Language, Representation And Ideology In The Nigerian 2011 Presidential Election Newspaper Reports

Abstract

This study examined the language, representation and ideology in the Nigerian 2011 presidential election newspaper reports. Specifically, the study identified and interpreted the macro speech acts that characterized the newspaper reports with an assumption that the representations concealed some underlying ideologies.The study also investigatedthe structures of themicro propositions in the reports to establish the nature of the newspaper representation of the election.In addition, the study identifiedthe imbued ideologies and describedtheir discursive structures, andhow the micro propositions exhibited power relations.To achieve the objectives stated, the study was situated within van Dijk‟s (2009) framework of Sociocognitive Approach to Critical Discourse Analysis and integrated Austin‟s (1962) and Searle‟s (1976) classifications of speech acts in the Speech Act Theory.The studyadoptedadescriptive study design and a multistage sampling technique. Six daily national newspapers were selected across the six geo-political zones in Nigeria and two news articles (the lead article and any other one related to the electionnews reports) were purposively selected from each newspaper to make the articles twelve in number. To enable analysis, the articles were labeled as samples 1-12 and all the paragraphs in each article were numbered to allow the construction of macrostructures and identification of macro speech acts. The thesis has three analysis chapters: chapter four identifies and interprets the macro speech acts in the news reports; chapter five investigates the structures of the micro propositions; and chapter six combines two objectives. Itidentifiesand analyses the ideological propositions, and how the propositions exhibit power relations. From the analysis, the study discoversthe prevalence of verdictives which suggests that the newspapers approved of the outcome of the elections as free, fair and peaceful. The structures of the micro propositions indicate newspaper bias of the representation in favour of the ruling party while the discursive and cognitive structures of the ideological propositions in chapter six show how the ideologies were couched in the news reports and the polarization that exist therein. Finally, the study observes that the newspaper reports were used to exhibit more of dominance than resistance in terms of power relations. Chapter seven presents the summary of findings, conclusions and recommendations for further studies.