A Critical Discourse Analysis of the 2016 Manifestos of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP)
Date
2017-07
Authors
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Publisher
University of Ghana
Abstract
The main goal of political discourse is to seek the legitimization of power, mainly through
the use of persuasive language. Among these discourses are manifesto discourses, which
are usually in written forms and discuss political parties’ policies of developing a nation
upon which they seek to be elected into office. Given their significance, manifestos employ
diverse rhetorical strategies that are not found in other forms of discourse. This
presentation is a Critical Discourse Study of the 2016 election manifestos of two (2)
political parties in Ghana: The National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New
Patriotic Party (NPP). The research employed Fairclough’s (1995: 98) three dimensional
models under Critical Discourse Analysis: Discourse as Text; Discourse as Discourse
Practice; and Discourse as Sociocultural Practice. The research design adopted the
qualitative method of analysis to describe five (5) selected sections of each manifesto. The
qualitative method was used since it helped in the description of the data. Also, the three
dimensional model, allowed for the analysis of the text, thus how the text was produced
and the context within which it was produced. I posit that, the study reveals the heavy use
of rhetorical/persuasive strategies such as blame, contrastive use of indigenous linguistic
lexemes, comparison; and linguistic features such as nouns, pronouns, verbs and adjectives
in the two different manifestos by the two (2) major political parties in Ghana. Thus, the
study exposes the rhetorical or persuasive strategies that the text creators used to solicit
electorates’ legitimization. Also, the study offers further insight into Fairclough’s
approach to discourse studies. It was identified that his approach is potent for analyzing
data on political discourse.
Description
Keywords
Manifestos, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA),, Fairclough’s (1995) model,, Persuasive Strategies