “prototypical representative of the American people.” Assuming the role of what the authors (2012, 564) designate as an identity “entrepreneur,” Obama was capable of “actively crafting an in-group identity that was oriented to an increasingly socially diverse America — a diversity that he himself exemplified and embodied as a leader.” President Obama “rhetorical project” allowed him to represent his political role as constituting the embodiment of how “difference” can be understood as the “‘living proof’ of the widely shared collective values that constitute the ‘American dream’” (Augoustinos and de Garis 2012, 564). Following President Obama, the causes of America’s welfare problem derive from the need to value American collective agency to pursue a “common good” (excerpt 138; Obama 2017, para. 10). Obama argues that Americans are aware that the government is not able to answer all social problems (excerpt 139). Consequently, citizens’ engagement is necessary to pursue change (excerpt 140) and to demonstrate that the United States is, in the words of the President, “bigger than the sum of (…) individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction” (excerpt 141; Obama 2009, paragraph 11). The 2007/2008 economic crisis, described by President Obama as the “winter of our hardship” (excerpt 142;

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Obama 2009, paragraph 33), is represented as having demonstrated that economic prosperity cannot be achieved while inequality persists (excerpt 143). As President Obama claims: “Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, is that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers” (excerpt 143; Obama 2008, para. 15). The moral assessment of President Obama’s proposals regarding the establishment of a new system of redistributive justice in the United States is accomplished through the invocation of the American creed, as well as through the argument that income distribution and equality are not merely economic questions but hold a deep normative and ethical dimension. The American creed, which corresponds to the second paragraph of the United States Declaration of Independence (excerpt 144), is interpreted by Barack Obama as a plea for concrete and efficient equality policies that may ensure a system of freedom of opportunity (excerpts 144, 145 and 147). That is why President Obama argues that: “We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American; she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but also in our own” (excerpt 145; Obama 2013, paragraph 12). Obama also claims that the ideals enshrined in the American creed, although “self-evident,” are not “self-executing,” and therefore need to be implemented through public policies (excerpt 146; Obama 2017, para. 9). President Obama’s moral assessment, concerning his proposals for the establishment of a new system of redistributive justice in the United States, highlights the normative dimension of income distribution and the value of equality (excerpt 148). Barack Obama claims that the success of the American people depends on equality represented as “the ability to extend opportunity to every willing hearth – not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good” (excerpt 148; Obama 2009, para. 15). The President defines equality as the creed that guides the lives of Americans (excerpt 149). Obama summons his personal life story to demonstrate the historical importance of equality in American lives: “a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath” (excerpt 150; Obama 2000,

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paragraph 29). Such a passage demonstrates the importance that the articulation among the politics of equality and politics of race in the United States assumes in the political economy of President Obama’s discursive regime. Throughout his speeches, President Obama constructs what Boyd (2009, 76) designates as a “new vision of race and race relations based on his [Obama] own version of the American Dream, embracing the core themes of change, hope, and unity.” The same passage demonstrates the contradictory rhetorical position faced by Barack Obama since he was simultaneously representative of a traditionally excluded “minority” and of a “dominant” political group (Boyd 2009, 77). Consequently, Obama’s discursive practices mirror his distinct and “often shifting social positions” (Boyd 2009, 77). Finally, President Obama constructs a narrative framework regarding the solutions that, in his perspective, could solve the question of inequality in American society. Those solutions are fundamentally two: the need for market regulation and the importance of changing American public policies. Barack Obama claims that the market is beneficial when it is regulated to “ensure competition and fair play” (excerpt 156; Obama 2013, para. 7). Change is considered as necessary to implement public policies adjusted to the needs of Americans (excerpt 151). The President considers that “constant” change should be considered as a demonstration of America’s “genius,” progress and exceptionality (excerpt 152; Obama 2013, para. 17; excerpt 153; Obama 2017, para. 12; excerpt 154, Obama 2017, para. 63). However, change needs to be implemented, which requires capacity and the belief that change should be “embraced” to construct a “fair,” “just,” and “inclusive America” (excerpt 155; Obama 2017, para. 63). Barack Obama’s discursive emphasis regarding the question of equality should be understood, bearing in mind the President’s belief that American society lacks “empathy” regarding more economic fragile social classes (Pedwell 2012, 280). The President establishes, therefore, a link between “empathy and social justice,” which is linguistically conveyed through a “political rhetoric” based on the need to demonstrate “emotional engagement” with the traditionally excluded fringes of American society (Pedwell 2012, 280). Following Pedwell (2012, 285), President Obama is

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particularly cautious concerning the need to develop a discursive distinction among “discourses of empathy” and the “conservative rhetoric of compassion,” stressing how empathy should be distinguished from “sympathy” or “charity.” The discursive strategies of President Obama, particularly his narratives on equality, try to stimulate Americans to reach for “a better understanding and appreciation of the situations and feelings of others,” as well as to believe in the existence of a “common humanity and equality” (Pedwell 2012, 285). However, Obama’s articulation between equality, empathy, and solidarity, as well as his views regarding the need for market regulation, does not prevent him from aligning his discourse with neoliberal rhetoric, specifically in what concerns the need to foster in America a sense of active and pro-market citizenship (Pedwell 2012, 285). Table 13. President Barack Obama and his discursive practices Solving fundamental ideological disputes within American society Meta-theoretical principle of functionalization Solving fundamental ideological disputes within American society

Main ideas and message The question of partisanship in American politics

The debate about the role of government

Excerpts

Excerpt 118: “Let’s resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that have poisoned our politics for so long” (Obama 2008, para. 15). Excerpt 119: “And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress” (Obama 2008, para. 16). Excerpt 120: “America, we weaken those ties when we allow our political dialogue to become so corrosive that people of good character aren’t even willing to enter into public service; so coarse with rancour that Americans with whom we disagree are seen not just as misguided but as malevolent” (Obama 2017, para. 50). Excerpt 121: “Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states: we are, and always will be the United States of America” (Obama 2008, para. 3). Excerpt 122: “The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works – whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified” (Obama 2009, para. 17). Excerpt 123: “Progress does not compel us to settle centurieslong debates about the role of government for all time, but it does require us to act in our time” (Obama 2013, para. 23).

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Table 14. President Barack Obama and his discursive practices - The existence of a “disagreement space” in American political discourse Meta-theoretical principle of functionalization The existence of a “disagreement space” in American political discourse

Main ideas and message Contestation surrounding change in American politics

Excerpts

Excerpt 124: “It’s the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day” (Obama 2008, para. 4). Excerpt 125: “What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply” (Obama 2009, para. 13). Excerpt 126: “And where we are met with cynicism and doubt and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can” (Obama 2008, para. 27). Excerpt 127: “The work of democracy has always been hard. It’s always been contentious. Sometimes it’s been bloody” (Obama 2017, para. 12). Excerpt 128: “Understand, democracy does not require uniformity. Our founders argued. They quarrelled. Eventually they compromised” (Obama 2017, para. 19).

Table 15. President Barack Obama and his discursive practices The building of a new system of redistributive justice Meta-theoretical principle of functionalization The building of a new system of redistributive justice

Main ideas and message The articulation between democracy and social justice

Excerpts

Excerpt 129: “What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility” (Obama 2009, para. 28). Excerpt 130 “a great nation must care for the vulnerable, and protect its people from life’s worst hazards and misfortune” (Obama 2013, para. 8). Excerpt 131: “But they [the founding fathers] knew that democracy does require a basic sense of solidarity — the idea that for all our outward differences, we’re all in this together; that we rise or fall as one” (Obama 2017, para. 18.) Excerpt 132: “To begin with, our democracy won’t work without a sense that everyone has economic opportunity” (Obama 2017, para. 20).

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Table 16. President Barack Obama and his discursive practices The American welfare problem Framing Trap The American welfare problem

Main ideas and message The need to fight inequality

Excerpts Excerpt 133: “There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they’ll make the mortgage or pay their doctors’ bills or save enough for their child’s college education” (Obama 2008; para. 12). Excerpt 134: “America “cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it” (Obama 2013, para. 12) Excerpt 135: “But the long sweep of America has been defined by forward motion, a constant widening of our founding creed to embrace all and not just some” (Obama 2017, para. 12). Excerpt 136: “If every economic issue is framed as a struggle between a hardworking white middle class and an undeserving minority then workers of all shades are going to be left fighting for scraps while the wealthy withdraw further into their private enclaves” (Obama 2017, para. 27). Excerpt 137: “And we have shown that our economy doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. Last year, incomes rose for all races, all age groups, for men and for women” (Obama 2017, para. 27).

Table 17. President Barack Obama and his discursive practices The roots of the problem Framing Trap The roots of the problem

Main ideas and message The need to value collective agency

The state of the economy

Excerpts Excerpt 138: “What a radical idea. A great gift that our Founders gave to us: The freedom to chase our individual dreams through our sweat and toil and imagination, and the imperative to strive together, as well, to achieve a common good, a greater good” (Obama 2017, para. 10). Excerpt 139: “[Americans] never succumbed to the fiction that all society’s ills can be cured through government alone” (Obama 2013, para 9.). Excerpt 140: “This [Chicago] is where I learned that change only happens when ordinary people get involved and they get engaged, and they come together to demand it” (Obama 2017, para. 7). Excerpt 141: “[America] is bigger than the sum of (…) individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction” (Obama 2009, para. 11). Excerpt 142. “America: In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words” (Obama 2009, para. 33). Excerpt 143: “Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, is that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers” (Obama 2008, para. 15).

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Table 18. President Barack Obama and his discursive practices Moral Assessment Framing Trap Moral Assessment

Main ideas and message “American creed”

The moral dimension of income distribution and equality

Excerpts

Excerpt 144: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” (Obama 2013, para. 1). Excerpt 145: “We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American; she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but also in our own” (Obama 2013, para. 12). Excerpt 146: “It’s the conviction that we are all created equal, endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It’s the insistence that these rights, while self-evident, have never been selfexecuting; that We, the People, through the instrument of our democracy, can form a more perfect union” (Obama 2017, para. 9). Excerpt 147: “Tonight, we’ve proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope” (Obama 2013, para. 16). Excerpt 148: “The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity, on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good” (Obama 2009, para. 15). Excerpt 149: “We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths –- that all of us are created equal –- is the star that guides us still” (Obama 2013, para. 21). Excerpt 150: “a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath” (Obama 2000, para. 29).

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Table 19. President Barack Obama and his discursive practices – Solutions Framing Trap Solutions

Main ideas and message The importance of change

The need for market regulation

Excerpts

Excerpt 151: “outworn programs are inadequate to the needs of our time” (Obama 2013, para. 13). Excerpt 152: “That’s the true genius of America: that American can change. Our union can be perfected. What we’ve already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow” (Obama 2013, para. 17). Excerpt 153: “So tonight, let us ask ourselves – if our children should live to see the next century, if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made” (Obama 2008, para. 26). Excerpt 154: “So that’s what we mean when we say America is exceptional — not that our nation has been flawless from the start, but that we have shown the capacity to change and make life better for those who follow” (Obama 2017, para. 12). Excerpt 155: “You [The American people] believe in a fair, and just, and inclusive America. You know that constant change has been America’s hallmark; that it’s not something to fear but something to embrace” (Obama 2017, para. 63). Excerpt 156: “Together, we discovered that a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play” (Obama 2013, para. 7).

CONCLUSION This chapter tried to answer the following research question: what is the academic significance of analyzing particular US Presidential discursive regimes building from the articulation between decision-making psychological and rhetorical traps and argumentation theory? The goal was to analyze discursive practices in the realm of US Presidential rhetorical regimes by establishing an articulation between the study of decisionmaking psychological traps, understood from a discursive perspective, and argumentation theory. Such an articulation was established through the concepts of discursive traps and meta-theoretical principles developed by argumentation theory (van Eemeren and Grootendorst 2004). By underpinning the rhetorical dimensions of argumentative political strategies, and by questioning the responsibility and accountability of decision-makers

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for those strategies, psychological traps were discussed as discursive traps, and argumentation studies’ meta-theoretical principles were employed in order to deepen the knowledge about specific political discursive regimes. The discursive practices of three US Presidents were addressed in order to illustrate how particular psychological traps, when embedded into political rhetoric, can be discussed not as unconscious cognitive bias, but as conscious discursive strategies. Those discursive traps, in association with argumentative meta-theoretical principles (van Eemeren and Grootendorst 2004), may help to explain the idiosyncrasies of US Presidents’ discursive practices. The chapter developed three main arguments: 1. That President Reagan’s Presidential speeches illustrate the articulation between the meta-theoretical principle of socialization and the psychological trap known as the anchoring trap. President Reagan’s discursive practices reveal an effort to achieve a broad consensus among Americans regarding the nature of their identity. Such effort was frequently based on the adoption of a protagonist vs. antagonist dichotomy, which is one of the characteristics of socialization as an argumentative principle; 2. That George W. Bush’s Presidential speeches can be interpreted through the association between the meta-theoretical principles of externalization and dialectification and the sunk-cost psychological trap. After the US response to the 9/11/2001 attacks, Bush had to justify the United States’ foreign policy through arguments that entailed commitments to the American people. Those arguments were critically addressed regarding their merits and potential fallacies, which explain the importance of dialectification; 3. Finally, that Barack Obama’s Presidential speeches embody the articulation between the meta-theoretical principle of functionalization and the adoption of a particular psychological trap: the framing trap. Barack Obama’s discursive practices have the explicit purpose of solving fundamental divergences in US society,

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The academic significance of analyzing particular US Presidential discursive regimes building from the articulation between decision-making psychological and rhetorical traps and argumentation theory derives from the possibility to contribute to literature devoted to the empirical categorization of fundamental differences amongst US President’s discursive practices (Coe 2013; Reyes 2011). The study of the articulation between decision-making psychological and rhetorical traps and argumentation theory also permits to address psychological traps as conscious discursive bias and strategies The analysis developed throughout the chapter allows concluding that the three Presidents employed distinct discursive strategies. President Reagan employed the meta-theoretical principle of socialization with three main goals: to counterclaim the belief on American decline, to settle discursive divergences within American politics, and to normalize a dichotomized image of the international system based on a protagonist vs. antagonist dualism. Ronald Reagan fulfills his discursive goals through the construction of a discursive regime based on specific discursive anchors, specifically, a neoliberal understanding of the role of the state in free societies, and the importance of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Regan also reifies stereotypes and dominant perspectives about domestic and international politics, explicitly the need to contain the Soviet Union, represented as an “evil empire” (Reagan 1983, para. 48), and the underpinning of the exceptionality of the American people and its political system. President Bush’s discursive regime can be addressed through an articulation between the meta-theoretical principles of externalization and dialectification. Through the principle of externalization, President Bush employs religious references in order to mystify the American nation and, particularly after 9/11/2001, to build a narrative centered on the securitization of American politics. The meta-theoretical principle of dialectification, heavily present in Bush’s argumentative structures, allows

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to identify several discursive strategies employed by President Bush in his effort to legitimize the US-led “war on terrorism”, namely, the strategies of “evasion,” “assimilation,” “rubbing in the facts,” and “demeaning the opponents” (van Eemeren and Houtlosser 1999, 493). Evidence of the sunkcost psychological trap can be found in Bush’s revival of the good vs. evil terminology, as well as in the President’s use of mnemonical references to justify the military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Finally, President Obama employs the meta-theoretical principle of functionalization with three main objectives: to solve fundamental ideological disputes within American society, to manage the rhetorical and ideological divergences prevalent in American political discourse, and to legitimize his welfare and equality policies. The President’s discursive regime shows evidence of the framing trap since one of his core political goals was to (re)construct the American narratives and political practices in the field of inequality and income distribution. Obama summons what he designates as the American “creed” (Obama 2013, para. 1), as well as the value of change to morally frame his social policies.

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Makarychev, Andrey. (2009). “Russia, NATO and the ‘Colour Revolutions.’ Russian Politics and Law, 47, 5, 40-51. Mintz, Alex. & Karl, DeRouen. (2010). Understanding Foreign Policy Decision-Making. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Obama, Barack. (2008). “Barack Obama’s Presidential Election Victory Speech.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/nov/07/barackobama-speech-full-text. Accessed July 25, 2019. Obama, Barack. (2009). “President Obama’s Inaugural Address.” https:// obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2009/01/21/president-barackobamas-inaugural-address. Accessed July 25, 2019. Obama, Barack. (2013). “Inaugural Address by President Obama.” https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/01/21/ inaugural-address-president-barack-obama. Accessed July 25, 2019. Obama, Barack. (2017). “President Obama’s Farewell Address.” https:// www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-obama-farewell-speech-transcript20170110-story.html. Accessed July 25, 2019. Pach, Chester. (2006). “The Reagan Doctrine: Principle, Pragmatism and Policy.” Presidential Studies Quaterly, 36, 1, 75-88. Pedwell, Carolyn. (2012). “Economies of Empathy: Obama, Neoliberalism and Social Justice.” Environment and Planning. Society and Space, 30, 2, 280-297. Plantin, Christian. (2002). “Argumentative Studies and Discourse Analysis. The French Situation and the Global Perspectives.” Discourse Studies, 3, 4, 343-368. Reagan, Ronald. (1981). “First Inaugural Address of Ronald Reagan.” https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/reagan1.asp. Accessed July 20, 2019. Reagan, Ronald. (1983). “Address to the National Association of Evangelicals.” https://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/reagan-evil-empirespeech-text/. Accessed July 20, 2019. Reagan, Ronald. (1985a). “Second Inaugural Address of Ronald Reagan.” https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/reagan2.asp. Accessed July 20, 2019.

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Reagan, Ronald. (1985b). “State of the Union. Transcript of President’s State of the Union Address to Congress.” https://www.nytimes.com/ 1985/02/07/us/state-union-second-american-revolution-transcriptpresident-s-state-union.html. Accessed July 20, 2019. Reagan, Ronald. (1989). “Farewell Address to the Nation.” https:// www.reaganfoundation.org/ronald-reagan/reagan-quotesspeeches/farewell-address-to-the-nation-2/. Accessed July 20, 2019. Reisigl, Martin. & Ruth, Wodak. (2001). Discourse and Discrimination: Rhetorics of Racism and Antisemitism. London: Routledge. Renshon, Jonathan. & Stanley, Renshon. (2008). “The Theory and Practice of Foreign Policy Analysis.” Political Psychology, 29, 4, 509-536. Reyes, Antonio. (2011). “Strategies of legitimization in political discourse: From words to actions.” Discourse & Society, 22, 6, 781–807. Simon, Herbert. (1990). “Alternative Visions of Rationality.” In Rationality in Action: Contemporary Approaches, edited by Paul Moser, 189-206. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Stramer, Janicke. (2010). “The Language of War: George W. Bush’s Discursive Practices in Securitising the Western Value System.” In The New Order of War, edited by Bob Brecher, 35-47. Leiden: Brill. van Eemeren, Frans. (2018). Argumentation Theory. The Pragma Dialectical Perspective. Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. van Eemeren, Frans., Garssen, Bart., Krabbe, Erik., Henkemans, Francisca., Verheij, Bart. & Jean, Wagemans. (2013). “The Pragma-Dialectical Theory of Argumentation.” In Handbook of Argumentation Theory, edited by Frans van Eemeren, Bart Garssen, Erik Krabbe, Francisca Henkemens, Bart Verheij and Jean Wagemans, 517-613. Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. van Eemeren, Frans. & Rob, Grootendorst. (2004). A Systematic Theory of Argumentation. A Pragma-Dialectic Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. van Eemeren, Frans. & Peter, Houtlosser. (1999). “Strategic manoeuvring in strategic discourse.” Discourse Studies, 1, 4, 479-497.

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In: Understanding Discourse Analysis ISBN: 978-1-53617-645-2 Editor: Angelique Majory © 2020 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Chapter 2

ANALYSING WRITTEN TEXTS IN EDUCATION POLICY RESEARCH: DOES CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OFFER ANY PROSPECTS? Hope Pius Nudzor, PhD Institute for Educational Planning and Administration, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana

ABSTRACT Much of the language forms used in traditional policy research come in the form of written texts for analysis purposes. Interestingly, however, these texts, in most instances, get tagged and treated as documents for literature review without any rigorous analysis and/or interrogation. This chapter analyses extracts from Ghana’s education policy reform documents to exemplify the efficacy of critical discourse analysis (CDA) as an interdisciplinary analytic tool and/or method for analysing written texts in critical policy research. The extracts selected for analysis are in documents in the public domain, and constitute part of the body of literature reflecting the Government of Ghana’s thinking and philosophy on education 

Corresponding Author’s E-mail: [email protected].

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Hope Pius Nudzor currently. The analyses of the texts selected was undertaken at the linguistics and inter-discursive levels. The former level focused on the linguistic and semiotic choices made in writing and laying out the texts, whereas the latter level of analysis concentrated on identifying ideological discourses drawn upon in the texts and analysing how these work out together with the linguistic level to produce meaning. The critical discourse analysis of the selected extracts suggest a shift in Ghana’s education policy direction and language of implementation, triggered by a significant discursive shift from socialist and social democratic tenets towards neoliberal ideological ideals in recent times. This, the chapter contends, is due to the advent of neo-liberal vision of international competitiveness which appears to be subjugating Ghana’s internal and external priorities to a mirage of international credibility criteria of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and other pro-capitalist institutions. Against the backdrop of the analyses and findings, the chapter concludes that owing to its potential to draw on language as a resource for analysing complex social processes, CDA offers better prospects for analysing written texts in two key ways. First, CDA serves to highlight ‘new’ textual formations (in the form of discourses), marginal discourses and ‘silences’ within policy texts. Second, and following up on the first point, CDA is needful in critical policy research for tracing discursive shifts in policy implementation processes.

Keywords: discourse analysis, critical discourse analysis, critical policy research, education policy, policy texts, Ghana’s education system

INTRODUCTION Documentary evidence, and by extension written texts, have in recent times been acknowledged as viable sources of evidence in educational research concerned with evaluating the impact of policy on education. The reason for this growing interest is in part attributed to the well-established research claim by Hodder (2000) that what people say is often different from what they do, and that for any piece of research concerned primarily with authenticating and documenting official policy positions, written texts provide a ‘factual’ reflection of original meanings and/or intentions than other types of evidence. As a result of this, written texts, particularly those in the form of documentary sources of information (including, but not limited to, reference books, dairies, governments publications, newspaper

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reports, official reports on income distribution, health and well-being, statistics on crime, and censuses of population) feature a great deal in the work of social scientists nowadays. Yet, these materials rarely are given the prominence they deserve in research. In most cases, these sources of information get acknowledged and tagged as documentary study/analysis alright, but yet are described, or at best employed only as useful supports to other research methods and/or processes of analysis as opposed to being a viable analytic method in its own right. Even in some situations where ‘content analysis’ is said to be applied to analysis of written texts, the analysis gets so watered down to the extent that important analytic procedures and processes either get ignored or skated over. The situation is not different in traditional policy research, where much of the language forms used come in the form of written texts, yet these texts most often get treated merely as literature review sections without any rigorous and systematic analysis and/or interrogation. This chapter attempts to address an aspect of this irony whereby documents (and by extension written texts) get acknowledged as viable data in social science research and yet their contents do not get to receive any serious analytic interrogation (Harber 1997, Hodder 2000, Nudzor 2013, 2016). Specifically, this chapter addresses the issue of the supposedly inherent lack of a systematic approach or method with which to make sense of written texts in critical policy research. In the process, the chapter analyses extracts from Ghana’s education policy reform documents to exemplify the efficacy of critical discourse analysis (CDA) as an interdisciplinary analytic tool for analysing written texts. Mainly, the chapter demonstrates how using CDA to analyse policy texts allows for social and political theories of discourse to be integrated with linguistically oriented approaches to produce meaning in critical policy research. Essentially, the critical discourse analysis of the selected extracts show a shift in Ghana’s education policy direction and language of implementation, triggered by a significant discursive shift from socialist and social democratic tenets towards neo-liberal ideological ideals in recent times. This, the chapter argues, is due to the advent of neo-liberal vision of international competitiveness which appears to be subjugating Ghana’s

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internal and external priorities to a mirage of international credibility criteria of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and other pro-capitalist institutions. Against the backdrop of the analyses and findings, the chapter contends that owing to its potential to draw on language as a resource for analysing complex social processes, CDA offers better prospects for analysing written texts in two key ways. First, CDA serves to highlight ‘new’ textual formations (in the form of discourses), marginal discourses and ‘silences’ within policy texts. Second, and following up on the first point, CDA is needful in critical policy research for tracing discursive shifts in policy implementation processes. The chapter begins with a section that presents a brief historical account of Ghana’s post-independence educational activities to provide the context and a reference point for the analyses of texts/extracts for the purposes of the chapter. This is followed by an exploration of the theoretical framework/resource used as a lens to help foreground the research evidence in the analyses undertaken. Thereafter, an attempt is made to define CDA to distil its ingredients to help distinguish it from what it is not (at least for the purposes of this chapter). This is followed by the justification for the application of the variant of CDA described in this chapter as an analytical tool and method for analysing written texts for. Afterwards, information regarding access and selection of texts/extracts analysed, and the procedures for analysis are presented. This is then followed respectively by two sections that present issues emerging from the analysis, and the conclusions. So clearly, whilst the focus of the chapter appears to be on the analysis of written texts, the rationale essentially is to exemplify the efficacy of CDA as an interdisciplinary analytic tool for analysing written texts in critical policy research.

GHANA’S POST-INDEPENDENCE EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES: A BRIEF HISTORICAL ACCOUNT The history of educational activities in Ghana suggests that the most significant education expansion programmes, particularly in the pre-tertiary

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sector, occurred towards the end of colonial rule when demand for education to serve a ‘decolonising’ and ‘nationalistic’ agenda (Turner 1971, Nwomonoh 1998, Dei 2004b, 2005, Nudzor 2012, 2017) had increased. This period, according to Dei (2005), was characterised by the activities of leaders who sought to use education as a tool to gain independence. This decolonising agenda stemmed from the revolutionary ideas of avowed socialists such as Franz Fanon, Mohandas Gandhi, Albert Memmi, Ame Cesaire, Che Guevara, among others, who sought political liberation for all colonised people using the power of knowledge. Following from this example, prominent anti-colonial African thinkers and socialists such as Kwame Nkrumah, Amilcar Cabral, Sekou Toure, Julius Nyerere and Leopald Senghor strategically evoked the goal of nation building as a necessary pre-condition for decolonisation to disabuse the minds of the citizens from colonial history, experiences and vestiges (Dei 2005). These anti-colonial and decolonising tenets were redefined by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana, in his famous saying “the Black man is capable of managing his own affairs” (Nkrumah 1957). This saying was later crystallised into the slogan of ‘self-reliance’ and pragmatised in Ghanaian Education Acts and programmes, especially the Accelerated Development Plan (ADP) of 1951 and the 1961 Education Act, under which provisions were made to expand access to education (Nudzor 2012). The ADP for a decolonising purposes, and according to (Akyeampong 2009), abolished tuition fees and set in motion rapid education expansion with the view to achieving the goal of universal primary education (UPE) for all within 15 years (i.e., by 1966). The 1961 Act, on the other hand, introduced legislation for compulsory universal primary education to consolidate the gains of the ADP. Thus, propelled by the ideologies of self-determination and a new national identity (Kuyini 2013), Ghana’s post-colonial education was geared towards serving a decolonising and nationalistic agenda (Nudzor 2012). In particular, riding on what Kuyini (2013) describes as the “euphoric wave of freedom and self-determination”, leaders of the new independent Ghana conceptualised education as a vehicle for crystallising national goals and visions. Consistent with this agenda, a number of significant steps were taken. For example, a rapid expansion of

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primary education was pursued and attempts were made, particularly by the Nkrumah government, to indigenise the curriculum through the use of Ghanaian languages and new reading materials, and later the introduction of civics education by Busia’s government in 1969. Ghana’s economy grew steadily immediately after independence in 1957, but began to experience a long period of decline in the early 1970s. This, in part, was attributed to the political instability characterised by successive military take-overs in 1966, 1972, 1978, 1979 and 1981. This was a period of harsh and repressive revolutionary zeal on the part of the military which culminated in a significant chunk of the nation’s trained and highly qualified teacher workforce seeking greener pastures in neighbouring Nigeria (Akyeampong 2009, Kadingdi 2004, Kuyini 2013, Nti 1999, Nudzor 2012, 2017 etc.). The political instability coupled with the rise in oil prices in the 1970s resulted, for example, in a major economic decline and consequently affecting education provision and delivery. According to the World Bank (1989, cited in Akyeampong 2009, Nudzor 2012, 2017), from 1979 to 1983, total economic output declined by 14% and real per capital income fell by 23%. The period between 1970s and early 1980s, in particular, saw the index of real monthly earnings in the formal sector drop from GHS 315 to GHS 62. This, according to World Bank documents, caused poverty to spread. The poor economic circumstances adversely affected educational quality and outcomes whilst at the same time educational infrastructure and facilities deteriorated due to lack of funding (World Bank 2004, cited in Nudzor 2012, 2017). In a single year (i.e., 1981/1982 academic year), primary enrolment dropped to about 100, 000 and remained so until 1986/1987 when it began to rise. Again, from 1980/1981 to 1987/1988, the average growth rate of primary enrolment, according to World Bank (1989) figures, stood at 1.59%, well below the 3% growth rate of the school-age population at the time. Dishearteningly, “the increase of primary enrolment to 1,535,505 in 1987/1988 only brought total primary enrolments to 1981/1982 levels” (Akyeampong 2009: 178). As a result of the decline, educational quality and outcomes were affected and government spending on education dropped from 6.4% of GDP in 1976 to staggering 1.5% of much lower GDP by 1984 (World Bank 2004, cited by

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Akyeampong 2009). Also, as school quality declined, the returns plummeted, causing demand for schooling, especially among the poor and disadvantaged to fall sharply (Glewwe and IIlias, cited in Akyeampong 2009, Nudzor 2012, 2017). The road to Ghana’s economic recovery began arguably in 1983 when structural adjustment reforms strongly supported by the IMF and World Bank were introduced by the revolutionary government of Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings (Akyeampong 2009, cited in Nudzor 2012, 2017). According to Akyeampong (2009), former president Rawlings had come to power promising probity, accountability and a greater distribution of economic wealth particularly towards the poor and the marginalised. He as a result moved in quickly to restructure the education system, seeing it as a means to achieve this objective. Essentially, the Rawlings’ regime, according to Akyeampong (2009), redistributed educational resources in favour of basic education to fulfil the agenda of making education a right for all children. Thus, from policy point of view, the structural adjustment reforms introduced by Rawlings’ regime helped to create the necessary conditions for improving the economy that led to increasing investments in basic education. For instance, with financial assistance from international agencies (typically the World Bank), basic education alone received US$260 million from 1986 to 2002. These investments averaged US$17 million a year, peaking at US$40 million in 1995 (World Bank 2004, cited by Nudzor 2012). These investments were aimed principally at increasing the proportion of educational resources allocated to a re-structured 9-year basic education system which had become the centre of wider education reforms by 1987. Aside this, significant investment savings were also made, as part of the 1987 education reform, by reducing 17 years of Ghana’s pre-tertiary system of education to 12 years comprising 6 years primary, 3 years junior secondary (now junior high), and 3 years secondary (now senior high). In continuation of primary education universalisation efforts, the savings accrued from down-sizing the pre-tertiary system were used to expand school places to increase intakes and enrolments. Expectedly, these significant investments led to a reasonable surge in enrolments of pupils particularly in primary and junior secondary schools across the country.

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Unfortunately, however, this, according to Akyeampong (2009: 179), did not result in steady growth in enrolment rates until after the initiation of the fCUBE in 1996. Although laudable in terms to how it led to significant investments into education provision and delivery in Ghana, structural adjustment, however, was, and still is, controversial in terms of its neo-liberal and/or modernist and market-driven policy undertones of privatisation, consumerism, choice, cost recovery and the rhetoric of education for knowledge economy (EKE). According to the World Bank’s website and a series of its education sector policy papers (for example, Ainsworth 1984, Birdsall 1982, 1983, Mingat and Psacharopoulos 1985, Psacharopoulos, Tan, and Jimenez 1986; Thobani 1984), structural adjustment, as is underpinned largely by EKE, refers to the World Bank (and its affiliate multi-lateral agencies’) work with developing countries to cultivate the highly skilled, flexible human capital needed to help them compete in a global market. This EKE policy discourse has played out rather interestingly in the Ghanaian educational context. As a result of the acceptance of IMF/World Bank demands for economic recovery in 1983, Ghana’s education policy and practice began to be influenced and dictated to by market-oriented thinking, for example, of reduced public spending in education. Another aspect of the IMF/World Bank’s EKE policy reforms concern cost recovery or what is referred to in other contexts as ‘costsharing’. This, according to Mingat and Tan (1986, cited in Bray 1987), was based largely on the argument that since students who attend higher education are commonly from relatively prosperous families, differentiated costs and high subsidies seem to be an instrument for promoting inequity. These resulted to the introduction of school-fees and increased privatisation of education services. In particular, “the demand by the IMF and the World Bank for cost effectiveness in education provision from mid-1980s led, for example, to the institution of cost recovery measures across the sector and the setting up of the University Rationalisation Committee (URC) to restructure university education in terms of content and funding” (Kuyini 2013: 163). The next significant push towards deepening education provision and delivery in Ghana (i.e., after the major economic downturn of the 1970s and

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the 1980s) embraces the period of major constitutional and policy reforms engineered by the global Education for All (EFA) rhetoric (Nudzor 2012). This phase was characterised by Ghana’s participation and endorsement of international agreements and conventions including: the Jomtien Education for All Conference in Thailand, the United Nations (UN) Convention/ Declaration on the Rights of the Child, the Beijing Declaration on Women’s Rights, the Lome Convention, the Millennium Development Goals (MGD) Conference in Dakar, Senegal among others. Ghana’s participation in, and ratification of these key international agreements and declarations coupled with commitments to her own internal constitutional reforms in 1992 led to major constitutional and educational reforms of which the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (fCUBE) policy initiative was a formidable part (Nudzor 2012, 2013a, 2013b, 2016, 2017). The 1992 constitution and policy acts that followed it set the stage for the national provision of basic education (Maikish and Gershberg 2008). For example, the constitution formulated the policy entitled “Basic Education A Right: Programme for the provision of Free Compulsory and Universal Basic Education by the year 2005” (MOE/GES 2001), which was to be implemented as a requirement for the return to constitutional and multiparty system of governance in the fourth time in the country’s history. In line with this constitutional provision, the then government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), through the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service, came out with a policy document to launch the fCUBE policy officially in April, 1996. In principle, the fCUBE policy aimed to eliminate school fees in order to increase demand for schooling (Akyeampong 2009). With financial assistance from the World Bank, fCUBE focused on demand and supply educational activities. Regarding the former, investments went to support education policy and management changes with key areas targeted including (but not exclusive to): increasing instructional time, reducing fees and levies, improving headteachers’ management skills an motivation levels and improving school supervision. Concerning the latter, investments focused primarily on improving physical infrastructure and increasing the number of school places through the large-

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scale construction of additional classrooms and schools (Akyeampong 2009, cited in Nudzor 2012, 2017). From the year 2012 onwards, owing largely to Ghana’s ratification of global education for all policy imperatives, including her subscription to implementation of sustainable development goals (SDGs), new policy initiatives intended to strengthen and revitalise the country’s educational system are now being introduced. Notable among the new policy initiatives being implemented in recent times are the upgrading of the country’s teacher training colleges to Colleges of Education by Act 847 of Parliament; implementation of the free senior high school policy; the development and implementation of the new curriculum for teacher training and teacher professional standards; development and implementation of a new curriculum for basic schools; and the upgrading of Colleges of Education to offer a four-year Bachelor of Education degrees. However, as Adie (2008) for example, asserts, the implementation of these and all other policy interventions being rolled out in recent times appear to show significant alignment with international trends more than they show individual government’s commitment to solving their internal problems. She argues that in response to international trends, governments worldwide are having to promote reforms in their education systems to match global economic and technological advances with the aim of producing citizens who can become productive members of society. Kuyini (2013) endorses this point by contending that recent education reform programmes in Africa articulate EKE policy orientation more broadly through gearing their educational systems and their graduates towards international competitiveness rather than attempting to solve their myriad problems. So crisply, this section has highlighted Ghana’s post-independence educational activities to provide the context and a reference point for the analyses of texts/extracts for the purposes of the chapter. The section that follows serves a complimentary purpose by outlining the key features of the three dominant political ideologies that underpin the work of the various Governments of Ghana.

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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK/RESOURCE The analysis contained in this chapter focuses on explicating how linguistic/semiotic features of texts together with social processes and contexts (including political and/or philosophical ideological discourses) combine and interact to produce meanings of texts. In this regard, and granted essentially that the chapter aims, in part, to unearth the discursive shift in policy direction and language of implementing Ghana’s education policy reforms, it is imperative to outline a kind of theoretical framework and/or resource which will help to distil the key features of the three dominant political ideologies (i.e., socialism, social democracy and capitalism/neo-liberalism) that underpin the work of the various Governments of Ghana. This will ensure that the evidence emanating from the article is well grounded in the analysis and not based on mere speculations. Socialism is a left-wing ideology founded on the use of the state (local or national), or other collective means (such as through workers’ control/ownership) to limit or change the power of the ruling capitalist class (Trowler 1998, Hill 2001). This ideology is based on the believe that capitalism ultimately can and must be transformed and replaced by/with socialism – collective and non-exploitative control of the economy. Adherents of this ideology (socialists and/or Marxists they are called) believe in the collective good, in contrast to an emphasis on selfish individualism. The major objective of socialism include: social and collective control of the economy, the egalitarian redistribution of wealth, income and power in favour of working people and their families. Crucially, the goal of equality for socialists/Marxists, and in the words of Hill (2001: 11), is to achieve not only the equality of opportunities but far more equality of outcomes too. The social democratic ideology shares common idealism, features language and values with socialism particularly regarding education (i.e., personal development and social co-operation) (Trowler 1998, Hill 2001, Lynch and Lodge 2007). However, in this context, the difference between these two ideological positions rests in the fact that whereas the social

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democratic ideology is strongly committed to social justice and its related concepts such as inclusion, equality, equality of opportunities (and of outcomes), fairness, what is referred to in the context of this article as socialism advocate the use of local and national state to achieve a socially just (defined as egalitarian) anti-discriminatory society (Nudzor 2017). In education, the social democratic principles require among other things: comprehensive schooling; expansion of educational opportunities and provision; local community involvement in schooling; a commitment to policies of equal opportunities; a degree of positive discrimination and redistribution of resources within and between schools; a curriculum and education system that recognises issues of social justice (Hill 2001: 14). Theoretically, neo-liberalism offers a criticism against the intervention of the State and Government (welfare state) based on a number of presumptions which are perceived and condemned as collective, socialist and economically misguided (Hatcher 2001, Chitty 2003, King 2004, Olssen et al. 2004, Adie 2008). The neo-liberal ideology has as its basic tenet, a belief in competitive individualism, an ideological representation of a ‘reduced’ role for the state, and a maximization of the market. The thinking behind this ideology is that by minimising state powers, market mechanisms will be able to operate to ensure economic prosperity, the maximisation of individual freedom and its provision of a base for all social interactions (Olssen et al. 2004: 136). Thus broadly speaking, in neo-liberalism, the state seeks essentially to create an individual who is enterprising and a competitive entrepreneur (Dale 1986, Trowler 1998, Hill 2001, King 2004, Adie 2008). The terminology used by Trowler (1998: 64) to capture this ideology in terms of educational discourse is ‘enterprise education’. It is concerned primarily with developing people in terms of transferable core skills to be good, compliant, ideologically indoctrinated, pro-capitalist workers (Hill 2001: 39). The major principles of neo-liberalism, particularly on education, include among other things: national standards; regular national tests; international benchmarking; competition between schools to raise standards; parental choice; resources linked results; preparation for work; skills for knowledge-based economy; active and lifelong learning and citizenship.

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Table 1. Contrasting features/principles of the three ideological perspectives Political ideological terminology Educational ideological terminology View or purpose of education Political ideological terminology View of pupils View of parents View of teachers and other stakeholders Role of Government Appropriate curriculum Key principles

Socialism/Marxism

Social democracy

Neo-liberalism/economic rationalism

Social re-contructionism

Progressivism

Enterprise

Empowering marginalised groups and changing the status quo in the interest of equity Socialism/Marxism

Social justice (personal and social development Social democracy

Increasing human capital

Change agents Could be involved in pressing for change Can either hinder or facilitate change

Entitlees Partners

Raw materials Supporters, consumers

Partners

First among equal partners but usually repressive Developing critical thinking and linking theory and action a. State intervention is paramount to achieving a key goal of equality of opportunities. b. Favours an education system, the aim of which is the flourishing on the collective society, community and individual. c. Aims at fostering cultures within classrooms, schools and communities.

Partners

Some teachers are too antibusiness. Industry and commerce should be partners Minimal

Student centred a. There is a need for intervention by state into most aspects of social provision, including education. b. Without regulation social inequalities will become exacerbated and the disadvantaged will become relatively worse off. c. Encourages pluralistic decisionmaking with the involvement of all stakeholders.

Neo-liberalism/economic rationalism

Vocational/technical (skill for the world of work) a. This is an individualistic or anti-collective ideology, It sees the individual pursuing hi/her own interests as the key to happiness. b. The free market should be left to its own devices with very minimum Government intervention. c. Attempts at social planning are doomed because of the complexities of society.

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Table 1. (Continued) Political ideological terminology Principles applied to education

Socialism/Marxism

Social democracy

Neo-liberalism/economic rationalism

a. Encourages egalitarian redistribution of resources within and between schools including affirmative action for underachievers. b. Encourages increase in powers of education authorities in the development of policies for equality of outcomes. c. Favours the creation of educational institutions as centres of critical debate.

a. Schools and individuals should compete with one another. b. Parents are consumers and should be given information needed to make intelligent choices. c. Diversity within the education system should be encouraged in order to provide extensive choice.

Key points

a. Views education as a force for creating an improved individual to address prevailing social norms and help change them for the better. b. Shares with progressivists, a preference for active, problemsolving pedagogy. c. Favours the use of local and national state to achieve a socially just anti discriminatory society.

a. Education is an important means by which social inequality can be mitigated and made more meritocratic. b. Encourages and promotes local community involvement in education. c. Education leads to greater levels of social mobility based on merit, particularly intelligence and hard work. a. This ideology rejects elitism and favours mass access to higher education. b. The role of education is to give a ‘step-up’ to disadvantaged individuals and groups where there are concerns about social inequality. c. ‘Student-centred’ in the sense of valuing students’ participation in planning, delivering, assessing and evaluating courses.

a. Education is primarily concerned with developing people to be good and efficient workers. b. ‘What will it help us to do’ is the key question in deciding what should be taught. c. There is considerable emphasis on transferable ‘core skills’: communication, IT, literacy etc.

Adapted and revised from Trowler (1998) and Hill (2001).

The key features and principles of these three ideological perspectives as they relate to education, and as espoused in relevant literature are illustrated in Table 1.

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DEFINING CDA CDA has been conceptualised variously by different ‘thinkers’ of/about the place of language usage in human interactions but with some profound commonalities in definitions as well as in ideation and application. For example, Scollon and Scollon (2001: 140) conceptualises CDA simply as “a programme of social analysis that critically analyses discourse by focusing on the ways by which knowledge, power and social relations are constructed through the analysis of written and spoken communication”. McCarthy and Carter (1994: 38), on the other hand, view CDA as an “approach to analysis which adopts a discourse-based view of language which involves looking not just at isolated, decontextualized bits of language but rather examining how bits of language combine with social processes to contribute to the making of complete texts”. Fairclough (1995:1), one of the founders of CDA, on his part, describes CDA as “an analytic framework– a theory and a method–for studying language in its relation to power and ideology. Elaborating further on the interconnectedness of the concepts of language, power and ideology within CDA, Fairclough contends that: CDA is consolidated… as a three-dimensional framework where the aim is to map three separate forms of analysis onto one another: analysis of (spoken or written) language texts, analysis of discourse practice (i.e., processes of text production, distribution and consumption), and analysis of discursive events as instances of sociocultural practice (Fairclough 1995: 2)

Regarding the specific aims of undertaking CDA, Fairclough argues that fundamentally, CDA aims to: …specifically explore often opaque relationships of causality and determination between (a) discursive practices, events and texts, and (b) wider social and cultural structures, relations and processes; to investigate how such practices, events and texts arise out of and are ideologically shaped by relations of power and struggles over power (1995: 132).

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Locke (2004) adds to these useful deliberations by summarising, in a number of bullet points, what to him, constitutes the key ingredients of the definition and/or aims of CDA. Locke argues that CDA essentially views:  

 







a prevailing social order as historically situated and therefore relative, socially constructed and changeable; a prevailing social order and social processes as constituted and sustained less by the will of individuals than by the pervasiveness of particular constructions or versions of reality – often referred to as discourse; discourse as coloured by and productive of ideology (however ‘ideology’ is conceptualised); power in society not so much as imposed on individual subjects as an inevitable ‘effect’ of a away particular discursive configurations or arrangements privilege the status and positions of some people over others; human subjectivity as at least in part constructed or inscribed by discourse, and discourse as manifested in the various ways people ‘are’ and ‘enact’ the sorts of people they are; reality as textually and inter-textually mediated via verbal and nonverbal language systems, and texts as sites for both the inculcation and the contestation of discourses; the systematic analysis and interpretation of texts as potentially revelatory of ways in which discourses consolidate power and colonise human subjects through often covert position calls (Locke, 2004: 1–2).

Clearly from the expositions above, two key points can be established about what CDA is and what it aims to do. First, CDA in a nutshell, and as far as critical education (policy) research is concerned, is or could be viewed as a research method with the “potential to reveal the way power is diffused through the prevalence of various discourses throughout an education system, at both the micro-level of individual classrooms and the macro-level of large-scale reform” (Locke 2004: 2).

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Second, and following up on the first point, CDA essentially is an act, analytic practice and method characterized as analytical; discourse oriented; critical; and interpretative (Fairclough and Wodak 1997, Janks 1997, Wodak 1996, 2001, Locke 2004). First and foremost, CDA is an analytical act in the sense that in order to arrive at one or more underlying principles about a particular object, a detailed systematic examination and/or investigation would have to be conducted about that object. CDA is also discourse oriented in that the analysis it conducts in the form of the systematic examination and/or investigation has to be concerned with language use (in one sense of the word ‘discourse’) and with the way in which patterns of meaning (as in stories that make the world meaningful) are socially constructed (the other sense of the word ‘discourse’). Third, CDA is critical because a central outcome of the act of analysis is to enable consideration of the social effects of the meanings a reader is being positioned or called upon to subscribe to in the act of reading, and the contestation of these meanings. Lastly, CDA involves interpretation emanating crucially from the act of reading and/or analysis by which a reader makes meaning out of a text. This interpretation focuses on three dimensions 1 , namely: its manifestation in linguistic form (i.e., in the form of ‘texts’); its instantiation of a social practice (i.e., political, ideological, and so on); and its focus on socially constructed processes of production, distribution and consumption which determine how texts are made, circulated and used (Locke 2004: 8–10). Having attempted the definition of CDA, the next pertinent question that begs asking is why the use of CDA as a research method for analysing written texts? For purposes of fluidity in setting the context and a frame for this chapter, the next section attempts to provide answers to this question.

1

It is instructive to mention here that these three dimensions are mutually not exclusive. The first focuses on the text as a describable and patterned thing made out of language but extending to other related signifying systems such as the lettering style of the text in question. The second focuses on ways in which texts reflect larger patterns of social practice (i.e., ways of identifying, ways of thinking, ways of being in the world etc.). The third focuses on the ways in which texts operate in the world, including how they are made, disseminated and read. It also draws attention to the (inter)relationship between texts (Locke 2004: 9–10).

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WHY CDA? The increasing importance of language in social research has led to the use of various forms of discourse analysis in recent times. Instructively, the reasons for the surge of interest in CDA as an analytical method are many and varied. For the purposes of this chapter, I advance three reasons to explain this interest, and consequently move on to rationalise my decision to employ CDA to analyse policy texts in the Ghanaian education context, and thereby exemplify, although covertly, the efficacy of CDA as an analytic method in critical education policy research. First, the surge in interest in discourse analysis in recent times is attributed fundamentally to the concerns, mainly by discourse analysts, to address issues surrounding the approaches to describing language. This has come about as a result of what is sometimes referred to as the ‘linguistic turn’ in the twentieth-century thought, which has changed language from being thought of as a medium for expressing meanings that pre-exist linguistic formulation to a system that constitute meaningfulness in its own terms. With reference to the human sciences typically, Parker and the Bolton Discourse Network (cited in Locke 2004: 11) have noted a shift (what he calls a ‘turn to discourse’) in the last 30 years or more from the notion of representation as a direct or mediated reflection of reality to a conceptual and methodological account of representation as a form of ‘signification’, which actually shapes or constitutes the object denoted. As a result of this, according to Parker (1999), reality as preceding language and shaping it has become language preceding and shaping reality. Consequently, and in the words of Locke (2004), for example, language has come now to occupy centre stage in scholarly investigations, particularly those concerned with critical educational policy research. Second, the surge in interest in CDA is said to be in response to, and an endorsement of Fairclough’s (1992, 1995, 2001, 2003) admonition for inclusion of substantial element of textual analysis within discourse analysis as a method of social research. The premise of Fairclough’s admonition stems from the argument that the sort of social and cultural phenomenon that CDA is oriented towards are realised in textual properties of texts in ways

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which make them extraordinarily sensitive indicators of socio-cultural processes, relations and change. Also included in the substantial element of textual analysis Fairclough refers to, is intertextual analysis of how available genres and discourses drawn upon in texts combine and interact with the textual properties to produce and sustain meanings (Fairclough 1995). Against the backdrop of Fairclough’s argument, the interest in CDA as a method of analysis, therefore, appears to be premised on the contention that no analysis of text content and meaning can be satisfactory if such an analysis fails to attend to what Fairclough (1995) himself refers to as the ‘content of texture’ or the ‘content of its form’. Third, and as a complement to the previous points, CDA is being employed in analysing texts in social science research nowadays owing to the point made earlier in its definitions that as an analytical method, CDA adopts a ‘discourse-based view of language’ which requires analyst to look not just at isolated, decontextualized bits of language but rather examine how bits of language contribute to the making of complete texts. This process, in addition to paying attention to the analysis of the linguistic forms, is also cited for allowing for investigations about the relationship between the linguistic patterns of complete texts and the social contexts in which they function to be undertaken. In particular, CDA and its processes of analyses are held in high esteem essentially for allowing considerations to be given to high-order operations of language at the interface of cultural and ideological meanings and returning to the lower-order forms of language which are often crucial to the patterning of meanings. As McCarthy and Carter (1994), for example, succinctly put it, the discourse-based view that CDA adopts, and upon which premise it is employed for analysis, prioritises an interactive approach to analysis of texts which takes proper account of the dynamism inherent in linguistic contexts. So while the points alluded to above largely have helped to explain the sudden interest in the use of CDA as an analytical method in social science research lately, in the context of this chapter, the decision to ply this methodological route is grounded in the purpose of the chapter to exemplify the efficacy of CDA as a viable analytic method in critical policy research. In so doing, the chapter aims to show, through the analyses of selected

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texts/extracts from Ghana’s education policy reform documents, any possible shift in Ghana’s education policy direction and language of implementation over time. The task essentially is to study the selected texts/extracts, analyse them critically using CDA, so as to be able to document textual and/or linguistic formations (in the form of hybrid genres and discourses) in the policy texts, as well as to indicate possibilities for highlighting marginal discourses and significant ‘silences’ within the education policy reform documents. This endeavour is also intended to open up space for exploring and/or tracing the possibility of any discursive shifts in the education policy implementation processes at large.

ACCESS AND SELECTION OF TEXTS/EXTRACTS As pointed out succinctly by Hodder (2000: 704), access to public documents for the sake of analysis is relatively easy, whereas access to records is normally restricted by laws regarding privacy, confidentiality and anonymity. In the research activities that has culminated into this chapter, publicly available education documents were sought and texts extracted from them for analysis. Whilst this may appear as seeking an easy way out with respect to gaining access to extracts for analysis purposes, it is not to be taken to mean or understood that the documents from which the texts were extracted are less important or irrelevant as far as education provision and delivery in the Ghanaian context is involved. This path was pursued in order not to get entangled with/in legal and ethical issues of privacy, confidentiality and anonymity that are normally associated with access to Government records. In all, five extracts from Ghana’s education policy reform documents were identified, accessed, studied and analysed for the purposes of the original research2 on which this chapter draws. However, in this chapter, owing largely to the lack of space, only three of the extracts (from three of 2

The original research referred to here was the author’s PhD research conducted at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow Scotland on the implementation of the ‘fCUBE’ policy in Ghana (Nudzor 2007).

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the five documents) are analysed. The documents from which the three extracts are taken comprised the 1992 Republican Constitution of Ghana (Government of Ghana [GOG] 1992); the Education Strategic Plan [ESP] (MOE 2003); and the Government of Ghana’s White Paper on the Education Reform Review Committee Report (GOG 2005). The rationale for the selection of extracts from these documents stemmed from the need to provide a ‘timeline’ of a sort indicating an overview and chronology of the major educational events in the country. In particular, 1992 Republican Constitution of Ghana was selected to help explicate the constitutional and democratic principles and processes that underpin educational reforms in Ghana and their underlying political, philosophical and ideological undercurrents and purposes. The ESP, on the other hand, formed part of a series of strategic guidelines introduced to inform and assist the development of education in Ghana from 2003 to 2015, and was thus selected for analysis to help highlight the official policy position of Government, especially after the renewal of the 1990 Jomtien commitment at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal in the year 2000. In addition to helping to highlight the philosophical and ideological stance of Government, the third document from which an extract was taken for analysis (i.e., Government’s White Paper on the Report of the Education Reform Review Committee’s Findings) was chosen owing to what at the time was considered to be its inherent prediction and/or forecasting of the future direction of education (typically pre-tertiary education) provision and delivery in the country in the next couple of years and decades, if not more. The texts/extracts selection process itself was not done capriciously. This was carried out bearing in mind Macdonald’s (2001) ‘text eligibility criteria’ as well as van Dijk’s (2001) ‘text-content theory’. The former’s eligibility criteria, which was given due consideration in the selection of texts/extracts, consist of four main factors, namely: authenticity, credibi-lity, representativeness and meaning of the text. The latter’s text-content theory refers to the process by which the topics under investigation inform the type of sources likely to be relevant in the selection procedure. It also requires due consideration to be given to the context within which the text was produced and the audience for which it is acknowledged. Specifically, van

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Dijk’s (2001: 99) suggests that rather than subjecting an entire piece of text for analysis, it makes sense to concentrate on analysing those factors which enable the speaker or writer to exercise ‘power’ (conceptualised in its widest sense to include: stress and intonation; word order; lexical style, coherence; local semantic moves such as disclaimers; topic choice; speech acts; schematic organisation, rhetorical figures etc.). This suggestion regarding the selection of texts/extracts has been most invaluable in the selection of texts/extracts for the purposes of analysis for this chapter.

ANALYSIS PROCEDURE MacLure (2003: 174) outlines two broad traditions of doing (critical) discourse analysis. The first tradition has its roots in European philosophy and cultural theory and associates itself with post-structuralism, whilst the second originates from Anglo-American linguistics. Although there is a common ground and a research purpose in both of these traditions, that is, to identify ways in which people exercise power through their engagement in discourse, it is important to note that MacLure’s (2003) classification does suggest implicitly that there is no one way of carrying out a piece of analysis using the CDA. This view is grounded in consideration of the fact that although such an identification does genuinely provide a useful spectrum along which various approaches to CDA might or are placed, it however does not relate the CDA itself, as a framework for analysis to any specific issue, but rather a range of theoretical positions and concepts (e.g., knowledge, power, social relations, ideology, language) which are by themselves very subtle. For this reason, the analysis of Ghana’s education policy texts/extracts in this chapter aligns itself more explicitly to the second tradition of MacLure’s (2003) classification. That is, the tradition which originates from Anglo-American Linguistics and emphasizes how language use, by virtue of position could contribute to domination. Specifically, the kind of CDA framework used in analysing texts in this chapter is informed by Taylor’s (2004) approach to analysing written text. This framework draws on Fairclough’s (2003) distinction between textually

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and non-textually oriented discourses and is thus a model for analysing social policy which focuses particularly on both the social context as well as the linguistic/semiotic features of texts. The social context as far as this chapter is concerned, refers to the social practices of policy actors and agencies that are relevant to theorizing the context of education in Ghana. The networks of social practices relevant to this study are located in the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Ghana Education Service (GES), the state bureaucracies and the sites for the production of the specific policytexts analysed. The linguistic/semiotic aspect of the framework on the other hand, refers to the ‘key concepts associated with the networks of social practices’ (Taylor 2004: 437). In the context, these key concepts include ‘genres’, ‘discourses’ and ‘styles’ which are dialectally related. “Discourses are enacted in genres, discourses are inculcated in styles, actions and identities are represented in discourses” (Fairclough 2003, cited by Taylor, 2004: 437). For the purposes and intents of this chapter, however, only genres and discourses are of importance. These are understood as:  

Genres—ways of (inter)acting or relating and/or simply interactions; Discourse—ways of representing or representations (Taylor, 2004: 437).

The analysis itself was conducted at two levels: the linguistic/semiotic and inter-discursive/intertextual levels. The former focuses on bringing to the fore, the linguistic and semiotic choices which were made in the writing and layout of the ‘fCUBE’ policy-texts. These are understood in an extended sense to cover not only the traditional levels of analysis within linguistics (i.e., phonology, grammar up to the level of the sentence, and vocabulary and semantics) but also analysis of ‘textual organization above sentence, including inter-sentential cohesion and various aspects of the structure of texts’ (Fairclough 1995: 188). Similarly, particular emphasis is also placed on the ideological work of the policy-texts in representing, relating and identifying, and how the texts selected for analysis construct and sustain

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power relations ideologically. Besides these, equal attention is placed on the values which are articulated in, or within these texts. Thus, the purpose of the fine-grain linguistic/semiotic analysis of texts for this chapter is grounded generally in the following considerations:   



to demonstrate how bits of language potentially can contribute to the making and sustaining of meanings of complete texts; to demonstrate the efficacy of textual properties of texts as sensitive indicators of socio-cultural processes; to highlight and exemplify those linguistic/semiotic factors or processes (e.g., clause combinations; stress and intonation; figures of speech; semantic and syntactic moves, inter-sentential cohesion; moderating words or items; word order among others) which enable speakers/writers to exercise power within texts; to exemplify how linguistic/semiotic features of texts combine with inter-textual properties (mainly discourses, genres) to create and sustain power relations.

Specifically, the analysis at this level was aimed at showing how the semiotic, including linguistic properties of policy-texts, connect with what is going socially in the interaction. (See the section on analysis of texts for exemplifications of the fine-grain linguistic/semiotic analysis.) The inter-discursive/inter-textual level of analysis focused mainly on identifying which genres and discourses are drawn on in the texts, and analysing how these are worked together in the texts. That is, showing how the texts selectively draw upon orders of discourse (i.e., the particular configuration of conventionalized practices, genres, discourses and narratives), which are available to text producers and interpreters in particular social circumstances. The inter-textual analysis draws attention to the dependence of texts upon society and history in the form of the resources made available within the orders of discourse. It aims at mediating the connection between language and social context, so as to bridge the gap between texts and contexts.

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Thus, the inter-discursive analysis, as far as this chapter is concerned, is geared towards identifying and documenting multiple and competing discourses in the policy-texts, highlighting the marginalised and hybrid discourses as well as exposing explicitly any possible discursive shifts in policy direction and language of implementation of Ghana’s policy reform programmes. So clearly, the use of this model seemed appropriate in that it provides a framework for a systematic analysis of the policy-documents gathered for interpretation. That is to say, it enabled the researcher to go beyond speculation to demonstrate how policy texts work in practice. Touting the relevance of this approach to data analysis, Taylor (2004: 436) comments that CDA as a model is particularly appropriate for critical policy analysis because “it allows a detailed investigation of the relationship of language to other social processes, and of how language works within power relations”.

ANALYSIS OF SELECTED TEXTS/EXTRACTS In this section, each of the three extracts/texts selected is analysed at both the linguistic/semiotic and interdiscursive/inter-textual levels. As noted earlier, the documents from which the three extracts are taken comprised the 1992 Republican Constitution of Ghana (Government of Ghana [GOG] 1992); the Education Strategic Plan [ESP] (MOE 2003); and the Government of Ghana’s White Paper on the Education Reform Review Committee Report (GOG 2005). The rationale for the selection of extracts from these documents stemmed from the need to provide a ‘timeline’ indicating an overview and chronology of the major educational events in the country. The idea is that analysing extracts from these three different sources and timescales will enhance the understanding of the context, purposes, influences, philosophies and interests that underpin the initiation and implementation of Ghana’s education reform policies and programmes.

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Extract One: Article 38, Sub-Sections 1 and 2 of the 1992 Republican Constitution of Ghana (GOG 1992) This extract is taken from the 1992 Republican Constitution of Ghana from which emerged major education reform programmes, including the country’s fCUBE policy. The document (i.e., the 1992 Constitution) ushered in what is popularly known in Ghana today as the ‘Fourth Republic’. That is, the return to constitutional and multi-party democracy for the fourth time in the country’s history

Linguistic Analysis This text has two sub-sections, each with its own syntactic composition. In the case of ‘sub-section 1’, two independent clauses are joined together to make one sentence by the use of the conjunction ‘and’: The State shall provide educational facilities at all the levels and in all the regions of Ghana [and] (The State) shall to the greatest extent feasibly make those facilities available to all citizens.

From the sentence above, the second clause is seen as performing a simple qualifying role. It (i.e., the second clause) is simply qualifying the first as follows: [The state shall provide educational facilities…] To whom shall it make these facilities available? […to all its citizens].

Inferring from the above, it becomes immediately clear that the ‘Subject’ of the first sub-section of the extract (i.e., the State) has a constitutional responsibility placed on it (by the 1992 Republican Constitution of Ghana) to undertake two key tasks in respect of education provision across the country. First, ‘the State’ is tasked with the provision of educational facilities at all the levels and in all the regions of Ghana. Second, it (the State) has the added responsibility of making the educational facilities provided available to all its citizens.

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The second sub-section of the extract uses a single complex proposition with a constellation of prepositional phrases (PP). These PPs are inserted between ‘shall’ and the phrasal verb (Ph. V) ‘draw-up’, and after the noun phrase (NP) in objective place. This representation is illustrated below: NP1 aux/f.t [The Government] [shall] PP3 [after coming into force of this constitution,] PP4 [for implementation]

PP1 [within two years] Ph. V [draw up]

PP2 [after Parliament first meets] NP2 [a programme]

PP5 [within the following ten years]

PP6 [for a free, compulsory, universal basic education]

From the analysis above, PPs 1, 2 and 3 are inserted in between ‘shall’ (an auxiliary and a future tense marker) and the phrasal verb ‘draw up’, which together constitute the main verb of the proposition. PPs 4, 5 and 6, on the other hand, are suffixed to the noun phrase ‘a programme’ and therefore by function and categorization are a part of the whole nominal phrase in objective place. Whilst this style of writing could be seen as a way of keeping what hitherto would have been more than one sentence brief, precise and as one proposition, its use in the extract has another possible function. Four of the six PPs (namely PPs 1, 2, 3 and 5) denote the specific time-frame and the chronological sequence within which a ‘major’ action is to be carried out. In other words, the PPs in question appear to exemplify the kind of work that needs to be done before the programme of/for the free compulsory universal basic education takes off. PPs 4 and 6 perform a different function. They give the rationale for the action described by the predicate. Thus, the constellation of PPs in sub-section 2 of the extract generally constitute what Ventola (1987: 3) describe as ‘goal-directed language events’. That is, they describe social encounters within which social processes unfold in stages in achieving the intended goals and purposes of texts. Apart from the difference in the syntactic composition between the two halves of the extract, there is also a strong sense of urgency demanding quick response from the State and its institutions of governance. This urgency →

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response picture is typified by the use of the lexical item ‘shall’ which, apart from its grammatical functions in the text as a future tense marker and an auxiliary to the main phrasal verb ‘draw-up’, is also a characteristic feature of the genre used: The State [shall] provide educational facilities at all the levels…and [shall] to the greatest extent feasibly make these facilities available to all the citizens. The Government [shall]…after Parliament first meets, after coming into force of this constitution, draw up a programme for implementation within the following ten years for free, compulsory, universal basic education.

This sense of urgency is perhaps a response to the falling standards of education in Ghana in the 1980s which culminated in the initiation of the 1987 Education Reform Programme of which the fCUBE is a formidable part. However, this urgency → response fails to establish clearly the linkage between the urgency itself and the desired change. The unidirectional and declarative stance adopted in the extract does not mention in explicit terms what issues have necessitated the change and also how the provision of a programme of/for a free compulsory universal basic education could be said to be the suitable remedy to these issues. Similarly, the urgency → response structure of the text appears to be mitigated by the phrases ‘the greatest extent feasibly’ and ‘educational facilities’ which features prominently in the first half of the extract. The former expression arguably moderates to a considerable extent the kind of constitutional demand on the State and its institutions of governance. In particular, the phrase is seen as one of the features of legal documents, and a strategy employed to point out that the State and its institutions cannot be single-handedly responsible for the provision of education to its citizens, and can as a result not be blamed for not having achieved the desired outcomes of the change envisioned. The expression is thus seen as a way of indicating that ‘all things being equal’, that is, when the economy is in good shape or depending on the resources available, the desired change is bound to happen. The latter expression appears vague and nebulous in the sense that the text

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neither explains what it means by ‘educational facilities’ nor does it give details about the procedures and strategies to be taken to ensure equity, inclusion and fairness in the provision and delivery of such facilities. Also visible in the text is the use of a figure of speech— personification—by which non-animate entities namely the ‘State’, ‘Government’ and ‘Parliament’ are given attributes, qualities and responsibilities as if they are human. Given the urgency → response nature of the text and the fact that the desired change: the setting up and implementation of the ‘new’ education reform programme of which the fCUBE policy was a formidable part: was to be done in fulfilment of a constitutional mandate, the use of this figure of speech is intended to serve persuasive and promotional purposes. In particular, this figure of speech is intended to justify and emphasize the democratic processes that are to be engaged in to ensure that this purpose is achieved. This thus reinforces the alternative democratic/participatory view of policy (Shulock 1999) by which policy is seen as a language for framing political discourse and thus encouraging the participation of stakeholders in the processes of change.

Interdiscursive Analysis The central theme of this extract is about ‘change’, a change from existing educational conditions to a more dynamic and comprehensive one in which a ‘level playing field’(in terms of educational privileges) is provided for all the citizens to develop themselves to the best of their abilities. In the process of putting this message of change and its modalities involved across, the text draws on the underpinning tenets of socialism. The socialist ideology advocates the use of the local and national state to achieve what Hill (2001, 16) refers to as a ‘socially just (defined as egalitarian) antidiscriminatory society’. Trowler (1998: 63) refers to this in educational ideological terms as ‘social reconstructionism’ and argues that it shares common idealism and features with the social democracy regarding personal development and social co-operation. Essentially, the socialist discourse drawn upon in this context, calls on the State to change the status quo by empowering the marginalised and the disadvantaged groups in the Ghanaian society through education and in the interest of equity:

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Hope Pius Nudzor [The State] shall provide educational facilities at all the levels and in all the regions of Ghana and shall to the greatest extent feasibly make those facilities available to all citizens…

Evident in the extract also are social democratic ideological imports referred to in educational ideological terms as ‘progressivism’ (Trowler 1998, Hill 2001). These progressive ideals reject elitism and favours mass access to education. In particular, where there is a concern about social inequality, the concern of progressivism is that education should give what Trowler (1998: 62) describes as ‘step up’ to disadvantaged individuals and groups in the largest numbers possible. Lynch and Lodge (2002: 7) describe this social democratic tenet as the concept of redistribution—a concept that has gained pre-eminence in egalitarian theory and has strong roots in materialist and economically-based concepts of social justice. They argue that the redistributive perspective gives primacy to the concept of having material goods and services or having opportunities to access, participate or succeed in a particular sphere. Explicit in the text, however, the weaker rather than the stronger model of distributive justice has gained preeminence. The focus in the text is on ‘equalising opportunities and/or resources’ rather than ‘equalising outcomes’: The State shall provide educational facilities at all the levels and in all the regions and shall…make these facilities available to all the citizens. The Government shall…draw up a programme for implementation… for a free, compulsory, universal basic education.

The phrases ‘at all the levels’, ‘all the regions’ and ‘a programme for a free compulsory universal basic education’ exemplify the equity intent in terms of equalising opportunities as well as resources. That is, offering all the children equal opportunities to life chances. Implicit in the above extract is also what some Ghanaian (and indeed African) authors and historians refer to as a ‘decolonizing agenda’ (Turner 1971, Nwomonoh 1998, Dei 2004b, 2005). This refers to the idea of using education as a tool for unifying and disabusing the minds of the citizens regarding the past colonial histories, experiences and vestiges. Dei (2005: 268) for example contends that schooling and post-colonial education in

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Ghana have been approached in terms of contributing fundamentally to national development. He observes that the process of decolonization necessitated the unification of the people (through education) on national basis, using the strategic radical decision to remove from them their heterogeneity. Thus, reference in the extract to the effect that education was/is to be provided for all Ghanaian children of school-going age irrespective of their differences of ethnicity, religion, creed social status, political colouration, gender, educational background among others, suggests invariably that education is being considered as an avenue through which the current generation are to be empowered to prevent the colonial vestiges from recurring in the future. However, owing to the emphasis on socialist and social democratic ideals alluded to earlier, this decolonizing agenda appears to have been competed with and confined to the implicit level.

Extract Two: Mission Statement for Education: Education Strategic Plan [ESP. Volume 1: 2003 to 2015] (Ministry of Education, May 2003) This text is an extract from the Education Strategic Plan (ESP) which is a part of a series of strategic guidelines introduced by the then President John Agyekum Kufour led NPP Government, to inform and assist the development of education in Ghana from 2003 to 2015. As the title implies, the extract appears to have been taken from an earlier educational document and attached to the ESP to serve as a point of reference and/or reminder of the national goals and aspirations towards which it (i.e., the ESP) has been designed to contribute. Although the genre of the extract at face value is informational, it equally adheres to, and expresses at the implicit level, the broad philosophical stance adopted by the MOE—the Government body that sees to all educational matters in the country. The extract is in three main parts. The first part identifies the mission statement for education whilst the second and third parts respectively address the goals for the education sector; and the values to abide by in addressing these goals.

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Linguistic/Textual Analysis As was indicated in the introduction to the analysis in this section of the chapter, the genre of the text is ostensibly informational. The text appears to give information on/or addresses three main issues—MOEs mission statement; goals for the MOE; and principles and values to abide by in the provision of these values. These ideas are exemplified by the use of paragraphs, particularly of the goals and values. These three areas represented thus form a task → strategy → control structure. The first part of the extract talks about the mission of the MOE and hence the task at hand. The second part—goals for the education sector—deals with the practical approaches and strategies to achieving the task, whilst the third and final part—values—goes further to identify the values to be upheld in the performance of these tasks. All three themes identified here are exemplified in the text by the opening limes of each paragraph: The mission of the Ministry of Education is to provide relevant education to all Ghanaians… In fulfilment of the Education Mission, the Ministry of Education will provide the following… In providing these services, we will be guided by the following values…

The extract uses impersonal rather than personal nouns, for example, ‘the Ministry of Education’, ‘all Ghanaians’ to generalise and keep to the impersonal and formal pattern of most informational texts. However, visible within the text, specifically under the sub-heading, ‘the Mission Statement for Education’ is the use of the pronoun ‘them’ in two instances, and as antecedents of the noun phrase ‘all Ghanaians’ and thus emphasizing the beneficiaries of the ‘relevant education’ that the MOE is by law obliged to provide. Similarly there is a stylistic shift from the use of the impersonal noun phrase, ‘the Ministry of Education’ as represented in the first two parts of the extract to the pronoun ‘we’ as indicated in the third and final part of the text. The analysis suggests that this practice conforms to what Edward and Nicole, referred to by Taylor (2004: 440) as ‘persuasive text’ and can in

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this context be described as the process by which readers of a text are kept in suspense about the ‘voice’ or identities of the person(s) doing the talking until the very end of the text, for persuasive purposes. Its use here, and in this particular case arguably has a secondary function. The shift is intended to give the awareness and assurance to the general public that the officials of the MOE are quite conversant with their mandated obligations and are committed to ensuring that these are carried out in a professional and competent manner: The Mission of [the Ministry of Education] is to provide relevant education to all Ghanaians at all the levels to enable them to… In fulfilment of… the Mission, [the Ministry of Education] will provide… In providing these services, [we] will be guided by…

In terms of vocabulary, the text appears quite assertive. It has, for example, touched on what it refers to as ‘relevant education’ as the basis for achieving what Chitty (2004, p. 10) describes as ‘the utilitarian function of education’. That is, the idea of schooling as essentially a means to socioeconomic growth and national development. The words ‘enable’, ‘acquire’, ‘assist’ and ‘promoted’ which feature prominently in the text seem to emphasize the kind of socio-economic and developmental change that is being sought. The criticism of this notion, as it is being represented in the text could be the fact that the text itself is unable to either document or explain the basis for the claim. It fails either by design or through genuine means to point out how acquiring what it describes as ‘relevant education’ could lead to, or enable young people to acquire skills that will assist them to become productive in socio-economic terms and therefore bring about national development: The mission of the Ministry of Education is to provide relevant education to all Ghanaians at all levels to enable them to acquire skills… to promote socio-economic growth and national development.

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There is also a good use of figure of speech—personification—within the text to emphasize the kind of responsibility that rests on the shoulders of the MOE. The MOE is personified as having the qualities, attributes and characteristics of humans to provide the facilities, training and education that lead to personal and national growth and development. Whilst the use of this figure of speech is believed to be a genuine way of emphasizing the importance of the duties that the MOE is by law constituted and mandated to perform, its use in this context could also be said to serve as a strategy for soliciting the commitment and enthusiasm of the members of the MOE themselves to the task. Similarly, there is the use of repetition of the noun phrase ‘the Ministry of Education’ within the first two parts of the text. That is, quite apart from the third part of the text where the pronoun ‘we’ was used, the two preceding parts make explicit use of the phrase ‘the Ministry of Education’, to refer to the Government body whose mandated duty it is to ensure that the purpose or mission of education is realised. As aptly echoed by Tannen (1989: 75) repetition is a resource by which conversationalists together create a discourse, a relationship and a world. It is the central linguistic meaningmaking strategy, a limitless resource for individual creativity and interpersonal involvement. Although it can be contested that representing the piece of information in the first two parts of the extract in another form without the use of such a phrase would have made it difficult to maintain the same meaning of the text, the repetition of the phrase ‘the Ministry of Education’ could be said to be intended to emphasize the same impersonal purpose and meaning attached to the use of personification identified in the paragraph above: The mission of [the Ministry of Education] is to provide relevant education to all Ghanaians…to enable them…to promote socio-economic growth and national development. In fulfilment of the Education Mission, [the Ministry of Education] will provide…

At the semiotic level of representation, the text is virtually eye catching. It is captured in two rectangular boxes—one small and the other one big—

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with the mission statements in the smaller box and the ‘goals’ and ‘values’ for education, both in the bigger one. In each of these boxes are headings which are ‘italicised’ and printed in ‘bold. The text in the two rectangular boxes are written in italics, with the ‘goals’ and ‘values’ in the second (bigger) box formatted using alphabets and numerals respectively. Whilst the use of the alphabets and numeral, just like the use of bullets points in ordering items, are regular features of official policy documents and are regarded as ‘user friendly’(Taylor, 2004: 442), they also perform another important function here. They tend to be more ‘reader directive’ than discursive text. Also deserving comment is the title of the extract itself. Although it is evident from the title—Mission Statement for Education—that the apparent purpose of the text is to provide public information about the purpose and mission of education, it rather ends up being an obligation to the Government’s sector responsible for education. The claim is made manifest by the opening lines of each of the three paragraphs representing the three different themes addressed by the text, and which contain the lexical items ‘is to’, ‘will’ and ‘will’ depicting the commitment of the MOE towards basic education provision: The Mission of the Ministry of Education [is to] provide relevant education to all Ghanaians… In fulfilment of the Education Mission, the Ministry of Education [will] provide the following… In providing these services, we [will] be guided by the following values…

Interdiscursive Analysis Evident in the text is a combination of social democratic and neo-liberal imports and discourses on education which are interwoven and linked to the notion of socio-economic growth and national development: …the Ministry of Education is to provide relevant education to all Ghanaians at all the levels to enable them to acquire skills that will assist them to develop their potential, to be productive, to facilitate poverty

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reduction and to promote socio-economic growth and national development.

Reference to the phrase ‘all Ghanaians at all the levels’ appears to register and consolidate the point that the mission or vision for education in Ghana, as evident in the above extract is an inclusive, equality and equitydriven one. The phrase does portray education as a public good, free at the point of entry, and as a right. It makes it clear that the ‘relevant education’ being referred to in this context is for the benefit of every Ghanaian at any level of the educational ladder in every nook and cranny of the country irrespective of tribe, gender, ethnicity, linguistic abilities, age, religion, political affiliation among other things. In theoretical terms, this expression thus entails a formal commitment to the redistribution of social goods (in this case education) on a more equitable basis grounded in the economics of Keynesianism and the politics of corporatism, and is underpinned by the social democratic consensus. These social democratic tenets become even more visible and explicit in letters (a) to (c) of the second section of the text, on the ‘goals for the education sector’: In fulfilment of the Education Mission, the Ministry of Education will provide the following: a)

Facilities to ensure that all citizens, irrespective of age, gender, tribe, religion and political affiliation, are functionally literate and selfreliant; b) Basic education for all; c) Opportunities for open education for all.

However, in representing these ideals, the social democratic discourse appears to co-exist with neo-liberal discourse of ‘skills’ for the knowledge economy. The essence of the neo-liberal theory to the study of education policy is a criticism against the welfare state—Government intervention— based on a number of presumptions which are perceived and condemned as collectivist, socialist and economically misguided. The major tenets of neoliberalism are: freedom from state interference (except where the state is promoting and defending private enterprise); the promotion of

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individualism, free enterprise inequality and hierarchy (Hill, 2001: 11). Related to this context, the neo-liberal discourse draws on the notion of ‘relevant education’ as being the means to economic reforms and change. It emphasizes how that ‘relevant education’ certainly would lead to the acquisition of skills by the citizenry to enable them to be able to reduce poverty, become productive and economically self-reliant: …the Ministry of Education is to provide relevant education to [all] Ghanaians…to enable [them] to acquire skills that will assist [them] to develop their potential, to be productive, to facilitate poverty reduction and to promote socio-economic growth and national development

Similarly, the use of the pronoun ‘them’ (as indicated in the extract above) which are antecedents of ‘all Ghanaians’, also seems to arguably reinforce the popular neo-liberal and capitalist notion that inequality between individuals and groups are natural features of society that cannot necessarily be overcome by socially remedial action by Government, but rather through the individuals’ own initiatives maximised through privatisation and marketization. This neo-liberal ideology informing the text becomes apparently glaring in letters (d) and (e) of the section under the ‘goals for the education sector’, where the facilities, structures and resources that are to be provided to facilitate the attainment of the socio-economic agenda are highlighted: In fulfilment of the Education Mission, the Ministry of Education will provide the following… (d) Education and training for skill development with emphasis on science, technology and creativity; (e) Higher education for the development of middle and top-level manpower requirement.

These provisions thus appear to emphasize the popular neo-liberal view of the purpose of education being essentially the preparation of the youth for ‘the world of work’ (Chitty, 2004: 10). The main criticism however rests in the ‘unmitigated bleakness’ of the assertion linking education to socioeconomic growth and national development. The neo-liberal ideology, as it

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is represented in the text neither explains what it means by ‘relevant education’ and how different this is from the general notion of education, nor does it explain how the facilities, resources and structures identified as having to be provided by the MOE could help attain the socio-economic growth and national development envisioned. This thus corroborate Taylor’s (2004: 444) claim that ‘policy documents advocate one-way ‘partnerships’ to serve government purpose and interest’. Also visible from the text is the discursive shift in focus of what the title of the extract itself suggests and the issues being represented or addressed by the text. This discursive shift suggests a complete disjuncture and departure from what the vision or purpose of education in Ghana really is, to focus on the MOE and the task → strategy → control→ structure illuminated earlier in the textual/linguistic analysis. Although it may be arguably correct for one to say that this broad philosophical stance adopted by the MOE and its agencies encapsulates the national goals—underpins the work of the MOE and its agencies—and may act as what the ESP itself refers to as ‘a foundation for sectoral planning’, the point still holds water that the inability of the body of the text to conform to its stated title is problematic. It suggests for instance, that the Ghanaian education sector does not have any specific clear-cut vision for education and therefore does emphasize Taylor’s claim cited earlier that policy documents can advocate a one-way ‘partnership’ to serve the interest and purpose of the Government in power. In a nutshell, the linguistic level analysis of text in this section suggests that the extract effectively utilises the task → strategy → control structural pattern to achieve informational rationale of text or reports. Similarly, being typically informational at face value, the text uses a number of linguistic processes—use of: different categories of nouns and pronouns; assertive propositions; personification; repetition—and semiotic representations such as geometrical drawings (rectangular boxes); formatted (bold and italics) headings and texts for ‘special effects’, that is, for emphasis and persuasive purposes. The analysis at the interdiscursive tier suggests that both social democratic and neo-liberal discourses are subscribed to simultaneously and possibly rationally. However, owing to what appears to be a struggle for

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dominance between these two discourses, the social democratic tenets appear to have been downplayed, overridden and arguably marginalised by neo-liberal ideology of skills for knowledge-based economy. Although this implicitly could be seen as revealing the Governments’ ideological position on education, the analysis further suggests that the phenomenon consequently leads to a discursive shift between the title of the extract and what the texts actually sets out to achieve in practice.

Extract Three: Government’s White Paper on the Report of the Education Reform Review Committee (GOG 2005: 9-10) This extract is taken from the government’s White Paper on the Report of the Education Reform Review Committee findings. The document was published by the Government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) through the MOE in 2005 to endorse officially the findings and recommendations of the Education Reform Review Committee. This committee was set up in January 2002 to review education reforms in the country and had by October that same year submitted its report to government for action. The document thus shows the future direction of education, at least for the period that the NPP government was in power in Ghana (i.e., from 2001 – 2008) and beyond.

Linguistic Analysis This extract exhibits a hybrid genre. Explicit in the text is a policy genre, interwoven with political and promotional elements. The imports of policy genre are manifested in the public information the text provides on the education policy direction, targets and expectations of the education sector under the ‘new dispensation’. Additionally the text reveals government’s intention and commitment to restructuring the education system with the view to building a knowledge-based economy where people are trained and empowered to take control of their lives and to also participate in democratic processes:

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Hope Pius Nudzor …Ghana’s new system of education, especially for the youth between age 12 and 19 should be reformed to support a nation aspiring to build a knowledge-based economy within the next generation…

The political characteristic of the text, on the other hand, rests in the fact that the text reveals the government of the NPPs own philosophy on education policy. Government’s interpretation of the Review Committee’s findings reveals the NPP’s own ideological stance on education as the desire to building a knowledge-based economy where individuals will be enterprising and adaptable to the demands of a fast changing world: Government endorses the recommendations of the Committee on the philosophy of Education in Ghana…As workers of a country aspiring to great economic ambitions they should be trained to become enterprising and adaptable to the demands of a fast changing world driven by modern science and technology. Essentially, the education process should lead to improvement in the quality of life of all Ghanaians…and also raise their living standards to the levels that they can observe through the global interchange of images, information and ideas…

In promoting this political agenda, the text takes on what is suggested earlier as ‘urgency → response’ structure. Visible within the text is a sense of urgency for the restructuring of education which demands a quick response. This urgency is set up by reference to the words ‘should’ and ‘needs’. These words respectively express a sense of necessity and obligation on the part of government to have the educational system restructured in order to provide all Ghanaians with the kind of education that will enable them to live meaningful and worthwhile lives: Government accepts that education [should] result in the formation of well-balanced individuals with the requisite knowledge, skills, values and aptitudes… As workers of a country aspiring to great economic ambitions, they [should] be trained to become enterprising and adaptable… …To this end, greater emphasis than hitherto [needs] to be, and will be placed on Technical, Agricultural, Vocational education, and on structured Apprenticeship training.

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Also, in showing the government’s policy direction, the text makes use of a number of declarative/assertive propositions. These are used as a means through which the intention to restructure the educational system is declared to the public, and hence a strategy employed to solicit the support and involvement of the masses in the process of change: Government endorses the recommendations of the Committee on the philosophy of education in Ghana…As the workers of a country aspiring to great economic ambitions they should be trained to become enterprising, and adaptable to the demands of a fast changing world…

There is also an interesting and effective use of various kinds of pronouns—personal (they); possessive (their); and reflexive (themselves)— in the text to support the promotional intent of the extract. The interesting thing, of course, is that all these pronouns are antecedents of the noun phrases ‘all Ghanaians’, ‘citizens’, ‘the workers of a country’, ‘the people’, revealing the potential identity of the beneficiaries of the new education reforms being advocated: As the workers of a country…they should be trained to become enterprising and adaptable to demands of a fast-changing world driven by modern science and technology. Essentially, the education process should lead to improvement in the quality of life of all Ghanaians by empowering themselves to overcome poverty, and also raise their living standards to the levels that they can observe through the global interchange of images, information and ideas…

Also present in the text is the use of both personification and repetition. The lexical item ‘the Government’ is personified and repeated for the purposes of emphasis. That is, to make a case for restructuring the educational system to meet the demands, challenges and aspirations of ‘modern times’: Government endorses the recommendations of the Committee on the philosophy of education in Ghana. Government accepts that education should result in the formation of well-balanced individuals with the

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Hope Pius Nudzor requisite knowledge, skills, values, aptitudes and attitudes to become functional and productive citizens.

Interdiscursive Analysis Dominant in this extract is neo-liberal ideological discourse of knowledge economy. Education in this context is viewed and redefined in utilitarian terms (Hill 2001, Chitty 2003). It is described as a means to ‘personal fulfilment’. It is expected to lead to the creation of wealth and the empowerment of the individual to become enterprising to overcome poverty, raise their own living standards and adapt to the demands of a fast-changing world: …As the workers of a country…they should be trained to become enterprising and adaptable to the demands of a fast-changing world driven by science and technology. …education process should lead to improvement in the quality of life of all Ghanaians by empowering the people themselves to overcome poverty, and also to raise their living standards to the level that they can observe…

Also featuring in the text is the rhetoric of globalisation. This is portrayed as an inevitable global phenomenon which could be attained and/or enhanced through reforms and adjustments in education. King (2004: 48) refers to this as the ‘exchanges that transcend borders and which occur instantaneously and electronically’: Essentially, the education process should lead to improvement in the quality of life of all Ghanaians and…also raise their living standards to the levels they can observe through the global interchange of images, information and ideas.

Also explicated in this extract are social democratic imports. These are set-off by reference to expressions such as ‘all Ghanaians’ and ‘empowering the people’. These expressions invoke social justice ideals by which equal opportunities are to be offered to all the citizens to create wealth through their own efforts and as a result contribute towards the socio-economic and political transformation of the country. However, these social democratic

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ideals are premised on economic change—creation of wealth, reduction of poverty, raising living standards—and as such have become marginalised by the neo-liberal discourse of building a knowledge-based economy. Emphasis in the text appears to be on what Hill (2001) sees as the ‘production of ideologically compliant but technically skilled workforce for capitalist enterprises’. There are also ‘unfilled gaps’ and ‘silences’ within the text. For example, no mention is made of ‘who’ actually provides the educational services identified to the people. In other words, although the government is very clear on how education should be restructured—the citizens should be trained, equipped and empowered to take control of their own lives and as a result contribute directly to national development—it is unclear whose responsibility it is to provide these services to the people to enable them to meet the challenges identified. Similarly, by identifying that more emphasis than hitherto needs to be placed on a particular subject in the school curriculum, the government again fails to say whether that emphasis should come from the government itself or the other stakeholders, notably parents, students or businesses who benefit either directly or indirectly from the education system: …the education process should lead to…empowering the people themselves to overcome poverty, and also raise their living standards…They should be equipped to create…wealth that is needed for a radical socio-economic and political transformation of the country…emphasis than hitherto needs, and will be placed on Technical, Agricultural, Vocational education, and on structured Apprenticeship training.

Whilst in a sense the government’s responsibility of education provision could be said to be covert in the text above, it is argued that this is one aspect of neo-liberal discourse on education. This arguably signifies the rolling back of the state and the creation of common markets with its attendant consequences of competition, privatization and choice. Seen in this light, the extract appears implicitly to have purchased a neo-liberal ticket for schools in Ghana.

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Furthermore, the analysis identifies a discursive shift in discourse from what is perceived as the Review Committee’s position on the philosophy of education in Ghana, to the Government of the NPP’s own ideology on education. Whilst it is explicit in the extract that the Review Committee’s position on the purpose of education is the total development of the ‘self’, the NPP government’s interpretation of the committee’s report reveals its ideological beliefs as far as education is concerned. The reference to expressions such as ‘productive citizens’; ‘economic ambitions’; ‘knowledge-based economy’; ‘global interchange’ among others suggest that government’s own philosophy differs from that of the Committee. Such expressions suggest that government’s philosophy is on preparing the youth to enter the world of work (Dale 1986, Chitty 2003) and therefore a reinforcement of the business agenda (Hatcher 2001, Hill 2001) in, and for schools. This agenda aims at ensuring that schools produce compliant, ideologically indoctrinated, pro-capitalist, effective workers. That is to ensure that schooling and education engage in what Hill (2001) calls ideological and economic reproduction.

CONCLUSION In this chapter, I have analysed extracts/texts from Ghana’s education policy reform documents to exemplify the efficacy of CDA as an interdisciplinary analytic tool and a method for analysing language, especially in critical policy research. The extracts/texts analysed were taken from documents on education that are publicly available, and comprised: the 1992 Republican Constitution of Ghana (GOG 1992); the Education Strategic Plan [ESP] (MOE 2003); and the Government of Ghana’s White Paper on the Education Reform Review Committee Report (GOG 2005). These documents (from which extracts/texts were selected for analysis) constituted a ‘timeline’ of a sort indicating an overview and chronology of the major educational events in the country, and were thus analysed with the intention to enhance understanding of the context, purposes, influences and interests that underpin Ghana’s education reform policies and programmes.

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The analysis, as was mentioned earlier in the chapter, was done at the linguistic/textual and the interdiscursive/inter-textual levels. The former focused on demonstrating the efficacy of textual properties of texts as sensitive indicators of socio-cultural processes. Specifically, the linguistic/ textual analysis focused on highlighting and exemplifying how linguistic/ semiotic processes (such as clause combinations; stress and intonation; figures of speech; semantic and syntactic moves, inter-sentential cohesion; moderating words or items; word order among others) enable speakers/writers to exercise power within texts. The later level of analysis (i.e., interdiscursive/inter-textual levels) was geared towards identifying and documenting multiple and competing discourses in the policy-texts, highlighting the marginalised and hybrid discourses as well as exposing explicitly any possible discursive shifts in policy direction and language of implementation of Ghana’s policy reform programmes. The analyses of texts reveal that Ghana’s education policy and discourse(s) have evolved from predominantly socialist and social democratic ideological perspectives towards that of capitalist ideological position in recent times. This is evidenced in Ghana’s education policy reforms documents analysed by a significant discursive shift in policy direction and language of implementation towards neo-liberal ideological ideals. This, the chapter argues, is due to the advent of neo-liberal vision of international competitiveness which appears to have, and continues to subjugate Ghana’s internal and external priorities to a mirage of international credibility criteria of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and other pro-capitalist institutions. So clearly, the strength of the version of CDA used for the analysis in this chapter rests in its recognition of documents (and by extension written texts) in their own right as contributing ‘flesh’ and ‘blood’ to understanding the often ambiguous and problematic nature, purpose and philosophical underpinnings of education. Thus, against the backdrop of the analyses and findings essentially, the chapter concludes that owing to its potential to draw on language as a resource for analysing complex social processes, CDA offers better prospects for analysing written texts in two key ways. First, CDA serves to highlight ‘new’ textual formations (in the form of

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discourses), marginal discourses and ‘silences’ within policy texts. Second, and following up on the first point, CDA is needful in critical policy research for tracing discursive shifts in policy implementation processes.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am grateful to all the academic journals that have published aspects of the findings of the original PhD research on which this chapter draws. I am also indebted to all the authors whose works I have gleaned to be able to come out with this chapter. Your insights have made this work what it is.

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Dei, S. J. G. (2004). Dealing with difference: ethnicity and gender in the context of schooling in Ghana. International Journal of Educational Development, 24, 343–349. Dei, S. J. G. (2005). The challenge of inclusive schooling in Africa: A Ghanaian case study. Journal of Comparative Education, 41, 267–289. Fairclough, N. (1992). Discourse and social change. London: Polity Press. Fairclough, N. (1995). Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language. London: Longman Group Limited. Fairclough, N. (2001a). The discourse of new labour: Critical Discourse Analysis. In M. Weatherall, S. Taylor and S. Yates (Eds.) Discourse as data: A guide for analysis, (pp. 229–266). London: Open University Press. Fairclough, N. (2001b). The dialectics of discourse. Textus, 14, 231–242. Fairclough, N. (2003). Analysing discourse and text: Textual analysis for social research. London: Routledge. Fairclough, N. (2005c). Critical discourse analysis in transdisciplinary research. In R. Wodak and P. Chilton (Eds.) New agenda in critical discourse analysis (pp. 50–70). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Fairclough, N. and Wodak, R. (1997). Critical discourse analysis. In T. van Dijk (Ed.) Discourse as social interaction: Discourse studies: A multidisciplinary introduction volume 1 (pp. 258-258). London: Sage, Government of Ghana [GOG]. (1992). The fourth republican constitution of Ghana. Accra: Ghana Publishing Cooperation. Harber, C. (1997). Using documents for qualitative educational research in Africa. In M. Crossler and G. Vulliamy (Eds.) Qualitative educational research in developing countries: Current perspectives (pp. 113–131). New York and London: Garland Publishing Inc. Hatcher, R. (2001). Getting down to the business: Schooling in the globalised economy. Journal of Education and Social Justice, 3, 45–59. Hill, D. (2001a). Equality, ideology and education policy. In D. Hill and M, Cole (Eds.) School and Equality: Facts, concept and policy (pp.1–13). London: Kogan Page Limited. Hill, D. (2001b). Global capital, neo-liberalism, and privatization: The growth of education inequality. In D, Hill, D. and M, Cole (Eds.) School

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and Equality: Facts, concept and policy (pp. 14–25). London: Kogan Page Limited. Hodder, I. (2000). The interpretation of documents and material culture. In N. K. Denzin and Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.) Handbook of qualitative research (2nd edition) (pp. 703–715). London: Sage Publications Limited. Janks, H. (1997) Critical discourse analysis as a research tool, Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 18(3), 329–342. Kadingdi, S. (2004). Policy initiatives for change and innovation in basic education programmes in Ghana. Educatejournal.org, 14, 3–18. King, R. (2004). Globalization and the university. In R, King (Ed.) The University in the global age: Universities into the 21st century (pp. 35– 64). Hampsphere: Palgrave Macmilan. Kuyini, A. B. (2013). Ghana’s education reform 2007: A realistic proposition or a crisis of vision? International Review of Education, 59, 157–176. Locke, T. (2004). Critical discourse analysis. London, New York: Continuum. Lynch, K. and Lodge, A. (2002). Equality and power in schools: Redistribution, recognition and representation. London: Routledge Falmer. MacLure, M. (2003). Discourse in educational and social research. Buckingham: Open University Press. Maikish, A. and Gershberg, A. (2008). Overcoming inequality: Why governance matters. Paper commissioned for the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2009. Paris. UNESCO. McCarthy, M. and Carter, R. (1994). Language as discourse: Perspectives for language teaching. London: Longman Publishing Limited. Mcdonald, K. (2001). Using documents. In N. Gilbert (Ed.) Researching social life. (pp. 194–210). London: Sage Publication Limited. Mingat, A. and Psacharopoulos, G. (1985). Financing education in subSaharan Africa. Finance and Development, 22, 35-38. Ministry of Education [MOE]. (2005). White paper on the report of the education reform review committee. Accra: Ministry of Education.

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MOE. (2001). Improving quality education through community participation. Community School Alliance Project: A collaboration between USAID and the Government of Ghana in enhancing quality teaching and learning in basic schools. SMC/PTA Handbook. Accra: Ministry of Education. MOE. (2003). Education strategic plan 2003-2015. Vol.1 & 2. Accra: Ministry of Education. Nkrumah, K. (1957). Independence speech held on 6 March 1957 in Accra, Ghana. Available online at Ghanahttp://www.ghanadot.com/ reviews.nkrumahmarch6speech.030610.html. Nti, J. (1999). Ministry of Education report of consultancy on organisation and institutional analysis. Accra. Ministry of Education. Nudzor, H. P. (2007). Exploring the policy implementation paradox: The case of the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (fCUBE) policy in Ghana. Unpublished PhD Thesis. Faculty of Education, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow-Scotland. Nudzor, H. P. (2012). Unmasking complexities involved in operationalising UPE policy initiatives: Using the ‘fCUBE’ policy implementation in Ghana as an exemplar. Journal of Educational Change, 13, 347–371. Nudzor, H. P. (2013a). Unearthing the discursive shift in the ‘fCUBE’ policy implementation in Ghana: using critical discourse analysis. International Journal of Research and Method in Education, 36, 179– 2001. Nudzor, H. P. (2013b). Exploring the policy implementation paradox: using the free compulsory universal basic education (fCUBE) policy in Ghana as an exemplar. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 26, 933–952. Nudzor, H. P. (2014). An analytical review of education policy making and implementation processes within the context of ‘decentralised system of administration’ in Ghana. Sage Open, April-June, 1-11. DOI: 10.1177/2158244014530885. Nudzor, H. P. (2016). Can documents be used as primary research data in educational policy research? Journal of Educational Development and Practice, 7(1), 16–41.

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Nudzor, H. P. (2017). An analytical review of the changing facets of Ghana’s education policy discourse(s). Journal of Critical Education Policy Studies, 15(2), 240–271. Nwomonoh, J. (1998). Education and development in Africa: A contemporary survey. London: International Scholars Publications. Olssen, M., Codd, J. and O’neil, A. (2004). Education policy: globalization, citizenship and democracy. London: Sage Publications Limited. Parker, I. and the Bolton Discourse Network. (1999). Critical text work: An introduction to varieties of discourse and analysis. Milton Keynes: Open University Press. Psacharopoulos, G., Tan, J. P. and Jimenez, E. (1986). Financing education in developing countries: An exploration of policy options. Washington: The World Bank. Scollon, R. and Scollon, S. (2001). Discourse and intercultural communication. In D. Schiffrin, D. Tannen and H. E. Hamilton (Eds.) The handbook of discourse analysis (pp. 538-547). Oxford, MA: Blackwell Publishers. Shulock, N. (1999). The paradox of policy analysis: If it is not used why do we produce so much of it? Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 18(2), 226–244. Tannen, D. (1989). Talking voices: Repetition, dialogue and imagery in conversational discourse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Taylor, S. (2004). Researching educational policy and change in ‘new times’: Using critical discourse analysis. Journal of Education Policy, 4, 433–451. Thobani, M. (1984). Charging user fees for social services: The case of education in Malawi. Washington: The World Bank, Staff Working Paper No. 572. Trowler, P. (1998). Education policy: A policy sociology approach. (2nd edn.) New York: Routledge. Turner, J. (1971). Universal education and nation-building in Africa. Journal of Black Studies, 2, 3–27. van Dijk, T. A. (2001). Multidisciplinary CDA: A plea for diversity. In R. Wodak and M. Meyers (Eds.) Methods of critical discourse analysis,

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(pp. 95–120). London, Thousand Oaks (California), New Delhi: Sage Publication. Ventola, E. (1987). The structure of social interaction: A systemic approach to the semiotic of service encounters. London: Frances Pinter. Wodak, R. (1996). Disorders of discourse. London: Longman. Wodak, R. (2001). What CDA is about – A summary of its history, important concepts and its developments. In R. Wodak and M. Meyers (Eds.) Methods of critical discourse Analysis (pp. 1–13). London: Sage, World Bank (1989). Basic education for self-employment and rural development. Washington, D.C.: World Bank. World Bank. (2004). Books, building and learning outcomes: An impact evaluation of World Bank support to basic education in Ghana. Washington DC: Operations Evaluation Department (OED), World Bank. World Bank (2009). Ghana education sector project. Retrieved 16 March 2015 from http://www-wds.orldbank.org/external/default/WDSContent Server/WDSP/IB/2009/06/11/000334955_20090611011413/Rendered/ PDF/488490PJPROPO5101Official0Use0Only.1pdf.

APPENDIX: EXTRACTS/TEXTS SELECTED FOR ANALYSIS Extract One: Chapter 6, Article 38, Section 1 and 2 of the 1992 Constitution of the Fourth Republic of Ghana (GOG 1992) 1. The State shall provide educational facilities at all the levels and in all the regions of Ghana and shall to the greatest extent feasibly make those facilities available to all citizens. 2. The Government shall, within two years after Parliament first meets after coming into force of this Constitution, draw up a programme for implementation within the following ten years, for the provision of free, compulsory and universal basic education.

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Extract Two: Mission Statement for Education: Education Strategic Plan (ESP. Volume 1: 7) 2003 to 2015 (Ministry of Education, May, 2003) Mission Statement for Education The mission of the Ministry of Education is to provide relevant education to all Ghanaians at all levels to enable them to acquire skills that will assist them to develop their potential, to be productive, to facilitate poverty reduction and to promote socio-economic growth and national development. Goals for the Education Sector In fulfilment of the Education Mission, the Ministry of Education will provide the following: a) Facilities to ensure that all citizens, irrespective of age, gender, tribe, religion and political affiliation, are functionally literate and selfreliant; b) Basic education for all; c) Opportunities for open education for all; d) Education and training for skill development with emphasis on science, technology and creativity; e) Higher education for the development of middle and top-level manpower requirements. In providing these services we will be guided by the following values: (1) (2) (3) (4)

Quality education, Efficient management or resources, Accountability and transparency, Equity.

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Extract Three: Government’s White Paper on the Report of the Education Reform Review Committee (GOG 2005: 9-10) The Future Direction of Education in Ghana Government endorses the recommendations of the Committee on the philosophy of education in Ghana. Government accepts that education should result in the formation of well-balanced individual with requisite knowledge, skills, values, aptitudes to become functional and productive citizens. As the workers of a country aspiring to great economic ambitions they should be trained to become enterprising, and adaptable to the demands of a fast-changing world driven by modern science and technology. Ghana’s new system of education, especially for the youth between age 12 and 19, should be reformed to support a nation aspiring to build a knowledge-based economy within the next generation. Essentially, the education process should lead to improvement in the quality of life of all Ghanaians by empowering the people themselves to overcome poverty, and also raise their living standards to the level that they can observe through the global interchange of images, information and ideas. They should be equipped to create, through their own endeavours, the wealth that is needed for a radical socio-economic and political transformation of this country. To this end, greater emphasis than hitherto needs to be, and will be placed on Technical, Agricultural, Vocational education, and on structured Apprenticeship training.

In: Understanding Discourse Analysis ISBN: 978-1-53617-645-2 Editor: Angelique Majory © 2020 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Chapter 3

PREDISCOURSES AS A DISCOURSE ANALYTICAL TOOL: TRACING SPECTERS OF MARX IN ESTONIAN MEDIA DISCOURSE Raili Marling1,* and Marge Käsper2 1

Department of English Studies, Department of Romance Studies, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia 2

ABSTRACT There is a wide array of books on discourse analysis in English but very few take advantage of discourse analysis traditions from non-Englishspeaking contexts. The rich English and French discourse analytical traditions are hardly ever used in fruitful combination. This lack of collaboration leaves gaps in our discourse analysis apparatus. One gap, as argued by Beetz and Schwab (2018, 29), is the treatment of materialism in English language discourse analysis. In our chapter, we will introduce the work of Marie-Anne Paveau who has developed the ideas of Michel Pêcheux. We will, above all, employ her notion of prediscourse (prédiscours) to show how it can productively contribute to our understanding of the creation and perpetuation of ideas. In our analysis, we *

Corresponding Author’s E-mail: [email protected].

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Raili Marling and Marge Käsper look for references to Marx in Estonian newspapers representing different ideological preferences in 2004–2006 and 2017–2019. Marx is an intriguing object of analysis as his name was ever-present in the formerly compulsory Soviet ideology and we will analyze what happens after that compulsion vanishes. This case study will demonstrate the value of the analytical practices established in French discourse analysis for Englishlanguage discourse analysis.

Keywords: prediscourse, French discourse analysis, materialist discourse analysis, Marie-Anne Paveau

INTRODUCTION1 There is a wide array of books on discourse analysis in English but very few take advantage of discourse analysis traditions from non-Englishspeaking contexts, especially the French one. This is puzzling, when we think about the success of French poststructuralist theory in the Englishspeaking world and, through that, globally (see, e.g., Angermüller 2015). Key French thinkers on discourse analysis, especially Michel Foucault, have been widely translated 2 and have left an indelible mark also on diverse English-language discourse analytical traditions. While Foucault is still widely cited across the humanities and social sciences, there have been much fewer examples of the use of the specifically linguistic angles of analysis developed in France simultaneously with Foucault and afterwards. In fact, it is difficult to find systematic treatments of the French linguistic discourse analysis in English language journals or books. There is one exception, sociologist Glyn Williams’ French Discourse Analysis from 1999 that, however, links French discourse analysis, first and foremost, to structuralist and poststructuralist theory (from Bachelard and Canguilhem to Althusser and Foucault). Linguistics and the work of Michel Pêcheux, a contemporary of Foucault, as well as key linguistic concerns, like methodology and corpus construction are discussed, but the author aims at 1 2

This work was supported by the Estonian Research Council grant PRG 934. To the extent that there are by now different translations of some of Foucalt’s most influential essays (see Bennett 2017).

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showing the overlap in poststructuralist thought and linguistics that was largely unrecognized in the English language theoretical scholarship in the 1990s. Williams (1999, 3) explicitly mentions Norman Fairclough for his exceptionality in combining the linguistic and the socio-political, but criticizes him for his lack of attention to the French tradition of enonciative linguistics. Yet, Williams’ main aim is to demonstrate that antifoundationalist thinkers ignored linguistics and that this was limiting. He seeks to show how shared interest in language and ideology produced a tradition in France that was built on Saussure’s linguistics, Althusser’s Marxism, Lacan’s psychoanalysis and, naturally, also the work of Michel Foucault (Williams 1999, 3). Williams’ book is not, thus, an example of discourse analysis, in the sense of the linguistic interdiscipline of today, one of the subfields of linguistics and social sciences that has flourished globally since the 1990s, but an epistemological discussion of the roots of the discipline. However, English-language sources have dominated the flourishing of discourse analysis, above all the different schools of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (Norman Fairclough, the socio-semiotic tradition of Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen, the socio-cognitive approach developed by Teun van Dijk, the discourse historical method of Ruth Wodak, etc.). They all practice what can be called “discourse analysis and critique” (rather than “discourse analysis as critique”) (Nonhoff 2017, 2). We can see scholars and schools from the German-speaking world in the list, but their prominence is due to their publications in English and participation in English-language networks as well as appointments at universities in the English-speaking world. What are significant in their absence are French names. Only a handful of articles by Dominique Maingueneau (1999, 2006, 2017) and Patrick Charaudeau (2002, 2012)3, perhaps the best-known living French discourse scholars, have appeared in English. Moreover, the rich English and French discourse analytical traditions are hardly ever used in fruitful combination. There are some excellent exceptions, like The Discourse Studies Reader: An Introduction, 3

Charaudeau’s personal webpage shows, in the list of translations, only 2 translations into English, but 38 into Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and German.

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edited by Johannes Angermüller, Dominique Maingueneau and Ruth Wodak (2014), or the collection edited by Simone Bonnafous and Malika Temmar (2013) that show examples of both. Yet, in view of the options available, the list is puzzlingly short. The fact that one of the more illuminating sources in English is an interview with Dominique Maingueneau is telling in itself (Maingueneau and Angermüller 2007). This lack of collaboration leaves gaps in our discourse analysis apparatus. One gap, as argued by Johannes Beetz and Veit Schwab (2018, x–xi, xiv), is the limited treatment of materialism in English language discourse analysis in the past as well as today, when new materialism promotes flat ontologies and tends to undervalue discourse. 4 However, materialism was central to the beginning of French discourse analysis, through Louis Althusser’s re-interpretation of Marx.5 Some texts by Michel Pêcheux (1982, 1988, 1995), a key figure in French materialist discourse analysis, have been translated into English and are being cited in, for example, Critical Discourse Analysis (like Fairclough 1989, 1995, van Dijk 2008), but they do not seem to have had a long-lasting impact on the analytical practice. In our chapter, we will introduce the work of Marie-Anne Paveau who has developed the ideas of Pêcheux. She is, interestingly, referred to by Beetz and Schwab (2018, xi) as someone who reminds the readers that “discourse analysis is marked by a particular form of forgetting,” in linguistics by forgetting history, in sociology by forgetting the “materiality of language.” Paveau’s work seeks to undo the forgetting, especially of Pêcheux’s tradition, by incorporating insights from contemporary linguistics, for example, cognitive science. Paveau’s work cites Englishlanguage sources, but has not (yet) found its way to English much. In the following chapter we will, above all, employ her notion of prediscourse (prédiscours) or prior discourse to show how it can productively contribute to our understanding of the creation and perpetuation of ideas. Although

4

An important exception to the juxtaposition of discourse studies and new materialism can be found in the agential realism of Karen Barad (2007). 5 The continued importance of Marx in discourse studies can be seen in the special issue “Marx and Discourse” in Critical Discourse Studies in 2018 (vol 15, no 4).

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prior discourses have been referred to in English-language contexts as well (e.g., by Johnstone 2002: 180–181), they tend to be viewed as a manifestation of intertextuality (on the example of Bakhtin) and recontextualization (this can also be seen in Félix-Brasdefer and Koike 2012, 54, where Paveau’s concept of prediscourse is mentioned side by side with Bakhtin’s cultural model). Fairclough (2010, 508) also refers to prior discourses in his discussion of the construction of transition in Central and Eastern Europe, but does not systematically use them in his analysis. In his later analyses, he does indicate the importance of tracing the genealogy of discourses (Fairclough 2012). This differs, however, from Paveau’s (and Pêcheux’s) ideas as they are not interested in the origin of ideas but their continued use through implicit references (for more detailed explanation, see Possenti 2017). Dispersed references to Paveau (2006) can be found in papers by French or Brazilian scholars (Bonaccorsi 2012, Ordóñez-López and Edo-Marzá 2016, Possenti 2017) but our chapter will show how Paveau builds her systematic apparatus on the work of Pêcheux and thus will provide a broad presentation of Paveau’s theory of prediscourses 6 in English. The usefulness of these ideas is tested in this chapter on an empirical analysis of references to Marx in Estonian newspapers in 2004–2006 and 2017–2019. Specifically, we trace the presence of prediscourses through the analysis of the proper noun ‘Marx.’ Marx is an intriguing object of analysis as his name was ever-present in the formerly compulsory Soviet ideology and we will analyze what happens after that compulsion vanishes. Our discussion is not only looking backward, but also contributes to a better understanding of the present. After all, we live at a time when we see a proliferation of discourses about what is vaguely called ‘neomarxism’ in conservative and populist discourse. In this context, it is important to understand the mechanisms how the discourses linked to the past shape and are being used to shape our present perceptions. Developing the earlier analysis of Käsper (2009), we will compare corpora from 2004–2006 and 6

In the few available English-language sources, Paveau’s notion of prédiscours has been translated both as prediscourse and prior discourse. It seems that Paveau’s own texts tend to employ the first and this is why we also rely on that version in this chapter.

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2017–2019, to see whether the increasing temporal lag affects prediscourses. This will allow us to identify the forgetting and resurrection of the same prediscursive schemata and their variation in the enunciation (cf Maingueneau 2016). This case study will demonstrate the value of these analytical practices, established in French discourse analysis, for Englishlanguage discourse analysis.

LINGUISTIC MATERIALISM IN THE STUDY OF IDEOLOGY: PECHEUX’S INTERDISCOURSE Discourse analysis in general, even in its most descriptive and linguistic modes, considers the social context in its analytical procedures. The focus is not only on the description of linguistic forms in their context of use but, rather, the interpretation of the socio-cultural rules that give rise to certain forms of language use and delimit others. In the more critical traditions of discourse analysis, language is not a passive vehicle for the representation of socially preferred meanings or ideologies but the means through which these ideologies operate. In the CDA tradition, discourse is viewed as a social practice that not just represents the social, but also shapes it. In the words of Norman Fairclough, “discourses not only represent the world as it is (or rather is seen to be), they are projective imaginaries, representing possible worlds which are different from the actual world, and tied in to projects to change the world in particular directions” (Fairclough 2003, 124). The aim of the analytical procedures, therefore, is the uncovering of the hidden or tacit ideological aims and content of texts/utterances to achieve emancipatory aims (Wodak and Meyer 2007, 7). The French tradition of discourse analysis, however, is especially attentive to the presence of the social context in utterances and in the process of enunciation. Outside of France, Michel Foucault has been the most widely recognized author(ity) on discourse analysis, with his attention to the study of mechanisms of power that are manifested in language. However, other trends in French discourse analysis tend to be more materialist.

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The theoretically more interesting direction, initiated by Michel Pêcheux, proceeds from the work of Louis Althusser and his interpellation theory. In this theory, ideologies call out to people and offer preferred identities that are not forced on us but that we are, nevertheless, encouraged to accept. When we accept this offer, we will have accepted the ideology as a part of our own identity (Althusser 2001, 117–120). Pêcheux seeks to show how language is the means through which we identify with the preconstructed meaning. Language seems transparent, but it is always a part of discourse formations that are saturated with ideologies (Pêcheux 1982, 64; Rehmann 2013, 180–181). Developing the ideas of Althusser, Pêcheux believes that Althusser interpreted the constitution of knowledge as access to thinkable ideas while it is, for Pêcheux, the material ideology of these ideological apparatuses (schools, publications) that determines those ideas. In these circumstances, the subject is only an imaginary “subject-form” (forme-sujet) constituted in discourse by ideology itself. This construction is devoid of autonomy, as one just has to accept what is being dictated by ideology. For Pêcheux, the problem of enunciation thus initially seems to be out of question, as his goal was to find a materialism without a subject (comparable to Althusser’s subjection (assujetissement)), as the “interpretation of the individual as subject of his discourse is achieved by the identification of the subject with the discursive formation that dominates him (i.e., in which he is constituted as subject)” (Pêcheux 1982, 114). Pêcheux builds on the two meanings of the word ‘subject’ and stresses the bringing under control, rather than agency. However, he also seems to be interested in the discursive process as a producer of the effect of the “subject-form” (Pêcheux and Fuchs 1975, 19). This is how discourse semantics proposed by Haroche, Henry and Pêcheux (1971) on the one hand emphasizes the constructivist dimension of meaning (the process of production of meanings) and, on the other hand, its dependence on the conditions under which discourse is being produced (cf. Maldidier 1990, 149). Pêcheux uses the same term to characterize these conditions as Michel Foucault – that of the discursive formation – but its precise meaning in Pêcheux’s interpretation remains quite ambiguous. On

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the one hand, he reflects on the properties attributed to the positions determining these formations in terms of text types or genres. On the other hand, the discursive formations of Pêcheux are above all ideological, in the sense of an infrastructure that determines all surface manifestations (for more discussion see Käsper 2017, 71–77; Helsloot and Hak, 2007). The point of articulation of the ideological and the linguistic can be found in the preconstructed (préconstruit). In the process of the construction of meaning, there are ideas, values, attitudes, and so on that are already there, without the enunciator. These immaterial configurations, called interdiscourse (interdiscours), articulate themselves on the syntagmatic chain of the discourse that constitutes intradiscourse (intradiscours). Some anchoring points, analyzable as linguistic constructs in the intradiscourse, can be viewed as preconstructed at the level of ideas in the interdiscourse (Pêcheux 1982, 113–115). To paraphrase the idea in a more accessible form, it can be said that interdiscourse (interdiscours) covers everything that precedes discourse and influences the utterance in one way or another. It reaches the specific process of enunciation (intradiscours) through certain preconstructed statements, thoughts, references that are sufficiently clearly manifested in the discourse that they can be identified by the analysis of the linguistic data. For example, syntactic means like relative constructions, adjectival determination and nominalization hide “evidence effects” accepted as preconstructed by the fact that one statement is embedded in the other. Most importantly, for Pêcheux, ideology “speaks” (ça parle) through preconstructed meanings that are, nevertheless, concealed and this, for him, constitutes the “contradictory material objectivity of interdiscourse” (Pêcheux 1982, 113). That is why, as a language theorist, Pêcheux (Haroche, Henry and Pêcheux 1971; Pêcheux, Fuchs 1975) contested the understanding that language was an abstract system that is detached from reality (as was thought in the interpretation of Saussurean language theory widespread in the 1960s in which the link between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary). He showed how different syntactic constructions refer to facts that are evoked as already having been established and thus existing as an accepted truth. As one of the possibilities, Pêcheux also discussed, quite

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similarly to and simultaneously with Lakoff and Johnson (1979), how metaphors can have a precategorizing function in discourse, arguing that metaphors are not a deviation, but “the very site where meaning is constituted” (Gadet, Pêcheux 1981, 172, 173 cited in Paveau 2006, 197).

LINGUISTIC MATERIALISM IN THE STUDY OF SOCIOCULTURAL MEMORY: PAVEAU’S PREDISCOURSES Pêcheux’s background is in Lacanian psychoanalysis and what has been called “Marxist semantics” (stressed also by the choice of the title for the English translation of Pêcheux’ Les vérités de La Palice as Language, Semantics and Ideology). According to Paveau, the most productive aspect of Pêcheux’s theory is his focus on the mechanisms of language use that refer to preconstructed meanings. Instead of identifying the presence of an all-determining ideology, Paveau (2006) looks at the creation of meaning in discourse proceeding from today’s paradigm of socio-cultural cognition, in which values and meanings important to people are, on the one hand, largely a socio-cultural construction but, on the other hand, different material and technical devices (from the computer keyboard to mnemonic techniques that can be summed up in the notion of distributed cognition) participate in the shaping of discourses. Within the cognitive paradigm, Paveau clearly differentiates herself from biological cognition (see Paveau 2006, 11) and concentrates on the role of socio-cultural memory in the construction of discourses, with special attention to the textual-cognitive operations in the structuring of what is being said. This line of argument has been recently developed in the digital context (cf Develotte and Paveau 2017 or Paveau 2019). However, in view of length restrictions, we will focus on only cultural memory here. The topic of memory has found different treatments within French discourse analysis. The notion of discursive memory was proposed by JeanJacques Courtine (1981); among historians, Jacques Guilhaumou (2006), has been studying the linking of historic events and discourse. The circulation of memory in discourse has been analyzed through words and

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expressions etched in collective memory (see Moirand 2007 for the interdiscursive memory of words like barbarian (barbare) or mad cow (vache folle), etc.). The conception and distribution of this kind of a formula in the media has been thoroughly analyzed also on the example of the formula “ethnic cleansing” (purification ethnique) by Alice Krieg-Planque (2003). Paveau takes a broader view, showing the very different forms and levels of references to the preconstructed meanings, to stress how important a discursive practice such references are. Memory is, actually, important in this context only to the extent that it appears in the linguistic categorization of new situations or concepts or their integration into discourse (cf Pêcheux’s interdiscourse (interdiscours) that is blended into what is being said or intradiscourse (intradiscours)). However, as people are largely constructed by previous memories and knowledge, it can be said that prediscourses are more or less everywhere for Paveau, similarly to the omnipresence of ideology for Pêcheux. Wagener (2014) has argued that Paveau’s importance lies in her dynamic treatment of language as her approach makes it possible to study what constitutes cultural memory and what is active in memory in interpreting new phenomena and how. This is crucial for our analysis as well as we seek to study the relationship between discourse and cultural memory in a specific cultural location, as our analysis will show that the proper noun ‘Marx’ has become detached from a specific ideology and has become a looser—yet still politically deployed—memory. Other scholars have also referred to Paveau (2006) in discussing how cultural memory functions in society (Bonaccorsi 2012, Ordóñez-López and Edo-Marzá 2016, Possenti 2017). Paveau stresses that Pêcheux’s sociocultural analysis considers both social interactions and the ideological, material and cultural conditions of their production. She believes that this is why Pêcheux has been indeed used in the Anglophone Cultural Studies paradigm to tackle the “conceptual impasse marked off by the language/reality paradox” (Montgomery and Allan 1992). Paveau argues that instead of contrasting the “mental or social,” “internal or external,” “cognitive or discursive,” “a cognitive analysis of discourse proposes the idea that the mental and social givens are two facets

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of the same reality that the concept of prediscourse would allow us to observe and understand” (Paveau 2006, 217). Further, Paveau suggests that “prediscourses in effect operate in the negotiation of sharing, transmission and circulation of meaning between social groups” (Paveau 2006, 14). Prediscourses are defined as “a set of collective prediscursive frameworks that have an instructional role for the production and interpretation of meaning in discourse” that includes “semantic content (in the broad sense, cultural, ideological, encyclopedic), i.e., knowledge, beliefs and practices and not only formal properties” (Paveau 2006, 14). In Paveau’s understanding, then, prediscourses are:  

  



Collective (they are created in co-elaboration between the individual and society) Immaterial (they do not have to be formulated somewhere, but, rather, exist as beliefs; however, the taken-for-granted nature of these beliefs makes them real (déjà là) for the speaker) Transmissible (they can be conveyed to others) Experiential (they can also be used to understand new things and to form new opinions) Intersubjective (they are not absolute truths; all prediscourses are approximate and relative, aiming to provide an adequate reaction to a situation) Discursive (they are being materialized in language use).

Paveau stresses that she does not study the content of discourse but describes the mechanisms with which prediscourses are referred to and the locations where preconstructed meaning appears. She is above all interested in prediscourses as folk linguistic argumentative devices that cover the common sense perceived to be shared in a society, including about what it is necessary or suitable to remember. As prediscourses are above all used to provide evaluations (good or bad), from the perspective of morality, Paveau (2006, 137–139) distinguishes between positive and negative forms of reference to prediscourses. The values that are believed to be exemplary are

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referred to in a positive manner, while prediscourses can also be employed in order to contrast oneself to them. The latter usage is called “negative theory” in Paveau (2006, 137). Paveau divides descriptive mechanisms involved in the creation of prediscourses into three: 1. Elements of discourse that refer to the (supposedly) pre-existing knowledge: references to collective language knowledge that has been recorded in dictionaries (the “correct” meaning of words, etymology, etc.); references to collective folk beliefs or to the ideas and knowledge of great thinkers; proper nouns referring to knowledge in collective social memory; 2. Language mechanisms stressing the supposed omnipresence and obviousness of the shared knowledge: rhetorical questions, epistemic modality and evidence marking, and marking of what Paveau calls “encyclopedic deixis;” 3. Textual-cognitive means that structure and frame what is becoming discourse (typologies, oppositions, conceptual metaphors). Our analytical tool—proper noun—belongs to the first group, but other aspects are also important in the examples containing it as they are intertwined in each discourse, creating patterns of their own. Among the mechanisms described by Paveau for identifying preconstructed meanings, marked or unmarked encyclopedic deixis (deixis encyclopédique marqueé/non-marquée) is a very particular and yet very productive linguistic-materialist tool that is used to refer to what, at the moment, is considered something to obviously agree with. The marked form is what is generally understood as deixis in linguistics, in Paveau’s (2006, 174–175) sense phrases like ‘our mediatized society’ or ‘our current world’ in which adjectives are summoned to support a deictic ‘our’ and to stress the shared understanding of the world. She considers expressions like ‘in a world in which’ or ‘in the hour when’ the unmarked form that can also be used to introduce something that is assumed to be understood in a similar way and agreed on.

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In describing her theory, Paveau gives examples from three corpora— essays on education, texts written by members of the military and literary criticism published in the media—and thus, throughout her analysis, shows how the three corpora refer to prediscourses. In her conclusion, Paveau (2006, 113–114) identifies three distinct styles. The intellectual style of essays on education tends to use linguistic (etymologies, lexicographic means) and cultural prediscourses (cultural oppositions, references to great thinkers) in its argumentation. Literary criticism, above all, employs references to the supposedly common-sense cultural knowledge (tacit evidence of a shared common culture, by playing with the sense of complicity), while military style confidently lists prediscursive references in the shared collective memory (appeals to distant or immediate memory, generic questions and evidential lexis, usage full of typologies). These different ways of inscribing prediscursive frames in the enunciation of new discourse for Paveau indicate different relations to prediscourse. They also suggest a new mode for linguistic analysis of discourse as a social practice (Paveau 2006, 114) The focus, thus, is on the references to supposedly shared prediscourses in a discursive space or community, the ways the references are made and the relations expressed in the material. This is the methodological starting point for our analysis as well. We have chosen to focus on one category of prediscourses Paveau (2006) studied in her book and elaborated upon in greater detail in her later articles (Paveau 2007, Paveau 2008). Paveau (2007) states: The proper noun possesses a cognitive-discursive element, a “memory name,” whose situational significance must be analyzed within the broader context of history, culture, and the physical environment. Taking a cognitive-discursive approach, the proper noun can be called a prediscourse, that is, a collective, prediscursive framework that assists in the development of discourse by activating a body of knowledge, beliefs, and practices, an approach to proper nouns developed by Paveau (2006, 161–172).

We propose that the uses of the proper noun ‘Marx’ in our corpora can also be analyzed as representing this kind of a memory category. Popular references made to the philosopher Marx could position him as one of the

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great thinkers (figure patrimoniale or Father (Père) that Paveau (2006, 159– 161) talks about). Yet, in our corpus, the styles of referring to Marx are trickier. While Paveau (2008) has shown the polemic nature of toponyms (called “polemonyms” below, following Paveau), anthroponyms and cultural knowledge tend to have a positive categorizing function and carry a “prestige coefficient” (Paveau 2007) in her analyses. However, in Estonian public discourse ‘Marx’ tends to have a negative connotation, owing to the compulsory ideologies of the Soviet period, and function thus as a kind of polemonym in our corpora. In the analysis below, we will look at ‘Marx’ as a memory name, how it functions within discourses and how it changes over time. Paveau argues that antithesis is a universal phenomenon. On the one hand, we will analyze how ‘Marx’ is a figure in patrimonial enunciation and how, on the other hand, his name is being used rather universally in constructing oppositional antitheses. This is why we are interested in typologies and varying modalities employed while citing ‘Marx’ across our corpus. We will pay special attention to irony. As Sperber and Wilson (1978) already argue, irony is not a counterargument, but the creation of a double meaning. Thus, we will look at the semantic density of the different actualizations of the memory name ‘Marx’.

‘MARX’ IN ESTONIAN PRINT MEDIA Our Corpus Our corpus is derived from Estonian papers that could be, collectively, called general or cultural information newspapers. We focused on three papers with distinctive perspectives and readerships. Postimees (PM) is a quality daily that has been the most widely circulated quality paper in Estonia for decades. It has represented nationalist and conservative viewpoints. Sirp is a weekly cultural paper that covers literature, music, theater and art, but in every issue also has a section dedicated to social affairs. It does not have an explicit political alignment, but it tends to give voice to more liberal views than Postimees. Eesti Eksperss (EX) is also a

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weekly newspaper, the first private newspaper in post-Soviet Estonia that prided itself on its iconoclasm and freedom of speech. We will compare corpora from 2004–2006 and 2017–2019, to see to what extent the temporal distancing from the Soviet period and its ideological emphases influences the number and character of references to and evocations of the proper noun ‘Marx’ and the forms these references take. In the Soviet period, references to Marxist classics, including, naturally, Marx himself, were ubiquitous in almost all genres of texts and thus, in the post-Soviet period, they were evoked to ridicule the former dominant ideology. Some of the results of the analysis of the older corpus have been provided in Käsper (2009). In the present chapter, we want to compare the uses of ‘Marx’ after a ten-year gap when Soviet past is firmly relegated to history and a generation of people has no immediate memory of the Soviet regime. However, the rise of populism in Estonia—like elsewhere in Western Europe—has resurrected the proper noun ‘Marx’ in the always vaguely defined concept of ‘neomarxism’ in conservative and populist discourse. Thus, in the following analysis, we trace how discourses linked to the past shape and are used to shape our present perceptions. Specifically, we will look at the forgetting and resurrection of the same prediscursive schemata and variations in the enunciator’s position (cf Maingueneau 2016). Already in 2004–2006, about ten years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was surprising that the name ‘Marx’ was still in circulation, but the survey for 2017–2019 yielded even more results, although they indicate a development in a somewhat different direction (see Figure 1). Since the corpus was compiled by searching the online archives of the three newspapers for entries including ‘Marx’, the initial search also provided references to some other people who bore the same name, but the majority dealt with the German philosopher Karl Marx as well as his ideas. Only these references were chosen for the detailed analysis. The figures for the three papers for the two years are somewhat surprising. Our initial hypothesis was that there would be a decline in the number of references, but that proved to be the case only in one newspaper, Eesti Ekspress. There was actually an increase in the number of references in the other two papers, most dramatically in Postimees (for details see Table 1).

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Generalized evolution of references to 'Marx' 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2004–2006

2017–2019 EX

Sirp

PM

Figure 1. Evolution of references to ‘Marx’ in Eesti Ekspress (EX), Sirp, and Postimees (PM) comparing the periods 2004–2006 and 2017–2019.

Table 1. Number of references to ‘Marx’ in Eesti Ekspress (EX), Sirp, and Postimees (PM) in 2004–2006 and 2017–2019 Paper Eesti Ekspress Sirp Postimees

2004–2006 22 47 55

2017–2019 14 63 81

As the aim of the analysis both for 2004–2006 and 2017–2019 was to gain as broad a picture as possible, texts from very different topic areas were included in the corpus. The themes in connection with which ‘Marx’ appeared in the two corpora could be grouped as follows: 1. History of ideas and events, reminiscences, various themes 2. Arts (reviews of exhibitions, films, fiction, etc.) 3. Analyses of contemporary society, op-ed pieces. While Käsper (2009) demonstrated how varied meanings in diverse contexts ‘Marx’ evoked, in the 2017–2019 corpus a notable trend has been

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the significant increase in the number of analytical articles dedicated to today’s society (over half of the texts in Postimees as well as in the social affairs section in Sirp). Thus, our analysis will first and foremost focus on the latter but, to show the range of references to prediscourses, we will also have to discuss the others. In order to understand the changes, we will have to begin by looking into the analysis of the earlier corpus.

DISCUSSION: MARX AS A (PROBLEMATIC) FATHER Käsper (2009) was inspired by the observation that Marx as a compulsory author of the oppressive Soviet period was not, surprisingly, banished from post-Soviet Estonian media. Instead, print media included quite frequent instances in which Marx’s name was evoked or in which his ideas were even cited. This suggests that ‘Marx’ appears in these texts as a part of what Paveau (2006, 158) calls “patrimonial enunciation” (énonciation patrimoniale), specifically as one of the “collection of good fathers” (un stock de bons pères). According to this interpretation, there are themes and references in collective memory that are considered the source of shared knowledge. These references help to create the collective heritage of a community or culture with which the members of the community or culture align themselves, although they are only tacitly recognized. The speakers then position themselves as the heirs of this shared discursive good and their speech perpetuates it. Paveau (2006, 158–160) shows this type of reasoning, for example, in phrases like ‘as is generally known,’ ‘as the proverb says’ or ‘as X has stated’. That is, the shared cultural knowledge is cited to confirm or justify an argument or to validate a claim. However, in Estonian print media from 2004–2006 the function of validation seemed dubious. First, the 2004–2006 corpus included many references to how much Marx wrote and how much he has been cited in our cultural context: for example, we can see abundant metadiscursive comments like “how lengthily and how much Marx has spoken about this” (Sirp, 4 February 2005, social

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affairs)7 or “this was an argument against translating classics of philosophy as something pointless: why spend time on the original if Marx had already said the unerring truth about everything?” (Sirp, 14 October 2005, social affairs). In a way, in these references ‘Marx’ appears like a great authority to cite in Paveau’s sense (in other words, it is the citation that is central, not the person cited), but that status is also immediately challenged by ironic references like “unerring truth” and “about everything.” Instead of validation, ‘Marx’ seems to have the purpose of categorizing something in a more negative light. This is typical of the examples of Paveau’s (2006, 134–135) “negative theory” according to which the prediscursive references are used in discourse to denounce some beliefs as dangerous mistakes, rumors or urban legends. These references in our corpus, thus, conjure up and also denounce a typical argument from the Soviet period. Second, since there were so abundant references to Marx in the Soviet period, they tend to appear also in a more condensed form in our corpus. In many cases, references may be metonymic, in other words, what is referred to is Marx’s oeuvre (“they read young Marx,” “after Marx,” “response to Marx with the mentality of Karl Popper”, etc.). What is of interest for Paveau’s theory here is that these references directly evoke the symbolic meaning of the proper noun as a memory name. This can be seen in particular in the following example: “The postmodern is the space-time after the events of the modern, after Marx, after class struggle, after grand narratives and after revolution” (Sirp, 7 October 2006, social affairs). In “after Marx” the proper noun refers to Marx’s works but, even more, the temporal perspective (“after Marx”) makes it function as a symbolic eventname (praxonym, the term proposed for event-names by Leroy (2004)). Such designative power of toponyms is shown in Paveau (2008) and Paveau (2006, 162-172). According to Paveau, the mentioning of certain names like Chernobyl, Verdun, Rwanda in an unchanged form 8 and without any adjectives evokes preconstructed meanings about the dramatic events 7

All the references to our corpus will indicate what section of the paper the specific article came from. The translations of the quotations are by Raili Marling. The translations seek to retain as much of the details of the originaal Estonian versions. 8 Paveau (2006, 163) explicitly states that she is not interested in the expressions that have been developed textually (e.g., African Venice or Catholic Woodstock, to use her examples).

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associated with these locations. However, the actualized meanings may vary considerably. In general, possible different meanings associated with the proper noun accumulate around the primary naming function, giving the discursive meanings of a proper noun semantic density (Paveau 2007) that can be activated in different manners. Thus, in discourse, as Paveau (2006, 162) argues, it is axiomatic that proper nouns may acquire specific meanings in use. This can certainly be said about references to ‘Marx’ in post-Soviet Estonian setting. The proper noun ‘Marx’ as a memory name makes recurrent appearances in anecdotes and quizzes. ‘Marx’ is also part of general cultural lists and other details (names of cities, like Karl-Marx-Stadt or streets, like in the title of a Georgian film 12 Karl Marx Street named after Marx in the Soviet period). In the context of literature and arts, however, he can still be found in mocking typologies for organizing commentary on the present. The most colorful feature evoked for this purpose with the use of ‘Marx’ is the beard of the philosopher that is mentioned in both the 2004–2006 and 2017–2019 corpus in joking commentaries about photos representing someone other than Marx himself. While in latter corpus the references come from memory genres, in the earlier corpus the reference may concern also an event taking place in the present: Small interval and, one by one, those for the admiring of whom a hefty ticket price had been shelled out, trickled to the stage. The first man to step behind the machines looked like Karl Marx who has joined Happy Mondays. Of course, that was none else than Carlos Nino himself, with his mellow beard and a windbreaker—the invincible wizard of sound for Ninja Tune. (EX, 12 December 2005, culture)

The author describing the concert still belongs to the generation that was used to seeing portraits of Soviet thinkers on the walls of schools and other institutions. However, in many of the other references we can see a similar effect where ‘Marx’ has become a kind of surreal device for talking about the seemingly impossible or bizarre topics, while also suggesting a slippage of memory. ‘Marx’ was not a categorizing instrument bearing a specific meaning already in the Soviet period but that tendency of him being viewed

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as a sort of a floating signifier with a (semi)negative meaning has only increased by today. In a way, references to Marx seem to be suitable for describing almost anything. We will provide two types of telling examples. First, ‘Marx’ was used in the summaries of comic incidents, like difficulties with the customs on arriving in the USA, the land of the free: What was that famous cliché from Marx, that freedom is a perceived inevitability. Or as the same idea was formulated somewhat more wittily by another Marx, the absurdist comic Groucho Marx, who said “My dearest, I am free for you. I will leave.” (EX, 4 July 2005, travel)

Another unexpected example is an illustration of activities, like knitting mittens, as a diversion from office work: The sense of satisfaction that comes from the first line of loops messily made out of the yarn that makes one’s eyes shine comes from selfrealization. Tired to death by the office and computer keyboard—Marx would say, definitively alienated from the fruits of your labor—a person feels again that something simple and beautiful can be generated by her hands (EX, 8 May 2005, culture).

Second, the authors tend to stress the conditional or hypothetical nature of their paraphrases (visible in phrases like “could be characterized,” “Marx might say”): Today’s independent Ukraine is in a sense part of a bigger plan that could be characterized with a paraphrase of Karl Marx: the Ukrainians did not wish to continue in the old way, Moscow could not continue in the old way. (Sirp, 3 December 2004, social affairs)

In contrast to the convinced position of the enunciator (marked by epistemic modality) that Paveau shows in her analysis in discussing references to prediscourses, in the Estonian corpus, especially that for 2004– 2006, the speakers tended to stress their inability to remember (e.g., “how was it” or “Marx (or was it Engels)?”): With his endless arrogance, de Gaulle said that France is Europe. And Marx (or was it Engels?) that France was the dial of European history. Not

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wanting to argue about the truthfulness of these claims, I would create a thought experiment and say that French agriculture is European agriculture. (EX, 12 December 2005, opinion)

Thus, in view of the whole rethinking of memory in the former Soviet area starting from 1992 the latter strategy can also be associated with and compared to “un-remembering” (démémoire) 9 which seems to be almost compulsory when using a quotation by Marx: some pretend to mix up references (Marx or Engels, reference to another Marx), while some others demonstrate their good memory. However, first and foremost, when a quote or more indirect reference is being used, the authors demonstrate their knowledge of the existence of these references and their use also implies that the readers are expected to know or at least to have heard about them. Whether the quotes, people to whom they are attributed and the circumstances match is actually unimportant. Paveau also says that in the case of the patrimonial enunciation it is not the content that matters, but the act of use. Reference to the prediscourse is a kind of a cultural device (dispositif culturel). Paveau stresses that the prediscourse is not the content of the quote but the fact that some classic is being quoted (Paveau 2006, 159). Thus, we, too, do not study the manifestations of indirect speech or intertextuality, but the cultural context that enables and/or elicits statements. From the perspective of cognitive perception of situations, the conditional nature of paraphrases can be explained by the fact that each new situation is only to a certain extent, but also to some extent, similar to the situation where the formula being used by the writer occurred when it was recorded in his or her memory. Paveau (2006, 106) stresses the importance of what she calls the similar situation (situation semblable) as “the work of memory generates indeed similar discursive situations which allows for the semantic extensibility of words and formulas applicable in new situations simply because they have been applied to old situations.”

9

This notion was introdued by Robin (2001) to analyze the renaming of streets in East Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall when the names of socialist war heroes were replaced by those of Bismarck’s generals or Teutonic knights.

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If there is a situation or if anything is similar in a situation, a reference to a person of authority (Father in Paveau’s terms) can be used to categorize the situation. Situations perceived to be similar can, however, also be textual—the need to open or close the text memorably, to stress something, etc.—and in these textual functions, a reference to Marx can serve a decorative need (cf Käsper 2009). This, in fact, is one of their dominant functions. The frequent use of references to Marx in the 2004–2006 corpus demonstrates that the cultural device still contained the knowledge that in many such circumstances in was advisable to use decorative phrases in broad circulation the content, truthfulness, sensibility or the author of which was relatively unimportant. There are also some references in the 2017–2019 corpus to knowledge or memory of frequent citation (signaled by the word “certainly”), but mixed with a certain level of absurdity (the topic ends discussing the meaningfulness or meaninglessness of the activity) and un-remembering: Generally, one can agree that a call center employee or a PR person has a job that may disturb fellow citizens. The same cannot be said about a plumber: his arrival cannot disturb anybody. The arrival of the plumber is a long-expected event. And, anyway, who of us has not felt, in whatever job, that our work is pointless? Work and thought (or lack thereof) certainly must form some sort of a dialectical triad which has been mentioned by Karl Marx or even Plato or Spinoza. (PM, 4 June 2019, culture)

It can be seen here that the author has cognitively considered the need to conclude the thought with aplomb, and ‘Marx’ is evoked to formulate the idea, although the idea itself is not particularly sophisticated. The listing of other famous philosophers, however, rehabilitates and normalizes the status of ‘Marx’ as a suitable reference. Another example where we see the evocation of the function of ironic decoding of ‘Marx’ begins by introducing a study about contemporary society: Sixteen women and three men compiled a book titled Estonian Society in an Accelerating Age. The Results of the Study “I. World, Media” 2002– 2014. The result was such a mighty picture of our homeland that the observers themselves are surprised and have started to change. Our famous

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sociologists, who only twenty-five years ago saw one clear direction in the changes, that is, Estonian society’s opening to the West and the triumph of free people, admit now that a freely developing society also wastes its human capital and creates alienation. Here you have it, Karl Marx could exclaim now. (EX, 3 May 2019, opinion)

‘Marx’ is summoned here, as if in the position of an authority and as if to validate his prediction about social development, but the very form of the reference, with its emphatic irony, reverses the meaning and gives it a negative spin. The author uses his memory of Marx to not just thematically conclude his idea, but also confidently play with the Soviet-era relic. This form of reference was prevalent in the 2004–2006 corpus, probably because the authors could rely on their readers’ recognition of the references to Marx and their ability to identify the ironic angle of the prediscursive reference. However, there is much less of the playful ironic citation in the 2017–2019 corpus: only two references in the Postimees, for example. A possible explanation is the loss of the certainty of the shared common sense in recognizing the references to Marx and his thought. In the case of the earlier corpus, it was not Marx himself who was understood but, rather, there was a shared understanding that if something was associated with Marx, it was nonsense, as it was directly linked to the Soviet ideology. What starts to vanish in our corpus is the recurrent reference to Marx as an inexhaustible source of references and that it is important to show that you do not remember what Marx actually said as that would implicate you in a possible nostalgia for the Soviet period. Thus, it can be argued that ‘Marx’ is no longer used to categorize random everyday situations, like in the 2004–2006 corpus. When these types of references are made, their direct aim is to ridicule Marx or his followers. Such references may also be used to demonstrate the correct context of the citation: Marx called religion opiate, Lenin an abomination. Marx’s attitude becomes understandable when we recall that in his academic dissertation he explains... (PM, 14 September 2019, opinion)

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While explanation makes the text more specific, the strategy of ridicule highlights the importance of cultural memory, as can be seen in the example above. However, there are still some evocative examples that could be classified as an ironic paraphrase. In addition, what has changed is the modality. Instead of suggesting what Marx may have said, authors write with greater conviction: While Marx says that all is to be blamed on a capitalist in a top hat and Freud that on a neighbor woman with her curtains and that the rest is derived from them, then social constructivism says that the rest is purely up to us. (PM, 8 February 2019, opinion)

Here Marxist thought is caricatured as reducing all social relations to class struggle and this is summed up in a cartoon figure of a capitalist. The latter, however, is dated as the image of top-hatted capitalist was frequent in Soviet cartoons but it is much less certain that it would immediately elicit a desired interpretation among readers unfamiliar with that visual code. Instead, what stands out here is the somewhat odd list or typology into which Marx is placed. The pairing of Marx and Freud is not unexpected and occurs also in many books of critical theory, but the addition of amoebas by the author clearly places the negative theory frame upon this example and makes it impossible to take Marx as a respected authority. As Paveau (2006, 188–195) points out and as can be observed also about our corpora, typologies are, overall, a productive discursive strategy. In historical typologies, ‘Marx’ is associated with other classics of Marxist thought well known from the posters and compulsory quotations of the Soviet era: in a trio with Lenin and Stalin and in a pair with Engels (for example “embitterment about the liberal hallucinations about solving vital problems with the help of grand schemes, like the ones concocted by Marx and improved by Lenin” (PM, 10 February 2019, opinion)). The frame into which ‘Marx’ is placed is unmistakably negative because of the emotionally loaded vocabulary. This can be seen perhaps even more emphatically in the following example: “Philosophizing about the good sides of communism always ends up with Karl Marx. And this is correct, as Marx, as if, created a

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“scientific” basis for theory that the cruel Bolshevik Lenin and later Stalin spoiled and used in their interests” (EX, 26 August 2017, opinion). Here we see subtle markers of attitude in the “as if” and placing “scientific” into quotation marks. However, the typology itself does a lot of discursive work, placing ‘Marx’ side by side with the explicitly evoked crimes of Lenin and Stalin and thus sharing guilt by association. In the context of literary history, in addition to pairing with Freud discussed above, we also see references to “two Karls” (Marx and Popper): This is based on the understanding that freedom of discussion creates two options for dealing with discussion. One mentality can be tied to Karl Marx who directed the attention of Western philosophy to the fact that although several thousand years all different kinds of smart alecks have said things, in their opinion perceptively, this has produced nothing because nobody has done anything. The other option is answering Marx with the mentality of Popper: open discussion. (Sirp, 16 August 2019, social affairs)

Side by side with these historical references we, however, also see ‘Marx’ placed into various lists of writers (with Twain in one and Gladstone and Kipling in another). This is the only instance in which he is being used in a positive manner to complete the larger cultural picture: Of course, gathering the politics, philosophy, literature, economy, religious life of such a long and massive age that was “both freely trading and aristocratic” into one, but still comprehensible whole is impressive. This thing indeed is gathered within the book’s covers. Dickens, Darwin, Mill, Carlyle, Ruskin, Peel, Gladstone, Marx, Kipling, etc., etc.—all those literary men, statesmen, scientists whose steps the author follows and whose world of thought he tries to capture together form a puzzle, one type of which by the way is considered impossible, although the mosaic is eventually completed. (PM, 23 May 2019)

In general, the mocking citations and paraphrase of 2004–2006 have been replaced in the 2017–2019 corpus by more certain references within the negative theory frame, especially in the Postimees. For example, ‘Marx’ is referred to in a generalized manner (“Marx invented/explained /corrected”) or he is mentioned in a clause as the preconstructed (for

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example, “as Karl Marx was no a Marxist and would probably have objected”). However, there are also very certain claims on the other side of the ideological spectrum. In these types of references, the author uses the indicative mood, not conditional or subjunctive. On first glance, these references seem neutral, but they can also suggest negative interpretations: However, side by side with this direction we also see others. Hegel’s “objective spirit” had to realize itself above all through great nations. Such a dialectic (that Marx adapted into his own) affects the richness of life like clear-cutting. But “national clear-cutting” accompanied the French Revolution already. (PM, 15 May 2019, opinion)

‘Marx’ is also mentioned as a foundational figure who can be revered, but also opposed, by creating a comparison with Marx. In other words, we can indeed see a sort of a re-normalization of Marx as a philosopher, even if the author disagrees with what Marx has said. Most of the discourse is still based on disagreement, but Marx has stopped being a figure of mere fun. Rhetorically, it could be said that in the shared common sense, Marx and his thought overall seem to have become a socially necessary “straw man.” Doury (2017, 43) argues that straw man arguments are presented in such a form that the opponent is unlikely to agree with them. In other words, they are used to turn an argument into an attack. In Paveau’s theory, the use of the straw man argument could be compared to the use of a pre-existing common sense. This can be seen especially in the comparison of Postimees and Sirp in arguments over what is termed as ‘neomarxism.’ Some produce obvious caricatures to suggest how stupid it is to think anything positive about anything associated with Marx. That is, his name is being used to bludgeon the ignorant or the naïve with encyclopedic deictic references like “today’s acolytes” that suggest the presence of a preconstructed (negative) opinion. This, in turn, is being used to construct a shared enemy that has interpellative force in the Althusserian sense. The others, more or less ironically, explain what Marx thought or how that thought could be used but they, too, have to build their ideas on something. This can be seen in the following example in which a relatively constructive instance of use in a typology still uses contrast which is also constructed on opposition:

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If the author had restrained himself and constructed the chapter on the contrast between some philosophers, the result would have immediately been more substantial (e.g., state interference in enterprise—Smith vs. Marx or popular culture—Bentham vs. Mill). (Sirp, 12 April 2019, social affairs)

Paveau (2006, 139) argues that people need prediscourses to construct their denial. This also confirms the discourse constructive nature of opposing antithesis in our corpora.

CONCLUSION The analysis above demonstrates the value of prediscourses in the analysis of discourse for uncovering the tacit common sense evoked through argument. They are among the material means used to construct the discourse. Above all, our analysis showed how the tacitness of prediscourses allows the authors to play with the ambiguities of the moral aspect of discourse, in Paveau’s sense, that is, giving it a positive or negative twist. We also showed a temporal change in the references to prediscourses in our corpus: the playful paraphrase and quotation of the earlier corpus has been replaced with more passionate counterargument in the changed political circumstances. In the 2004–2006 corpus, we see seemingly positive uses of the prediscourses to categorize new situations that, on a closer inspection, are still revealed to have been given a negative spin by the use of absurd situations. On the one hand, the reference to Marx as an authority is in this usage rendered into a mere stylistic device that provides an effective opening or conclusion for a text, without disrupting the overall negative reading through metacomments. On the other hand, it also demonstrates that polemonym ‘Marx’ is a part of Estonian cultural memory (even if people would like to ignore it) and acts as a prediscourse in the construction of texts. His name in being used in descriptions and argumentation and the ridiculousness of the examples is less important than the presence of the name. This also links our results to Pêcheux’s constructivist idea of

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discourse in which ideology is associated with both interdiscourse and intradiscourse. In Paveau’s interpretation, quotations and other earlier materials and the meanings associated with them are the necessary discursive tools for the construction of enunciation. The creation of every new meaning has to proceed from something and Paveau shows that references or hints to memory are a productive and universal means for this. The 2017–2019 corpus shows the mechanisms operating in a crisis or debate mode that also require prediscourses, even if they are used to distance oneself from them in pursuit of one’s own goals. We, specifically, see two types of negativity: 1) those who accuse others of worshipping wrong ideas and stressing their erroneousness with lists of notorious ideologues from the past and placing them in ridiculing new contexts (with top-hatted capitalists or amoebas) and, 2) those who seek to explain Marx, but are forced to use the framing prediscourses and thus also distance themselves from Marx as authority because they feel the need to correct him. In Paveau’s terminology, the first could be called the litigators, the second filters (Paveau 2006: 138). The only positive usage that we were able to identify was the use of ‘Marx’ to fit together a cultural puzzle, akin to the strategies Paveau herself uncovered in her analysis of literary texts. Our analysis also showed that Paveau’s analysis, performed on French material, needs to be adapted when used on the material from other cultural locations. For example, Paveau (2006, 139) stresses the requirement that clear knowledge and opinion be identified in discourse as a specifically French cultural feature deriving from the 18th century. In the case of our corpus, it seems that what is culturally specific is the memory that it is impossible to take some references to recent history too seriously.

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Rehmann, Jan. 2013. Theories of Ideology: The Powers of Alienation and Subjection. Leiden: Brill. Robin, Régine. 2001. Berlin Chantiers. Essai sur les passés fragiles. [Berlin Sites. Essay on the Fragile Pasts]. Paris: Stock. Sperber, Dan and Deirdre Wilson 1978. “Les ironies comme mention.” Poétique 36: 399–412. [“Ironies as Mentions.” Poetics 36: 399–412]. Van Dijk, Teun A. 2008. Discourse and Power. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan. Wagener, Albin. 2014. “Le concept de culture: une nécessité absolue en sciences humaines?” Signes, Discours et Sociétés, 12. Accessed July 20, 2017. http://www.revue-signes.info/document.php?id=3294. [“The Concept of Culture: An Absolute Necessity in the Humanities?.” Signs, Discourses and Societies, 12. Accessed July 20, 2017. http://www. revue-signes.info/document.php?id=3294]. Williams, Glyn. 1999. French Discourse Analysis. The Method of PostStructuralism. London and New York: Routledge. Wodak, Ruth; Meyer, Michael. 2009. “Critical Discourse Analysis: History, Agenda, Theory and Methodology.” In Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis, edited by Ruth Wodak and Michael Meyer, 1–33. Los Angeles: Sage.

In: Understanding Discourse Analysis ISBN: 978-1-53617-645-2 Editor: Angelique Majory © 2020 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Chapter 4

TRANSLATING THE DISCOURSE MARKERS ‘WA’ AND ‘AND’ BETWEEN MODERN STANDARD ARABIC AND PRESENT DAY ENGLISH Amjad Alghamdi*,1 and Abdunasir Sideeg,2 1

Applied Linguistics, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Critical Applied Linguistics, Yanbu University College, Dept. of Applied Linguistics, KSA, Yanbu, Saudi Arabia 2

ABSTRACT Languages, particularly genetically unrelated languages, display considerable variations in formally identical discourse markers in terms of both contexts and functions. Discourse markers are a broad category that comes from various grammatical categories and usually, they function across sentence boundaries to glue texts to them cohesive and coherent and fulfill specific functions in interpreting discourse. In translational discourse, these markers are highly significant, namely in the translation of key features of coherence. However, the questions of whether “it is possible at all to analyze the target language (re)production of coherence *

Corresponding Author’s E-mail: [email protected].

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Amjad Alghamdi and Abdunasir Sideeg in translation,” and how to do that “have so far been neglected or underresearched” (Károly, 2017). This chapter aims to address this underresearched area by exploring the diverse ways the connectives ‘wa’ in Arabic and ‘and’ in English get translated between the two languages with focus on the discrepancies of discourse functions of these two particles in both languages. Sample texts are randomly extracted from two Arabic and four English novels written in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Present-Day English (PDE). The present analysis employs embedded mixed methods design where a strand of qualitative analysis is used within a dominant quantitative framework. Findings of data analysis indicate that the high frequency of occurrence of wa is a significant feature in modern standard Arabic. When translating from Arabic to English, this discourse marker is often omitted and replaced by other features. The modified version of Kaplan’s (1966/2000) classic model of “contrastive rhetoric” which is a generic typology of cultural writing patterns could find some evidence in the disarray of the functions of the discourse markers ‘wa’ and ‘and’ in Arabic and English respectively.

Keywords: discourse markers, contrastive discourse analysis, function in translation, resumption

1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Preface The question of what is discourse analysis is “difficult to answer succinctly” as the term “refers to a range of approaches in several disciplines and theoretical traditions” (Taylor, 2012, 1). Discourse analysis is “not a simple enterprise.” The rich and broad scope of this discipline entails methods of linguistic analysis coupled with other levels from “cognition, interaction, society, and culture” (van Dijk, 1985, 10). Discourse has been approached from a variety of perspectives including sociology, psychology, anthropology, cognitive science and linguistics. Although the definition of the term `discourse’ and the relevant features are slightly distinct in each of the disciplines involved, the major aim of discourse analysis is “to understand the patterns and rules that result in communicative interaction” (Metzger and Bahan, 2001, 113). In linguistics, discourse analysis refers to

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the study of language beyond the sentence, including a plethora of variant elements such as cohesion, coherence, repetition and discourse markers, just to name a few. Furthermore, discourse analysis could still be seen from within, as discourse analysis is a large umbrella that contains a plethora of sub-disciplines that approach language in use from different facets. Contrastive discourse analysis is one of the significant facets that contribute to a richer understanding of discourse and discourse analysis. A significant area in contrastive discourse analysis is the comparison/contrast of discourse markers across languages. Discourse markers are intriguing and fascinating linguistic items that link discourse fragments and signal the interpretation of texts. The importance of this category, Blaekemore (2002, i) observes, “lies in the theoretical questions they raise about the nature of discourse and the relationship between linguistic meaning and context.” Discourse markers give access into several linguistic phenomena that encompass grammar, semantics, pragmatics, and discourse. Yet, “since there is no agreement on what counts as a discourse marker” (Blakemore, 2002, 1), as not all of them fall under the same syntactic category, it is difficult to isolate one foolproof approach that defines and classifies all the particles labelled as discourse markers in the literature on the topic. Discourse markers not only have grammatical functions but also work as significant tools in decoding semantic and pragmatic meanings in discourse. However, as Coll (2009, 2) observes, “Syntactically, most discourse markers are detached from the rest of the sentence they appear in. Semantically, some discourse markers seem to convey meaning, while others seem to have a pragmatic function only.” Nonetheless, the vast majority of discourse markers play a significant role in understanding discourse and information progression. It has often been emphasized that discourse markers were for a long time neglected by linguists and regarded as a sort of “linguistic detritus” (Schourup, 1999, 228) or discounted as insignificant elements, a view that has radically changed over the past few decades. However, Fraser’s (1999) definition of discourse markers is by far the most formative and comprehensive for a practical exploration of the category of discourse markers. Fraser (1999, 950) defines discourse markers as

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Both the conjunctions ‘and’ and ‘wa’ in English and Arabic embody the essence of Fraser’s definition, and both are among words with the highest frequency in both languages. Contexts rather than intrinsic meaning of ‘and’ and ‘wa’ determine the function and meaning of each. The conventional implicature of ‘and’ in contexts such as “He is poor and honest” in contrast to “He is poor but honest” has been well-attested in the literature on the subject (William, 2011, 3417).

1.2. Goals In his seminal book “Communication Across Cultures: Translation Theory and Contrastive Text Linguistics,” Hatim (2000, xiii) supports Reinhard Hartmann’s postulation which the latter made some decades ago that “doing discourse analysis without a contrastive base is as incomplete as doing contrastive analysis without a discourse base and that translation is an optimally appropriate framework within which the entire enterprise of languages in contrast may be usefully dealt with.” This chapter puts Hartman’s view into practice by analyzing the way the connectives ‘wa’ and ‘and’ are translated in the literary discourse between Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Present-Day English (PDE). The chapter will first explore the functions of the Arabic ‘wa’ in an extensive corpus from four novels in Arabic compared with their translations in English. As well, a corpus from four novels written in PDE English is compared/contrasted with their Arabic translations. The aim is to discover the functions that underlie translating these discourse markers and the way they shape discourse in translation between Arabic and English with reference to the current hypotheses and postulations in the field.

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1.3. Contrastive Discourse Analysis: Redefinition of Major Paradigms In the current literature, there is often serious confusion regarding the definitions and scope of contrastive linguistics in relation to comparative and contrastive studies. El-Zawawy (2016) defines contrastive linguistics “as a branch of contrastive analysis, which includes error analysis as well. It is mainly concerned with the differences (and sometimes the similarities) between two languages or more ….” This definition illustrates the absence of a coherent framework for the plethora of contrastive studies carried out between English and Arabic. Al-Shaikhli and Shalabi (2011), for instance, attempt to redefine the goals of contrastive analysis and assimilate the three areas of comparative linguistics, contrastive linguistics, and contrastive analysis into one discipline with three phases: comparative philology, pedagogic contrastive analysis, and universal contrastive analysis. One fallacy stemming from this approach is that contrastive linguistics or ‘universal CA’ in Al-Shaikhli and Shalabi’s (2011, 1339) designation is seen as the “third phase of Contrastive Analysis (CA), in which CA devoted itself to enriching and verifying the major principles and parameters of universal grammar.” It is not easy, however, to grasp how contrastive analysis could abandon its behavioristic theoretical perspectives and goals that are in stark contrast to the universal grammar (UG) principles and parameters, to achieve this paradigm shift. Plus, the tradition of contrasting languages to detect their common features is older than CA which prevailed in the 40s and 50s of the 20th century. Fisiak (1981) rightly observes that contrastive linguistics has “much longer roots” than the contrastive analysis approach of the 50s or even 40s of the 20th century. Fisiak (1981, 2) further maintains that the roots of this discipline “goes back at least to the last decade of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century” and that the “first published studies were predominantly theoretical in orientation.” Ironically, later Al-Shaikhli and Shalabi (2011, 1338) acknowledge that “comparative philology preceded contrastive linguistics but it is not part of it” Nevertheless, Whorf’s (1940, 240) observation, made almost eighty years ago, precisely captures the distinction between comparative and

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contrastive linguistics and predicts the significant role of doing contrastive linguistics in the contemporary scene: Much progress has been made in classifying the languages of the earth into genetic families, each having descent from a single precursor, and in tracing such developments through time. The result is called “comparative linguistics.” Of even greater importance for the future technology of thought is what might be called “contrastive linguistics.” This plots the outstanding differences among tongues- in grammar, logic, and general analysis of experience.

Comparison of languages, Hickey (2017) observes, has had its roots in antiquity with the development of comparative philology or Indo-European studies, which made the peak of the discipline. The goal was to compare languages in order to identify their exact genetic relationships and to reconstruct the proto-language from which the particular languages of a family derived. However, within the structural traditions there evolved a new interest in the synchronic linguistic analysis, which might not be concerned with genetically-related languages. This interest in synchronic comparison of two languages was reflected in two different approaches that have often been confused: contrastive linguistics and contrastive analysis. The table and diagram below illustrate the basic relationships and interactions between the three often confused terms.

Diagram 1.1. Comparative and Contrastive Linguistics vs. Contrastive Analysis.

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Area 1 - Comparative Linguistics: This is the domain of comparative linguistics alone. This area covers genetically-related languages that are either proto, dead, or extinct. Examples are Old English/Old Dutch, Proto-Germanic/Sanskrit. Area 2 - Contrastive Linguistics: This area covers living languages that are NOT genetically related when a contrastive study is carried out not for pedagogical reasons stated within the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH). A case illustrating this is when comparison/contrast of a variety of living languages (not genetically-related) is carried out to establish language universals or other themes that inform the linguistic theory. Area 3 - Comparative/Contrastive Linguistics: This is the domain of both comparative and contrastive linguistics. Languages in this domain are strictly genetically-related. Here comparison/contrast is carried out on the basis of both diachronic and synchronic paradigms. Examples of languages which may fall in this category are Modern German/Modern English or Modern Arabic/Modern Hebrew. Area 4 - Contrastive Analysis: This area covers languages that are NOT genetically related (English and Arabic, for instance) when a contrastive study is done in accordance with CAH for the pedagogical purpose of teaching a second language. A case illustrating this is when comparison/contrast of two living languages (NOT genetically-related) is carried out within the assumptions of the contrastive analysis hypothesis. Area 5 - Contrastive Analysis: This area covers languages that are genetically related (English and Dutch, for instance) when a contrastive study is done in accordance with CAH for the pedagogical purpose of teaching a second language. A case illustrating this is when comparison/contrast of two living and genetically-related languages is carried out within the assumptions of the contrastive analysis hypothesis.

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Amjad Alghamdi and Abdunasir Sideeg Table 1.1. Comparative Linguistics, Contrastive Linguistics, and Contrastive Analysis: Basic Aspects

Aspects

Comparative Linguistics Theoretical  Comparative Paradigm(s) philology  Neo-grammarian paradigms Domain(s)  Genetically-related languages  Proto, dead, extinct, and extant (living) languages  Usually works on several languages Goals

Methods





Inform the linguistic theory in its diachronic aspects

Contrastive Linguistics

Contrastive Analysis



Modern linguistics  (Particularly  functional linguistics)

Structural linguistics Behaviorist learning theories



Any (extant)  languages whether genetically-related or not. Culturally-related languages May work on several  or two languages

Any (extant) languages whether genetically-related or not within the context of second language acquisition Works on two languages only

  



Methods of  historical linguistics (Comparative  reconstruction, detection of  cognates)

Inform the linguistic theory in its synchronic aspects Pedagogical aims: SLA, translation, discourse, and translation studies



Methods of  synchronic linguistics Methods of functional grammar Sociology and related disciplines

Pedagogical aims: SLA, language pedagogy

Methods of synchronic linguistics, particularly methods of structural linguistics

Contrastive linguistics is interested in comparing/contrasting two or several languages in order to discover the properties of human language in general, particularly language universals and to uncover the similarities and differences at the level of sounds, grammar, meaning, and discourse. Contrastive discourse analysis belongs to the broader area of contrastive linguistics. The discipline has stronger affinities with translation studies and machine translation as the three of them work hand in hand “at the crossroad where two or more languages meet” (Czulo and Hansen-Schirra, 2017, 1).

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1.3.1. Contrastive Rhetoric and the Functions of Markers in English and Arabic Due to the evolutionary history of Arabic and English, it is no surprise the two languages have significant dissimilarities at all levels, and discourse is one of them. However, in his approach to contrastive rhetoric, Kaplan (1966) propounds a hypothesis based on cultural differences in written discourse among different languages and language families. Patterns of thought in written discourse are displayed in the diagram below which posits that sentences in Arabic and other Semitic languages like Hebrew are expressed as parallel propositions or statements and the thoughts may not progress in a hierarchical progression. Nevertheless, Kaplan’s model has been criticized as critics have observed that this model of contrastive rhetoric is overgeneralized, ethnocentric, and based on incomplete data. Kaplan has later modified his earlier postulation, calling his 1966 article a “doodles” article. Kaplan (2000, 83) writes that There were serious flaws in the initial articulation of the notion of contrastive rhetoric. Those flaws have been frequently and elaborately pointed out by any number of scholars (e.g., Enkvist, 1997). The 1996 article contrasted professional writing by native speakers with student writing by second language learners; it did not control for topic, for genre, or for length. It was ethnocentric because it looked at the writing of speakers of languages other than English from the perspective of English; it did not look at the perception of English or other languages by speakers of languages other than English (although it recommended such research). It was, in fact, based on an admittedly relatively poor research design, but The Journal of Asia TEFL 111 thirty years later, the question is not ‘Were the “doodles” accurate as specified?’ Of course, they were not; they perhaps tended to suggest stereotypes. Texts reflecting any of the doodles can and do occur in every language, but it is possible that particular languages have particular organizational preferences.

Yet, Kaplan’s view of the possibility that “particular languages” may have a distinct organizational structure of discourse could partially be attributed to the nature of some of the distinctive discoursal elements. Furkó (2014, 182) argues that contrastive studies have recently shifted from areas

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of traditional linguistics into the new areas of pragmatics and discourse analysis.

Diagram 1.2. Patterns of Written Discourse (Kaplan, 1966, 14).

Consequently, a plethora of empirical case studies was geared toward better grasp the functions and distributions of discourse markers “across languages,” in order to identify “translation equivalents and translation correspondences across a variety of languages.” As already stated in this chapter, discourse markers stand out as a rich area of comparison/contrast that enriches the discipline of contrastive discourse analysis between English and Arabic. A marked difference in the structure of discourse of English and Arabic is in the use of conjunctions. The Table below highlights the key differences as explicated in Baker (2018, 206): English Rigorous and complex punctuation system and paragraphing Information is presented in small chunks A wide variety of conjunctions to mark semantic relations within texts

Arabic Simple punctuation system (recently developed) Information is presented in very large chunks A relatively small number of conjunctions

These differences highlighted by Baker (2018) may explain the difference between the rhetorical patterns between English and Arabic. The relatively small number of conjunctions used in Arabic have multifunctions, and resumption is a significant one. ‘Resumption’- in Arabic “Alisti?naaf”- may be introduced by the Arabic discourse marker θumma (then), which has restricted syntactic distribution across texts. The discourse marker ‘wa’ could as well be used to show resumption. However, unlike ‘θumma’ and ‘fa,’ ‘wa’ is not marked for the sequential and temporal functions. This

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is why ‘wa’ has wide distribution across Arabic texts, and this is one of the key factors that allow simple punctuation system, presentation of very large chunks of texts, and inclusion of parallel unrelated structures within large texts in Arabic. Al-Batal (1990, 256).observes that “MSA seems to have a connecting constraint that requires the writer to signal continuously to the reader, through the use of connectives, the type of link that exists between different parts of the text. This gives the connectives special importance as text-building elements and renders them essential for the reader’s processing of text.”

2. METHOD 2.1. Study Design Discourse analysis in itself is neither quantitative nor qualitative as the discipline embraces a variety of methods and approaches that uncover the particular features of text/discourse. This chapter, then, employs a mixed methods design where a strand of qualitative analysis is used within a dominant quantitative framework. Quantitative analysis of discourse treats “textual data” in the same way other types of quantitative data is analyzed. This makes it possible to convert “texts into a matrix format” and to use a plethora of statistical methods such as the comparison of distributions, scaling and measurement models …regression analysis, and machine learning for prediction or identifying patterns” (Benoit, 2019, 5). For analyzing the relevant data in this chapter, the paired sample t-test (the dependent sample t-test) is used to determine whether the mean difference between the frequency of occurrences of ‘wa’ and ‘and’ in the SL and TL texts. As well, correlation coefficient is used to examine the interrelationships in two sets of the same occurrences to measure the strength of the association between them.

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2.2. Corpus of the Study Two corpora are used in this chapter. Corpus [I] consists of a random sample from four Arabic novels. Corpus [II] consists of a parallel random sample selected from four novels written in English. The Tables below contains the four novels which make the corpus of the study. Table 2.1. Corpus [I]: the Arabic Corpus TL Texts Season of Migration to the North- Denys JohnsonDavis Cairo Trilogy(Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street) - Denys Johnson-Davis

Original Source Language Text

‫موسم الهجرة إلى الشمال – الطيب‬ ‫صالح‬ -‫ بين القصرين‬-‫الثالثية (قصر الشوق‬ ‫السكرية) نجيب محفوظ‬

Table 2.2. Corpus [II]: The English Corpus Original Source Language Text 1. The Forty Rules of Love- Elif Shafak 2.

Little Women- Louisa May Alcott

3.

The Old Man and the Sea- Ernest Hemingway Empire of Silver- Conn Iggulden

4.

TL Texts

‫قواعد العشق األربعين – خالد الجبيل‬ ‫ أمينة السعيد‬-‫نساء صغيرات‬ ‫ غبريال وهبة‬-‫العجوز والبحر‬ ‫ مروان سعد الدين‬-‫امبراطورية الفضة‬

2.3. Framework of Data Analysis A framework of analysis of comparing the functions of ‘wa’ and ‘and’ is adapted from (Fareh, 1998, 311) (Table 2.3). This is the most precise and comprehensive framework in the relevant literature. The framework of analysis above clearly indicates that ‘wa’ is extensively used in Arabic with more functions than those in English.

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Table 2.3. A framework for comparing the functions of ‘wa’ and ‘and’ Functions 1. consequence 2. sequence 3. contrast 4. simultaneity 5. concession 6. condition 7. addition 8. explanation 9. comment 10. resumption 11. manner 12. oath 13. redundancy 14. option 15. praise/admiration 16. threat/underestimation 17. adverbial

wa − + + + + + + − + + + + + + + + +

and + + + + + + + + + + − − − − − − −

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3.1. Results of the Arabic Corpus As displayed in the charts below, the number of instances of the functions of ‘wa’ in the Arabic SL text is substantially larger than the use of ‘and’ in the English translation in both charts. In chart 3.1, slightly above 56% of all the instances of ‘wa’ in the SL text in Arabic were translated as (Ø) in English and similarily in chart 3.2. Some few (19 instances) in chart 3.1 from the corpus investigated were substituted by other discourse markers, same for chart 3.2. The samples below give a glimpse of the way some instances of ‘wa’ were realized in English.

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‫‪Figure 3.1. Functions of ‘wa’ in Cairo Trilogy (SL vs. TL Texts).‬‬

‫‪Figure 3.2. Functions of ‘wa’ in Season of Migration (SL vs. TL Texts).‬‬

‫وسوف يمضي وقت طويل قبل أن يسكن جيشان هذا الصدر ال من الحزن أو األلم ولكن من الذهول‬ ‫والدهشة‪ ،‬ومن خلو العالم من مباهج األحالم‪ ،‬ومن ضياع سر الماضي إلى األبد‪ ،‬وإن كان ثمة حزن فعلى‬ ‫أنك لم تحزن كما يجدر بك!‬

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Table 3.1. A Sample of Translating Some Functions of ‘wa’ in “Cairo Trilogy” Instances of (wa) in the SL Text ‫وسوف وسوف يمضي‬ ‫وقت طويل قبل أن يسكن‬ ‫جيشان هذا الصدر‬ ‫ال من الحزن أو األلم ولكن‬ ،‫من الذهول والدهشة‬

Functions of ‘wa’ Resumption

Concession

‫ومن خلو العالم من مباهج‬ ‫األحالم‬

Addition

‫وسوف وسوف يمضي‬ ‫وقت طويل قبل أن يسكن‬ ‫جيشان هذا الصدر‬

Resumption

English Translation

Comment

A long time will pass before agitation of your breast settles down Not out of grief or pain, but from your shock and astonishment From the disappearance of the world’s splendid dreams,

‘wa’ is translated as (Ø) in English ‘wa’ is translated as (but) in English ‘wa’ is translated as (Ø) in English ‘wa’ is translated as (Ø) in English

A long time will pass before agitation of your breast settles down

. ‫ فإنه يكون قد قام بأعظم عمل ميلودرامي في رواية حياته‬، ‫إذا كان مصطفى سعيد قد اختار النهاية‬ .‫ فإن الطبيعة تكون قد منت عليه بالنهاية التي كان يرديها لنفسه‬، ‫وإذا كان اإلحتمال اآلخر هو الصحيح‬ ‫ الظالم يصهر‬. ‫ النهر الالمبالي فاض كما لم يفض منذ ثالثين عاما‬. ‫تصور عز الصيف في شهر يوليو العتيد‬ ‫ أقدم من النهر ذاته وأقل منه اكتراثا هكذا يجب أن تكون‬،‫عناصر الطبيعة جميعا في عنصر واحد محايد‬ ‫ الشمال األقصى‬، ‫ إنما هل هي فعال النهاية التي كان يبحث عنها لعله كان يرديها في الشمال‬.‫نهاية هذه البطل‬ ،‫ ولكنهم‬.‫ نهاية الغزاة الفاتحين‬. ‫ بين قوم ال يعنيهم أمره‬،‫ تحت سماء ال نجوم لها‬،‫ في ليلة جليدية عاصفة‬، .‫ المحلفون والشهود والمحامون والقضاة ليحرموه منها‬،‫ تآمروا ضده‬، ‫كما قالوا‬

The statistics in Table 3.3 indicates a strong correlation between the frequency of occurrences of ‘wa’ and ‘and’ in the Arabic and English versions of Cairo Trilogy and Season of Migration to the North. However, the value of the t-test shows a significant difference between these occurrences in both texts in question.

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Table 3.2. A Sample of Translating Some Functions of ‘wa’ in “Season of Migration to the North” Instances of (wa) in the SL Text

Functions of ‘wa’ ‫ وإذا كان االحتمال اآلخر‬Contrast

‫هو الصحيح‬ ‫ أقدم من النهر ذاته وأقل‬Addition ‫منه اكتراثا‬ ‫ تآمروا‬،‫ كما قال‬،‫ ولكنهم‬Contrast ،‫ضده‬ ‫ المحلفون والشهود‬Addition ‫والمحامون والقضاة‬ .‫ليحرموه منها‬

English Translation

Comment

If the other possibility was the right one,

‘wa’ is translated

Older than the river itself and more indifferent

‘wa’ is translated

But, as he said, they conspired against him

‘wa’ is translated

as (Ø) in English as (and) in English as (but) in English

the jurors and the witness and the ‘wa’ is translated lawyers and the judges, to deprive as (and) in English him of it.

Table 3.3. Paired Samples Statistics across the Categories Investigated in “Cairo Trilogy” and “Seasons of Migration to the North” Pairs Instances of ‘wa’ in Cairo Trilogy (Arabic) Instances of “and” in Cairo Trilogy (English) Instances of ‘wa’ in Season of Migration (Arabic) Instances of “and” in Season Migration (English)

Mean

N Std. D

Correlation t-test (Sig. (2tailed) 83.8421 19 170.83399 .907 .040 36.58

19 95.467

35.75

12 42.955

.960

.036

26.4167 12 35.11140

3.2. Results of the English Corpus As displayed in the charts below, the functions of ‘and’ in English from the corpus are limited to very few uses focused on sequence and addition. The samples below give a glimpse of the way some instances of ‘and’ were realized in Arabic.

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Figure 3.3. Functions of ‘and’ in Forty Rules (SL vs. TL Texts).

Figure 3.4. Functions of ‘and’ in Old Man (SL vs. TL Texts).

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Figure 3.5. Functions of ‘and’ in Little Women (SL vs. TL Texts).

Figure 3.6. Functions of ‘and’ in Empire of Silver (SL vs. TL Texts).

1. Birds were singing outside her kitchen window on that balmy day in spring. Afterward Ella replayed the scene in her mind so many times that, rather than a fragment from the past, it felt like an ongoing moment still happening somewhere out there in the universe. There they were, sitting around the table, having a late family lunch on a Saturday afternoon. Her husband was filling his plate with fried

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chicken legs, his favorite food. Avi was playing his knife and fork like drumsticks while his twin, Orly, was trying to calculate how many bites of which food she could eat so as not to ruin her diet of 650 calories a day. Jeannette, who was a freshman at Mount Holyoke College nearby, seemed lost in her thoughts as she spread cream cheese on another slice of bread. Also, at the table sat Aunt Esther, who had stopped by to drop off one of her famous marble cakes and then stayed on for lunch. Ella had a lot of work to do afterward, but she was not ready to leave the table just yet. Lately they didn’t have too many shared family meals, and she saw this as a golden chance for everyone to reconnect. Table 3.4. A Sample of Translating Some of the Functions of ‘and’ in “The Forty Rules of Love” Instances of (And or (Ø))

Functions of ‘and’ Birds were singing outside her There is no kitchen window on that balmy day ‘and’ in the in spring. Afterward Ella replayed text. the scene in her mind so many times that, rather than a fragment from the past, it felt like an ongoing moment still happening somewhere out there in the universe.

The translation in Arabic ‫كانت الطيور تغرد خارج نافذة‬ ‫المطبخ في ذلك اليوم الربيعي‬ ‫ وبعد أن استرجعت إيال‬.‫المعتدل‬ ‫ ليس ذلك‬،‫المشهد في ذاكرتها‬ ‫ خيل إليها‬،‫الجزء من الماضي فقد‬ ‫أن لحظة مستمرة ال تزال تجري‬ ‫في مكان آخر في الكون‬.

There they were, sitting around the Addition table, having a late family lunch on a Saturday afternoon. Her husband was filling his plate with fried chicken legs, his favorite food. Avi was playing his knife and fork like drumsticks while his twin, Orly, was trying to calculate how many bites of which food she could eat so as not to ruin her diet of 650 calories a day.

‫كان جميع أفراد األسرة متحلقين‬ ‫ يتناولون طعام الغداء‬،‫حول المائدة‬ ‫ كان زوجها‬.‫في عصر يوم السبت‬ ،‫يمأل صحنه بأفخاذ الدجاج المقلي‬ ‫ وكان آفي يعبث‬،‫طبقه المفضل‬ ‫صوان‬ َ ‫بسكينه وشوكته كأنهما‬ َ ‫ع‬ ‫ بينما كانت أخته‬،‫يقرع فهما طبال‬ ‫التوأم أورلي تحاول أن تعد كم لقمة‬ 650 ‫يمكن أن تتناول لتحصل على‬ ‫سعرة حرارية يوميا كي ال تفسد‬ ‫نظام حميتها‬.

Comment The English text contains no ‘and’ where the Arabic translation uses ‘wa’ systematically for resumption. In Arabic translation there is the same function of addition plus simultaneity.

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Amjad Alghamdi and Abdunasir Sideeg Table 3.4. (Continued)

Instances of (And or (Ø)) Jeannette, who was a freshman at Mount Holyoke College nearby, seemed lost in her thoughts as she spread cream cheese on another slice of bread. Also, at the table sat Aunt Esther, who had stopped by to drop off one of her famous marble cakes and then stayed on for lunch. Ella had a lot of work to do afterward, but she was not ready to leave the table just yet. Lately they didn’t have too many shared family meals, and she saw this as a golden chance for everyone to reconnect.

Functions of The translation in ‘and’ Arabic Sequence ‫ التي كانت ال تزال‬،‫وبدت جانيت‬ ‫في سنتها األولى في جامعة ماونت‬ ‫ سارحة في‬،‫هوليود القريبة‬ ‫أفكارها وهي تدهن كريمة الجبنة‬ ‫البيضاء الطرية على شريحة خبز‬ ‫ كما كانت تشاركهم الطعام‬.‫أخرى‬ ‫العمة إستر التي جاءت لتحضر‬ ‫لهم قالب الكاتو الذي تشتهر‬ ‫ ومكثت لتشاركهم طعام‬،‫بصنعه‬ .‫الغداء‬ Consequence ‫ومع أنه كانت لدى إيال أعمال‬ ‫ فقد فضلت‬،‫منزلية كثيرة‬ ‫ ألنهم غالبا لم يعودوا‬،‫مشاركتهم‬ ،‫مؤخرا يتناولون طعامهم معا‬ ‫واعتبرت أن هذه فرصة ذهبية‬ ‫ليتجمعوا معا من جديد إلى المائدة‬.

Comment In Arabic translation there is the same function of sequence.

In Arabic translation there is the same function of consequence.

2. He hit it without hope but with resolution and complete malignancy. The shark swung over and the old man saw his eye was not alive and then he swung over once again, wrapping himself in two loops of the rope. The old man knew that he was dead, but the shark would not accept it. 3. ‘November is the most disagreeable month in the whole year,’ said Margaret, standing at the window one dull afternoon, looking out at the frostbitten garden. ‘That’s the reason I was born in it,’ observed Jo pensively, quite unconscious of the blot on her nose. ‘If something very pleasant should happen now, we should think it a delightful month,’ said Beth, who took a hopeful view of everything, even November. ‘I dare say, but nothing pleasant ever does happen in this family,’ said Meg, who was out of sorts. ‘We go grubbing along day after day, without a bit of change, and very little fun. We might as well be in a treadmill.’

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Table 3.5. A Sample of Translating Some of the Functions of ‘and’ in “The Old Man and the Sea” Instances of (And or (Ø)) Functions of ‘and’ He hit it without hope but Addition with resolution and complete malignancy.

The shark swung over and the old man saw his eye was not alive and then he swung over once again, wrapping himself in two loops of the rope. The old man knew that he was dead, but the shark would not accept it.

Sequence

There is no ‘and’ in the text.

The translation in Arabic

‫ ولكنه‬،‫كانت طعنة بال أمل‬ ،‫سددها بعزم وتصميم‬ ‫واستجمع فيها كل حقده‬ .‫وخبثه وعداوته الشديدة‬ ‫ ورأى‬،‫تأرجح القرش‬ ‫العجوز عينيه وقد غاضت‬ ‫ وتأرجح مرة‬.‫منهما الحياة‬ ‫ ولف نفسه في‬،‫أخرى‬ .‫أنشوطتين من الحبل‬

Comment In Arabic translation there is the same function of addition plus concession. In Arabic translation there is the same function of sequence plus adverbial and resumption.

‫ وعرف العجوز أن القرش‬The English text ‫ غير أن القرش لم‬.‫ قد مات‬contains no ‘and’ where the Arabic translation ..‫يتقبل الموت بتلك السهولة‬

uses ‘wa’ systematically for resumption.

4. Tsubodai stood there under an arch of carved limestone. He wore no armor and the morning breeze had not dried the patches of sweat on his silk tunic. A strip of cloth bound his left forearm and Chagatai could see a smear of blood seeping through it. Tsubodai’s face was weary but strong and his eyes were terrible as they met those of the man responsible for the death and destruction all around them. Chagatai opened his mouth to demand some explanation, but Tsubodai went on. ‘My lord Ogedai is waiting for you in his audience hall. He bids you welcome in his home. He guarantees your safety.’ He spoke the last words as if they stuck in his throat.

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Table 3.6. A Sample of Translating Some of the Functions of ‘and’ in “Little Women” Instances of (and or (Ø))

Functions of ‘and’ There is no ‘and’ in the text.

‘November is the most disagreeable month in the whole year,’ said Margaret, standing at the window one dull afternoon, looking out at the frostbitten garden. ‘That’s the reason I was born There is in it,’ observed Jo pensively, no ‘and’ in quite unconscious of the blot the text. on her nose.

‘If something very pleasant should happen now, we should think it a delightful month,’ said Beth, who took a hopeful view of everything, even November. ‘I dare say, but nothing pleasant ever does happen in this family,’ said Meg, who was out of sorts. ‘We go grubbing along day after day, without a bit of change, and very little fun. We might as well be in a treadmill.’

The translation in Arabic

Comment

‫ وقفت مارجريت تتطلع من نافذتها الى‬The English text :‫ الحديقة التي أجدبها برد الشتاء وقالت‬contains no ‘and’ .‫إن نوفمبر أسوأ شهور السنة كلها‬ where the Arabic translation uses ‘wa’ systematically for sequence. ‫ وهي ال تحس ببقعة‬،‫ فقالت جو مفكرة‬The English text :‫الحبر التي علقت بأنفها‬ contains no ‘and’ .‫ لعل السبب أنني ولدت في هذا الشهر‬where the Arabic translation uses ‘wa’ systematically for simultaneity. There is ‫ تتعلق‬،‫وكانت بث متفائلة بطبعها‬ The English text no ‘and’ in ‫ حتى في شهر‬،‫ باألمل وتستبشر بالحياة‬contains no ‘and’ the text. :‫ فقالت‬،‫نوفمبر المقبض‬ where the Arabic ،‫ لو أن حدثا سارا جاء في هذا الشهر‬translation uses ‘wa’ .‫فسوف نعتقد أنه شهر رائع‬ systematically for resumption and addition. Addition ‫ وكانت ميج في ذلك اليوم ضيقة الصدر‬In Arabic translation :‫ فقالت‬،‫متشائمة‬ there is the same ‫ ولكني ال أرى شيئا يفرح أو يسر‬،‫ ربما‬function of addition ‫ فنحن نكد ونكدح‬،‫ في حياة هذه األسرة‬plus resumption and ‫ والسنون تمر بنا على‬،‫يوما بعد يوم‬ contrast. ‫ وال‬،‫ ال تتغير وال تتبدل‬،‫وتيرة واحدة‬ ‫ نحن كمن يعيش‬.‫ننال ترفيها وال تسلية‬ .‫في طاحونة ال تكف عن الدوار‬

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Table 3.7. A Sample of Translating Some of the Functions of ‘and’ in “Empire of Silver” Instances of (and or (Ø)) Functions of ‘and’ He wore no armor and the Addition morning breeze had not dried the patches of sweat on his silk tunic. A strip of cloth bound his Simultaneity left forearm and Chagatai could see a smear of blood seeping through it. Tsubodai’s face was weary Addition and but strong and his eyes sequence were terrible as they met those of the man responsible for the death and destruction all around them. ‘My lord Ogedai is waiting There is no for you in his audience ‘and’ in the hall. He bids you welcome text. in his home. He guarantees your safety.’ He spoke the last words as There is no if they stuck in his throat. ‘and’ in the text.

The translation in Arabic ‫ ولم‬،‫لم يكن يرتدي درعا‬ ‫يكن نسيم الصباح قد جفف‬ ‫بقع العرق على ثوبه‬ .‫الحريري بعد‬ ‫كانت قطعة قماش تلف‬ ‫ واستطاع‬.‫ذراعه اليسرى‬ ‫تشاغاتي رؤية الدم الذي‬ ‫ينتشر فوقها‬. ‫بدا وجه تسوبودي متعبا‬ ‫ وأصبحت عيناه‬،‫ولكنه قوي‬ ‫قاسيتين حين التقتا عيني‬ ‫الرجل المسؤول عن الموت‬ .‫والدمار في كل مكان حوله‬

Comment

‫“موالي أوجيدي ينتظركم‬ ‫ إنه‬.‫في قاعة االستقبال‬ ،‫يرحب بكم في قصره‬ ”.‫ويمنحكم األمان‬

The English text contains no ‘and’ where the Arabic translation uses ‘wa’ systematically for addition. The English text contains no ‘and’ where the Arabic translation uses ‘wa’ systematically for explanation.

‫نطق بالكلمات األخيرة‬ .‫وكأنها عالقة في حلقه‬

In Arabic translation there is the same function of addition. In Arabic translation there is the same function of simultaneity. In Arabic translation there is the same function of addition and sequence plus contrast.

Statistics in table 3.8. indicates a different trend than that in table 3.3. The four values of the t-test show that there is no significant difference between the frequency of occurrences of ‘and’ in the SL texts and the frequency of occurrences of ‘wa’ in the Arabic translation. However, like the case in the Arabic corpus, there is a strong significant correlation between the frequencies of occurrences of ‘and’ and ‘wa’ in the SL and TL texts.

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Table 3.8. Paired Samples Statistics across the Categories Investigated across the Four Novels Pairs Instances of “and” in the Forty Rules of Love (English) Instances of ‘wa’ the Forty Rules of Love (Arabic) Instances of “and” in the Old Man and the Sea (English) Instances of ‘wa’ in the Old Man and the Sea (Arabic) Instances of “and” in Little Women (English) Instances of ‘wa’ in Little Women (Arabic) Instances of “and” in Empire of Silver (English) Instances of ‘wa’ in Empire of Silver (Arabic)

Mean 24.5714

N Std. D 14 55.44882

43.3571

14 84.85518

20.4545

11 41.41827

Correlation t-test (Sig. (2-tailed) .949 .077

.920

.139

28.9091

11 44.54089

57.7273

11 122.01483 .923

.060

105.0000 11 169.67145 17.6000

10 33.14346

46.6000

10 74.01231

.897

.081

CONCLUSION A Summary of Findings The goal of this chapter is to explore the functions that underlie translating these discourse markers and the way they shape discourse in translation between Arabic and English with reference to the current hypotheses and postulations in the field. Data analysis and discussion in the previous chapter reveal the key findings below: 1. There is a strong significant correlation between the functions and frequency of occurrences of both ‘wa’ and ‘and’ in Modern Literary Standard Arabic and Present-Day Literary English in both SL texts and texts in translation. This points out to the uniformity of the distribution of ‘wa’ and ‘and’ between Arabic and English.

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2. There is a significant difference in the frequency of occurrences of ‘wa’ and ‘and’ in SL texts in Arabic and TL texts in English. However, data analysis shows no significant difference in the frequency of occurrences of both ‘wa’ and ‘and’ in SL texts in English and their translations in Arabic. 3. Data analysis confirms the following key functions of ‘wa’ and ‘and’ from Fareh’s (1998) model. However, unlike Fareh’s model, in translating between Arabic and English, in the corpus investigated even some of the functions which usually do not occur in English (the last five functions in the Table 4.1) do occur in translating Arabic text to English. This is the effect of essentially literal translation on the production of a TL text with distinctive features consciously borrowed from the original text. Essentially literal translation seeks as far as possible to capture the precise features of the SL text. Consciously or unconsciously, discoursal elements tend to infiltrate into SL texts and discourse markers are the most significant elements in the process. The infiltration of discourse markers in the corpus examined in this chapter occurs but with significant differences in the frequencies of the key functions of ‘wa’ and ‘and’ in Arabic and English texts. For instance, addition and sequence are the dominant functions across both corpora, whereas resumption is a key element of both SL and TL texts in Arabic. 4. It is also noted that a large number of ‘wa’ functions are omitted in English translation where it does not seem natural and a large number of ‘wa’ functions are added to the Arabic translation for matters of coherence. This might confirm Kaplan’s (1966/2000) mild hypothesis of contrastive rhetoric in which he considers the possibility of inherent organizational distinctions between specific languages. We suggest that a comprehensive study should target not only ‘wa’ and ‘and’ but also other discourse markers in translating between Arabic and English in the cases where essentially literal translation is employed. As well, courses designed for Arab students

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Amjad Alghamdi and Abdunasir Sideeg of translation should focus on the discoursal features of Arabic, particularly those pertaining to the discourse marker ‘wa.’ Table 4.1. The Key Functions of ‘wa’ and ‘and’ in Translating between Arabic and English

Functions 1. sequence 2. contrast 3. simultaneity 4. concession 5. addition 6. resumption 7. manner 8. redundancy 9. option 10. adverbial

wa + + + + + + + + + +

and + + + + + + + + + +

REFERENCES Al-Batal, Mahmoud. 1990. Connectives as cohesive elements in a modern expository Arabic text. In Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics II, ed. Mushira Eid and John McCarthy. Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Aijmer, Karin and Diana Lewis (Eds.). 2017. Contrastive Analysis of Discourse-pragmatic Aspects of Linguistic Genres. Springer International Publishing, doi 10.1007/978-3-319-54556-1_1. Al-Shaikhli, May F. and Ibrahim Abdel-Latif Shalabi. 2011. English-Arabic Contrastive Analysis: Redefinition of Goals. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 2, 6, 1337-1345. Baker, Mona. 2018. In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation. Routledge. Blakemore, Daine 2002. Relevance and Linguistic Meaning: the Semantics and Pragmatics of Discourse Markers. Cambridge University Press.

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Benoit, Kenneth. 2019. Text as data: An overview. Written for Luigi Curini and Robert Franzese (Eds.), the SAGE Handbook of Research Methods in Political Science and International Relations. https:// kenbenoit.net/pdfs/28%20Benoit%20Text%20as%20Data%20draft%2 02.pdf. Coll, Miriam, Urgelles. 2009. ‘Anyway’ A Formal Approach to the Syntax and Semantics of Discourse Markers. A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Language and Linguistics University of Essex. Czulo, Oliver and Silvia Hansen-Schirra. 2017. Introduction, In O. Czulo & S. Hansen-Schirra (Eds.). Crossroads between Contrastive Linguistics, Translation Studies and Machine Translation: TC3 II. Berlin: Language Science Press. El-Zawawy, Amr A. 2016. Studies in Contrastive Linguistics and Stylistics. Nova Scientific Publishers. Fareh, Shehdeh. 1998. The Functions of and and wa in English and Arabic Written Discourse. In Adam Mickiewicz (Eds.) Papers and Studies in Contrastive Linguistics, 34, 303-312. Fisiak, Jacek. (Ed.) 1981. Theoretical Issues in Contrastive Linguistics. John Benjamins Publishing Company. Furkó, Bálint Péter. P. 2014. Perspectives on the Translation of Discourse Markers: A Case Study of the Translation of Reformulation Markers from English into Hungarian. Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica, 6, 2, 181–196. Hatim, Basil. 2000. Communication Across Cultures- Translation Theory and Contrastive Text Linguistics, University of Exeter Press. Hickey, Raymond. 2013. Contrastive linguistics. Institute for Anglophone Studies University of Duisburg and Essen. https://www.uni-due.de/ ELE/Contrastive_Linguistics_(Hickey_WS_2013-14).pdf. Károly, Krisztina. 2017. Aspects of Cohesion and Coherence in Translation: the Case of Hungarian-English News Translation. Benjamin Publishing Company. Kaplan, Robert B. 1966 ‘Cultural Thought Patterns in Inter-Cultural Education,’ Language Learning, 16, 1-20.

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Kaplan, Robert B. 2000. Contrastive Rhetoric and Discourse Analysis: Who Writes What to Whom? When? In What Circumstances? In S. Sarangi & M. Coulthard (Eds.), Discourse and social life, pp. 82-169. London: Longman. Metzger, Melanie and Ben Bahan. 2001. Discourse Analysis. In Ceil Lucas, (Ed). The Sociolinguistics of Sign Languages, 112-143. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Michael, Clyne. 2002. Contrastive Discourse Studies. Cahiers de Praxématique [Online], 38, 59-84. http://journals.openedition.org/ praxematique/542. Salmon, William. 2011. Conventional implicature, presupposition, and the meaning of must. Journal of Pragmatics 43 (2011) 3416–3430. Schourup, Lawrence. 1999. Discourse Markers. Lingua, 107, 3-4, 227‐265. Taylor, Stephanie. 2013. What is Discourse Analysis? Bloomsbury Academic. Taboada, Maite, Susana Doval Suárez and Elsa González Álvarez, (Eds.). 2013. Contrastive Discourse Analysis - Functional and Corpus Perspectives. Sheffield: Equinox. van Dijk, Teun A. 1985. Handbook of Discourse Analysis. Academic Press, Inc. Whorf, Benjamin. 1940. Language, Thought, and Reality. Sigma Xi Quart., 28:125 (Autumn 1940). Yagi, Sane and Mohamed Ali. (2008). Arabic Conjunction wa: a Conflict in Pragmatic Principles. Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics 44(4), 617–627, doi:10.2478/v10010-008-0029-4.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES Amjad Abdullah Alghamdi Education: BA in Applied Linguistics.

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Research and Professional Experience: Research project as degree requirement, and one semester training for EFL teaching. Honors: Graduated with 1st honor.

Abdunasir Sideeg Affiliation: Yanbu University College. Education: PhD in Critical Applied Linguistics. Research and Professional Experience: Teaching Applied Linguistics and Related Disciplines for 20 Years. Professional Appointments: Head of Applied Linguistics (2015-2018). Publications from the Last 3 Years: Please check that on researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/ profile/Abdunasir_Sideeg.

In: Understanding Discourse Analysis ISBN: 978-1-53617-645-2 Editor: Angelique Majory © 2020 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Chapter 5

CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS IN CONSUMER STUDIES: POTENTIALITIES AND RESEARCH AGENDA Marcelo de Rezende Pinto* and Georgiana Luna Batinga Post-Graduate Program in Management Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

ABSTRACT Consumer studies based on an articulation between social and cultural theories have gained notoriety and relevance in recent years. Consumption, in this perspective, is understood as a term that permeates the various relations between society and individuals. That is, in addition to the traditional models derived from economic theories and methods of behaviorism, these studies have involved elements not only linked to consumption practices, social identities, consumption communities and the appropriation of meanings in different contexts, but also broader social issues such as traditions, power structures and ideologies. Thus, the historical perspective and the political focus of the discourses linked to consumption are evident. In this context, it seems to be essential the appropriation of other epistemologies, as well as research methodologies *

Corresponding Author’s E-mail: [email protected].

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Marcelo de Rezende Pinto and Georgiana Luna Batinga that can consider the critical deconstruction of the writings, voices and styles of representation of these discourses, which is the focus of the Critical Discourse Analysis, based on the studies of Norman Fairclough (2003). This current of discursive analysis assumes that reality is involved in hegemonic and ideological processes, allowing the analysis of cultural imbrications and dynamic processes between structure and human agency in the construction of reality. It is from these considerations that the objective of this chapter is set to discuss the potentialities and possibilities of using critical discourse analysis in consumer studies. To this end, we sought to contextualize the critical discourse analysis to then point out the potentialities of the possible articulations of the critical discourse analysis with the consumption studies. The text also provides a space to suggest a research agenda for interested researchers.

Keyword: critical discourse analysis, consumer studies

INTRODUCTION In recent decades, the field of consumer studies, gaining notoriety and relevance, has gained a position of autonomy within the social sciences. If long ago, the focus to understand consumption had as eminently economic issues, nowadays, the field has as fundamental characteristics its constant search for new theoretical constructions, as well as the search for new epistemologies and research methodologies. All this movement ends up fostering the construction of new concepts about what consumption is. If consumption was long ago linked to situations related to individuals’ buying acts (in which decision-making played a fundamental role) or in eminently behavioral issues related to cognition, learning, information processing and attitudes, today, there is a tendency to expand what consumption is. Warde (2016), for example, defends consumption as a process by which agents engage in the appropriation and appreciation, whether for utilitarian, expressive or contemplative purposes, of goods, services, performances, information or environment, bought or not, about which the agent exercises some degree of discretion. Askegaard and Linnet (2013) proposed the understanding of consumption as a term that is related to the relations between society and the individual and is expressed

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in the classification and social communication systems, the processes of identity formation, the ritualistic processes and the construction of communities. Some new aspects related to the study of consumption, among them the CCT (Consumer Culture Theory), have been dedicated to propose new understandings of the acts of consumption beyond the simple idea of the acquisition and use of goods or services. That is, consumption comes to be understood as a social act. As such, it incorporates into its domains broader issues such as traditions, power structures and ideologies. Thus, the appropriation of other epistemologies seems to be essential, as well as research methodologies that can consider the critical deconstruction of the writings, voices and styles of representation of these discourses. In addition to the functionalist methodologies of content analysis of the speeches of the subjects, the possibility of incorporating a whole area of knowledge known as discourse analysis stands out. Considering that discourse analysis conceives language as a form of mediation between subjects and natural and social reality (Orlandi 2015), several points of convergence between consumer studies and discourse analysis are clearly perceived. Going further into the discussion, it is possible to verify that one of the modalities of discourse analysis - the so-called critical discourse analysis proposed by Norman Fairclough (2003) - has other characteristics that are even more in line with consumer studies. The discourse theory assumes that reality is involved in hegemonic and ideological processes, allowing the analysis of cultural imbrications and the dynamic processes between structure and human agency in the construction of reality. It was from then on that it was considered opportune to elaborate a text that aims to discuss the possible ways of articulation between the studies of consumption (understood in a social, political and culturally situated perspective) and the critical analysis of discourse. In addition to this discussion of articulation, we sought to suggest research suggestions involving this conversation by offering themes and possibilities for future research for the research community, both in the field of consumption and for those who study language in a critical perspective. The proposition of this text as a chapter of a book on discourse analysis is justified for some reasons. First, it is clear that traditional methodologies

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derived from the field of consumer behavior and based on the hypotheticaldeductive model cannot account for the complexity of the issues surrounding the studies of consumption thought from society and culture. Secondly, the text can contribute by bringing new epistemological and methodological discussions in order to help consumer research involving multi and interdisciplinary issues. Thirdly, by shedding light on issues involving hegemony and ideology, the field of consumption may gain by incorporating other themes until recently not considered pertinent due to the lack of methodological support that can be supplied by critical discourse analysis. That is, critical discourse analysis can be a revealing way to discuss forms of domination and ideologies present in consumer studies (Hirschman 1993; Fitchett, Patsiaouras and Davies 2014). To achieve its objectives, the chapter was structured as follows. Initially, some theoretical perspectives are presented focusing on discussions about the discursive construction of reality, discourse analysis and its various aspects and a section on critical discourse analysis. Still within the framework of theoretical perspectives, we seek to privilege comments about the field of consumer studies. Following, we dedicate a space to deepen in the possible articulations and potentialities between the critical analysis f the discourse and the studies of the consumption. The chapter ends with a concluding section, which advances the proposition of a research agenda involving these themes.

THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES The Discursive Construction of Reality Initially, it is important to reinforce the idea that speech forms are ways of representing the world. From this perspective, “discourse” is a concept that originates from social constructionism that has broad and relevant characteristics for thinking about social reality. That is, by using the term discourse, signals a social constructionist emphasis on language, the manner

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of speaking, and thus constructing objects and relations of social reality (Hackley 2001). In order to shed light on these issues, it is essential to shift focus to the various discussions conducted by Michel Foucault by delving into the relationship between saying and doing by bringing to the debate an ontology that discourse is precedent to reality. For this, Foucault (1996) advances in the idea that the word institutes the thing. With this, he advocates in favor of the idea that discourses create the objects of which they speak considering that it is the language that is set in motion by the discourses. It is Foucault who will claim that humans are beings of language. In other words, it can be said that the ontological position of the discursive construction of reality goes in the direction of assuming discourse as an active relationship with reality, since language attributes meanings not only to objects but to all aspects of reality. Van Dijk (1997) advocates the idea that studying discourse consists in understanding not only the properties of the text, but essentially understanding the local, global, cultural and political context of that discourse in which various characteristics of the social situation are imbricated. What links the meanings of a text to its socio-historical conditions is constitutive of its own meanings. This means that the convergence between ideological processes and linguistic phenomena constitutes the discourse (Brandão 2012). The important point here is that originally linked to the field of language philosophy, discourse analysis has been gaining interest from researchers from various fields of study, and today it can be considered a complex field of study with diverse epistemological trends and methodological aspects. The next section of the text seeks to discuss, albeit briefly, this plurality of existing labels.

Discourse Analysis and Its Various Aspects For Gill (2000), discourse analysis is a field of study with a wide variety of approaches to study texts that have different approaches, varied

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theoretical traditions and numerous forms of treatment in different disciplines. However, for this researcher, it is possible to think about discourse analysis from four main themes: a concern with discourse itself; a view of language as constructed; an emphasis on discourse as a form of action; and, finally, a conviction in the rhetorical organization of discourse. Still considering that there are multiple approaches to Discourse Analysis, it is noteworthy that, for the linguistic fields, the commonly used approaches can be related to four currents, all of them based on Marxist readings of social reality. The first stream, called Discourse Analysis, was developed by Pêcheux (1990) when he founded the French School of Discourse Analysis, with the contributions of Althusser’s studies and the orthodox Marxist analysis of the social structure of Capitalism, in addition to Saussure’s studies with a structuralist linguistics and the perspective of the decentralized subject in Lacan’s conscious and unconscious (Mussalim 2001). Another stream, more in line with the tradition of Foucaultian Analysis, also develops from studies founded at the French School of Discourse Analysis. However, Michel Foucault breaks with the rigor and the purely structural approach developed by Pêcheux (1990) and sets out for a trajectory that considers the existence of other factors associated with human agency and, especially, power (Foucault 1996). The third current, known as Bakthinian Discourse Analysis, developed by Mikhail Bakhtin, unlike the previous ones, is based on a less orthodox Marxist reading and closer to Gramsci’s studies, working with operationally more malleable concepts to understand the relations and effects of meaning in the discourse (Brait 1997). It is worth noting that this current of Russian orientation works with social processes based on structuring and structured dynamics, that is, a dialogic and polyphonic process promoted by the speech enunciators, who, while endorsing social structures, modify them through their actions (Brait 1997). In addition, the fourth current called Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), developed from the studies of Norman Fairclough (2003), starts from the assumption that reality is involved in hegemonic and ideological processes, an argument derived from a holistic interpretation of Gramsci´s studies, just

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like the previous tradition. This current, the focus of this chapter, will be discussed in more detail in the next section.

Critical Discourse Analysis The term “Critical Discourse Analysis” was coined by British linguist Norman Fairclough, a professor at Lancaster University, in an article published in the mid-1980s. From that time on, several papers have been published by this author and other researchers. From a conceptual point of view, critical discourse analysis pursues the idea that language is intimately intertwined in social life as it is dialectically interconnected with the most diverse social elements (Fairclough 2003). It should be emphasized that, for this author, critical discourse analysis is as much a theory as a method. This is justified by the fact that it has as its characteristic an interaction with other social theories from which it creates dialogues in a trans and interdisciplinary manner while seeking to identify the connections between power relations and linguistic choices constructed in social practice by the various social actors. That is, critical discourse analysis considers that discourse is a social practice and a dialectically constituted mode of action (Fairclough 1989). At this point, it is important to stress that critical discourse analysis arises a posteriori from French discourse analysis, whose theoretical and methodological coherence and consistency are based on the premise that discourse analysis should be guided not only by linguistic aspects, but also by social aspects of the object of study. While French discourse analysis tends to focus more on the boundaries between linguistics and sociolinguistics, Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis proposes social change through discourse change. This is because change and discourse, inseparably, are mutually constructed and implicated. In order to evaluate both the linguistic aspects linked to the social elements that are present in the subjects’ discourse, Fairclough (1992) elaborated a three-dimensional model composed of three levels of analysis: text analysis, discursive practice analysis and social practice. It is important

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to mention that this “division” into three levels of analysis is for didactic purposes only, so in practice, the three dimensions are dialectically interconnected. It should also be emphasized that, years later, Chouliaraki and Fairclough (1999) advanced the understanding of this model, strengthening the analysis of social practice that came to play a more prominent role. In this new framework of critical discourse analysis, these two authors assume that all social practice is based on power relations, the asymmetric distribution of material and symbolic resources and the naturalization of discourses. Thus, discourse, in this view, is understood as a moment of social practice, being an element of this practice and also influenced by it, in a relationship of articulation and internalization. It must be emphasized that the critical discourse analysis assumes an epistemological position associated with questions that go beyond language. These issues are related to change, emancipation, transformation and ideological formation of a given social context. Ideology can thus be understood as a system of ideas, values, and beliefs oriented toward explaining a given political order, legitimizing both existing hierarchies and power relations and preserving the identity of particular groups (Chiapello and Fairclough 2002). For the critical discourse analysis to make sense it is essential that the researcher directs his gaze not only to the conditions in which the text is produced, but also to the understanding of the meanings located within them and, especially, to the influences on the processes of building social realities. It is also important to consider that the critical discourse analysis allows us to work with the cultural perspective in the analysis from the researcher’s interference in the process and, mainly, with his responsibility to the field and his commitment to social change movements. Another essential discussion in this chapter is that related to the field of consumer studies, the subject of the next section.

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The Field of Consumption Studies Historically, the social sciences have devoted limited attention to consumer issues. Many efforts have been made to answer the following questions: How are goods produced and distributed? Little is attempted to discuss how goods are acquired? Proof of this is that the conceptual link between production and consumption was a product of political economy, a side effect of analyzing the nature of markets that have become much more important as a medium of exchange in the modern world (Warde 2017). From this observation, it is possible to state that only in the last decades of the twentieth century did consumption gain some prominent position especially in economics, psychology, sociology, anthropology, cultural studies and marketing. As for the domain of consumer behavior in marketing, it cannot be overlooked that it began to be built in the 1950s (Ostergaard and Jantzen 2001). At that time, in the view of these authors, what was sought in the research was the understanding of consumer buying behavior very focused on the moment of purchase of goods and services. These researches have evolved over the last decades and have incorporated, in addition to buying behavior, other interests such as consumer behavior that appropriated a whole behaviorist tool (in the 1970s) as well as the symbolic, emotional dimensions present in the act of consumers in individuals (this was already in the 1980s). Evolution does not end in this period, since from the 1990s onwards research begins to focus on the individual and shifts to how consumption (which has a much broader and more complex perspective) is intertwined to social relations. In this context, terms such as consumer society and consumer culture have come to be important issues in the understanding of today’s society. For Warde (2017), despite having poorly defined terms, they point to the growing social importance of the purchase of goods and their cultural meanings. They imply a comparatively greater role in consumption - in contrast to work, religion, family, investment, or politics - in determining economic organization, cultural institutions, and personal motivations and experiences.

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Given these advances, the construction of the field of study that can be named as culture and consumption was opportune. This field maintains its links with the marketing area and also with other areas of the social sciences such as sociology, anthropology and cultural studies. The basis of this field lies in the idea that consumption goes beyond issues related to the productive forces, the maximization of utilities or an acquisition process. Much more broadly, consumption can be understood as permeating the relationships between society and individuals, making it essential in classification and social communication systems, identity formation processes, ritualistic processes and community building. (Askegaard and Linnet 2001). Moreover, it must not be forgotten that consumption is also linked to the various relationships that individuals have with others, with objects, with technology, with a multitude of daily activities, but also with the ways of interpreting the world. In Administration, and more precisely in the area of marketing, one can speak of the consolidation of a field that was named Consumer Culture Theory (CCT). This label created in the 2005 article by Eric Arnould and Craig Thompson sought to create a community of researchers who since the 1980s have sought to research consumption from a social, cultural and contextual perspective differently from what established the field of consumer behavior. In this article (Arnould and Thompson 2005), which would become a classic and an essential reference for studying consumption, the authors defend the idea that CCT was organized from a series of theoretical questions regarding the relationship between individual and collective identity of consumers. Like culture, understood as a pattern of historically transmitted meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic ways through which people communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge and activities in relation to life (Geertz 1993), starts becoming the central concept in consumer studies in this perspective and is linked to the world lived by consumers, but also to the processes and structures of moments experienced by these consumers. Thus, what stands out is the concept of consumer culture which, for Featherstone (2007), represents a whole set of elements

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that can be represented by the world of commodities and whose structural principles are central to the understanding of postmodern society. CCT adheres to this concept and, from then on, contributes to the theoretical development related to consumer research by generating new “constructs” and theoretical insights and extending existing knowledge through anthropological discipline (Arnould and Thompson 2005). As well emphasized by them, CCT can be understood as a set of theoretical perspectives that seeks to understand the complex relationships that exist between consumer actions, markets and cultural meanings that are continually (re)created in the actions of individuals and groups. Additionally, CCT addresses how consumer culture affects personal identities, social interactions, and market behaviors and how these interrelationships are manifested through various possibilities of consumer contexts (Arnould and Thompson 2015). These same authors, as major promoters of the “CCT brand” published several papers later (Arnould and Thompson, 2007; 2015) in which they broaden the scope of CCT-related studies. In their 2007 article, for example, they proposed the establishment of four thematic groups: (1) Consumer Identity Projects; (2) market cultures; (3) Socio-historical standardization of consumption; and (4) Market-mediated ideologies and consumer interpretative strategies. As for the first group (consumer identity projects), the studies direct efforts to understand a phenomenon that is central to contemporary consumer society and represents one of the first topics of CCT studies. It is the (re)construction of individuals identity through consumption, or the way consumption permeates the construction of individuals as subjects in a society marked essentially by relations with goods, services and ideologies. The second group (market cultures) focuses on issues related to how consumers (re)build their cultural worlds in which they express their dreams, feelings and ambitions through the pursuit of common consumer interests. The so-called socio-historical pattern of consumption is dedicated to understanding how institutional and social structures (including gender, ethnicity, and social class phenomena) affect the consumption of individuals and groups. Finally, the group on marketmediated ideologies and consumer interpretative strategies aligns with the

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tradition of critical theory by examining the foundations of consumer culture and forms of resistance, as well as the ways in which cultural production systems (including marketing communications) influence the daily lives of consumers (Arnould & Thompson, 2007). Given these characteristics of consumption that guide the field studies, it is interesting to emphasize, in this perspective, social agents, despite being influenced by social structures, have agency, which means, these subjects have relative freedom to (re)establish new relationships and, in the same sense, to (re)think questions related to interaction not only between them but also with objects, experiences and ideologies. What is meant here is that consumers, as social subjects, come to have agency through consumption, in the most diverse social actions to which they engage in their daily life. Taking into account the discussions promoted earlier regarding both the field of discourse analysis and the studies of consumption that give rise to various possibilities of articulations that will be duly scrutinized in the next section of the chapter.

The Articulations of Consumer Studies with Critical Discourse Analysis This section of the text seeks to advance the discussion regarding the articulations between consumer studies and critical discourse analysis. To conduct this discussion, it is interesting, initially, to take into account the perspective that is being adopted for the concept of consumption. It is essential to advance the idea that the concept of consumption goes beyond the purchase decision and the subsequent use of the product. As presented in the previous section, consumption must be understood as a social construct and in it is mingled with diverse issues related to consumption practices, social identities, consumption communities and the appropriation of meanings in different contexts, but also broader social issues as traditions, power structures and ideologies. In other words, consumption can be understood as a social “operator” in which social issues are both reflected and refracted.

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As a social “operator,” consumption tends to view consumers not as passive, obedient, and restricted to social structures, but as a subject who has agency, since he receives, transfers, and creates his own meanings through his relationships with others. products, services and with other consumers. Thus, the proposal presented and defended here seems to have adherence to this new consumer profile that has been included in consumer studies. On the other hand, it is possible to verify the proposal of critical discourse analysis that presents itself as a theoretical-methodological approach focused on studies of social phenomena in which issues such as change, emancipation, transformation and ideological formation of a given social context are determinant. By confronting the two ideas it is possible to perceive points of contact that can constitute starting points for countless researches that eventually contribute to the advancement in both fields. Firstly, it is important to consider that both perspectives (consumer studies and critical discourse analysis) align with their onto-epistemological positioning. Both converge to the notion that reality is socially and contextually constructed, subjects have agency power and meanings are (re)created in the intersubjectivity of everyday situations. As emphasized by Skalen, Fougère and Felleson (2008), the discourse invested with the power of legitimation, production and reproduction of practices related to consumerism must be fundamentally evaluated, analyzed and critically reflected. This makes sense when one wonders what this discourse of lifestyles can do for society. To articulate such a social critique of marketing discourse marketing needs to be perceived as a political discourse endowed with power rather than a positive science. Thus, it is worth mentioning that the field of consumer studies can benefit from a relevant methodological theoretical approach to access knowledge and constructions about the very complexity of society. On the other hand, the critical analysis of discourse, with its characteristic of trans and interdisciplinarity, gains a new field to which it can be dedicated and articulated. Given this discussion, it should also be emphasized that consumption can be understood as a discourse in which, as I said before, various issues,

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all eminently social, are articulated. Thus, only a methodological theoretical approach dedicated to scrutinizing these issues as critical discourse analysis could account for this. Hackley (2001) advances the discussion that more robust reflections on the role and power of organizations’ marketing discourse are essential for the field. Although qualitative methodologies are no longer new in marketing studies and especially in the field of consumption (Belk 2006), Hackley (2001) emphasizes that there are points of marketing discourse that are not yet the focus of investigation by researchers in the field. If the discipline has not been understood as from a managerial perspective but has taken shape from an area with characteristics very focused on social construction, it is expected that studies will devote greater attention to the aspects to which critical discourse analysis finds its greatest pretensions. In a more applied form, analyzes pertaining to research involving consumer studies and critical discourse analysis may follow some operational paths. Although the intent here is not to standardize procedures, let alone impose rules and sequence of steps, it is important to consider some elements in the analysis. As previously presented, Faircloug (1992) has developed a three-dimensional model consisting of three levels of analysis: analysis of the text, the analysis of discursive practice and the analysis of social practice. It is through this three-dimensional model that analyzes must take place. Regarding the analysis of the text, the focus is on language observation involving elements such as vocabulary, grammar, cohesion and textual structure. Regarding the analysis of discursive practice, the processes of meaning construction that are constructed in the interaction between the interlocutors are verified. Thus, the focus is on the production, distribution, consumption, context, strength, coherence and intertextuality of the text. Finally, the analysis of social practice highlights the ideological aspects, the meanings, the metaphors, as well as more complex elements related to hegemony, as well as the economic, political, cultural and ideological orientations present in the discourse. Presenting the possible articulations between consumer studies and critical discourse analysis, at this point, we focus the text on the conclusions section, which aims to make conclusive comments on what was previously

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explained. In addition, we seek to present some ideas or suggestions that seem to constitute an agenda of future research involving the articulation.

CONCLUSION From the pointed articulations and the perceived potentialities between the two fields discussed in this text, it is possible, in a conclusive tone, to indicate some points that can be constituted in a research agenda with a series of suggestions and possibilities of future studies which may contribute to the advancement of these themes. One of the research possibilities may be linked to critical market studies. Bearing in mind that one aspect of market formation research theorizes about markets as the result of discursive negotiations between multi-stakeholder practices, including the consumer, but also managers, entrepreneurs, media journalists, politicians, scientists, technologists, religious authorities and political activists (Giesler and Fischer 2017), the critical market analysis can go in many ways. One of these seems to be associated with the speeches attributed by managers to consolidate their markets based on marketing communications-related marketing strategies. Another way to bring critical discourse analysis into this field of study would be to seek understanding of the dysfunctions caused by strategic corporate movements toward unethical or inappropriate marketing practices. These movements could lead to vulnerabilities in consumers. In this context, research focusing on consumer vulnerability could be conducted with the theoretical-methodological support of critical discourse analysis. Consumer vulnerability has gained prominence in recent years in the field of the most critical consumer studies. This vulnerability can be understood as a state of consumer powerlessness that arises from an imbalance in market interactions (Baker, Gentry and Rittenburg 2005). Since this imbalance stems from the information asymmetry that can be generated by the unequal distribution of power between consumers and market providers, a critical analysis of the discourse of these market actors can be useful in accessing the various nuances of these market relations.

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The issue of consumption vulnerability still takes timely contours for consumption studies when considering those audiences that have historically been cut off from consumption for various reasons. These include the elderly, the disabled, low-income individuals, children, adolescents and young people in socially at-risk areas, drug addicts (drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, television, the internet), compulsive shoppers, and others. Analysis of the discourses of the providers of products and services to these audiences as well as the critical analysis of advertising discourse conveyed in the media to promote products and services aimed at this audience can also be an interesting research trail. Media discourses in their various modalities could be an interesting body of research to conduct critical analysis. Advertising, television commercials, slogans, jingles and virtual messages from marketing campaigns, as well as marketing communications to the various audiences of organizations can be considered interesting for this type of research. A promising theme for this articulation between consumer studies and critical discourse analysis relates to intersectionality. If the initiative delays the analysis of consumption studies, the variables of gender, race and social class already have characteristics of originality, with the theoreticalmethodological support of critical discourse analysis, research containing this link is another great research trail that seems a considerable interest. From the structuring of the four thematic groups proposed by Arnould and Thompson (2007) for the CCT domains, it is possible to notice that there are points of convergence between them and the critical discourse analysis. As for the first group - consumer identity projects - it would be interesting to investigate how the various consumer groups express their identities through not only their speech, but especially in the use of products (including clothing, fashion artifacts, tattoos and others), in communicating with peers in daily life, in the form of digital interaction and in the relationship with social institutions. As for the second group - market cultures - studies involving critical discourse analysis could advance the understanding of how market cultures are (re) constructed in social groups through the form of social interaction

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and discursive constructions linked to media and new forms of contact in social networks. Understanding the socio-historical formations of consumption can also make use of critical discourse analysis. Critical questions related to how institutions have shaped and shaped the consumption of individuals and groups can be debated in this articulation. As mentioned above, the intersectionality themes in which the relationship between gender, ethnicity and social class variables are listed here. As for the thematic group called by the authors of market-mediated ideologies and consumer interpretative strategies, critical discourse analysis can also play a role. Studies can advance the understanding of how ideologies are mediated by the market, that is, how consumption has come to play a major role in today’s society and how consumers are affected by these ideologies. Here is a fertile field for more critical research in order to understand the current state of organizations’ marketing discourse in the naturalization of central concepts of life in today’s society. It is also important to consider that the critical discourse analysis can contribute to humanize consumer research. In addition to the mathematical models that seek to frame consumers in numbers or statistical ranges, critical discourse analysis can contribute to the improvement of the lives of the individuals involved, since it enables the transformation of this consumer into a more autonomous, more conscious subject of their role in society and less hostage to market structures. In this sense, the teaching of marketing could also have its contributions through discussion topics and case studies in which students could reflect on issues of power, emancipation and ideological formation. Critical discourse analysis need not be understood as an end in itself. That is, the researcher can (and should) invest in complementary methodologies to contribute both with respect to different data collection methodologies as well as new theoretical formulations from the analysis. Various projective techniques such as word and sentence association, as well as the use of images, drawings and geometric shapes can be undertaken with Critical Discourse Analysis or with the appropriateness of Semiotic

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Analysis. These interlocutions could exploit what has not been said, what is implied or silenced, but produce meaning effects. One question becomes essential in this discussion. It seems essential that researchers engage in onto-epistemological discussions that provide a new way of perceiving the world, interpreting social phenomena, and building knowledge that goes beyond traditional science. To think of social reality as a discursive construction shaped by issues involving ideologies and power structures requires from the researcher new thinking dynamics and a different attitude as a social scientist. Certainly therein lies the great challenge posed by the articulation advocated in this chapter. Finally, by returning to the guiding question of the text that was presented in the introductory section of this chapter, it is possible to reinforce the idea that we can shed light on the issues we promise to discuss. We present the elements that we consider most relevant to the critical discourse analysis and dedicate part of the text to the debate on consumer studies. We also seek to present the articulations between the themes and point out potential research trails. However, both the articulations and the research agenda are not exhausted in this text. Much remains to be discussed and further discussions need to be deepened. This text therefore fulfills its role of inaugurating a discussion that needs to be continued.

REFERENCES Arnould, E. J. & Thompson, C. J. (2005). Consumer Culture Theory (CCT): Twenty Years of Research. Journal of Consumer Research, 31, p. 868– 82. Arnould, E. J. & Thompson, C. J. (2007). Consumer Culture Theory (and We Really Mean Theoretics): Dilemmas and Opportunities Posed by an Academic Branding Strategy. In Belk, R. and Sherry, J. F. (eds) Consumer Culture Theory. Oxford: Elsevier. Arnould, E. & Thompson, C. J. (2015). Consumer Culture Theory: ten years gone (and beyond). In: Thyraff, A., Murray, J. B. and Belk, R. W.

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Research in Consumer Behavior. Bingley, Reino Unido: Emerald Group Publishing, 1-21. Askegaard, S. & Linnet, J. T. (2011). Towards an epistemology of consumer culture theory: Phenomenology and the context of context. Marketing Theory, 11(4), 381-404. Baker, S. M., Gentry, J. W. & Rittenburg, T. L. (2005). Building understanding of the domain of consumer vulnerability. Journal of Macromarketing, 25(2), 128-139. Belk, R. W. (2006). Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods in Marketing. Northampton: Edward Elgar Publishing. Brait, B. (1997). Bakhtin e a Natureza Constitutivamente Dialógica da Linguagem. In: Brait, B. (Org.). Bakhtin, Dialogismo e Construção de Sentido. Campinas-SP: UNICAMP. Brandão, H. H. N. (2012). Introdução à Análise do Discurso. Campinas-SP: Editora Unicamp. [Introduction to Discourse Analysis] Chiapello, E. & Fairclough, N. Understanding the new management ideology: a transdisciplinary contribution from critical discourse analysis and new sociology of capitalism. Discourse & Society, v. 13(2), 185-208. Chouliari, L. & Faircloug, N. (1999). Discourse in Late Modernity: rethinking critical discourse analysis. Edinburg: Edinburgh University Press. Fairclough, N. (1989). Language and power. London: Longman. Fairclough, N. (1992). Discourse and social change. Oxford and Cambridge: Polity. Fairclough, N. (2003). Analysing discourse: Textual analysis for social research. New York:Routledge. Featherstone, M. (2007). Consumer Culture and postmodernism. 2nd edition. London: Sage Publication. Fitchett, J. A., Patsiaouras, G. & Davies, A. (2014). Myth and Ideology in Consumer Culture Theory. Marketing Theory, 14(4), 495-506. Foucault, M. (1996). A ordem do discurso. São Paulo: Edições Loyola. [The order of speech] Geertz, C. (1993). The interpretation of cultures. New York: Basic Books.

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Giesler, M. & Fischer, E. (2017). Market system dynamics. Marketing Theory, 17(1), 3–8. Gill, R. (2000). Discourse Analysis. IN: Bauer, M. W. and Gaskell, G. Qualitative Researching with Text, Image and Sound: a practical guide. London: Sage Publications. Hackley, C. (2001). Marketing and Social Construction: exploring the rethorics of managed consumption. New York: Routledge. Hirschman, E. C. (1993). Ideology in Consumer Research, 1980 and 1990: A Marxist and Feminist Critique. Journal of Consumer Research, v. 19, 537-555. Mussalim, F. (2001). Análise do Discurso. In: Mussalim, F. and Bentes, A. C. Introdução à Linguística – domínios e fronteiras., Vol. 2. 2. ed. São Paulo: Cortez. [Speech analysis. In: Introduction to Linguistics domains and borders] Orlandi, E. P. (2015). Análise de Discurso: princípios & procedimentos. 12. ed. Campinas: Pontes. [Discourse Analysis: principles and procedures] Ostergaard, P. & Jantzen, C. (2000). Shifting perspectives in consumer research: from buyer behavior to consumption studies, in Beckmann, S. and Elliot. R. H. (Eds), Interpretive Consumer Research: Paradigms, Methodologies & Applications, p. 9-23, CBS Press: Copenhagen. Pêcheux, M. (1990). O Discurso: Estrutura ou acontecimento. Campinas/ SP: Pontes. [The Discourse: Structure or event] Skalen, P., Fougère, M. & Fellesson, M. (2008). Marketing Discourse: a critical perspective. New York: Routledge. Van Dijk, T. A. (1997). Semântica do discurso. In: Pedro, E. R. (org.) Análise crítica do discurso: uma perspectiva sociopolítica e funcional. Lisboa: Caminho. [Discourse semantics. In: Pedro, E. R. (org.) Critical discourse analysis: a socio-political and functional perspective.] Warde, A. (2017). Consumption: a sociological analysis. London: Macmillan Publishers.

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES Georgiana Luna Batinga Affiliation: Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, Brazil Education: PhD in Management Research and Professional Experience: Interested in research in the area of consumption from the Anthropological and Sociological perspective; Communication, Language and Organizational Discourses, with theoretical and methodological contributions in Discourse Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis. Currently working with projects supported from the perspective of Marketing and Society and Market Studies, through a multidisciplinary approach on the subject. Publications from the Last 3 Years: Ássimo de Medeiros, Bruno., Almeida, G. T., Batinga, G. L. & Pinto, M. R. (2018). O Consumo de Crédito como Expressão da Dádiva Sob a Perspectiva de Idosos de Baixa Renda. REMARK. Revista Brasileira de Marketing, v. 17, p. 914-930. [Credit Consumption as an Expression of the Gift Under the Perspective of Low Income Seniors. REMARK. Brazilian Marketing Magazine] Batinga, G. L., Pinto, M. de R. & Guimaraes, L. V. M. (2019). For an understanding of the material world: a biography of the brand? Apple?. Cadernos Ebape. BR (FGV), v. 17, p. 263-276. Batinga, G. L., Menezes, F. P. D., Guimaraes, L. V. M. & lessa, C. H. (2018). Um convite para não esquecer: uma análise dos discursos dos atingidos pelo rompimento da barragem do fundão em Mariana (MG). L&S Cadernos de Linguagem e Sociedade, v. 19, p. 13. [An invitation not to forget: an analysis of the speeches of those affected by the rupture of the fundão dam in Mariana (MG). L&S Language and Society Notebooks]

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Batinga, G. L., De Rezende Pinto, Marcelo. & Pimenta Resende, S. A. R. A. (2017). Christmas, consumption and materialism: discourse analysis of children?s Christmas letters. RBGN-Revista Brasileira de Gestao de Negocios, v. 19, p. 557-573. [Brazilian Journal of Business Management]

Marcelo de Rezende Pinto Affiliation: Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, Brazil Education: PhD in Management Research and Professional Experience: Interested in the following research topics: Culture and Consumption; Consumer Studies with emphasis on intersectionality (including gender, race and class variables); Transformative Consumer Research; Marketing and Society; Interpretative methods of marketing research. Publications from the Last 3 Years: Assimos, Bruno., Pinto, M. de R., Leite, Ramon. & Andrade, Matheus. (2019). Conspicuous Consumption and its Relation to Brand Consciousness, Status Consumption and Self-Expression. BBR. Brazilian Business Review (English Ed.), v. 16, p. 350-368. Batinga, G. L., Pinto, M. de R. & Pimenta Resende, S. A. R. A. (2017). Christmas, consumption and materialism: discourse analysis of children´s Christmas letters. RBGN-Revista Brasileira de Gestao de Negocios, v. 19, p. 557-573. [Brazilian Journal of Business Management] Batinga, G. L., Pinto, M. de R. & Guimaraes, L. V. M. (2019). For an understanding of the material world: a biography of the brand? Apple?. Cadernos Ebape. BR (FGV), v. 17, p. 263-276.

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Corrêa, Victor Silva., Vale, Gláucia Maria Vasconcellos., Pinto, M. de R. & Acoplamento, E. (2018). Desacoplamento Sociais: Pastores Como Empreendedores. RAE-Revista de Administracao de Empresas, v. 58, p. 188-200. [Social Decoupling: Pastors as Entrepreneurs. Business Administration Magazine] Miake, Alessandro., Carvalho, Rodrigo., Pinto, M. de R. & Graeml, Alexandre. (2018). Customer Knowledge Management (CKM): Model Proposal and Evaluation in a Large Brazilian Higher Education Private Group. BBR. Brazilian Business Review (English Ed.), v. 15, p. 135151, 2018. Pinto, M. de R., Leite, Ramon Silva., Andrade, Matheus Lemos De. & Joaquim, Adriano Mendonça. (2018). Shopping Well-Being: a study with the elderly people in shopping centers. Revista Pensamento Contemporâneo EM Administração (UFF), v. 12, p. 124-138. [Contemporary Thinking IN Administration Magazine] Pinto, M. de R., Mota, A. O., Leite, R. S. & Alves, R. C. (2017). Investigating the influencers of materialism in adolescence. Tourism & Management Studies, v. 13, p. 66-74, 2017.

INDEX

# 1992 Republican Constitution of Ghana, 83, 87, 88, 106 9/11/2001 attacks, viii, 2, 3, 27, 28, 33, 55

A Accelerated Development Plan, 67 access, 66, 67, 76, 82, 92, 123, 153, 193 accountability, 3, 5, 6, 8, 11, 54, 69, 114 age, 23, 30, 52, 68, 93, 98, 102, 110, 114, 115, 141 agencies, 69, 70, 85, 100 American creed, 48, 53 American Presidency, 58 anchoring, viii, 2, 3, 7, 12, 14, 17, 55, 124 anchoring trap, viii, 2, 3, 7, 12, 14, 17, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 55 Anglo-American linguistics, 84 anthropological discipline, 191 anthropology, 152, 189, 190 anti-colonial African thinkers, 67

anti-discriminatory society, 74, 91 antithesis, 130, 143 argumentation theory, v, vii, viii, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 29, 54, 56, 61, 62 arms control, 15 articulation, vii, viii, ix, xi, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 16, 35, 43, 46, 49, 50, 51, 54, 55, 56, 124, 159, 181, 183, 188, 195, 196, 197, 198 attitudes, 104, 124, 182 authority, 15, 134, 138, 139, 140, 143, 144

B basic education, 69, 71, 89, 90, 92, 97, 98, 108, 110, 111, 113, 114 blood, 32, 40, 107, 171, 173 bounded rationality, 8 Bush, President George W., viii, 1, 2, 3, 4, 14, 26, 27, 28, 30, 33, 34, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 55, 58, 61

Index

206 C campaigns, 31, 39, 196 capitalism, 73, 199 capitalist enterprises, 105 categorization, 56, 89, 126 children, 24, 27, 28, 37, 38, 52, 54, 69, 92, 93, 196, 202 circulation, 125, 127, 131, 138 citizens, 31, 32, 33, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 46, 47, 67, 72, 88, 90, 91, 92, 98, 103, 104, 105, 106, 113, 114, 115, 138 citizenship, 31, 32, 40, 50, 74, 112 class struggle, 134, 140 classification, 16, 84, 183, 190 cognition, 125, 148, 152, 182 cognitive bias, 3, 6, 55 cognitive science, 120, 152 cognitive shortcuts, 14 coherence, x, 84, 151, 153, 175, 187, 194 collaboration, x, 111, 117, 120 common sense, 14, 21, 127, 139, 142, 143 communication, 10, 26, 27, 183, 190 communication strategies, 27 communication systems, 183, 190 communism, 17, 18, 24, 25, 37, 140 complex proposition, 89 complexity, 57, 184, 193 concept of redistribution, 92 consensus, viii, 2, 3, 18, 55, 98 constitutional demand, 90 construction, vii, ix, xii, 2, 4, 31, 56, 72, 118, 121, 123, 124, 125, 143, 182, 183, 184, 185, 190, 191, 194, 198 consumer studies, vi, vii, xi, 181, 182, 183, 184, 188, 190, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 198, 202 consumers, 75, 76, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 195, 197

consumption, xi, 77, 79, 181, 182, 183, 184, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 196, 197, 200, 201, 202 content analysis, 65, 183 contrastive discourse analysis, 152, 153, 155, 158, 160, 178 convergence, 183, 185, 196 conviction, 10, 23, 32, 40, 53, 140, 186 cooperation, 17 correlation, 161, 165, 173, 174 correlation coefficient, 161 cost, viii, 2, 3, 7, 26, 33, 35, 41, 42, 43, 55, 57, 70 cost effectiveness, 70 cost-sharing, 70 creativity, 20, 96, 99, 114 critical analysis, 183, 184, 193, 195, 196 critical discourse analysis, v, vi, vii, ix, xi, 12, 63, 64, 65, 109, 110, 111, 112, 119, 120, 146, 149, 181, 182, 183, 184, 186, 187, 188, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201 critical period, 4 critical policy research, vii, ix, 63, 64, 65, 66, 81, 106, 108 critical thinking, 75 criticism, 29, 74, 95, 98, 99, 129 cultural conditions, 126 cultural differences, 159 cultural memory, 125, 126, 140, 143 culture, 39, 110, 129, 133, 135, 136, 138, 143, 149, 152, 184, 189, 190, 191, 192, 199 curriculum, 68, 72, 74, 75, 105

D Dakar, 71, 83 danger, 20, 27, 37 data analysis, xi, 87, 152, 175 data collection, 197

Index decision task, 14 decision-making process, 5, 6, 7 decision-making psychological traps, vii, viii, 1, 3, 54 decolonising, 67 decolonization, 93 deconstruction, xi, 182, 183 democracy, 20, 22, 25, 30, 35, 39, 41, 43, 46, 51, 53, 73, 75, 76, 88, 91, 112 democratic processes, 91, 101 democratic/participatory view of policy, 91 developing countries, 70, 108, 109, 112 developmental change, 95 dichotomy, viii, 2, 3, 12, 14, 21, 34, 55 discourse, v, vii, viii, ix, x, xii, 1, 2, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 27, 29, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 44, 45, 50, 51, 57, 58, 60, 61, 62, 64, 65, 74, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 84, 85, 86, 91, 96, 98, 104, 105, 106, 107, 109, 110, 112, 113, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 134, 135, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 151, 152, 153, 154, 158, 159, 160, 161, 163, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 199, 200, 201, 202 discourse analysis, vii, viii, ix, x, xii, 1, 9, 12, 58, 60, 62, 64, 80, 84, 109, 112, 117, 118, 119, 120, 122, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 152, 154, 160, 161, 178, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 192, 196, 197, 199, 200, 201, 202 discourse markers, v, x, 151, 152, 153, 154, 160, 163, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178 discourse-based view of language, 77, 81 discursive practices, viii, ix, 2, 3, 4, 9, 12, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 32, 34, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 47, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 61, 77 discursive regimes, 2, 4, 5, 9, 54, 56 discursive shift, ix, 64, 65, 73, 82, 87, 100, 101, 106, 107, 108, 111

207 discursive strategies, 3, 9, 39, 40, 50, 55, 56, 57 discursive traps, 3, 5, 6, 9, 54, 55 distribution, 69, 77, 79, 126, 160, 174, 188, 194, 195 documentary sources, 64 drug addict, 196 drugs, 13, 19, 24, 196

E economic change, 105 economic crisis, 47 economic downturn, 70 economic growth, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 114 economic reform, 99 economic reforms, 99 education, vii, ix, 52, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 78, 80, 82, 84, 85, 87, 88, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 129 Education for All, 71 education policy, v, vii, ix, 63, 64, 65, 70, 71, 73, 80, 82, 84, 98, 101, 102, 106, 107, 108, 109, 111, 112 education reform, 69, 72, 87, 88, 91, 101, 103, 106, 110 Education Strategic Plan, 83, 87, 93, 106, 111, 114 educational background, 93 educational institutions, 76 educational opportunities, 74 educational policy, 80, 111, 112 educational quality, 68 educational research, 64, 109 educational services, 105 educational system, 72, 102, 103 EKE policy discourse, 70 empowerment, 15, 17, 104

Index

208 enemies, 14, 21, 30, 33, 35, 39, 41, 42, 43 enemies of freedom, 14, 21, 35 environment, 6, 36, 182 equal opportunity, 27, 38 equalising opportunities, 92 equalising outcomes, 92 equality, 46, 47, 48, 49, 53, 57, 73, 74, 75, 76, 98, 109, 110 equity, 75, 91, 92, 98 ethnicity, 93, 98, 109, 191, 197 evidence, xi, 22, 34, 57, 64, 66, 73, 124, 128, 129, 152 evil, 16, 21, 24, 32, 34, 36, 37, 42, 56, 57, 60 evil empire, 16, 24, 56, 59 extracts, vii, ix, 63, 65, 66, 72, 82, 83, 84, 87, 106

F Fairclough, xi, 77, 79, 80, 84, 85, 109, 119, 120, 121, 122, 146, 182, 183, 186, 187, 188, 199 faith, 14, 21, 40, 41, 42 families, 46, 50, 70, 73, 156, 159 family meals, 169, 170 fCUBE, 70, 71, 82, 85, 88, 90, 91, 111 fear, 28, 38, 45, 54 figure of speech, 91, 96 financial, 48, 52, 69, 71 financial crisis, 48, 52 fine-grain linguistic/semiotic analysis, 86 force, 10, 17, 26, 30, 42, 76, 89, 90, 113, 142 foreign affairs, 12, 19 foreign policy, viii, 2, 4, 13, 14, 17, 18, 23, 28, 30, 34, 55, 57, 59, 60, 61 formal sector, 68 formation, 32, 102, 103, 115, 123, 183, 188, 190, 193, 195, 197 foundations, 27, 37, 192

Fourth Republic, 88, 113 framing, ix, 2, 4, 7, 43, 46, 55, 57, 91, 144 framing trap, ix, 2, 4, 7, 43, 46, 52, 53, 54, 55, 57 freedom, 14, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 25, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 48, 52, 67, 74, 98, 131, 136, 141, 192 French discourse analysis, x, 118, 120, 122, 125, 149, 187 function in translation, 152 functionalization, ix, 2, 4, 10, 43, 44, 46, 50, 51, 55, 57

G genre, 90, 93, 94, 101, 159 genres, 81, 85, 86, 124, 131, 135, 176 Ghana, vii, ix, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 82, 84, 85, 87, 88, 90, 92, 93, 98, 100, 101, 102, 103, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 115 Ghana Education Service, 71, 85 Ghanaian Education Acts, 67 global education, 72 global leaders, 13, 14 globalisation, 104 globalization, 112 governance, 71, 89, 90, 110 Government of Ghana’s White Paper on the Education Reform Review Committee Report, 83, 87, 106 government spending, 68 governments, 30, 39, 41, 64, 72 growth, 22, 39, 68, 70, 96, 100, 109

H hallucinations, 140 happiness, 20, 53, 75 health, 30, 45, 65

Index health care, 45 history, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 33, 35, 37, 40, 41, 42, 45, 51, 59, 62, 66, 71, 86, 88, 113, 120, 129, 131, 136, 141, 144, 159 human, vii, xii, 6, 8, 14, 16, 21, 24, 30, 34, 39, 42, 70, 75, 77, 78, 80, 91, 139, 158, 182, 183, 186 human agency, vii, xii, 8, 182, 183, 186 human capital, 70, 75, 139 human dignity, 30, 39 human interactions, 77 human nature, 16, 24, 34, 42 human right, 14, 21, 39 human sciences, 80 human subjects, 78 hybrid genre, 82, 101 hypothesis, 131, 157, 159, 175

209 initiation, 70, 87, 90 institutions, ix, 39, 64, 66, 89, 90, 107, 135, 189, 197 intelligence, 30, 37, 39, 76 interference, 22, 98, 143, 188 international competitiveness, ix, 64, 65, 72, 107 International Monetary Fund, ix, 64, 66, 107 intertextual analysis, 81 intervention, 74, 75, 98 intonation, 84, 86, 107 issues, xi, 5, 8, 21, 29, 46, 66, 74, 80, 90, 94, 100, 181, 182, 184, 185, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 197, 198

J Jomtien commitment, 83

I ideals, ix, 20, 25, 32, 34, 38, 40, 42, 48, 53, 64, 65, 92, 93, 98, 104, 107 identity, viii, 2, 3, 4, 32, 47, 55, 103, 123, 183, 188, 190, 191, 196 ideology, x, 32, 40, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 84, 91, 99, 101, 106, 109, 118, 119, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 131, 139, 144, 147, 148, 149, 184, 188, 199, 200 income, 48, 53, 57, 65, 68, 73, 196 income distribution, 48, 53, 57, 65 independence, 20, 66, 67, 68, 72 individualism, 73, 74, 99 individuals, xi, 7, 10, 31, 50, 76, 78, 92, 99, 102, 103, 181, 182, 189, 190, 191, 196, 197 inequality, 46, 47, 48, 49, 52, 57, 76, 92, 99, 109, 110 inevitability, 12, 18, 136 information processing, 182 informational, 11, 93, 94, 100 infrastructure, 68, 71, 124

K knowledge economy, 70, 98, 104 knowledge-based economy, 74, 101, 102, 105, 106, 115

L language, ix, x, 8, 9, 10, 61, 63, 65, 73, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 84, 86, 87, 89, 91, 106, 107, 109, 110, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 146, 148, 151, 153, 156, 157, 158, 159, 162, 176, 177, 178, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 194, 199, 201 language of implementation, ix, 64, 65, 82, 87, 107 languages, vii, x, 68, 151, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 175 law enforcement, 37 learning, 111, 113, 158, 182

Index

210 learning outcomes, 113 liberalism, 15, 22, 73, 74, 75, 76, 98, 109 liberty, 15, 18, 20, 22, 25, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 39, 40, 41, 42, 53 lifelong learning, 74 light, 10, 32, 40, 105, 134, 184, 185, 198 linguistic/semiotic, 73, 85, 86, 87 linguistics, ix, 64, 84, 85, 119, 120, 128, 152, 155, 156, 157, 158, 160, 177, 186, 187 local community, 74, 76 Locke, 78, 79, 80, 110

M management, 71, 114, 199 marginalised and hybrid discourses, 87, 107 market liberalism, 15, 23 market structure, 197 marketing, 189, 190, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 202 materialism, x, 117, 120, 122, 123, 125, 202, 203 materialist discourse analysis, 118, 120 materials, 65, 68, 75, 144 media, v, 9, 44, 117, 126, 129, 130, 133, 138, 195, 196, 197 medium of exchange, 189 memory, 13, 20, 33, 41, 46, 125, 126, 128, 129, 130, 131, 133, 134, 135, 137, 138, 139, 140, 144, 148 meta-theoretical principle of functionalization, ix, 2, 4, 43, 44, 46, 50, 51, 55, 57 meta-theoretical principle of socialization, viii, 2, 3, 12, 13, 19, 20, 21, 55, 56 meta-theoretical principles of externalization and dialectification, viii, 2, 3, 26, 55, 56 military, 9, 16, 21, 24, 25, 57, 68, 129 Millennium Development Goals, 71

Ministry of Education, 71, 85, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 110, 111, 114 mission, 25, 31, 42, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 114 modern science, 102, 103, 115 multiple and competing discourses, 87, 107 murder, 32, 35, 40, 42, 43

N narratives, 9, 34, 50, 57, 86, 134 nation building, 67 national goals and aspirations, 93 national identity, 67 nationalistic agenda, 67 neo-liberal, ix, 64, 65, 70, 73, 74, 75, 76, 97, 98, 99, 100, 104, 105, 107, 109 Nkrumah, Kwame, 67 nominal phrase, 89 NPP Government, 93 nuclear weapons, 15, 18, 23, 26

O Obama, President Barack, viii, ix, 1, 2, 4, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 57, 59, 60 opportunities, 27, 29, 73, 74, 75, 92, 104 oppression, 36, 43

P parental consent, 24 parental participation, 24 parents, 21, 22, 75, 105 Paveau, Marie-Anne, vii, x, 117, 118, 120, 145 peace, 13, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 26, 27, 28, 32, 37, 38, 40 pedagogy, 76, 158

Index personal development, 73, 91 personal life, 48 personal responsibility, 37 persuasion, 10 persuasive text, 94 phenomenology, 16, 24 policy, vii, ix, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, 14, 16, 18, 35, 39, 42, 43, 63, 64, 65, 66, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 78, 80, 81, 82, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 91, 97, 98, 100, 101, 102, 103, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112 policy genre, 101 policy implementation processes., x, 64, 66, 108 policy initiative, 71, 72, 111 policy interventions, 72 policy making, 111 policy options, 112 policy reform, vii, ix, 63, 65, 70, 71, 73, 82, 87, 106, 107 policy texts, x, 64, 65, 66, 80, 82, 87, 108 political ideologies, 72, 73 political instability, 68 political leaders, viii, 2 political system, 18, 25, 56 politics, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20, 32, 41, 44, 45, 46, 47, 49, 50, 51, 56, 60, 98, 141, 189 popular vote, 28 postmodernism, 199 post-structuralism, 84, 149 poverty, 28, 31, 38, 39, 48, 53, 68, 97, 99, 103, 104, 105, 114, 115 poverty reduction, 98, 99, 114 power relations, 9, 12, 86, 87, 187, 188 prediscourse, vii, x, 117, 118, 120, 121, 127, 129, 137, 143, 148 preparation, iv, 74, 99 prepositional phrases, 89, 154 president, 60, 61, 67, 69 presidents, viii, 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 55, 56 pre-tertiary sector, 67

211 principles, vii, viii, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 20, 21, 26, 38, 40, 54, 55, 56, 74, 75, 76, 79, 83, 94, 155, 191 pro-capitalist institutions, ix, 64, 66, 107 progressivism, 75, 92 project, 47, 113, 179 proliferation, 15, 121 proposition, 89, 110, 183, 184 psychoanalysis, 119, 125 psychological traps, viii, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 55, 56, 62 psychology, 6, 152, 189 public domain, ix, 63 public interest, 38 public opinion, 9, 13 public policy, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 58 public service, 50

Q quality of life, 102, 103, 104, 115

R reading, 68, 79, 143, 186 Reagan, President Ronald, viii, 1, 4, 12, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 34, 56, 59, 60 reality, vii, xi, 19, 78, 80, 124, 126, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 193 recommendations, iv, 101, 102, 103, 115 recovery, 13, 19, 23, 69, 70 redistribution, 73, 74, 76, 92, 98 redistributive justice, ix, 2, 4, 44, 46, 48, 51, 56 regions of the world, 43 religion, 15, 22, 25, 34, 93, 98, 114, 139, 189 religious beliefs, 16 researchers, xii, 11, 182, 185, 187, 190, 194, 198

Index

212 resources, 13, 37, 69, 74, 76, 86, 90, 92, 99, 100, 114, 188 response, viii, 2, 3, 19, 28, 40, 55, 72, 80, 89, 90, 91, 102, 134 restructuring, 101, 102, 103 resumption, 152, 160, 163, 165, 169, 171, 172, 175, 176 rhetoric, xi, 3, 9, 26, 44, 49, 55, 57, 70, 71, 104, 152, 159, 175

S school, 30, 38, 39, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 74, 75, 76, 93, 105, 106, 110, 111, 119, 123, 135 schooling, 69, 71, 74, 92, 95, 106, 109 science, 8, 65, 81, 99, 104, 114, 193, 198 self-employment, 113 services, iv, 70, 94, 95, 97, 105, 114, 182, 191, 193, 196 social change, 109, 187, 188, 199 social class, 49, 191, 196, 197 social construct, 140, 184, 192, 194 social constructivism, 140 social context, 81, 85, 86, 122, 188, 193 social democratic, ix, 64, 65, 73, 92, 93, 97, 98, 100, 104, 107 social development, 75, 139 social group, 34, 127, 196 social identity, 32, 47, 57 social inequalities, 75 social institutions, 196 social interaction, 74, 109, 113, 126, 191, 196 social interactions, 74, 126, 191 social justice, 27, 38, 46, 49, 51, 60, 74, 75, 92, 104, 109 social life, 9, 110, 178, 187 social processes and contexts, 73 social reality, 183, 184, 186, 198 social reconstructionism, 91 social relations, 77, 84, 140, 189

social sciences, 118, 119, 182, 189, 190 social structure, 186, 191, 192, 193 socialist, ix, 64, 65, 74, 91, 93, 98, 107, 137 socialization, viii, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 19, 20, 21, 55, 56 society, ix, xi, 2, 4, 12, 13, 15, 22, 28, 38, 41, 44, 47, 49, 50, 52, 55, 57, 72, 74, 75, 76, 78, 86, 91, 99, 126, 127, 128, 132, 133, 138, 139, 152, 181, 182, 184, 189, 190, 191, 193, 197 sociology, 112, 120, 152, 189, 190, 199 solidarity, 27, 38, 46, 50, 51 speech, viii, 1, 10, 11, 12, 15, 23, 25, 29, 31, 44, 45, 58, 59, 60, 84, 86, 91, 96, 107, 111, 131, 133, 137, 184, 186, 196 speech-acts, 10, 44, 45 speeches, vii, viii, ix, 1, 2, 3, 4, 12, 14, 15, 33, 43, 44, 46, 49, 55, 57, 58, 61, 183, 195, 201 stereotypes, 7, 14, 16, 24, 56, 159 stress, 8, 15, 40, 46, 84, 86, 107, 126, 128, 136, 138, 187 structure, vii, xii, 6, 85, 90, 94, 100, 102, 113, 128, 159, 182, 183, 194 sunk-cost psychological trap, viii, 2, 3, 26, 33, 41, 42, 43, 55, 57 sustainable development, 72 sustainable development goals, 72 syntactic composition, 88, 89

T Taylor 2004, 85 technological advances, 72 technology, 99, 102, 103, 104, 114, 115, 156, 190 terrorism, 27, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 57 terrorist attack, 35, 43 text eligibility criteria, 83 text-content theory, 83

Index texts, ix, x, 63, 64, 65, 66, 72, 73, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 89, 94, 100, 101, 106, 107, 113, 120, 121, 122, 129, 131, 132, 133, 143, 144, 146, 147, 151, 153, 159, 160, 161, 162, 164, 165, 167, 168, 173, 174, 175, 185 texts and contexts, 86 textual formations, x, 64, 66, 107 the linguistic/semiotic and interdiscursive/intertextual levels, 85 the State and its institutions of governance, 89, 90 theoretical approach, 193, 194 thoughts, 7, 124, 159, 169, 170 three-dimensional model, 187, 194 traditional policy research, ix, 63, 65 traditions, x, xi, 44, 84, 117, 118, 119, 122, 152, 156, 181, 183, 186, 192 training, 72, 96, 99, 102, 105, 114, 115, 179 transformation, 4, 12, 104, 105, 115, 188, 193, 197 translation, x, 125, 151, 152, 154, 158, 160, 163, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175 treatment, x, 39, 117, 120, 126, 186

U United States, viii, 1, 2, 4, 13, 16, 17, 18, 24, 25, 28, 30, 33, 34, 35, 39, 44, 46, 47, 48, 50, 55 United States of America, 2, 44, 50

213 universal primary education, 67 University Rationalisation Committee, 70

V variables, 196, 197, 202 vision, ix, 16, 23, 49, 64, 65, 98, 100, 107, 110 vocabulary, 85, 95, 140, 194 vulnerability, 195, 196, 199

W war, 16, 19, 23, 27, 28, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 41, 57, 137 war on terrorism, 27, 30, 32, 34, 35, 57 wealth, 47, 52, 53, 69, 73, 104, 105, 115 welfare, 45, 46, 47, 52, 57, 74, 98 welfare state, 74, 98 well-being, 65 workers, 47, 52, 73, 74, 76, 102, 103, 104, 106, 115 workforce, 68, 105 World Education Forum, 83 written texts, v, vii, ix, 63, 64, 65, 66, 79, 107

Y young people, 21, 95, 196