University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF THE 2016 MANIFESTOS OF THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS (NDC) AND THE NEW PATRIOTIC PARTY (NPP) BY KYEREWAA-OWUSU DIVINE ABENA ATAA (10550803) THIS THESIS IS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF MPHIL ENGLISH DEGREE JULY, 2017. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh DECLARATION I, KYEREWAA-OWUSU, Divine Abena Ataa hereby declare that except the references to other works which have been duly cited, the thesis is the result of my own work and has neither in whole nor part been presented in this university or elsewhere. ……………………………………………………….. ………………………. KYEREWAA-OWUSU, DIVINE ABENA ATAA DATE (STUDENT) i University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the preparation and presentation of the thesis was supervised in accordance with the guidelines on supervision of thesis laid down by the University of Ghana, Legon. ………………………………..…. ………………….. DR. JEMIMA ASABEA ANDERSON DATE (SUPERVISOR) ………………………….. ................................... DR. GLADYS NYARKO ANSAH DATE (SUPERVISOR) ii University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh DEDICATION This work is humbly dedicated to my parents; Mr. Joseph Kwasi Owusu and Mrs. Margaret Owusu; and to the Metropolitan Catholic Archbishop of Accra, His Grace, Gabriel Charles Angela Palmer-Buckle for the enthusiasm they have shown in my life and in my academic exploits. iii University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to thank the Almighty God for His Grace and Mercy. He has once again helped me complete another journey of education. I remain grateful to my supervisors; Dr. Jemima Asabea Anderson and Dr. Gladys Nyarko Ansah. May the good Lord bless them and grant them long life so that they can extend their helping hands to others. I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my parents, Mr. Joseph Kwasi Owusu and Mrs. Margaret Owusu for funding my education till this stage of my life. God bless them. A very big thanks goes to Archbishop Charles Palmer-Buckle, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra, for his encouragement whenever I lose hope in life. I remain grateful to all the lecturers in the Department of English at KNUST especially Dr. Esther Serwaah Afreh for her advice and encouragement. Similarly, I would like to thank all the lecturers in the Department of English, Legon, especially to Professor Wiredu and Dr. Elizabeth Orfson- Offei for their guidance, advice and encouragement concerning my studies. I would also like to thank the Dean, School of Languages (University of Ghana, Legon,) Professor Nana Aba Apia Amfo for her guidance and support. I also want to thank my twin brother Kyere-Owusu Divine Kwabena Atta and all my friends especially Faustina Oduro, Georgina Esinu Agbakpe, Thelma Nyame, Ann- Marie Palmer-Buckle, J. B. Amissah-Arthur, Beatrice Oforiwaa Dankyi, Richard Lawerh, Enoch Kwame Antwi, Rhoda Botwe, Andrew Amoako Darko, Samuel Koranteng, Gabriel Opoku, Kingsley Ohene Adu, Gabriel Edzordzi Agbozo and Edmund Ankomah. I am further grateful to all my course mates. I also remain indebted to my aunty, Kate Debrah and my cousins, Gertrude and Priscilla. May God bless all of them for the significant contributions they all made in diverse ways towards the successful completion of this work. Finally, I would like to thank my uncles, Michael Donkor, Emmanuel Donkor and Professor Edward Kwaku Mensah. iv University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 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. Keywords: Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), Fairclough’s (1995) model, Manifestos, Persuasive Strategies v University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh KEY WORDS INTRO P. Introduction to Paragraph LL Last Line NDC-AGR National Democratic Congress - Agriculture NDC-CON National Democratic Congress - Conclusion NDC-EDU National Democratic Congress - Education NDC-FWD National Democratic Congress - Foreword NDC-HTH National Democratic Congress - Health NPP-AGR New Patriotic Party - Agriculture NPP-CON New Patriotic Party - Conclusion NPP-EDU New Patriotic Party - Education NPP-FWD New Patriotic Party - Foreword NPP-HTH New Patriotic Party - Health P. Paragraph Pg. Page Number vi University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh TABLE OF CONTENTS Content Page DECLARATION ............................................................................................................... i CERTIFICATION ............................................................................................................ ii DEDICATION ................................................................................................................ iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .............................................................................................. iv ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................... v KEY WORDS................................................................................................................... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................... vii CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 1 1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background to the study ........................................................................................... 1 1.2 Statement of the problem .......................................................................................... 3 1.3 Research questions .................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Research objectives ................................................................................................... 4 1.5 Scope of the study ..................................................................................................... 5 1.6 Significance of the study ........................................................................................... 5 1.7 Limitations ................................................................................................................ 6 1.8 Organization of the study .......................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER TWO .............................................................................................................. 8 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................ 8 2.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 8 2.1 Political discourse ..................................................................................................... 9 2.2 Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)......................................................................... 10 2.3 A Short History of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) .......................................... 14 2.4 What is “Critical” in Critical Discourse Analysis ................................................... 15 2.5 Characteristics of Critical Discourse Analysis ........................................................ 16 2.6 Importance of Critical Discourse Analysis ............................................................. 17 2.7 Criticisms of Critical Discourse Analysis ............................................................... 18 2.8 Theoretical Framework - Fairclough’s Three-Dimensional Approach to the study of discourse ................................................................................................................... 19 2.9 Advantages of Fairclough’s Approach under CDA ................................................ 30 2.10 A review of related works to the current study ..................................................... 31 2.11 Rhetorical/Persuasive Strategies ........................................................................... 36 2.12 Linguistic Features ................................................................................................ 39 2.13 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 45 vii University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CHAPTER THREE ........................................................................................................ 46 METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................... 46 3.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 46 3.1 Source of data.......................................................................................................... 46 3.2 The Structure of the data (The Selected 2016 Manifestos) ..................................... 48 3.3 The Sampling Procedure ......................................................................................... 50 3.4 The Procedure for Analysis..................................................................................... 52 3.5 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 54 CHAPTER FOUR .......................................................................................................... 56 ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF DATA ................................................................ 56 4.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 56 A. Discourse as Text ..................................................................................................... 56 4.1 Rhetorical Strategies ............................................................................................... 57 4.1.2 Blame-Game ..................................................................................................... 59 4.1.3 Contrast ............................................................................................................ 61 4.1.4 Unity/ Togetherness ......................................................................................... 63 4.1.5 Self-Praising ..................................................................................................... 64 4.1.6 Dream ............................................................................................................... 66 4.1.7 Transformation ................................................................................................. 67 4.1.8 Parallelism ........................................................................................................ 68 4.1.9 Emphasis .......................................................................................................... 77 4.1.10 Overload of Emotive Words ........................................................................... 78 4.1.11 The Use of Local Words ................................................................................ 79 4.1.12 The Use of Subordination ............................................................................... 80 4.2 Linguistic Features .................................................................................................. 81 4.2.1 Nouns ................................................................................................................ 81 4.2.2 Pronouns ........................................................................................................... 84 4.2.3 Verbs ................................................................................................................ 88 4.2.4 Adverbs ............................................................................................................ 98 4.2.5 Adjectives ....................................................................................................... 101 B. Discourse as Discourse Practice ............................................................................. 103 4.3 Intertextuality ........................................................................................................ 104 4.3.1 Historical Allusion ......................................................................................... 104 4.3.2 Metaphor ........................................................................................................ 105 4.3.3 The Use of Comparison .................................................................................. 106 C. Discourse as Socio-Cultural Practice ..................................................................... 107 4.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 111 viii University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CHAPTER FIVE .......................................................................................................... 112 SUMMARY, OVERVIEW, FINDINGS, THEORETICAL RECONSIDERATION, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION .......................................................... 112 5.1 Summary ............................................................................................................... 112 5.2 Overview ............................................................................................................... 112 5.3 Findings ................................................................................................................. 113 5.3.1 Rhetorical Strategies ....................................................................................... 114 5.3.2 Linguistic Features ......................................................................................... 116 5.4 Theoretical Reconsideration ................................................................................. 118 5.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 119 5.6 Recommendation .................................................................................................. 121 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................. 123 APPENDICES ............................................................................................................... 131 Appendix One: The Selected Sections of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Manifesto .................................................................................................................... 131 Appendix Two: The Selected Sections of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Manifesto 136 Appendix Three: A Summary of the Rhetorical Strategies and the Linguistic Features ..................................................................................................................................... 143 ix University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.0 Introduction This study investigates language use in political discourse in Ghana. It specifically makes an inquiry into the 2016 political manifestos of two major political parties in Ghana: “the National Democratic Congress (NDC)” and “the New Patriotic Party (NPP)”. This study focuses on the written aspect of the manifestos. Sharndama (2015) posits that “Political discourse is an umbrella term for the various political talks made at different political forums such as political campaign rallies, party manifestoes, inaugural speeches, bills among others” [sic] (p.12). This definition indicates that political manifestos fall under “political discourse”. The study applies Fairclough’s (1995, p. 98) three- dimensional models under Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to analyze five (5) selected sections of each manifesto: The Foreword, Education, Health, Agriculture and Conclusion of each of the two manifestos. These three-dimensional models are: “Text (Description)”, “Discourse Practice (Interpretation)” and “Sociocultural Practice (Explanation)”. In other words, “Discourse as Text”; “Discourse as Discourse Practice”; and “Discourse as Sociocultural Practice”. The work seeks to interrogate how rhetorical strategies and linguistic features have been employed to achieve the ultimate motivation behind the creation of such texts (manifestos). 1.1 Background to the study The constitution of Ghana, which established the Fourth (4th) Republic, provided a basic chapter for a republican democratic government. It therefore declared Ghana a Unitary Republic with sovereignty residing in the Ghanaian people. Provision is made for three (3) arms of government, namely: “The Executive”, “the Legislature” and “the 1 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Judiciary”. “The Executive” power in Ghana is exercised by the president and his or her cabinet; “the Legislative” power is vested in Parliament; while “the Judiciary”, power resides in the court system in the country. Commenting on political parties in Ghana, Ayee (2009, p. 4) argues that “Political parties have had a chequered [sic] history in Ghana due to the instability that has plagued the country’s politics since its independence from Britain in 1957.” Following the 1966 overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah, its first president, Ghana experienced long periods of military rule, respectively from 1966–69, 1972–79 and 1981– 92. As stated by the Electoral Commission of Ghana, “there are twenty-five (25) political parties in Ghana” as at 2016 (http://www.ec.gov.gh/political-entities/political parties.html). However, since the Fourth (4th) Republic, which began in 1992, only two (2) political parties in Ghana; “the New Patriotic Party (NPP)” and “the National Democratic Congress (NDC)” have been alternating the presidential seat of the country. The NDC is a social democratic political party in Ghana, which was founded by Flt. Lt. (Rtd.) Jerry John Rawlings on 28th July, 1992. He was head of state from 1981 to 1992 and the President of Ghana from 1993 to 2001. He was also Chairman of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) for a few months and handed over to Dr. Hilla Limann who was overthrown in 1981. It is upon his vision and leadership qualities that the NDC was established. “The party’s symbol is an umbrella with an eagle's head on top. Its colours are red, white, green, and black as its colour” (Article 3 and 4 of the NDC’s constitution). Mr. B. J. da Rocha and a few others revived the Progress Party and immediately convened meetings at the residence of the late Mr. Steven Krakue in 1992 with the blessing of the late Mr. Victor Owusu, the leader and presidential candidate of the Popular Front Party, the offshoot of the Progress Party in the 1979 general election. These meetings 2 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh constituted the main route to the formation of the NPP. The Interim National Executive Committee, chaired by Mr. B. J. da Rocha and the Policy and Research Committee under the chairmanship of the late Prof. K. G. Folson, were the two committees that helped in the formation of the New Patriotic Party. Commenting on the symbol and colours of the NPP, Enninful (2012, p. 39-40) underscores that, “It has Red, White and Blue as its colour with the elephant incorporated in the colours as its symbol”. He further posits that, “The colours of the NPP coincidentally are the national colours of the United Kingdom, United States of America and France. Nonetheless, the arrangement of the colours differs.” 1.2 Statement of the problem Manifestos abound during electioneering years in Ghana. Political parties present their manifestos by outlining what they intend to do for the people and their country. Some scholars have carried out research on manifestos. These include Ehineni (2014); Sarvat (2015) and Nadeem, Mahmood, and Mahmood (2014); and Nartey and Yankson (2014). Ehineni (2014) investigated the ideological uses of modal verbs by Nigerian politicians through their manifestos during their campaigns for the 2012 gubernatorial election in Ondo State. Also, Nadeem et al. (2014) and Sarvat (2015) have worked on manifestos within the Pakistan context. Whereas Nadeem et al. (2014) explored the agenda of political parties which are hidden in their manifestos through grammatical and lexical features, Sarvat (2015) deconstructed the relationship between power and language which has the capacity to reshape the existing ideologies of the people. Nartey and Yankson (2014) have also analyzed the 2012 manifestos from Ghana. They focused on the semantics of the modal verbs employed by the writer of the manifesto. 3 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Although all these scholars have worked on manifestos, the current study which also seeks to work on manifestos will employ Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as used by Ehineni (2014), Nadeem et al. (2014) and Sarvat (2015). In Ghana, it appears that Nartey and Yanson have worked on manifestos. The study by Nartey and Yankson is similar to the current study since they investigated the 2012 manifesto of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Ghana. However, their study is limited to only the modal verbs used in the manifesto. Apart from the study on modal verbs, other aspects of manifestos can be studied. For instance, the ideology of a political party and the discursive strategies used in the manifesto. The current study which is also within the Ghanaian context, will look at the rhetorical strategies and some linguistic features employed in the 2016 manifestos of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Thus, the work is an extension of the research carried out by Nartey and Yankson (2014) since it is a comparative study that will subject the manifestos to an analysis based on Fairclough’s (1995, p. 98) three-dimensional approach under CDA. 1.3 Research questions The current study seeks to provide answers to the following questions: 1. What are the rhetorical or persuasive strategies employed in the selected sections of the 2016 manifestos of the NDC and NPP? 2. What linguistic features have been used in these sections of the manifestos to achieve these strategies? 1.4 Research objectives The current study seeks to do the following: 1. Identify the rhetoric or persuasive strategies that were employed in the selected sections of the 2016 manifestos of the NDC and NPP. 4 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 2. Examine the linguistic features that were employed to convince the electorate in these aspects of the manifestos. 1.5 Scope of the study The study is based on the language used in the 2016 written manifestos of the NDC and the NPP. Thus, the researcher will carry out a CDA of the manifestos to investigate the ability of the two (2) parties to use language to gain political power. As mentioned earlier, Fairclough’s (1995) model under CDA is used for the study to help unravel the rhetorical strategies and the linguistic features used in the 2016 manifestos of the NDC and NPP. The study also focuses on five (5) selected sections of each of the manifestos: The Foreword, Education, Health, Agriculture and Conclusion. The Foreword and Conclusion were selected since they both summarize the entire manifesto. In addition, the three (3) social sectors: Education, Health and Agriculture were selected since the researcher has observed that they are the basic needs of every country and as such it is likely that the manifestos will present convincing arguments on them. 1.6 Significance of the study The research is very important since it will expose the languages and style used in presenting party manifestos. It will therefore reveal how politicians use language to lure the masses to vote for them. Thus, it will reveal how the NPP and the NDC used language in the manifestos to canvas for votes. The study will further add to other works done on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), especially those on political manifestos in Ghana and by extension, political discourse. It will also serve as a guide to people who want to carry out studies under Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), especially on manifestos. 5 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Ghana is a highly political country and the citizens are very active in discourses around politics. Although there is a large oeuvre of scholarship in political discourse in Ghana, there is a dearth of research on manifestos which are very key texts in political conversations. This case may also be true for many other postcolonial countries. This study will therefore, add to the small amount of available research on manifestos in Ghana and open a new trend in political discourse research in Ghana. 1.7 Limitations Undertaking a study of this nature will no doubt come with its own challenges. This research was not done without some of these challenges which come along with studies of this nature and these problems in one way or the other affected the researcher in various ways. There was limited time since the researcher was limited by the time within which the work was to be completed. Due to this, the current researcher could not go through all the procedures intended for such works. Works of this nature require a lot of resources but these resources were difficult to come by. Also, due to the volume of the manifestos, the three (3) selected thematic areas (Education, Health and Agriculture had only their introductory portions studied. However, the Foreword and the Conclusions of the two (2) selected manifestos were discussed comprehensively. 1.8 Organization of the study The study has five (5) chapters. Chapter one (1) serves as an introduction to the research work. Chapter two (2) concerns itself with the review of related literature. In this chapter the researcher brings to focus some materials that are related to the selected topic with the aim of bringing out other writers’ views on the study. The third chapter involves 6 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh the methodology that was employed in undertaking the research work. Chapter four (4) will focus on the analysis of the data collected. Finally, chapter five (5) is the concluding one. It involves the overview of the research work, findings, theoretical reconsideration, conclusion and some recommendations. 7 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 2.0 Introduction This chapter seeks to review works related to the current research. These include works on Political discourse and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). Language and politics are closely related. According to Michira (2014, p. 1): Politics is essentially concerned with power and authority: how to obtain and appropriate it, how to make decisions and control resources within a jurisdiction, how to control and manipulate the perceptions, behavior and values of those who are governed, among other things. In order to do all these, politicians rely on one key resource – language. This study will focus on a type of political discourse – (political manifestos) using Critical Discourse Analysis. In the field of Linguistics, political discourses have been studied using different approaches. To suit the purpose of text or talk, a speaker may choose words that suit the intended agenda. In identifying the agenda of a text or a talk, discourse analytical approaches are available to help decipher motifs of discussions. The approaches of discourse analysis include “Ethnography of Communication”, “Speech Act Theory”, “Interactional Sociolinguistics”, “Pragmatics”, “Critical Discourse Analysis”, “Variation Theory” and “Conversation Analysis”. The study prefers to employ the critical discourse analytical approach since it helps analysts to speak for the oppressed by identifying the intended meaning behind the language used by those in power. Political manifestos are usually prepared by politicians who are seeking political power and authority. They serve as some kind of medium of communication that inform the public about what a political party intends to do in a country when it is given the chance to govern the people. Although political parties outline unique policies in their manifestos, often, manifestos of political parties within different countries share some policies. 8 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 2.1 Political discourse Political discourse is used by politicians to solicit for votes, mostly during elections. It includes debates on legislation, discussions within political committees, manifestos and speeches by political leaders. Nadeem, Mahmood, and Mahmood, (2014, p. 2) citing Bourieu (1991) observe that: Political discourse is often important because the result of that discourse, and this in turn is why CDA is, in my opinion, an interesting approach. In other words, it is not the language itself which has wider ramifications which make it a worthy field of study but rather consequence of powerful person using that language to achieve some goal (p.188). Thus, political discourse can be analyzed to identify the hidden meaning behind the language used by political institutions, governments or political supporters operating in a political environment. Also, to Al-Faki (2014, p. 180) “political discourse can be defined as the written or spoken language, verbal or non-verbal, used in politics to steer the emotions of an audience to affect their opinions and attitudes.” Any form of language used within a political context that has an influence on the people. Again, Al-Faki (2014, p.185) maintains that “The term is suggestive of at least two possibilities: first, a discourse which is itself political; and second, an analysis of political discourse as simply an example of discourse type, without explicit reference to political content or political context.” To wit, this means that the analysis of a political discourse does not always involve a political context. In an attempt to define political discourse, Koutchade (2015, p. 24), quoted: political discourse is a discourse which is itself political, concerned with formal or informal political contexts and political actors and with politicians, political institutions, government, political media, and political supporters operating in political environments to achieve political goals (Schiffrin, Tannen, & Hamilton, 2001). 9 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh This means that it is any discourse used within a formal or an informal political context. This view on political discourse from Schiffrin et al., (2001) agrees with that of Bourieu (1991, p. 188) that politicians use this form of discourse to achieve a purpose. Manifestos form part of political discourse and they are the data for the study. Some scholars have provided different definitions for ‘manifesto(s)’. Nartey and Yankson (2014, p. 21), argue that “A persuasive rhetorical unit, the political manifesto is a keystone text in political discourse.” Citing Klingeman et al., (1994), Nartey and Yankson (2014, ibid) maintain that “political election manifestos are public declarations of political parties in which they outline their policies and tell electors how the country would be governed if they are given the mandate to assume office and wield power”. Commenting on manifestos, Nadeem et al. (2014, p. 2) argue that, “manifestos facilitate the voter to base her or his decision on the basis of party’s position on issues and vision that the party hold”. They further state that, “Manifesto texts can be regarded as persuasive text”. This could be true because politicians produce manifestos with the aim of seeking the peoples’ mandate. Hence, the language used has the intension of luring the electorates to vote for a particular political party. Therefore, the language should not be too harsh in order not to offend the electorates. This may also be the reason why politicians use persuasive language to communicate their message to their readers. Although they use this form of language, their intentions are hidden and CDA helps in revealing the meaning behind the language they use. 2.2 Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) Jorgensen and Phillips (2002, p. 60), while commenting on the term “critical discourse analysis” (CDA), maintain that: 10 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Critical discourse analysis (often abbrieviated to CDA) provides theories and methods for the empirical study of the relations between discourse and social and cultural developments in different social domains. Confusingly, the label ‘critical discourse analysis’ is used in two different ways: Norman Fairclough (1995a, 1995b) uses it both to describe the approach that he has developed and as the label for a broader movement within discourse analysis of which several approaches, including his own, are part (Fairclough & Wodak, 1997). CDA directs researchers on how to analyze all forms of discourses critically in order to expose the actual message being sent across by the writer or speaker, as well as the context within which the message was created. They further explain that: this broad movement is a rather loose entity and there is no consensus as to who belongs to it. While Fairclough’s approach consists of a set of philosophical premises, theoretical methods, methodological guidelines and specific techniques for linguistic analysis, the broader critical discourse analytical movement consists of several approaches among which there are both similarities and differences.” (Jorgensen & Phillips, 2002, ibid) This implies that CDA is a movement that is opened to anyone who would like to be part of it. It is made up of many different approaches and the three-dimensional approach of Fairclough (1995) forms part of the numerous approaches under it (CDA). More so, Fairclough (1995, pp.132-133) defines “Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)” as: discourse analysis which aims to systematically 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 text arise out of and are ideologically shaped by relations of power and struggle over power; and to explore how the opacity of these relationships between discourse and society is itself a factor securing power and hegemony. “Opacity” implies that the discourse may not be clear to the people involved. The way the people who are being addressed will understand the discourse will vary from what the discourse makers intend to let them know. This means that CDA investigates the meaning hidden behind the use of language. It also brings to light how people in power use language 11 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh to communicate their ideas to their subjects. It also exposes how language is used to show power relations between people. Again, cited in Wodak (2009, pp. 5-6), Fairclough and Wodak maintain that: CDA sees discourse – language use in speech and writing – as a form of ‘social practice’. Describing discourse as social practice implies a dialectical relationship between a particular discursive event and the situation(s), institution(s) and social structure(s), which frame it: The discursive event is shaped by them, but it also shapes them. That is, discourse is socially constitutive as well as socially conditioned – it constitutes situations, objects of knowledge, and the social identities of and relationships between people and groups of people. It is constitutive both in the sense that it helps to sustain and reproduce the social status quo, and in the sense that it contributes to transforming it. Since discourse is so socially consequential, it gives rise to important issues of power. (Fairclough & Wodak, 1997, p. 258). This definition of CDA from Fairclough and Wodak (1997, p. 258) indicates that CDA can be used to analyze both written and spoken discourse. Also, language shapes society and society shapes language. This is because, language used within a society has to conform to the norms of that society. The definition further agrees with Fairclough (1993) on the view that CDA helps to identify power relations through the languages people use in communication. According to Van Dijk (1994, p. 352), “CDA is a type of discourse analytical research that primarily studies the way social power abuse, dominance, and inequality are enacted, reproduced, and resisted by text and talk in the social and political context”. Thus, CDA creates a relationship between the society and discourse through shaping each other. Van Dijk’s definition agrees with that of Fairclough and Wodak (1997, p. 258) on the idea that CDA can be applied to both written and spoken discourse. It is also used to study power relations among people. This is done through a cursory look at the language people use. 12 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh To Huckin, Andrus, and Clary-Lemon (2012), “Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is an interdisciplinary approach to textual study that aims to explicate abuses of power promoted by those texts, by analyzing linguistic or semiotic details in light of the larger social and political contexts in which those texts circulate” (p.107). This means that CDA can be applied under all fields of study such as linguistics, psychology and sociology. It is also used to examine power abuse through the analysis of the “linguistic or semiotic” features of a text. Again, commenting on CDA, van Dijk (1995, p.17) explains that “CDA has become the general label for a special approach to the study of text and talk, emerging from critical linguistics, critical semiotics and in general from a socio-politically conscious and oppositional way of investigating language, discourse and communication”. This implies that “CDA deals with discourse dimensions of power abuse, injustice and inequality”. The focus on dominance under CDA implies that it is an approach to discourse that analyzes social issues since these issues are always complex. It allows the use of multidisciplinary approaches to aid the analysts in understanding dominance. To Wodak and Meyer (2001, p.1), “The terms Critical Linguistics (CL) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) are often used interchangeably”. They further posit that “The term CDA is used nowadays to refer more specifically to the critical linguistic approach of scholars who find the larger discursive unit of text to be the basic unit of communication”. Similarly, Wodak (2002, p. 6) repeats that the terms Critical Linguistics (CL) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) are often used interchangeably. This means that “Critical Discourse Analysis” is mostly used instead of “Critical Linguistics”. Again, Wodak and Meyer (2001, p.2) maintain that: CL and CDA may be defined as fundamentally concerned with analysing opaque as well as transparent structural relationships of dominance, discrimination, power and control as manifested in language. In other words, CDA aims to investigate critically social inequality as it is 13 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh expressed, signalled, [sic] constituted, legitimized and so on by language use (or in discourse). Thus, CL and CDA are employed to analyze structures that are either opaque or transparent. They are used to reveal the truth behind opaque structures and also to further elaborate on transparent structures. Opaque structures can be explained as structures that do not clearly indicate that the speaker or writer is projecting social inequality (dominance, discrimination, power abuse and control). All the various definitions of CDA are similar since they all maintain that it deals with power. It seeks to analyze language used by those in power or those who seek power to reveal the exact meaning behind what they want to communicate to their audiences. 2.3 A Short History of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) During the late 1970s, a group of linguists and literary theorists at the University of East Anglia played a pivotal role in developing Critical Linguistics (Fowler et. al., 1979; Kress & Hodges, 1979). The Critical Linguistics (CL) was based on Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and critical linguists started using it as a research tool (Fowler et. al., 1979; Fowler, 1991). Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) emerged from CL. The important protagonists of the CDA approach include Van Djik, Wodak, Leeuwen and Norman Fairclough. Diverse models under CDA included Van Djik’s Socio-Cognitive Model (1988,1991,1993,1995,1998b,1998a); Wodak’s Discourse Sociolinguistics (1995,1996,1999); Theo Van Leeuwen’s Socio-Semiotics (1993); and Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (1989,1993,1995a,1995b,1999). Language, to CL practitioners, performs three functions: “ideational”, “interpersonal”, and “textual”. To Fowler et al. (1991) and Fairclough (1995), the ideational function refers to the experience of the speakers of the world and its phenomena; the interpersonal function embodies insertion of speakers’ own attitudes and evaluations 14 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh about the phenomena in question. The third function (textual function) ensures that speakers are able to produce the texts that are understood by their listeners. CDA is currently an established approach in Linguistics and across all academic disciplines such as Sociology, Political Science, Psychology and Literary Studies. It has spread to many areas across the world such as Africa and Europe. In my opinion, CDA is a movement that emerged from Discourse Analysis (DA). Its main aim is to investigate the relationship between language and social issues. It believes that languages are influenced by biases based on social factors such as religion, culture and gender. Thus, there are social inequalities due to these biases and this is what CDA is interested in exploring. Also, it believes that text and context are interdependent. It can also be used to analyze visual images where the analysts observe these images as linguistic units. It systematically explores opaque relationships since it exposes relationships that exist between users of language and their audience. 2.4 What is “Critical” in Critical Discourse Analysis To Fairclough (1989, p. 5), “Critical (italicized in the original) is used in the special sense of aiming to show up connections such as the connections between language, power and ideology”. Also, according to Bukhari and Xiaoyang (2013, p. 13), “the concept of critical is rooted in the Frankfurt School of Critical theory (Adorno, 1973; Adorno & Horkeimer, 1992; Habermas, 1976)”. Citing Rogers (2003), Bukhari and Xiaoyang (2013, ibid) further mention that “another interpretation of critical is that CDA especially addresses social problems and seeks to solve social problems through the analysis and accompanying social and political 15 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh action”. Thus, CDA is said to be “critical” because it addresses issues within the society that needs urgent attention by focusing on the language employed in presenting them. 2.5 Characteristics of Critical Discourse Analysis “CDA is characterized by the common interests in de-mystifying ideologies and power through the systematic and retroductable [sic] investigation of semiotic data (written, spoken or visual). CDA researchers also attempt to make their own positions and interests explicit while retaining their respective scientific methodologies and while remaining self- reflective of their own research process” (Wodak, 2009, p. 3). As regards the characteristics of CDA, the following summarize CDA from the various readings:  It pays attention to how linguistic forms or languages are used in different forms by means of manipulation of power.  CDA analysts play advocacy role.  It reveals power relations hidden through language.  It uses the concept of “intertextuality” and “interdiscursivity” to analyze how texts relate with other texts. It is also opened to the analysis of factors that influence the text.  Context is very important under CDA analysis.  It is an interdisciplinary approach and describes data from different perspectives (pragmatics, sociolinguistics).  It can be combined with other approaches.  It is biased since it defends a position in a situation. Commenting on the characteristics of CDA and what CDA analysts do, van Dijk (1993) argues that: Unlike other discourse analysts, critical discourse analysts (should) take an explicit sociopolitical stance: they spell out their point of view, perspective, principles and aims, both within their discipline and within society at large. Although not in each stage of theory formation and analysis, their work is admittedly and ultimately political. Their hope, if occasionally illusory, is change through critical understanding. Their perspective, if possible, that of those who suffer most from dominance and inequality. Their critical targets are the power elites that enact, sustain, legitimate, condone or ignore social inequality and injustice. That is, one of the criteria of their work is solidarity with those who need it most. Their problems are real problems, that is the serious problems that threaten the lives or well-being of many, 16 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh and not primarily the sometimes petty disciplinary problems of describing discourse structures, let alone the problems of the powerful (including the problems the powerful have with those who are less powerful, or with those who resist it) (p. 252). To van Dijk, CDA usually deals with issues relating to politics that involve powerful people within the society. Also, CDA analysts take the stance of those who are suffering and defend them. 2.6 Importance of Critical Discourse Analysis To Evans (2013, p.1), CDA is “a branch of linguistics that seeks to understand how and why certain texts affect readers and hearers”. This means that CDA analysts investigate how the use of language within a particular context, affects the people within that context and tries to address how people are affected by the use of the language. For example, an analyst can choose to analyse speeches uttered by a minister during a demonstration by a group of people to find out how the people involved in the demonstration were affected by what the minister said to them. The importance of CDA include the following: 1. “Michael Billig (2002) has clearly pointed that CDA has become an established academic discipline with the same rituals and institutional practices as all other academic disciplines” (cited in Wodak, 2002, p. 6; 2009, p. 4). 2. “Despite their fuzziness and methodological complications (which are hardly different from those in other domains or orientations of discourse analysis), these aims and criteria of CDA seem rather straightforward and constitute a reasonably practical orientation for many research programmes. It might only be deplored that within the vast field of the studies of language use, discourse and communication, so little work is being done along these lines” (van Dijk 1994, p. 435). 17 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3. “One potential use of CDA is the analysis of a large textual corpus, as it can be used to comb through long stretches of discourse (text, talk, image, and gesture) to find patterns that create, circulate, reinforce, and reflect societal norms and ideology.” (Huckin et al., 2012, p. 119). 4. “CDA helps researchers (teachers) to investigate the relations between the ideas and the practices in the social contexts” (Bukhari & Xiayang, 2013, p.15). 2.7 Criticisms of Critical Discourse Analysis CDA has also been criticized by some scholars based on the following: 1. “It uses different approaches to analyze texts and it allows the use of different theories. Studies in CDA are multifarious, derived from quite different theoretical backgrounds, oriented towards different data and methodologies. Researchers in CDA also rely on a variety of grammatical approaches.” (Wodak, 2009, p. 5). This means that any researcher working with CDA has to indicate the approach he or she is using since each of the proponents of CDA has a specific approach to the study of discourse. 2. Mostly the researchers take political stance. This is because before a researcher decides to use CDA, he or she knows the stance from which the argument will be made. Often, CDA analysts argue for those who are being oppressed by those in power. For example, in the case of analyzing a discourse on a girl who has been raped by a politician, the CDA analyst will take the stance of the girl since she has been oppressed. 3. “It selects text that support the interpretation. It should rather examine several text. This opens way for pre-judgement before the research” (Widdowson, 1995, p. 18 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 169). In response to this Fairclough (1996) replies that CDA has open-endedness results. 4. Cited in Bukhari and Xiaoyang (2013, p. 15), “CDA is usually critiqued due to these reasons: first, Political and Social ideologies are projected onto the data rather than being revealed through the data; second, there is an unequal balance between social theory and linguistic method; third, many analyses through discourse are extracted from social contexts; and fourth, this methodology is not systematic (Roger, et al., 2003; Widdowson, 1998).” 2.8 Theoretical Framework - Fairclough’s Three-Dimensional Approach to the study of discourse As mentioned earlier, the approaches to the study of discourse under CDA include Fairclough’s (1989, 1992, 1995) three-dimensional model; van Dijk’s Socio-Cognitive approach and Wodak’s Discourse historical approach. The theoretical framework for the study is Fairclough’s “three dimensional model” under Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) since it is widely known for analyzing political discourse and the current data for the study falls under political discourse. His model is used as a framework for empirical research on communication and the society at large. Fairclough’s approach to the study of discourse (his three-dimensional model) is: an attempt to bring together three analytical traditions, each of which is indispensable for discourse analysis. They are the tradition of close textual and linguistic analysis within linguistics, the macrosociological [sic] tradition of analyzing social practice in relation to social structures and the interpretivist or microsociological [sic] tradition of seeing social practice as something which people actively produce and make sense of on the basis of shared commonsense procedures. (Fairclough, 1992, p. 72) Furthermore, he agrees with the interpretivists on their view that, “we must try to understand how members of social communities produce their ‘orderly’ or ‘accountable’ worlds”. Fairclough (1992, ibid) 19 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Again, Fairclough (1992), while commenting on his three dimensional models states that: Discourse, and any specific instance of discursive practice, is seen as simultaneously i) a language text, spoken or written, ii) discourse practice (text production and text interpretation), iii) sociocultural practice. Furthermore, a piece of discourse is embedded within sociocultural practice at a number of levels; in the immediate situation, in the wider institution or organization, and at a societal level. (p.97) Under his “three dimensional model” to the study of discourse, Fairclough distinguishes between “text”, “discursive practice” and “social practice”. These levels can be analytically separated since the analyst can decide to focus on any of the levels or all the levels depending on his research questions and objectives. For example, when analysing the 2016 manifestos of Ghana, the analyst can decide to do so under all the three levels or focus on one of the levels. Fairclough (1989, p. 25) is of the view that “discourse involves social conditions which are specified as social conditions of production and social conditions of interpretation.” (Italicized in the original) This means that before discourse is produced, there are social conditions that influence it and these conditions help in the interpretation of the discourse. Thus, context plays a very important role in the production and “interpretation” of discourse. Discourse can never be meaningful without context. For example, if a journalist presents a story in newspapers but does not include the context of the story, no one will understand the story. Similarly, if an analyst wants to analyze the speeches of a president but does not know the context within which the speeches were made, he will not be able to do so. To Fairclough, social conditions can be related to three different ‘levels’ of social organization: “The level of the social situation, or the immediate social environment in which the discourse occurs; the level of the social institution which constitutes a wider matrix for the discourse; and the level of the society as a whole.” (Fairclough, 1989, p. 20 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 25). This implies that social conditions play a very important role in how texts are produced. These levels of social organization include social situation, social institution and the society. At the level of ‘social situation’, all issues within the society involve the use of language since it is used in describing or analyzing situations. For instance, it can be used to describe the economic or the health situation of a country. All these are better understood through the use of any form of discourse, either written or spoken. The use of discourse at the level of social institution means that every institution needs language to exist. There are no social institutions existing without the use of language since all the people within the institution need language to co-operate with one another. This explains why social institutions usually collapse when there is conflict among its members. The society at large needs language to exist. Language is never an external feature of society since the two work hand in hand. This makes language an internal feature of the society. If language exists in a society and no one uses it, it may lead to ‘language death’. Therefore, discourse can simply be described as text, context and interaction. It was based on these three ‘levels of social organization, that Fairclough (1989; 1992; 1995) classified three approaches, stages or dimensions of critical discourse analysis. The three levels from each year, correspond and share the same meaning. The levels for each year include: Fairclough (1989, p. 25), which consists of “Text”, “Interaction” and “Context”; Fairclough (1992, p. 73) made up of “Text”, “Discursive Practice” and “Social Practice”. Also, Faiclough (1995, p. 98), classified these dimensions as “Text”; “Discourse Practice”; and “Sociocultural practice”. These differences in names under the levels from each year is due to a revision made by Fairclough on his books. It has been observed that apart from the first dimension which is known as “Text”, the names 21 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh of the other dimensions under each year changed. Fairclough (1995, p. 98) presented his three dimensional models on a diagram: The diagram indicates that Fairclough (1995) also refers to the three dimensional models as “Description”; “Interpretation” and “Explanation”. Furthermore, Fairclough (1989, p. 25) explains that: 1. Description is the stage which is concerned with formal properties of the text. These formal properties include syntax, coherence and cohesion. 2. Interpretation is a stage that involves the relationship between text and interaction. 3. Explanation is concerned with the relationship between interaction and social context. In Fairclough (1992, 2002), this is also known as “Discourse as Discursive practice”. Under this level intertextual analysis can be done. As already mentioned, there are different proponents of CDA and each of them has an approach to the study of discourse. As regards Fairclough’s approach, any analyst who wants to use his approach has to use his three dimensions of discourse analysis. It should be noted that under each of the levels, the analysis is unique. Before any text is produced, it goes through a process. According to Janks (1997, p. 329), these processes are the objects 22 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh of analysis; how the object is produced and the conditions that surround how the object is produced. The theoretical framework for the study has further been revised by Fairclough (1995, p. 98): 1. Discourse as Text / analysis of text/ Description This is the first dimension of Fairclough’s (1995) model which includes textual analysis. Fairclough (1992, p.194) regards textual analysis as “subsuming two complementary types of analysis: linguistic analysis and intertextual analysis”. To him: linguistic analysis in an extended sense covers not only the traditional level of analysis with linguistics (phonology, grammar up to the level of the sentence, and vocabulary and semantics) but also includes the analysis of textual organization above the sentence, including inter-sentential cohesion and various aspects of the structure of texts. (Fairclough, 1992, ibid) For instance, under this dimension, a researcher can analyze a text by focusing on the linguistic features, rhetorical strategies and ideological features. Also, this is where analysts consider the various aspects of textual linguistics methods such as syntactic analysis, the use of metaphors and rhetorical devices. This includes the analysis of speech, writing, visual image or a combination of these. That is the linguistic features of the text. For Fairclough (1992, p.73), “linguistic features of text involve the discursive practice and vice versa”. To Fairclough (1992) “text analysis can be organized under four main headings: ‘vocabulary’ grammar’, ‘cohesion’ and ‘text structure’” (p.75). Vocabulary involves individual words used in the text. Grammar deals with words combined into sentences and clauses. Cohesion also involves how clauses and sentences are linked together to create meaning. Text structure deals with the organization of the text. According to Jorgensen and Philips (2002, p. 13), “Text analysis concentrates on the formal features (such as 23 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh vocabulary, grammar, syntax and sentence coherence) from which discourse and genres are realized linguistically”. Also, Wodak and Meyer (2001, p. 10) argue that, “For CDA, language is not powerful on its own. It gains power by the use powerful people make of it. This explains why CL often chooses the perspective of those who suffer, and critically analyses the language use of those in power, who are responsible for the existence of inequalities and who also have the means and opportunity to improve conditions.” CDA chooses the stance of those who are suffering and critically investigates the language used by those in power who are responsible for the suffering. 2. Discourse as Discursive Practices / analysis of processes of text production, consumption and distribution According to Fairclough (1995, p. 13), the discourse practice dimension of the framework is “concerned with “the production, consumption and distribution (italicized in original) of texts”. He further argues that: analysis involves both the detailed moment-by-moment explication of how participants produce and interpret texts, which conversation analysis and pragmatics excel at, and analysis which focuses upon the relationship of the discursive event to the order of discourse, and upon the question of which discursive practices are being drawn upon and in what combination. Fairclough (1995, p. 134). Distribution implies how the texts circulate within “orders of discourse”. That is how the text gets to the people intended to be the audience of the message. Analysts study the factors that influenced the production of the text which includes the inter-textual, the inter- discursive and the societal elements. Here, the language used is also studied in relation to the context within which it has been used. For instance; which institution produced the text? Why did they produce it? Who were their target audience? Thus the analysis of the discourses and genres which are articulated in the production and the consumption of the text. 24 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Fairclough (1992) explains that “Discursive practice involves processes of text production, distribution, and consumption and the nature of these processes varies between different types of discourse according to social factors” (p.78). Texts are consumed differently depending on the social context within which it has been produced. Some texts are recorded, transcribed, preserved and re-read while others are recorded but thrown away. For instance, a political speech can be recorded, transcribed, edited and presented. As regards distribution, a text may have simple distribution or complex distribution. Simple distribution involves particular audience to which the text is addressing. For example, a casual conversation belongs to the immediate context of situation in which the conversation occurred. Complex distribution is where the text belongs to multiple audiences. For example, texts produced by political leaders are distributed across different institutional domains. Example, newspaper articles are produced through different stages. The press reports, a draft report in the form of text, deciding where to place the report in the newspaper and editing the report. Fairclough (1992, p.75) distinguished three headings which can be used in analyzing “discursive practices”. These are “the ‘force’ of utterances”; “the ‘coherence of texts” and “the ‘intertextuality’ of text”. “The ‘force’ of utterances” involves what kind of speech acts the text constitutes. Examples of speech acts include promising, requesting and commanding. Intertextuality is where a speaker or writer makes reference to other works through speech or writing. Fairclough (1992, p. 101) explains that “the term 'intertextuality' [sic] was coined by Kristeva in the late 1960s in the context of her influential accounts for western audiences”. Again, Fairclough (1992, p. 102) opines that: Kristeva observes that: inrertextuality [sic] implies 'the insertion of history (society) into a text and of this text into history' (1986a: 39). By 'the 25 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh insertion of history into a text', she means that the text absorbs and is built out of texts from the past (texts being the major artefacts that constitute history). By 'the insertion of the text into history', she means that the text responds to, reaccentuares; and reworks past texts, and in so doing helps to make history and contributes to wider processes of change, as well as anticipating and trying to shape subsequent texts. To Kristeva, intertextual is when a writer makes reference to texts that already exist during the production or writing of a new text. Cited in Jorgensen and Phillips (2002, p. 73): Intertextuality refers to the condition whereby all communicative events draw on earlier events. One cannot avoid using words and phrases that others have used before. A particularly pronounced form of intertextuality is manifest intertextuality, whereby texts explicitly draw on other texts, for instance, by citing them (Fairclough, 1992b, p. 117). They further maintain that “Intertextuality refers to the influence of history on a text and to a text’s influence on history, in that the text draws on earlier texts and thereby contributes to historical development and change” (Kristeva, 1986, p. 39; quoted in Fairclough 1992b, p. 102). “Texts are inherently intertextual, constituted by elements of other texts,” Fairclough (1992, p. 102). This means that texts are made up of elements of other texts. Fairclough (1992, pp. 103-104) argues that: The distinction between intertextual relations of texts to specific other texts, and intertextual relations of texts to conventions, is linked to another distinction used by French discourse analysts: 'manifest' as opposed to 'constitutive' intertextuality [sic] (Au~er-Revuz 1982; Maingueneau 1987). In manifest intertextuality, other texts are explicitly present in the text under analysis; they are 'manifestly' marked or cued by features on the surface of the text, such as quotation marks. Note, however, that a text may 'incorporate' another text without the latter being explicitly cued: one can respond to another text in the way one words one's own text, for example. The constitutive intenexmity [sic] of a text, however, is the configuration of discourse conventions that go into its production. Thus, “intertextuality” is where the meaning of a text is shaped by other texts. Here, two types of intertextuality have been outlined from Fairclough’s argument: manifest intertextuality and constitutive intertextuality. Whereas manifest intertextuality refers to the use of works from previous writers in the writing of a new text, “Constitutive intertextuality” refers to the combination of different genres and discourses in the creation 26 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh of a text. Fairclough (1992, p. 124), mentions that the principle of interdiscursivity [sic] (or constitutive intertextuality); this implies that, “constitutive intertextuality” is also known as “interdiscursivity” [sic]. This is because the writers of the text, employing constitutive intertextuality dwell on other discourse. Also, El Sayed (2014, p. 23) defines manifest intertextuality as “a concomitant aspect of all academic discourse which is by necessity a creative blend of the words of the writer of the text and his predecessors, with the objective of integrating the current knowledge within the accredited facts of the discipline”. In addition, Fairclough (1992, p. 118) identified some modes of intertextuality which are: 'sequential' intertextuality, where different texts or discourse types alternate within a text.‘embedded intertextuality’, where one text or discourse type is clearly contained within the matrix of another. 'mixed intertextuality', where texts or discourse types are merged in a more complex and less easily separable way. Manifest intertextuality is the case where specific other texts are overtly drawn upon within a text. Also, to Fairclough, (1992, p. 194), “intertextual analysis shows how texts selectively draw upon orders of discourse (italicized in original) – the particular configurations of conventionalized practices (genres, discourses, narratives, etc.) which are available to text producers and interpreters in particular social circumstances.” Commenting on the “discursive practice” under Fairclough’s three - dimension model, Jorgensen and Philips (2002, p. 13) explain that, “Analysis of discursive practice focuses on how authors of texts draw on already existing discourses and genre to create a text, and on how receivers of texts also apply available discourses and genres in the consumption and interpretation of the text”. With reference to the aforementioned comments and definitions, discourse as discursive practice means how text are produced; interpreted and consumed by the intended audience. The production of texts goes through many stages and they differ. Whereas some texts are recorded, transcribed and edited; 27 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh others are written and edited. The audience get access to the produced texts that they have published. 3. Discourse as social practice / sociocultural analysis of the discursive event This is the wider “social practice” to which the communicative event belongs. As cited in Fairclough (1995, p. 134), “The analysis of the discursive event as social practice may refer to different levels of social organization - the context of situation, the institutional context, and the wider societal context or ‘context of culture (Malinowski, 1923; Halliday & Hassan,1985).” That is the consideration about whether the discursive practice reproduces or reshapes the existing order of discourse and the kind of consequences it has on the social world. In my view, CDA analysts believe that there are always some social factors that will influence whatever people say. These factors include gender, age and context. This implies that words are not on their own but context plays a very important role in the words a speaker uses. CDA is an approach under Discourse Analysis (DA) that can be used to address all forms of issues and this makes it a multidisciplinary approach. It can be used to address gender inequality, media discourse, political discourse and racism. According to Fairclough (1992, p. 73), “the part of the procedure which deals with the analysis of text can be called ‘description’ and the parts which deal with analysis of discourse practice and with analysis of the social practice of which the discourse is a part can be called ‘interpretation’”. Language analysis under Fairclough’s three-dimensions should focus on three aspects. All the three dimensions of the model should be covered in a specific discourse analysis of a communicative event. Fairclough’s theory draws on Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) under his textual analysis. These are: “The linguistic features of the text or text analysis (Discourse as text); Processes relating to the production and consumption of the text (Discourse as discourse practice); and the 28 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh wider social practice to which the communicative event belongs (Discourse as social practice)” Fairclough (1992, p. 12). This is in relation to the classification of his framework in Fairclough (1995). He classified his analytical framework, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), “analysis of text; analysis of processes of text production, consumption and distribution; and sociocultural analysis of the discursive event (be it an interview, a scientific paper, or a conversation) as a whole” (Fairclough, 1995, p. 23).Thus, each discursive event has three dimensions: it is a spoken or written language (text); it is an instance of discourse practice involving the production and interpretation of text; and it is a piece of social practice. As regards his three-dimensional approach to CDA, Fairclough regards “text” analysis and “social practice” as being mediated by the “discursive or discourse practice”. Through the discursive practice, people use language to produce and consume texts: Text shapes social practice and social practice shapes text. Text influences the discursive practice (the production and the consumption process). Fairclough (1995, p. 133) opines: “the connection between text and social practice is seen as being mediated by discourse practice: on the one hand, processes of text production and interpretation are shaped by (and help shape) the nature of the social practice, and on the other hand the production process shapes (and leaves ‘traces’ in) the text, and the interpretative process operates upon ‘cues’ in the text”. This means that the processes of “text” production and “interpretation” are shaped by the “social practice”. The “social practice” also helps shape the production of the text and leaves traces on the text. It should be noted that the analysis of the linguistic features of a text includes the analysis of the production, consumption and interpretation (discursive practice of the text). The analysis of “discursive practice” focuses on how the writers of the text draw on existing discourses to produce a text and how the receivers of the texts apply existing discourses in the consumption and interpretation of the text. 29 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Example, a person analyzing the 2016 manifestos of Ghana’s presidential candidates may decide to look at how the authors of the manifestos made reference to 2012 political manifestos or other past political events. Political manifestos can draw on the ‘orders of discourse’. “The order of discourse is the sum of all the genres and discourses which are in use within a specific social domain” (Jorgensen & Philips, 2002, p. 16). A text may make reference to existing discourses or genre such as health, education and agriculture. When the readers of the manifestos or listeners know of the issues addressed in the manifestos they are able to interpret them when discussing with others the issues covered by the creators of the manifestos. Commenting on how Fairclough’s model is used in analyzing communicative events, Jorgensen and Philips (2002, p.13) explain that the analysis includes: Analysis of the linguistic structure (the level of the text). Analysis of the discourses and genres which are articulated in the text (the level of discursive practice). Considerations about whether the discursive practice reproduces or, instead, restructures the existing order of the discourse and about what consequences this has for the broader social practice (the level of social practice). 2.9 Advantages of Fairclough’s Approach under CDA 1. Scholars such as Jorgensen and Philips (2002), consider Fairclough’s approach as a well-developed approach to the study of discourse. His model is used as a framework to study discourses. The model is based on the idea that a text can never be understood or analysed in isolation. Rather, it can be understood in relation to other texts and the context of the text itself. 2. The three-dimensional model serves as an analytical framework for discourse analysis. It is based on, and promotes the principle that any form of text can never be understood or analysed in isolation. Texts can only be understood in relation to the webs of other texts and the social context within which they (texts) were produced. 30 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3. To Jorgensen and Philips (2002, p. 15), “Fairclough’s three dimensional analysis to the study of discourse shows the relationship between text and context in a highly pedagogical way”. 4. Fairclough is of the view that “his version of approach under CDA is associated with a general method” (2013, p. 13). 5. “What is useful about this approach is that it enables you to focus on the signifiers that make up the text, the specific linguistic selections, and their juxtapositioning, [sic] their sequencing, their layout and so on. However, it also requires you to recognize [sic] that the historical determination of these selections and to understand that these choices are tied to the conditions of possibility of that utterance.” (Janks, 1997, p. 329) 6. “It provides multiple points of analytic entry. It does not matter which kind of analysis one begins with, as long as in the end they are all included and are shown to be mutually explanatory. It is in the interconnections that the analyst finds the interesting patterns and disjunctions that need to be described, interpreted and explained” Janks (1997, p. 329). 2.10 A review of related works to the current study With regard to the current study, many works have been done on manifestos. In Britain, Dobson (2007); Pakistan, Sarvat (2015) and Nadeem et al. (2014); in South Africa, Moloi and Bojabotseha (2014); and in Nigeria, a study has been conducted on CDA of manifestos by Ehineni (2014). In Ghana, Nartey and Yankson (2014) carried out a semantic investigation of the modal verbs used in one of the 2012 manifestos. They did not use CDA for their analysis. It was identified that few works have been done on manifestos. 31 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Dobson (2007) examined the language used by two British political leaders of the 1990s in their election manifestos. The study was a comparative study to show how the Blair text (The Labour Party, 1997) differentiates itself from that of Kinnock (The Labour Party, 1992). These manifestos are from two politicians within the same political party but from different election years. Her aim was to explore how each leader’s language reflects their party’s political stance at each election and what social, economic, technological and above all, political influences are apparent from the language used. Thus, to reveal the secret intentions of the politicians that reflect from their language, Dobson (2007) employed Fairclough’s three-dimensional model and closely examined the intertextuality of the manifestos. She applied seven dimensions of intertextuality: discourse representation, metadiscourse, presupposition, negation, irony, coherence and subject. Dobson (2007) identified that whereas the 1992 manifesto reflected the stereotypical nature of British politics, making positive reference to class struggle; the 1997 manifesto tempered such notions since by 1997, a new way had been formed on the need for rights balanced with duties for an inclusive citizenry. In Pakistan, Nadeem et al., (2014) and Sarvat (2015) have analyzed political manifestos by employing CDA. Nadeem et al., (2014) used corpus driven methodology for their analysis and complied the manifestos of three major political parties: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) from the elections 2008 and 2013. Corpus driven methodology is an approach under CDA that is used to analyze large data. The major purpose of Nadeem et al., (2014) was to explore the agendas of political parties hidden in the manifesto through grammatical and lexical features. They studied lexical fields, passive voice, nouns, verbs and pronouns in detail. Their study was a comparative study of the manifestos which reflected that political parties have dual contexts behind simple statements. Nadeem et al., (2014) 32 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh identified through CDA that political parties are different in usage of lexical and grammatical features. Whereas PPP mentions all the issues of the country in detail and gives proper plans for them, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) provide minor details of important issues of the country like education, health, economy and agricultural facilities. They failed to give a proper solution to these issues. Again, PPP tries to convince the readers by describing flashback and flash forward pictures of the country. PTI and PML-N put less focus on their past works and more focus on their future plans. Similarly, Sarvat (2015) also analyzed only the manifesto of Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf. The aim of his study was to deconstruct the relationship between power and language through the manifesto; and reveal how ideologies are constructed and deconstructed through the relationship between power and language. Sarvat (2015) also analyzed three sections of the manifesto (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf): (1) Preamble (2) Pakistan’s History: A Nation Betrayed and (3) Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Naya Pakistan a dignified, self-respecting and prosperous people. He further discovered that the PTI manifesto had built its ideology on the basis of conflicts between itself and other political parties in Pakistan. Although both Nadeem et al., (2014) and Sarvat (2015) used CDA for their analysis, Nadeem et al., (2014) employed corpus driven methodology while Sarvat (2015) employed van Dijk’s socio-cognitive model (1993), which is often applied to analyze media discourse. The corpus-driven approach enabled Nadeem et al., (2014) to analyze the entire sections of the three manifestos (PPP, PTI and PML-N). In South Africa, Moloi and Bojabotseha (2014) analyzed three African National Congress (ANC) manifestos: the ANC’s 1999, 2004 and 2009 national election manifestos. Their aim was to critically analyze the intertextuality and interdiscoursivity of 33 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh the three documents (manifestos). Thus, to identify whether the ANC’s texts are characterized by multiple texts and voices. Moloi and Bojabtseha (2014) adopted their theory from critical discourse analysis since it enables analysts to work with other approaches that can help them find answers to their research questions. At the end of their study, they were able to prove that the ANC’s manifestos were characterized by multiple texts and voices including “the Reconstruction and Development Programme”, “the Freedom Charter” and “the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa”. They also identified that these texts and voice were reproduced in the manifestos to enhance that the ANC has an authority over whatever it says in their manifestos including their achievements and plans to improve the political lives of South African. Again, they proved that the ANC manifestos engage the voices of those who are not in agreement with what the ANC-led government has achieved. Ehineni (2014) carried out a critical discourse analysis of modals in Nigerian manifestos. His focus was on how linguistic elements like modals are used in manifestos by politicians to influence or persuade people and at the end, win the elections. He used data from two manifestos: The political manifestos of Dr. Olusegun Mimiko of the Labour Party (LP) and Barr Rotimi Akeredolu of the Action Congress of Nigerian (ACN). These were the manifestos they used during their campaigns for the 2012 elections in Ondo State. Through CDA, the study was able to expose the ideologies behind the use of the modals used by the politicians in the manifestos. Through his analysis, it was discovered that modals including “can”, “will”, “shall” and “must” are used in both manifestos to make promises, to persuade, demonstrate political will and solicit public support. Ehineni (2014) and Nartey and Yankson (2014) have done similar works since they both worked on modals in political manifestos. 34 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Nartey and Yankson (2014) analyzed modals in a Ghanaian manifesto: The New Patriotic Party (NPP). They focused on the semantic analysis of the modals used in the manifesto of the main opposition party (NPP). Their findings are not far from that of Ehineni (2014) since they identified that the modals ‘will’ and ‘shall’ were frequently used in the manifesto (NPP) they analyzed. These modals are used as tools to persuade people to vote them into power. Their study also revealed that modal auxiliary verbs are able to unravel the divergent shades of meaning typical of political discourses. For them, modals are used in manifestos to show “a sense of intention, promise, obligation and necessity in a conscious and strategic attempt to persuade the electorate” (2014, p. 21). They both worked on the 2012 manifestos of their countries. Their findings are similar since Nartey and Yankson (2014) identified that modal auxiliary verbs were used extensively in the manifesto to give a sense of intention, promise, obligation and necessity in a conscious and strategic attempt to persuade the electorate. The works identified on manifestos one way or the other differ from the current study since this study, in contrast to other researches, is comparative and explorative in nature. Although Nartey and Yankson (2014) analyzed the 2012 Ghanaian presidential manifesto of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), they conducted a semantic analysis of the manifesto. The current work will carry out a comparative study by using critical discourse analysis (CDA) to analyze the 2016 Ghanaian presidential manifestos of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Fairclough’s (1995, p. 98) model (discourse as text; discourse as discourse practice; and discourse as sociocultural practice) will be used for the analysis. This again differs from Nartey and Yankson (2014) who analyzed a manifesto within the Ghanaian context, since they focused on the use of modals in their selected manifesto. Nadeem et al., (2014) employed the corpus driven methodology since they used a large sampled data. They analyzed the 35 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh entire sections of three manifestos. However, since the current study uses a smaller sampled data (some selected sections of the two manifestos), it does not need the corpus approach which is only used for analyzing a large size of data. The current work relates to that of Sarvat (2015) who analyzed three sections of a manifesto. The only difference is that the current researcher analyzed five (5) sections each from the two (2) manifestos. Moloi and Bojabotseha’s (2014) study also differs from the new study since they focused on identifying only the intertextuality and interdiscursivity of the South African manifestos they analyzed. They also adopted various approaches under CDA for their analysis. As regards the context of study, Ehineni (2014); Moloi and Bojabotseha (2014); and Nartey and Yankson (2014) share the same context with the study since their works are within the African context. However, the study by Nartey and Yankson (2014) is closely related to the work since its data is within the Ghanaian context. The study also aims at critically analyzing their use of language by focusing on the rhetorical strategies and linguistic features. 2.11 Rhetorical/Persuasive Strategies According to Al-Faki (2014, p. 182) “Rhetoric is defined by Cockcroft and Cockcroft in their book Persuading People (1992) as ‘the art of persuasive discourse’.” He also maintains that: The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC) wrote extensively on the art of rhetoric, seeing it as an important part of human activity, and so worth categorising and defining in great detail. Plato, on the other hand, believed rhetoric to be about 'the manipulation of an audience by people who were essentially insincere in their motives'. Neither saw rhetoric as concerned only with government, but as a factor in all humane communication. (Al- Faki, 2014, ibid) This implies that Aristotle and Plato explained the term “rhetoric” since it is often used within the human environment to manipulate or influence people to agree to an argument 36 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh made by a writer or speaker. Rhetorical strategies can be described as the ways through which a speaker or writer uses language as a tool for persuading his readers or listeners. Frye (1957, p. 329) explains that “A good deal of the strategy of teaching is rhetorical strategy, choosing words and images with great care in order to evoke the response”. Also, Kazemian and Hashemi (2014), argue that “Rhetorical Analysis examines persuasive emphatic, effective, contrasting strategies, etc. in the realms of political rhetoric and other discourses. They further posit that, rhetorical devices are utilized to improve the effectiveness, clarity, emphasis, association, and focus”. (p.1182). This means that the addition of rhetorical devices in the creation of works enhances clarity and improves the understanding of the work. Cited in Heracleous and Klaering (2014, p. 134): The use of rhetorical strategies plays a crucial role as rhetorical devices are designed to shape meaning, engage emotions, and influence whether the message will be remembered and endorsed by the audience (Conger, 1991; Pondy, 1983). By the term rhetorical strategies, we refer to ways in which agents configure their language in an intentional manner, through the use of rhetorical devices which form patterns that persist over time and are consistently employed across different situations and texts (Suddaby & Greenwood, 2005). Since manifestos outline the policies of political parties, it is likely that their writers will employ persuasive strategies that will urge electorates to vote them into power. This is in line with the argument made by Cook (2000, p. 1): “Because the political debate which develops around them occurs in the nation’s mass media, a party’s manifesto is their best known document to the electorate” (cited in Soule, 2006, p. 20). The manifestos are well known to the electorates since most of them cast their votes for a particular party depending on the policies outlined in its manifesto. This is the main reason why some electorates read manifestos and others also listen to them being read. This relates with the argument made by Soule (2006, p. 20) on manifestos: “Manifestos are a major, if not the major, source of policy and ideological record for the public, politicians and journalists alike; they are the 37 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh textual centre-piece of contemporary electoral campaign”. Thus manifestos are written for all the people in the country so that they become aware of all the policies that the political parties have planned for the country. As mentioned, a reading of the manifestos, revealed the rhetorical strategies and their linguistic features. “Rhetoric and composition have always been concerned with the power of spoken and written discourse, in particular the ways in which language can be used to persuade audiences about important public issues” (Huckin, Andrus, & Clary-Lemon, 2012, p. 109). They further posit that “CDA aligns itself with this tradition in attending to purpose, situation, genre, diction, style, and other rhetorical variables, but also supplements it in a number of ways.” These include: 1. “CDA systematically grounds its analyses in both quantitative and qualitative attention to linguistic details.” 2. “CDA routinely engages texts that reflect inequality or other abuses of power.” 3. “As a consequence of point 2, CDA is always critical and explanatory.” 4. “CDA draws on a wide repertoire of text linguistic tools.” 5. “CDA is eclectic, drawing on a wide variety of scholarly disciplines, concepts, and research methods.” 6. “CDA typically makes use of multiple texts and even large corpora of texts.” (Huckin et al., 2012, ibid). The systematic nature of CDA keeps analysis close to the linguistic text being used for analysis by looking for patterns at the stylistic, verbal, syntactic, and figurative structures. CDA using a rhetorical framework leads to robust theorizing of aspects of rhetorical processes including: “textual effects such as persuasion, the performance of ethos (italics in the original); the reinterpretation of topoi (italics in the original) in new contexts; the interplay between university politics and first-year writing programs; the performance of power in the classroom; and the rhetorical functions of institutions such as medicine and the law, and the like” (Huckin et al., (2012, p. 118). To Skwire and Skwire (1998, p. 1), “Persuasion is supposed to be based on different principles from those of other kinds of writing - description, narration, exposition, 38 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh and so on”. This means that when people are writing to persuade, they should adopt words that can lure their readers to agree to their argument, rather than merely describing or narrating their message. Furthermore, Huckin et al. (2012, p. 124) explain that, “just as CDA is beginning to influence rhetoric and composition, they believe rhetoric or composition has the potential to influence the further development of CDA”. They further stated that “As Heidi McKee and James Porter note, the art of rhetoric by its very nature teaches us the importance of audience and of situational circumstances; the field of composition teaches us to be attentive to individual writers as persons (713).” (Huckin et al. (2012, ibid) 2.12 Linguistic Features The researcher found it necessary to identify some linguistic features in English that enabled the writers of the manifestos achieve their purpose of persuading their readers. According to Payne (2006): Most languages have thousands of nouns and verbs. Many also have hundreds of adjectives, and adverbs, though these classes seem to be more limited than nouns and verbs. Some languages are reported to have no true adjectives, or perhaps only a handful. The same is true for adverbs. Nevertheless, noun, verb, adjective, and adverb are usually considered to be the major word classes of any language. They express the main content of messages to be communicated. (pp. 118 – 119) Many attempts have been made under grammatical literature to define nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives and pronouns. To Daniel (1967, p. 81) “The addition of detailed meaning to general ideas depends upon word-choice, the most crucial choices are those of nouns and verbs”. Similarly, Matthews (2007, p. 268) maintains that “Nouns and verbs have been seen since antiquity as two principal parts of speech, without which a sentence could not be complete”. 39 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Nadeem et al. (2014, p. 2), citing Schaffner (1996), posit that “political discourse linguistics has a concern with linguistic structures in order to get relevant messages across the address in order to fulfil a specific function.” Thus, linguistic structures used under political discourses help politicians to pass on information to their readers or listeners. Russell (2014, p. 24), identified some linguistic features which included nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Parallelism is also known as repetition, which can be identified at the lexical, semantic or syntactic level. Lexical repetition is where words are repeated in speech or writing. Semantic repetition is where different words or phrases used in speech or writing share the same meaning. At the syntactic level, repetition may involve two or more phrases that have the same subject and verb. Cited in Kazemian and Hashemi (2014, p. 1182), “parallelism is re-occurrence syntactical and lexical similarities and it is employed across or inside sentences or even inside clauses and phrases Cuddon (2012) [sic]”. Thus, parallelism is the repetition of structures on various levels and it may be realized on the lexical, syntactic, semantic and phonological levels. a. Nouns Nouns play a very important role in all kinds of sentences. They may name a person, a place or a thing. Thus, the researcher will look at the nouns used in the selected sections of the manifestos. To Payne (2006, p. 94) “The class of nouns in any language includes words that refer to highly bounded or individuated entities, e.g., ‘tree,’ ‘mountain,’ ‘mausoleum,’ etc. These are concepts that tend not to change very much over time, and which can be referred to repeatedly in discourse as the same thing”. 40 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh b. Pronouns Fairclough (1989, p. 127) explains that, “pronouns in English do have correlative values of various sorts”. This means that for instance, the choice between the use of “we” and “you” is bound with associations of power and solidarity. Again, Fairclough (1989, p. 127-128) posits that there are two main uses of the pronoun “we”: “inclusive we” which involves the reader as well as the writer, as opposed to “exclusive we”, which refers to the writer (or speaker) plus one or more others, but does not include the addressee(s). Whereas “inclusive we” includes the reader or audience; “exclusive we” does not include the reader or audience. Furthermore, Fairclough (1989, p. 128) adds that another case where it pays to try to work out relationships which are being implicitly claimed is when the pronoun “you” is used. This is used where there are many actual and potential addressees whose identity is unknown to the producer. Thus, the direct address of members of the audience on an individual basis with the pronoun “you” is very common indeed. Additionally, Kazemian and Hashemi (2014, p. 1183) also maintain that, to Fairclough, there are generally two types of “we” pronouns. These are inclusive “we” which includes the audience as well as the speaker; and exclusive “we”, which refers to the speaker or writer plus one or more other, but does not incorporate the addressee(s). They further agree that the identification of the use of “we” base on Fairclough’s (1989) types of the pronoun “we” is sometimes ambiguous since it is sometimes not clear who the writer or speaker is referring to by the use of “we”. According to Nadeem et al. (2014, p. 4), “Pronominal choice has a direct link with cognitive manipulation. The most important thing is to whom political parties refer when they use specific pronouns.” They further maintain that “Personal pronouns have a stronger link with the connection of influence, authority and solidarity. All personal pronouns are used correctly whether consciously or unconsciously because people are very 41 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh clearly excluded or included.” This means that the use of some personal pronouns within the speeches or writing of politicians may indicate that the writer or speaker is including everyone within his or her context or he is referring to himself or herself only. To Panye (2006, p. 119) “Pronouns are free forms that function alone to fill the position of a noun phrase. The types of pronouns include Personal pronouns, Relative pronouns, Possessive pronouns, Demonstrative pronouns and Interrogative pronoun”. Commenting on the role of pronouns in discourse, Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad, Finegan and Quirk (1999) argue that “Most pronouns replace fully specified noun phrase and can be regarded as economy devices. Rather than giving a detailed specification, they serve as pointers to the surrounding text or the speech situation. In addition, pronouns are used where the reference is unknown or very general….” (p. 327). Biber et al (1999, p.328) maintain that “Personal pronouns are function words which make it possible to refer succinctly to the speaker or writer, the addressee, and identifiable things or persons other than the speaker or writer and the addressee”. They continue to argue that personal pronouns include “I”, “me”, “you”, ‘he”, “she”, “him”, “her”, “we” and “us”. In correspondence to personal pronouns, are possessive pronouns. “Possessive pronouns are used where the head noun is recoverable from the preceding context” (Biber et al, 1999, p. 340). Examples include mine, our, yours, his and her. c. Verbs Verbs play important roles in sentences since they indicate tense which helps in knowing the time an action took place. An action may have already taken place or is yet to take place. The use of verbs within a specific context indicates whether the action is yet to be put into practice, is taking place or has already happened. To Quirk and Greenbaum (1973, p. 26), “Many English verbs have five forms: the BASE, the –S FORM, the PAST, the –ING PARTICIPLE, and the –ED PARTICIPLE”. 42 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Examples of these forms of verbs are as follows: BASE – pray, call -S FORM – prays, calls PAST – prayed, called -ING PARTICIPLE – praying, calling -ED – PARTICIPLE – prayed, called They also identified modal auxiliary verbs and their functions. These include: can or could (ability); can or may (permission); may or might (permission); shall (willingness or intention); should (obligation), will (willingness, intention, insistence and prediction) and must (obligation). Also, to Payne (2006, p.104) “VERBS (bold in original) are words that describe visible EVENTS that produce changes in the world”. Examples include cook, break and die. He also commented on some verbs, which to him are manipulative. Payne (2006, p.116) maintains that: Manipulation verbs express concept that involve an AGENT using physical or rhetorical force to get someone else to do something”. He continued by outlining verbs such as “force, oblique, compel, urge, make, cause, let, allow, and permit, forbid, prevent, prohibit” as manipulative. (Payne, 2006, ibid) Payne (2006) regards these verbs as manipulative since they can be used as force to keep someone from doing something. Hence, they can be used in persuading people to reconsider their actions. Biber, Johnson, Leech, Conrad, Finegan and Quirk (1999, p.358) classified verbs into three major classes “Lexical verbs (also called full verb, e.g. dance, run), primary verbs (be, have, and do), and modal verbs (e.g. can, will, might).” 43 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh d. Adverbs The adverbs help in the identification of the time, place and manner an action took place or will take place. According to Daniel (1967, p. 18) “An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb”. This definition is a functional definition of adverbs since it does not make reference to how adverbs modify sentences, clauses and phrases. To Matthews (2007, p. 10), “an adverb is a word that modifies anything other than a noun”. This means that adverbs can serve as modifiers of verbs and adjectives but cannot be used to modify nouns. Similarly, Payne (2006, p.117) opines that “Any full lexical word that is not clearly a noun, a verb or an adjective is often put into the class of ADVERBS”. (bold in original). e. Adjective In speech and writing, adjectives are often employed by speakers or writers to describe nouns. In a persuasive manner, positive adjectives such as big, beautiful, bright and attractive are likely to be used by the writer or speaker. Matthews (2007, p. 8) defines an adjective as “a word of class whose most characteristic role is as the modifier of a noun”. From Matthews’ definition for adverbs and adjectives, whereas adjectives can be used to modify nouns, adverbs cannot modify nouns. To Payne (2006, p. 116) “An adjective is a word that can be used in a noun phrase to specify some property of the head noun of the phrase”. It is any word that distinguishes the noun being described from other nouns. Examples of adjectives include big, huge, small, tall and beautiful. Commenting on adjectives and adverb, Biber et al (1999, p. 504) argue that “Adjectives and adverbs are extremely common in all registers, but considerably less common overall than nouns and verbs”. They further maintain that “adjectives are most frequent in the written registers, especially academic prose, while adverbs are most 44 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh frequent in conversation and fiction. Also, nouns like adjectives are most frequent in news and academic prose, while verbs like adverbs are most frequent in conversation and fiction.” 2.13 Conclusion In conclusion, it can be said it is obvious that this literature review has been able to give us many things associated with critical discourse analysis and political discourse. Although some of the works done on manifestos differ from that of the current study, all the topics mentioned and discussed under the literature review, will contribute to the completion of the study. The literature will therefore help us to discuss the selected sections of the NDC and NPP manifestos from a critical discourse perspective. It is hoped that the findings of this work reflects on some of the related literature discussed in this chapter. This is because the researcher will use some of the methodologies that were employed in the various works cited in the review. Looking at all the works reviewed, it can be said that very little has been done within the Ghanaian context. I therefore posit that my work will add to the few works done on political manifestos in Ghana. 45 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY 3.0 Introduction This chapter concerns itself with the research methodology used for the study. It talks about the source of data, the structure of the data, the sample procedure and the procedure for analysis. Manifestos are very crucial in the area of politics since they present the plans of political parties to citizens of a country. Political parties therefore, carefully present their manifestos in a way that people will be persuaded to elect them. The study aims to carry out a Critical Discourse Analysis of the 2016 written manifestos of “the National Democratic Congress (NDC)” and “the New Patriotic Party (NPP)”. The written manifestos were chosen because they are printed documents and could be easily accessible to the researcher. The study will subject the manifestos to critical studies by employing Fairclough’s (1995, p. 98) three dimensions under Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to determine how politicians choose words to solicit for votes. To Wang (2010, p. 254), Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), “is often applied to analyze political discourse including the public speech in which the speaker wins favorite responses from the audience”. Thus, CDA can be used to analyze any form of discourse but it is widely used and known for its analysis of political discourse (issues relating to politics). 3.1 Source of data The data for the study is the 2016 written manifestos of the two main political parties in Ghana, thus the manifestos of “the New Patriotic Party (NPP)” and “the National Democratic Congress (NDC)”. In view of this, these written manifestos are the primary data for the study. The NDC manifesto was launched by the party on, Saturday, 17th 46 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh September, 2016 in Sunyani, the Brong Ahafo regional capital. It has eighty (80) pages. The NPP manifesto on the other hand was launched on Sunday, 9th October, 2016 at the Trade Fair Centre in Accra (the capital city of Ghana). It has one hundred and ninety-two (192) pages. These two manifestos were selected because: (1) Each of the two political parties has the potential of ruling the country as regards the trend of the political parties that have been ruling the country since the coming into force of the 1992 constitution of the Republic of Ghana. These two (2) parties have been alternating the presidential seat of the country. The NDC was the ruling party at the time the 2016 manifestos were written while the NPP was the main opposition party in the country. (2) They are the latest manifestos of the two political parties in the country. The researcher downloaded the NDC manifesto from citifmonline.com and the NPP manifesto, from the official page of Nana Akufo Addo (nanaakufoadd.org), the presidential candidate of the NPP political party. Whereas the NDC manifesto was downloaded on Saturday, 1st October, 2016, that of the NPP was downloaded on Wednesday, 23rd November, 2016. Due to the large textual volume of the manifestos, the current researcher would like to focus on five (5) sections of each manifesto: The Foreword, Education, Health, Agriculture and Conclusion. Whereas the entire passages of the Foreword and the Conclusion were analyzed, the three (3) sectors: Education, Health and Agriculture had their introductions analyzed due to time and space. The Foreword and Conclusion were selected since they are the parts that summarize the manifestos. They are therefore written critically since anyone who picks any manifesto can choose to read only those sections to have an overview of the document. It is possible that they may be rich with rhetorical 47 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh strategies hence require critical study. Also, Education, Health and Agriculture were selected because the researcher has observed that: (1) These social sectors are very critical areas to the development of any country. They are the pillars of growth of a country and as such any government should manage them well to enhance the growth of the country. (2) They are the areas of contention since every political party wants to put up the best in these sections because they help in the growth of a country. Due to that it is likely that the rhetorical elements will be more since Ghanaians are more interested in these sectors. (3) Prior to the launch of the various manifestos in Ghana, the researcher observed that many opinions were being expressed by the Ghanaian populace on Education, Health and Agriculture. It is therefore, expected that the political parties will present convincing arguments under these sections. 3.2 The Structure of the data (The Selected 2016 Manifestos) The 2016 National Democratic Congress (NDC) Manifesto The manifesto is made up of the Title, Foreword, Introduction, Body (themes) and the Conclusion. Thus, it has a brief introduction, four thematic areas, the achievements and the commitment for the next four years. These have been represented on the table below: Title Changing lives Transforming Ghana Foreword (page 4) Introduction (page 6) Theme (i) Putting people first (pages 9-29) Theme (ii) Strong economy for jobs and transformation (pages 30-50) Theme (iii) Infrastructure for accelerated development (pages 51-66) Theme (iv) Transparent and accountable governance (pages 67-77) Conclusion (page 78) 48 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The selected sections of the NDC manifesto, Education and Health fall under the first theme (Putting People First) and Agriculture falls under the second theme (Strong economy for jobs and transformation). The 2016 New Patriotic Party (NPP) Manifesto Unlike the NDC manifesto, that of NPP has no themes and introduction. It has rather been divided into eighteen (18) chapters. These can be seen on the table below: Title Change an Agenda for Jobs Foreword (pages v-vii) Chapter 1 A Strong Economy Matters (pages 1-20) Chapter 2 Trade and Industry (pages 21- 34) Chapter 3 Energy and Petroleum (pages 35 -46) Chapter 4 Agriculture and Rural Development (pages 47-58) Chapter 5 Growing Together (pages 59-68) Chapter 6 Infrastructure (pages 69- 86) Chapter 7 Natural Resources - Land, Forestry and Mining (pages 87-94) Chapter 8 Science, Technology, Innovation and Environment (pages 95 – 100) Chapter 9 Education (pages 101- 112) Chapter 10 Health (pages 113 -122) Chapter 11 Social Development (pages 123-130) Chapter 12 Governance, Corruption and Public Accountability (pages 131-138) Chapter 13 Local Government (pages 139-144) Chapter 14 Security (pages 145-114) Chapter 15 Foreign Affairs (pages 115-160) Chapter 16 Youth and Sports (pages 161-166) Chapter 17 Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts (pages 167) Chapter 18 Chieftaincy, Religious Affairs and Civil Society (pages 173-178) Conclusion (page 179) The NDC’s Foreword has a title, an introduction and eleven paragraphs and one last line. This is seen on page four (4) of the manifesto. The Foreword of the NPP manifesto has no introduction; it has a title, eleven paragraphs, similar to that of NDC. This can be identified on page v-vii. The entire section on Education under the NDC manifesto is from pages 10 to 18. However, the introductory section which was analyzed is on page ten (10) of the document. 49 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The structure of the introductory section of the NDC on education has two (2) paragraphs. The section on Education in the 2016 NPP manifesto is from pages 101 to 112. The introductory section under study is on pages 103 to 104 and it has eight (8) paragraphs. The section of NDC on Health is from pages 18 to 24. The introductory section is on pages 18 to 19 of the manifesto, made up of three (3) paragraphs. The Health section of the NPP manifesto is seen from pages 113 to 121. The introduction to the health section of the NPP manifesto is found on page 115 of the manifesto. The structure of this section (Health) is similar to that of a legal document since some of the points have been numbered with Roman numerals (i-x). This section has three (3) paragraphs. The section on NDC Agriculture is from pages 39 to 48, while the introduction is on page 39 of the manifesto. It is made up of only one paragraph. That of NPP is from pages 47 to 58. The introduction is on page 49 on the manifesto, consisting of four (4) paragraphs. The concluding section on NDC’s has eight (8) paragraphs and two (2) last lines. This can be identified on page 78. On the other hand, the NPP concluding section can be seen on page 179. It has three (3) paragraphs and two (2) last lines. Each paragraph presents a new idea, which shows that the writers have correctly used paragraphing to make the sections coherent. Thus, making reading easy and interesting. 3.3 The Sampling Procedure The purposive sampling technique was used to select the sections for analysis. This is a technique that helps researchers to select units that they are interested in studying from a population. It also helps researchers to select data that is relevant to their area of study. Teddlie and Yu (2007, p. 77 explain that “Purposive sampling techniques are primarily 50 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh used in qualitative (QUAL) studies and may be defined as selecting units (e.g., individuals, groups of individuals, institutions) based on specific purposes associated with answering a research study’s questions.” Also, Teddlie and Yu (2007, p. 87) further argue that “Maxwell (1997) defined purposive sampling as a type of sampling in which, ‘‘particular settings, persons, or events are deliberately selected for the important information they can provide that cannot be gotten as well from other choices” With regard to the study, the researcher aims at examining a particular case or participant and as such has to select it (case or participant) to enable him or her find answers to the questions he or she intends to answer. The sampling method can be said to be ‘intentional’ unlike random sampling where each participant or case stands a chance of being selected for the study. This is why purposive sampling method is said to be ‘judgmental’. This approach (purposive sampling) was found more suitable since the documents have large textual volume and it was advisable to select areas that would be of great interest to many readers. As it has already been stated, the Foreword opens the manifestos and therefore must be written powerfully to attract readers’ attention to read further. The Conclusion on the other hand provides a summary to the document and must be properly written to leave a positive lasting impression in the minds of readers. The three (3) thematic areas selected were chosen because the researcher perceives that whatever occurs in these areas by way of governance will have a direct repercussion on the entire populace. In all, ten (10) sections were analyzed, five (5) sections from each manifesto. Also, the researcher finds it interesting to carry out a linguistic analysis of their languages, focusing on their persuasive strategies and linguistic features, to identify the extent to which they have been employed in the manifestos. 51 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3.4 The Procedure for Analysis The study basically used Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) for the data analysis by carrying out a study to unravel the persuasive strategies used in writing the manifestos. Fairclough’s (1989, 1992 and 1995) model was used. There have been revised versions of the model since 1989. All the models from the various years made the same argument: (1989, p. 25; “Discourse as Text”, “Discourse as Interaction”, and “Discourse as Context”); (1992, p. 73; “Discourse as Text”, “Discourse as Discursive Practice”, and “Discourse as Social Practice”); and (1995, p. 98; “Discourse as Text – Description”; “Discourse as Discourse Practice – Interpretation”; and “Discourse as Sociocultural Practice – Explanation”). However, the focus will be on his current model, Fairclough’s (1995, p. 98). According to Fairclough (1995), “The method of discourse analysis includes linguistic description of the language text, interpretation of the relationship between the (productive and interpretative) discursive processes and the text, and explanation of the relationship between the discursive processes and the social processes. (p. 97)” (italics in the original). Jorgensen and Phillips (2002, p. 68) also contend that: The model is an analytical framework for empirical research on communication and society. All three dimensions should be covered in a specific discourse analysis of a communicative event. The analysis should focus, then, on (1) the linguistic features of the text (text)¸ (2) processes relating to the production and consumption of the text (discursive practice); and (3) the wider social practice to which the communicative event belongs (social practice). Contrary to this, they argue that, “it is not necessary to use all the methods or to use them in exactly the same way in specific research projects. The selection and application of the tools depend on the research questions and the scope of the project.” Jorgensen and Phillilps (2002, p. 76). 52 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Again, Jorgensen and Phillips (2002) argue that: The general purpose of the three-dimensional model is, then, to provide an analytical framework for discourse analysis. The model is based on, and promotes, the principle that texts can never be understood or analysed in isolation – they can only be understood in relation to webs of other texts and in relation to the social context. (p.70) The three-dimensional approach of Fairclough’s (1995) under CDA has been applied in this research due to its importance to political discourse. It has the following dimensions: The first dimension involves critically analyzing the linguistic features of the text, including: the vocabulary, grammar, cohesion and general text structure. The second, concerns itself with the issue of the context of a text. Discourse is “produced, circulated, distributed and consumed in society” (Blommaert & Bulcaen 2000, p. 448). When studying the linguistic features contained in any text, it is important to consider the areas of the text that links to its context. Finally, the third, concerns itself with the hegemonic processes in which discourse is a feature. The representation of any form of discourse is likely to provide indicators of the dynamics of power play. The researcher also employed the qualitative approach for the data analysis. This methodology was also used to enable the researcher report and describe exactly what she finds under the five selected sections of each of the two (2) manifestos under study. To Palys (2008, p. 697), “Purposive sampling is virtually synonymous with qualitative research”. Corbin and Strauss (2008) explain that “Qualitative analysis is many things, but it is not a process that can be rigidly codified. What it requires, above all, is an intuitive sense of what is going on in the data; trust in the self and the research process; and the ability to remain creative, flexible, and true to the data all at the same time.” (p.16) Thus, qualitative research focuses on the data being used for the study in order to describe it. Corbin and Strauss (2008, p. 13) also maintain that qualitative researchers enjoy serendipity and discovery. They further argue that “these researchers have a natural 53 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh curiosity that leads them to study worlds that interest them and that they otherwise might not have access to. Furthermore, qualitative researchers enjoy playing with words, making order out of seeming disorder, and thinking in terms of complex relationships”. The selected portions of the manifestos were studied side by side since the study is a comparative one. The analysis was done under all the three (3) dimensions. Under discourse as text, the rhetorical or persuasive strategies were identified. The writers’ choice of linguistic features such as Pronouns, Nouns, Verbs, Adverbs and Adjectives were also described. This was done to reveal the persuasive strategies hidden behind these linguistic features used in the production of the manifestos. This is in agreement with Ehineni (2014) who argues that: The politicians are usually the political actors and players on the stage striving to navigate their way into power. Political manifestoes, therefore, have become part of the political strategy of achieving this aim. These manifestoes are often ingenuously designed and intelligently crafted to persuade the electorate for favourable political support through the use of language (p.110). With the second dimension (discourse as discourse practice) which involves the production of and consumption of text, instances where the writers made reference to other works were identified and interpreted. Finally, the sociocultural aspect of the text was analyzed, where the researcher explained the context of the data. The paragraphs of each of the selected section was coded or named. For instance, NDC-FWD: Pg. 1, P. 1 (National Democratic Congress Foreword: Page 1, Paragraph 1) and NPP-CON: Pg.1, P.1 (New Patriotic Party Conclusion: Page 1, Paragraph 1). The rhetorical strategies and linguistic features were identified through close reading of the selected sections. 3.5 Conclusion It is expected that through this study, the power of politicians to entice electorates to vote for them will be exposed. Thus, the study investigates rhetorical or persuasive 54 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh strategies used; and examines how some linguistic elements such as nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives are used by politicians, through written manifestos to help them convince electorates. These will be identified through Fairclough’s (1995, p. 98) model under CDA. Also, the context within which the manifestos were created will be described. It is hoped that the methodology outlined will enable the researcher find answers to the research questions. 55 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CHAPTER FOUR ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF DATA 4.0 Introduction The study aims at analyzing two selected political manifestos within the Ghanaian context to expose how politicians use language through their manifestos to influence electorates to vote for them. The analysis will be based on the rhetorical strategies and some linguistic features used in the manifestos. Commenting on manifestos, Ehineni (2014, p.110) argues that “manifestoes are often ingenuously designed and intelligently crafted to persuade the electorate for favourable political support through the use of language”. Thus, it is possible that the manifestos abound with many linguistic elements which have hidden motives of persuading readers to vote a particular political party into power. This will be carried out under the three-dimensional model of Fairclough (1995, p.98). Thus, aside the rhetorical strategies and linguistic features, the context of the manifestos will also be discussed. The analysis will be classified under “Discourse as Text”, “Discourse as Discourse Practice” and “Discourse as Sociocultural Practice”. The following analysis borrows significantly from the works of Ehineni (2014); Nartey and Yankson (2014); Sarvat (2015); Moloi and Bojaotseha (2014); Dobson (2007) and Nadeem et al (2014) which have been reviewed. A. Discourse as Text Under this aspect of the theoretical framework, the researcher will analyze and discus the rhetorical strategies and the linguistic features that helped in the identification of these strategies. This will be done through the analysis of the language used by the writers of the manifestos. 56 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 4.1 Rhetorical Strategies Rhetorical strategies are employed by writers or speakers to persuade their audience to accept their arguments on an issue. The rhetorical strategies identified from the manifestos include Blame-game, The use of local words, The use of overload of and emotive words. 4.1.1 Power Struggle It was identified that both manifestos employed instances of power struggle. However, the NPP manifesto employed more instances than the NDC. This may be because, it is in opposition and as such wants to be noticed. Instances were identified at the forewords of the manifestos: “Addressing unemployment and creating job opportunities will be at the core of my renewed mandate.” (NDC-FWD: Pg.4, P.5) “With the renewed mandate I am seeking…” (NDC-FWD: Pg.4, P.6) “I have dedicated my life to public service to change Ghana for good. As President, with the help of the Almighty God, I will be committed to a different kind of government, one that governs in the national interest, not for private gain” (NPP-FWD: Pg.v, P.2) “I will be President for all Ghanaians. Whatever your region, your tribe, your gender, your status, or religion, I will serve you all.” (NPP-FWD: Pg.vii, P.8) This is a clear discourse of power struggle since everybody tries to convince the populace on how he intends to rule them. The NDC mentions a renewal of mandate through anaphoric expression. Anaphora itself is a rhetorical device meant to persuade. Even in the discourse of power struggle, there is an attempt to be persuasive. The use of the noun phrase; “my renewed mandate” even indicates that there is a sense of competition or struggle. Thus, a mandate that only the writer thinks he has. This discourse of power is reiterated using an anaphoric reference to re-enforce the writer’s struggle and his conviction that he will win the struggle. On the other hand, in an attempt to struggle for 57 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh power, the NPP brings to bare, two implicit addressees or two governments: one infavour of national interest and the other, for private gain. A critical look at the paragraph indicates that the writer classifies himself as one for public interest where he will be willing to serve the entire country and not only a section of it. Again, the writer is also anticipating that Ghanaians will prefer his governance to one of selfish interest (private gain). The reinforcement of the national interest include the development of the country such as the building of infrastructure. Though this notion of the government not contributing towards the common good of humanity may be false, it still remains a popular notion. Aside identifying an instance of power struggle under the forewords of the two manifestos, other instances were found under the NDC conclusion, NPP education, health, agriculture and conclusion. They are as follows: “We aim to shift the structure and content of our education system from merely passing examination to building character…” (NPP-EDU: Pg. 103, P.4) There is power struggle over the content of education. One that is geared towards passing examinations and one that is towards practice since the practical aspect is what is regarded as nation building. This includes building of schools, roads and hospitals. “The health system in the country is critical for national development. The vision of the NPP is to see that the right to health of all Ghanaians is guaranteed through an established health sector…” (NPP-HTH: Pg.115, P.1) The NPP in struggling for power, tells the people of Ghana that its government will focus on what the other government refused to do. Hence, it is willing to take care of the health sector of Ghana. Under the NPP agriculture section, its power struggle in manifested as follows: “Our policies and interventions will ensure that our farmers and fisherfolk earn higher incomes…” (NPP-AGR: Pg.49, P.3) 58 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Again, there is an implied addressee whose intervention did not ensure high incomes for farmers in Ghana. At the NDC conclusion, the writer repeats the renewal mandate as he did at the foreword: “The Manifesto is our compact with you, the people of Ghana, and given our record of promising and delivering, we urge you to renew our mandate with a massive vote for the NDC’s Presidential and Parliamentary candidates in December 2016.” (NDC-CON: Pg.78, P.8) Similarly, at the NPP conclusion, the writer further struggles for power: “The solutions we have set out in this document have been well-considered. They are a response to the real problems faced by the Ghanaian people as a result of the mismanagement, incompetence and corruption of the Mahama-led NDC government.” (NPP-CON: Pg.179, P.1) Here, the NPP clearly states the name of its implicit addressee which is “the Mahama-led NDC government”. There is power struggle between the two entities: one that is in power and one that wants power. Implicit in the fact that solutions be found to the existing problems. These statements seem like a mere statement of promises or catalogue of promises towards the electorate. There is always an implied addressee who is a political opponent. Even though these statements may seem as a mere catalogue, all the other political parties are indirectly inscribed as addressees. Parties in power see all the loopholes in their governance but do not address them in their manifestos since it will mean an admittance of failure. As such, parties in opposition point out these loopholes. 4.1.2 Blame-Game This is a strategy where a speaker or writer apportions blame to a situation or a person for being the cause of his or her inability to achieve a targeted goal. This rhetorical strategy was identified under the two (2) 2016 manifestos where the writers apportioned blames. This strategy relates to Sarvat’s (2015, P.375) analysis of conflict under the 59 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Pakistan manifesto since she identified that the manifesto blamed all the previous political parties for betraying and misruling Pakistan. This is the exact strategy employed by the NPP since the political party accuses the previous NDC government for misruling the country. For instance, the NPP accused the ruling NDC party under its foreword, education, agriculture and conclusion for being the cause of the problems in the country:  “Our nation is in crisis: a crisis created and sustained by the mismanagement, incompetence and corruption of the Mahama- led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.” (NPP- FW: Pg. v, P.1)  “The solutions we have set out in this document have been well- considered. They are a response to the real problems faced by the Ghanaian people as a result of the mismanagement, incompetence and corruption of the Mahama-led NDC government.” (NPP-CON: Pg. 179, P.1) The NPP used this strategy to inform their readers that the then government was not able to manage the country as they would, if they were to be in power. Thus, the opposition party is condemning the majority for mismanaging the country by portraying the ruling party in bad light by criticizing the government’s handling of the economy. This strategy incites anger and negative emotions towards the then ruling government. Although the NPP blames the current ruling party, blame-game was employed mostly under their education section: “On top of all this has been the most sustained evidence of contempt by a government towards the teaching profession.” (NPP-EDU: Pg.104, P.7) Here, they did not mention the name of the NDC. They rather referred to it as “a government” under paragraph 7. The NPP also rejects the NDC assertion that the Ghanaian economy is “a strong and resilient” one. Under the section on agriculture, the first paragraph of the introduction, it further condemns the development made by the NDC: “Growth in this sector has declined dramatically under the NDC’s mismanagement, incompetence and corruption.” (NPP-AGR: Pg.49, P.1) 60 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh While the NPP manifesto was blaming the NDC for mismanaging the country through its governance, the NDC in the conclusion section, blames “global developments” for causing their apparent non-performance.: “We made a number of promises in our 2012 Manifesto and the records show that we have delivered more than we pledged in several sectors. But for the prolonged global developments that adversely affected the earnings from Ghana’s export commodities and increased the prices of imports, the record of our achievements would have been even more remarkable.” (NDC-CON: Pg.78, P.2) This means that if “the prolonged global developments” had not “affected the earnings from Ghana’s export commodities and increased the prices of imports”, the NDC would have contributed a lot to the development of the country. The use of the adjective “prolonged” further explains that the global developments extended its duration than it was expected. 4.1.3 Contrast While commenting on contrast and repetition employed in works, Al-Faki (2014, p. 182) maintains that “The use of contrast and repetition, then, can involve a number of linguistic features: it can include lexical repetition; semantic repetition and or contrast including the literal contrasted with the metaphorical; syntactical repetition; and phonological repetition”. The form of contrast employed by the NPP’s manifesto affirms the findings of Sarvat (2015) that the writer of the Pakistan manifesto analyzed drew a sharp contrast between the people’s present miserable condition to make the readers realize that they have been historically ‘betrayed’ since ’65 years. Similarly, the writer of the NPP manifesto also pointed out that Ghanaians have been betrayed by the NDC-led government and the policies of the NPP will resolve the issues of hardship and mismanagement in the country. It was observed at the foreword of NPP that: “Our nation is in crisis: a crisis created and sustained by the mismanagement, incompetence and corruption of the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government” (NPP-FWD: Pg. v, P.1) is in 61 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh contrast to “My vision for Ghana is of an optimistic, self-confident and prosperous nation…” (NPP-FWD: Pg. vii, P.5). The writer seeks to let his readers know that although the current governance is in a bad state, he has plans to develop the country as a way of changing its current state. The type of contrast used by the NDC manifesto is in contrast to that identified by Sarvat (2015). The NDC manifesto mentions that although they had issues while they were managing Ghana, they ended up being successful. This use of contrast was employed by the NDC to let readers know how far they have gone with the development of the country as a ruling political party: “We have been confronted with challenges but have achieved major success”. (NDC-FWD: Pg.4, INTRO.P) The contrast lies between the lexical words, “challenges and successes”. Another interesting contrast identified is seen under the education sections of the two (2) manifestos. Whereas the NDC tells readers about all the policies it has implemented under the sector, the NPP still sees the education sector to be in a poor state to the extent that it has not been able to keep its “dedicated teachers.” The NPP further argues that: “On top of all this has been the most sustainable evidence of contempt by a government towards the teaching profession.” (NPP-EDU: Pg.104, P.7) Implying that aside the poor state of the education sector, the teaching profession is also not respected. Another instance of the use of this strategy was identified under the NPP education: “When Nana Akufo-Addo announced the commitment of the NPP to the delivery of free education for senior high schools, the NDC promptly denounced it as impractical.” (NPP-EDU: Pg. 103, P.5). This was used to indicate how the NDC had stated that the NPP cannot implement “free education for senior high schools” in Ghana. 62 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh A critical look at the two manifestos depicts a great contrast between the two parties on how they see the state of affairs in Ghana. The NDC thinks it has been successful as a government; “We have been confronted with challenges but have achieved major successes” (NDC-FWD: Pg.4, Intro. P.) while the NPP says the NDC has not managed the nation properly: “Our nation is in crisis: a crisis created and sustained by the mismanagement, incompetence and corruption of the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.” (NPP-FWD: Pg.v, P.1). Also the NDC thinks the education sector of the nation is doing well by citing several interventions it has introduced to improve it but the NPP thinks otherwise: “We have introduced social interventions in the education sector including the implementation of the progressively free SHS programme…” (NDC- EDU: Pg.10, P.1) “Today the education sector in our country is in a sad state.” (NPP-EDU: Pg. 103, P.2) This is intended to win the people’s sympathy over the other party. 4.1.4 Unity/ Togetherness Generally, both manifestos are interested in promoting unity in the country. Since unity leads to peace, this is a strategy to convince readers that aside the quest of the representatives of the political parties to be president of the country; they are also interested in ensuring unity. They both believe that the country can developed through the collective effort of the citizenry. Hence, projecting peace in the country. This strategy was employed at the foreword and conclusion of both documents. The NDC used this to inform the people of Ghana that it still needs to complete some projects in the country and as such needs the help of the people to achieve this: “I will continue to work, together with the people of Ghana, to create opportunities that will generate prosperity for all.” (NDC- FWD: Pg. 4, P.1) Similarly, the NPP employed it, calling on the people to come together 63 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh so that they all can build Ghana: “Join me, so together, we can build a country…” (NPP- FWD: Pg. vii, P.11) Also, at the conclusion sections, the writers mentioned that their manifestos serve as a compact or commitment between their political parties and the people of Ghana: “The Manifesto is our compact with you, the people of Ghana, and given our record of promising and delivering…” (NDC CON: Pg. 78, P.7) “This Manifesto is our commitment to the people of Ghana.” (NPP CON: Pg. 179, P.2) Thus, the manifestos are being used as a symbol of peace between the political parties and the people of Ghana. It can be argued that since the two (2) sections are beginning and closing the manifestos, the strategy was employed to make readers aware that the political parties are also interested in establishing unity among the people and in the country at large. This is similar to one of the findings of Dobson (2007) where one of the manifestos used “This is our contract with the people”. However, he classified this as a Biblical allusion since it preceded “ten commitments” which was related to the Ten Commandments in the Bible. 4.1.5 Self-Praising Another interesting rhetorical strategy employed was self-praising where the writers of the two manifesto mentioned the things they have done and those they intend to do. This was a way of informing the people of what they have done or wish to do. This strategy was mostly employed by the NDC, perhaps because it is the political party in power and as such has done many things in the country. On the other hand, few instance were employed by the NPP since it is in opposition and may be attempting to let readers know what they can do. “I have dedicated my life to public service to change Ghana for good”. (NPP- FWD: Pg. V, P.2) The NPP further praised itself as a political party by 64 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh listing some of the achievements the party made under the Kufour Administration on health: “Under the leadership of President J.A. Kufuor, the NPP improved the health of Ghanaians by the: i. introduction and implementation of NHIS and free maternal care ii. implementation of the Community Health Planning and Service concept iii. establishment of the National Ambulance Service iv. expansion, equipping and increasing of the number of health facilities v. capacity building and increase of the number of health professionals vi. establishment of the Ghana Postgraduate Medical College vii. introduction of Regenerative Health and Nutrition through health promotion programmes viii. improvement of the provision of vaccine for preventable childhood diseases ix. provision of highly subsidized anti-retroviral medicines for HIV/ AIDS patients, and x. introduction of sanitation programmes.” (NPP-HTH: Pg. 115, P.3) The NDC on the other hand employed this at its foreword, education, health and conclusion. Examples are as follows: “We have invested in building robust infrastructure to stimulate economic growth. This has created jobs and we intend to create even more jobs”. (NDC- FWD: Pg. 4, P.5) It was also identified that the entire section analyzed under the education and health sectors of the NDC manifesto was full of the political party praising itself for developing the sectors: “We have introduced social interventions in the education sector including the implementation of the progressively free SHS programme, scholarships 65 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh for over 10,000 Senior High School (SHS) students…”. (NDC-EDU: Pg. 10, P.1) “Ghanaians are living longer and healthier lives. Ghana’s life expectancy at birth has increased from 60 years in 2008 to 63 years by 2013”. (NDC- HTH:Pg. 18, P.1) The examples identified at the NDC conclusion include: “We made a number of promises in our 2012 Manifesto and the records show that we have delivered more than we pledged in several sectors”. (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, P.2) “We demonstrated that with prudent management, the negative impact of the global challenges could be managed”. (NDC-CON: Pg.78, P.3) It can therefore be said that both parties resorted to praise themselves as a means of convincing the Ghanaian populace to vote them into power. 4.1.6 Dream The writers of the two (2) manifestos had hope that they would be winning the elections. This was a strategy employed to gain votes from Ghanaians for them to work on their dreams for the country. In spite of the fact that they had hope, they also informed Ghanaians that they believe in them and are counting on them to win. This strategy is likely to excite readers if they realize that the political parties believe in them and are hopeful that they have the power to contribute to their success. However, since only one political party can rule a country at a time, it was obvious that one of them was going to win. In the first paragraph of the NDC conclusion, the writer mentions that: “In 2017, the National Democratic Congress will celebrate its 25th Anniversary. It will be historical and will represent a significant approval by the people of Ghana of the performance of our Government.” (NDC- CON: Pg.78, P.1) The writer is informing readers that their victory in the elections will be climaxed by their 5th Anniversary celebration . Thus, the writer’s dream is that the people of Ghana will vote his political party into power and this will result in a massive celebration of their 25th anniversary. This is also a way of persuading readers to urge them to elect the political 66 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh party into power since they will be celebrating their anniversary. It was thought that a party that will be celebrating their silver jubilee ought to be given the chance to win an election to make their celebration grand. The NDC also added, “…we are confident that the good people of Ghana will continue to repose confidence in the stewardship of John Dramani Mahama” (NDC-CON: Pg.78, P.6). They were hopeful that they would win. However, irony sets in when their hope became false hope since they lost. This strategy becomes ironic in its usage because it has exposed the ironic nature of the dream and hope of the NDC. Their statement becomes a biting dream. Similarly, the NPP, in its conclusion mentions: “We aim to restore hope and to get the country back to working again…” (NPP-CON: Pg.179, P.2). They also hoped to win the elections and transform the country. Consequently, at the end of the elections, the NPP won. Comparatively, the NPP’s dream becomes a reality because it won the elections and as such can put all its dreams into practice. 4.1.7 Transformation Furthermore, the manifestos state their interest in the development of Ghana, hence the transformation of the country. An instance of the use of this strategy was seen under the following sections:  “This transformation entails moving away from over-reliance on commodity exports towards diversification and value addition.” (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.2)  “I have dedicated my life to public service to change Ghana for good.” (NPP-FWD: Pg. v, P.2)  “We have introduced social interventions in the education sector…” (NDC-EDU: Pg.10, P.1)  “We aim to shift the structure and content of our education system from merely passing examinations to building character…” (NPP-EDU: Pg. 103, P.4)  “…we achieved our target and we are working to improve on the gains.” (NDC-HLT: Pg. 18, P.3)  “The vision of the NPP is to see that the right to health of all Ghanaians is guaranteed…” (NPP-HTH: Pg. 115, P.1) 67 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The NPP’s section on agriculture, mentioned what the party intends to do with regard to development: “Our vision for the next four (4) years is to modernize agriculture, improve production efficiency, and achieve food security…” (NPP-AGR: Pg. 49, P.2) However, the entire introductory section of the NDC on agriculture was a reference to what it promised to do under the sector in their 2012 manifesto. Again, the titles of their manifestos show that they are willing to carry out developmental projects: CHANGING LIVES, TRANSFORMING GHANA (NDC) CHANGE AN AGENDA FOR JOB (NPP) All these examples from the 2016 manifestos show that the NDC and NPP are both interested in developing the country. 4.1.8 Parallelism Another variant of the preferred orders of the presentation of the manifestos was the use of parallelism. Under this linguistic feature, the focus will be on the lexical, syntactic and semantic levels as regards repetition. This finding is contrary to the findings identified on manifestos since the other researchers did not include it in their works. Thus, it differs from the findings of Ehineni (2014), Nartey and Yankson (2014), Nadeem et al (2014), Sarvat (2015), Dobson (2007) and Moloi and Bojabotseha since their studies did not look at parallelism or repetitions in the manifestos they analyzed.  LEXICAL REPETITION This is the continuous repetition of the same word in speech or writing. Repetitions are usually used to stress points. In paragraph one of the NPP forewords, the writer made use of these words: “Our nation is in crisis: a crisis created and sustained…” (NPP-FWD: Pg. v, P.1) This writer repeated the word “crisis” to draw readers’ attention to the fact that the country is in “crisis”. Thus, the need for a new government who will save the nation 68 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh from being mismanaged. Furthermore, at the last line of the NPP’s conclusion, the writer employed: “God bless…” and “God bless…” (NPP-CON: Pg.179, LL) These words have the same meaning and he used them to end the manifesto. The use of these words at the end of the manifesto can be likened to a religious leader telling his congregation that ‘God should bless them’, after he has delivered a sermon.  SYNTACTIC REPETITION Another level of repetitions is at the syntactic level. Syntactic repetitions were identified under some of the sections analyzed. It was observed that some sentences with the same subject and verb were compiled to have only one ‘subject and verb’. It can be argued that the writers adopted this style to avoid many repetitions. This feature makes reading interesting and the reader is urged to continue reading. Examples: “I will continue to work, together with the people of Ghana, to create opportunities that will generate prosperity for all.” (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P. 1) This can be written as: I will continue to work: together with the people of Ghana to create opportunities that will generate prosperity for all Here, the subject and verb of the paragraph is “I will continue to work”. This could have been repeated as: “I will continue to work together with the people of Ghana” and “I will continue to work to create opportunities that will generate prosperity for all”. Also, syntactic repetition was utilized under the NDC’s education section: “We have introduced social interventions in the education sector including the implementation of the progressively free SHS programme, scholarships for over 10,000 Senior High School (SHS) students, free school uniforms, free exercise books and free sandals for school children.” (NDC-EDU: Pg. 10, P.1) This can also be written as: We have introduced social interventions in the education sector including: 69 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh the implementation of the progressively free SHS programme scholarships for over 10,000 Senior High School (SHS) students free school uniforms free exercise books and free sandals for school children. To avoid many repetition, the writer decided to compile “the implementation of the progressively free SHS programme”; “scholarships for over 10,000 Senior High School (SHS) students”; “free school uniforms” and “free exercise books” and “free sandals for school children” under “We have introduced social interventions in the education sector including”. Another interesting syntactic repetition was identified at the foreword of the NPP manifesto which is in the foreword: “…with the help of the Almighty God” (NPP-FWD: Pg. v, P.2) “…with the help of the Almighty God” (NPP-FWD: Pg. vii, P.9) It was identified that only one instance of the syntactic repetition structures was used at the introduction of the NPP’s manifesto under the health sector: “To realise this vision, the NPP will expand health promotion programmes, scale up disease prevention strategies and improve access to curative and emergency services…” (NPP-HTH: Pg. 115, P.2) Again, this can be rewritten as follows: To realise this vision, the NPP will expand: health promotion programmes, scale up disease prevention strategies and (improve) access to curative and emergency services Here, “the subject and verb” for the three objects is “the NPP will expand”. As mentioned earlier, the writer wrote this way to avoid too many repetitions. The writer could have been written: To realise this vision, the NPP will expand health promotion programmes. To realise this vision, the NPP will expand (scale up) disease prevention strategies. and To realise this vision, the NPP will expand (improve) access to curative and emergency services Furthermore, at the NPP’s agriculture section, they employed syntactic repetitions such as: 70 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh “Our vision for the next four years is to modernize agriculture, improve production efficiency, achieve food security, and profitability for our farmers, all aimed at significantly increasing agricultural productivity.” (NPP-AGR: Pg. 49, P.2) Again, the writer could have presented the paragraph as: Our vision for the next four years is to: modernize agriculture improve production efficiency achieve food security and (achieve) profitability for our farmers Also, this type of repetition was also employed under NDC conclusion: “We practiced an open, accountable and responsive government, which contributed tremendously to the enjoyment of personal freedoms, the maintenance of peace and security and the protection of our territorial integrity.” (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, P.5) An alternative way of writing is: We practiced an open, accountable and responsive government, which contributed tremendously to: the enjoyment of personal freedoms the maintenance of peace and security and the protection of our territorial integrity. Another instance of syntactic repetition was identified at the first paragraph of the NPP conclusion: “They are a response to the real problems faced by the Ghanaian people as a result of the mismanagement, incompetence and corruption of the Mahama-led NDC government.” (NPP-CON: Pg. 78, P.1) This could have been presented as: They are a response to the real problems faced by the Ghanaian people as a result of the: Mismanagement, Incompetence and corruption of the Mahama-led NDC government. Another level of repetition that is more remarkable is the Pronoun + verb. These have been written in bold. This was used mostly at their forewords and conclusions. The pronouns “I and We” were repeated. 71 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh  “I have abiding faith in the people of Ghana and in the future of our country.” (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.11).  “We have undertaken, and in some instances completed major institutional reforms and built strong and viable institutions.” (NDC- FWD: Pg.4, P.5)  “We made a number of promises in our 2012 manifesto…” (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, P.2)  “I have dedicated my life to public service to change Ghana for good.” (NPP-FWD: Pg. v, P.2)  “Join me, so together, we can build a country…” (NPP-FWD: Pg. vii, P.11)  “We have an excellent team of men and women…” (NPP-CON: Pg.179, P.3) The use of the syntactic repetitions enabled the writer to compress more information. It was discovered that there was a single subject and verb for each of the repetitions identified. It was again identified that this type of repetition (syntactic repetition) used, saved time and space.  SEMANTIC REPETITION The third type of repetition is the semantic repetition. This is where a writer uses different words that share the same meaning. An example of semantic repetition is seen under the NPP foreword, education and conclusion. The writer used these same words to describe the things happening in the current administration under the political party in power, which is NDC: “mismanagement, incompetence and corruption”. These lexical words are saying the same thing which is negative. Thus, they have a common semantic feature: /+negative/. As discussed earlier under the rhetorical strategy, BLAME-GAME, these three (3) words were used by the writer to describe the current government as not being able to manage the country. The writer has repeatedly used these words to draw the attention of readers to how the current political party in power has allowed the country to rot in corruption due to its inability to manage it. 72 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Additionally, the semantic repetition of some lexical words at the foreword of the NDC manifesto: “strong”, “resilient”, “greater” and “stronger” all have the same meaning; /+powerful/. Also, the lexical words: “prosperity”, “development”, “transformation” and “progress” have the same semantic value; /+development/. As regards the semantic structures employed under the sections on agriculture, it was observed that both political parties were talking about the same thing, “Agriculture”. They were using the same registers, thus, speaking the language of Agriculture:  “to ensure food security” – (NDC-AGR: Pg. 39, P.1)  “achieve food security” – (NPP-AGR: Pg. 49, P.2)  “increased production” – (NDC-AGR: Pg. 39, P.1)  “improve production efficiency” – (NPP-AGR: Pg. 49, P.2)  “increased exports” – (NDC-AGR: Pg. 39, P.1)  “developing new and stable markets for our products” – (NPP-AGR: Pg.49, P.2)  “the production of raw materials for industry” – (NDC-AGR: Pg.39, P.1)  “ramping up agro-processing and developing new and stable markets” – (NPP-AGR: Pg. 49, P.2)  “improve the standard of living” – (NDC-AGR: Pg. 39, P.1)  “a sustainable means of livelihood” – (NPP-AGR: Pg. 49, P.1)  “raise rural incomes” – (NDC-AGR: Pg. 39, P.1)  “earn higher incomes” – (NPP-AGR: Pg. 49, P.3) At the semantic level, the manifestos are both reflecting each other since they keep saying the same things differently. This implies that they have the same idea. Everything they have said is intended at improving the livelihood of the people in the country. They are using various structures, different words to express the same dream they have. The NPP is in opposition and wants to be noticed. On the other hand, the NDC has power and has confidence of incumbency. Their writing is more authoritative. 73 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh There is also the repetition of “by…who or whose…” throughout the third paragraph of the NPP foreword as follows: “by the farmer who… by the mother of the sick child, who… by that young woman whose… by the kayayei who…” (NPP-FWD: Pg. vi, P. 3) The repetition of by…who or whose creates a form of music as readers read. This may be a style adopted to make the reading interesting. Thus, readers are persuaded to further read on. The use of the lexical, semantic and the syntactic repetitions is to arouse the emotions of the people reading the manifesto. When a writer writes this way, he is trying to block the people from reasoning. It is incantatory. This is in relation to Frye (1957, p. 327), while commenting on the repetition of rhetoric of persuasion. He argued that the “repetitions are hypnotic and incantatory, aimed at breaking down customary associations of ideas and habitual responses”. The writer of the NPP manifesto is charming the people. This is a formula writing and it is typical of political discourse. Thus, the form and the function of the sections analyzed are realized through the way they have been presented to readers. These represent examples of overflow of emotions and all these create cohesion and hold each other to form a network. There is also a repetition of some of the linguistic features identified. All the members of each semantic compound represent a repetition of these features. It is the shared features that make each compound possible. The repetition of some of the features as reflected in the manifestos, portrays the writers’ attempt at reiteration; the writers’ desire to re-emphasize the dream for the NDC and NPP to develop Ghana. The repetitions also indicate the writers’ emotions as they get carried away by the vision they espouse. 74 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Aside the analysis for the first dimension of Fairclough’s (1995, p. 98) model, the analysis continues for the other two (2) dimensions: “discourse as discourse practice (Interpretation)” and “discourse as sociocultural practice (Explanation)”. Henderson (2005, p.19), commenting on Fairclough’s three (3) dimensional models, is of the view that: Whilst Fairclough (1995b) regarded the description of the formal features text as an important element of CDA, he also emphasises that the text and its features should be ‘framed’ by the other two dimensions of analysis – Interpretation (of the relationship between text and interaction) and explanation (of the relationship between interaction and sociocultural contexts). As he explained, these are important because the relationship between text and social structures is an indirect one, mediated by discourse and social context. This means that under Fairclough’s model, all the three (3) dimensions are important when analyzing a text. Jorgensen and Phillips (2002, p. 68) agree with the view of Henderson (2005, p.19). They also maintain that “all three (3) dimensions should be covered in a specific discourse analysis of a communicative event. The analysis should focus, on (1) the linguistic features of the text (text)¸ (2) processes relating to the production and consumption of the text (discursive practice); and (3) the wider social practice to which the communicative event belongs (social practice)”.  THE REPETITION OF SOUNDS It was identified that the two manifestos included rhythm to make reading interesting. Instances of these were identified at the foreword: “...I have come to appreciate even more the potential of Ghana to provide prosperity and security…”. (NDC-FWD: Pg.4, Intro.P.) “As leader of the NDC and Government, our policies, programmes and projects have been directed at putting people first…”. (NDC-FWD: Pg.4, P.4) “ The next New Patriotic Party (NPP) government will place people at its centre. Their hopes and their concerns will drive its policies and priorities”. (NPP-FWD: Pg. vii, P.6) 75 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The repetition of the sound /p/ has been realized in different variations. The alliterative /p/ realized in “appreciation”, “potential”, “provided”, “prosperity”, “policies”, “programmes”, “projects”, “putting” and “people” creates rhythmic effect because they are used closely together. This alliteration is reinforced by another type of repetition seen in “prosperity and security” which basically rhyme and also have the same number of syllables: pros-pe-ri-ty / se-cu-ri-ty. Each has four syllables making them phonologically the same. This complex use of repetition adds to the writing and cadence of the discourse, helping to persuade readers.  ANAPHORA According to Snider (2017, p. 9) “Anaphora is the phenomenon wherein the meaning of a linguistic expression in particular in referring to an entity of some type, depends on the interpretation of some other linguistic expression”. This implies that anaphora is used to enhance cohesion since it is employed to refer back to a unit that has already been introduced in the speech or text. In attempting to employ repetition, it was identified that NDC manifesto employed anaphoric reference at its foreword: “This is what the Agenda for Transformation signifies. This transformation entails moving away from over-reliance…”. (NDC-FWD: Pg.4, P.2) “... creating jobs will be at the core of my renewed mandate”. (NDC-FWD: Pg.4, P.5) “With the renewed mandate I am seeking, we will continue policies and programmes…”. (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.6) To avoid the repetition of the same noun phrases, the writer could have used pronouns to replace them: “This is what the Agenda for Transformation signifies. It entails moving away from over-reliance…”. (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P. 2) “... creating jobs will be at the core of my renewed mandate”. (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.5) 76 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh “With what I am seeking, we will continue policies and programmes…”. (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P. 6) 4.1.9 Emphasis This strategy identified is contrary to the findings of the reviewed works on manifestos since none of them mentioned it. As regards the use of emphasis, there were repetitions of many of the words used throughout the manifestos. A unique use of emphasis was how the writer of the NPP manifesto employed the use of capitalization of some lexical words at the education section. It is obvious that readers will pay attention to them as they read: That is why the NPP declares Education to be a MAJOR PRIORITY and commits itself to a BOLD, CREATIVE and VISIONARY and ALL EMBRACING PROGRAMME for the TRANSFORMATION OF EDUCATION IN GHANA. (NPP-EDU: Pg.104, P.8) Thus, the noun phrases, TRANSFORMATION OF EDUCATION IN GHANA, MAJOR PRIORITY and ALL EMBRACING PROGRAMME were capitalized to indicate that the writer attaches importance to them. It was also identified that the writer capitalized the adjectives: MAJOR… and BOLD, CREATIVE, VISIONARY and ALL-EMBRACING…This also shows that he considers these words important too. Hence, he has made them unique from the rest of the lexical words by capitalizing them. These capitalizations were also used to show the commitment of the NPP towards the education sector and its willingness to develop it. It can therefore be said that just as some lexical items in the treatment of the education portion of the manifesto have been written in the upper case to make them stand out, so the entire education sector stands out as a major priority of the NPP. It is rather unfortunate that this strategy is missing from the analyzed portions of the NDC manifesto. 77 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 4.1.10 Overload of Emotive Words This strategy is the means by which a writer or speaker arouses pity and fear in the audiences through the use of language, as a way of appealing to their emotions. This is a strategy that differs from the findings of the works on manifestos identified. It is possible that they did not focus on it in their study though they may exist in their data. The NPP manifesto employed overload of emotions as a strategy to win the attention of the voting population. The writer used this strategy to inform readers that he has observed that everyone in the country is suffering under the governance of the NDC and something should be done about it: “As I travel the country over the years, I see the pain and sacrifice made by ordinary Ghanaians everyday: by the farmer who struggles to feed his family and sends his children to school… by the mother of the sick child, who has to walk miles on the dusty road to the clinic… by the young man and woman who, through no fault of their own, have had to drop out of school… by the young man who, because of financial circumstances at home, never had the opportunity to go to school… by the kayayei who have no opportunities or shelter and are forced to sleep on the streets…” (NPP-FWD: Pg. vi, P.3) This indicates the hardships the people are experiencing and how they (hardships) made the country an uncomfortable place for them. Again, the writer is trying to play on the emotions of his readers. He or she mentions the sufferings that everyone is going through by calling them in groups: “the farmer who struggles to feed his family; the mother with the sick child who cannot afford medical bills; the young school dropouts, the young man sleeping on the streets; the jobless youth; the husband who lost his job as a result of ‘dumsor’ and the struggling ‘kayayei’.” In doing so, there is the likelihood that the emotion of all the people who are suffering under these conditions would be touched. Thus looking at their plight, individually and collectively, they will prefer the NPP to the NDC to be in government. He is therefore persuading readers to avoid voting for the NDC in order to 78 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh avoid the suffering they are going through. This is obvious because he mentions that they were going through all these difficulties because of the bad governance of the NDC. 4.1.11 The Use of Local Words Commenting on the language employed in writing manifestos, Sarvat (2015, p. 376) argues that “A greater part of the participants of political texts are those group members whom the party politics attempt to influence by presenting before them strong political agendas [sic] against other political groups”. They identified that formal language was used in writing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s manifesto. This style of writing was also employed by the writers of the NDC and NPP manifesto. However, the NPP manifesto had some addition of local words which is an interesting finding. In the foreword of the NPP manifesto we see: “DUMSOR and kayayei”: “by the husband with a family of four (4) who lost his job two (2) years ago, because his employers had to close down the business due to DUMSOR… by the kayayei who have no opportunities or shelter…” (NPP- FWD: Pg. vi, P.3) This use of local words implies that the writer employed words from some of the indigenous Ghanaian languages. “DUMSOR” is from Akan and can be translated as “off and on”. This was coined to describe the unstable flow of electricity in the country, which became worse under the governance of the NDC. On the other hand, “kayayei” is the plural of “kayayoo” which is a blend word from the Ga and Hausa languages. It is made up of two words (kaya and yoo). Whereas “kaya” originates from Hausa (a foreign language in Ghana) which means “load”, “yoo” is from the Ghanaian language for the people from the Greater Accra, which is Ga. It means “female” or “woman” (Kwankye, Tagoe, & Castaldo, 2009, p. 11). Thus, “kayayei” means women who carry loads for a fee or head porters. This is a unique strategy since the writer used it to address the masses. These two (2) words, “DUMSOR” and “kayayei” form part of the serious situations in the country. The NPP had a focus on these deprived women (kayayei), who abandon their 79 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh families in the north, travel south to work and survive under harsh conditions in order to support their families back home. This was a way of provoking these women to vote for the NPP. The word, “DUMSOR” was to describe the bad experiences Ghanaians had to face due to the instability regarding the use of light in the country. When this word is mentioned, it invokes some form of fear in Ghanaians since each person remembers what he or she has experienced during the incessant power cuts. Arguably, these words were used to inform readers that the writer understands or can speak some of the native languages of the people and he or she is also aware of some of their experiences. It is obvious that the emotions of the people would better arouse with the use of these words than the use of ‘power cuts’ and ‘head-porters’. Thus, as a persuasive tool, he or she wants the people to know that he is not a stranger and they should agree with him since he understands them, a form of psychological affiliation or a conceptual metaphor. 4.1.12 The Use of Subordination Another way of persuading readers was by using subordinations. These are employed when a writer or speaker seeks to further explain what he is saying or writing. This finding indicates a difference on the works carried out on manifestos which were reviewed. There was the use of subordination under the sections analyzed under the NPP education and agriculture. Examples include; “Our children, and young people, must be equipped with the knowledge, skills, and aptitudes that would enable them compete with the best in the world.” (NPP-EDU: Pg. 103, P.1) The subordinator has been underlined and this was used to further explain the relevance of improving education in Ghana. This is “that would enable them compete with the best in the world.” This further explains “knowledge, skills, and aptitudes”. Four (4) instances of subordination were identified under NPP-EDU, where the writer was providing further 80 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh explanations to what he was discussing. This was used to help readers understand whatever he is making reference to. If they get the full meaning of his messages, they will be persuaded to agree with him and hence, vote his political party into power. Whereas the NDC section on education and agriculture did not use subordination, the NPP used more subordination. Another example of the use of subordination was under agriculture. Example, “Food is unnecessarily expensive in a country that is blessed with fertile land.” (NPP-AGR: Pg.49, P.1) Furthermore, the writer employed the use of subordination to further explain his argument. Here, the subordinator, “that is blessed with fertile land” has been employed to further describe the noun, “country”. This “country” refers to Ghana. 4.2 Linguistic Features The linguistic elements that helped in revealing the rhetorical strategies also include Pronouns, Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Allusions and Metaphors. Pu (2007, p. 206), cited in “Chilton & Schaffner (1997) offer three (3) levels of linguistic analysis of text and talk that can be used to analyze the speaker’s strategic functions: pragmatics, semantics, and syntax.” With regard to the current study, certain linguistic features helped in the identification of the rhetorical or persuasive strategies employed under the two manifestos. These include nouns, pronouns, verbs and adjectives. 4.2.1 Nouns A review of the manifestos of the NDC and the NPP demonstrates the use of a large number of noun phrases under all the selected sections that contributed largely in revealing the rhetorical strategies used by the writers. Nadeem, Mahmood and Mahmood (2014) also included the analysis of nouns in their study. They focused on analyzing singular and plural nouns that were repetitive throughout the manifestos of the three 81 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Pakistan political parties. They maintain that the nouns they identified were interrelated and helped expose the intentions and interest of the political parties. The findings are not far from the nouns identified under the manifestos of NDC and NPP. Whereas the NDC used many positive nouns to describe the activities they have already put in place to develop the country, the NPP also employed positive nouns to make reference to what they are yet to do to develop the country. They also employed negative nouns to describe the activities of the ruling NDC government. In the forewords, it was observed that the NDC constantly repeated noun phrases, such as: “mandate”, “Transformation”, “policies”, “prosperity and security”, “growth”, “jobs”, “Ghana”, “country”, “nation” and “the people of Ghana.” All these are positive connoting nouns and it was also noticed that the NDC employed only positive nouns in the foreword. The NPP foreword, also constantly repeated the positive noun phrases, “government”, “President”, “people”, “Ghanaians”, “Ghana”, “a country”, “a job” and “school”. However, it employed negative noun phrases such as; crisis, “mismanagement”, “incompetence”, “corruption”, “whom-you-know-basis”, “suffering” and “pain”. As mentioned earlier, these were used to describe the Mahama- led National Democratic Congress government and its effects on Ghanaians. It was obvious that some of the nouns that were frequently used in the NDC and NPP manifestos were the same. These are “Ghana” and “country”. These findings are similar to that of Nadeem et al (2014) who also discovered the frequent use of the nouns, “Growth” and “country”. The NDC education section, like the foreword, employed only positive nouns such as “implementation”, “programme” and “scholarships”. Also, the NPP used positive noun phrases such as “increments”, “the commitment of the NPP” and “the quality of education in Ghana.” Further, it employed negative noun phrases such as “the burdens on parents and guardians”, “crisis” and “evidence of contempt by a 82 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh government.” These were also used to lay emphasis on the negative effects of the NDC government on the people of Ghana. Again, only positive connoting noun phrases were employed under the NDC health section. These include: “prevention”, “management and control of diseases”, “quality of life of citizens” and “investments”, all geared towards development. The NPP also employed only positive noun phrases: “development”, “the introduction and implementation of NHIS” and the “strengthening of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).” It was realized that under the agriculture sectors, the noun phrases identified can be grouped under positive and negative noun phrases. Whereas the NDC employed the positive nouns, “production of cash crops” and “the production of raw materials for industry”, the negative noun, “poverty” was also used: “It was further to reduce poverty…” (NDC-AGR: Pg. 39, P.1). Positive noun phrases used by the NPP include “security and profitability for our farmers” and “productivity”. The negative noun phrase the NPP used include: “the NDC’s mismanagement, incompetence and corruption…” (NPP-AGR: Pg.49, P.1) In the same manner, the concluding sections manifestos also employed positive and negative noun phrases. The positive noun phrases employed by the NDC include: “the good people of Ghana” and the negative noun phrase, “the negative impact of the global challenges”. On the other hand, the NPP also used the positive noun phrase, “the long term sustainable development of our country” and the negative one, “a result of the mismanagement, incompetence and the corruption of the Mahama-led NDC government” 83 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 4.2.2 Pronouns Similar to the work carried out by Nadeem et al (2014), the present study came across pronouns. Different kinds of pronouns were used under the sections analyzed. However, the analysis on pronouns will focus on personal (I, We, They) and possessive (my, our, your and their) pronouns since they made a lot of contributions to the persuasive nature of the manifestos. Examples of these types of pronouns identified in the manifestos include I, my, we and our. It was identified that there was the dominant use of the pronoun “I” at the forewords. However, there was no instance of the use of “I” in the concluding sections since the dominant pronoun used was “We”. In the NDC’s foreword, the pronouns “I”, “my”, “our” and “we” were identified. The writer used the pronoun “my” and “I” to refer to himself. Examples, “As my first term as the President of the Republic of Ghana comes to an end…” (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, INTRO. P) and “I have come to appreciate even more the potential of Ghana to provide prosperity…” (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.1) As regards Fairclough’s view on pronouns, it was identified that the NDC’s foreword further employed more use of exclusive “we”. Examples include, “We have been confronted with challenges…” (NDC-FWD: Pg.4, Intro. P) and “We still have more roads to build…” (NDC-FWD: Pg.4. P.6) There was also the use of the pronoun “our” which can also be argued as being used both inclusively and exclusively. Thus, the use of “inclusive” is a rhetorical means of soliciting the inclusivity of Ghanaians in the agenda of the political party. On the other hand, “exclusive” isolates only the political party to work on their agenda: “Our country will continue to rise…” (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.3). Here, the use of “our” is inclusive since the country belongs to all Ghanaians and as such, it involves everyone. 84 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The exclusive “our” involves the writer and members of his political party, aside the reader: “… our development effort on harnessing the skills…” (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.3). The writer is making reference to the development effort of his political party members and himself. The NPP’s foreword also employed pronouns such as “my”, “I”, “we” and “our”. The first paragraph of the foreword begins with the plural possessive pronoun “our”: “Our nation is in crisis…” (NPP-FWD: Pg. v, P.1) This pronoun (our) is very powerful since it is commanding attention. It begins the foreword and it calls on everyone since all Ghanaians are also part of the “nation”. Therefore, it is arguable that the pronoun, “our” is not referring to the writer and the members of his political party alone. There was also an instance of the use of an exclusive “our”: “…will improve the lives of our people.” (NPP-FWD: Pg. vii, P.7), where the NPP is claiming ownership of the people of Ghana. In the second paragraph of the foreword of NPP, the writer no longer calls on the people but concentrates on himself. He therefore uses the personal pronouns “I” and “my”: “I have dedicated my life to public service to change Ghana for good. As President, with the help of the Almighty God, I will be committed to a different kind of government, one that governs in the national interest, not for private gain.” (NPP-FWD: Pg. v, P.2) There was more use of the singular pronoun “I” at the foreword of NPP which indicates that the writer will be solving the problem of the country alone. “The uses of “we” identified were all inclusive: “…my first and only consideration will be what is best for the country we all love …” (NPP-FWD: Pg. vii, P.9) and “Join me, so together, we can build a country…” (NPP-FWD: Pg. vii, P.11) The two writers also used pronouns at the introduction of the education sections of their manifestos. The NDC education used the pronouns “we” and “our”. Only the 85 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh exclusive use of “we” was identified: “We have introduced social interventions in the education sector…” (NDC-EDU: Pg. 10, P.1) and “We have also expanded the school- feeding programme…” (NDC-EDU: Pg. 10, P. 1). The use of “our” identified, can be described as inclusive since the “education system” is not a property of political parties but all the people within a country: “…and that has allowed for improved attendance rates in our education system.” (NDC-EDU: Pg.10, P.1) Also, under the education sector of the NDC manifesto, they used pronouns such as: “We have also expanded the school-feeding programme…and that has allowed for improved attendance rates in our education system.” (NDC-EDU: Pg. 10, P.1) Here the pronoun “we” is exclusive. There was also the use of “our” to refer to all the members of the NDC and the people in Ghana. The same instances were identified under the NPP manifesto: “Examination malpractices have sadly become regular features of life in our country leading to the undermining and loss of confidence in academic qualifications from our institutions.” (NPP-EDU: Pg.103, P.3) Similarly, the NPP used the pronoun “our” to make reference to all the people of Ghana as owners of the country and its institutions: “our country” and “our institutions”. It was also identified that the NPP’s health section did not employ pronouns. However, three pronouns were used at the health section under the NDC manifesto. These include: the plural possessive pronoun, “our”, the plural personal pronoun, “we” and the reflexive pronoun, “ourselves”: “In our 2012 Manifesto, we committed ourselves to delivering a better and improved healthcare system. Resulting from the strategic investments made by the NDC Government, we achieved our target and we are working to improve on the gains. We give credit to the ingenuity and responsiveness of health workers…” (NDC-HTH: Pg.18-19, P.3) 86 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh A careful reading of the extract above reveals that all the three pronouns (our, we and ourselves) refer to the political party and its members only. Here, the political party has isolated itself from the people of Ghana. This means that it is telling the people that it has some policies for them so they should vote it into power. The writer’s use of plural pronouns indicates that the political party is made up of more than one person. Thus, all the members of the NDC political party are all inclusive. The pronouns “we” and “our” were further used under the agriculture section of the NDC manifesto. These pronouns were also used to refer to the political party and its members: “…we promise, among other things” and “In our 2012 Manifesto…” (NDC-AGR: Pg. 39, P.1) There is persuasion in the sense that the writer wants readers to regard his political party as one that has good plans for them. Thus, this is another instance of distancing relationship where the people have been exempted through the use of the pronouns. The writer used only one type of pronoun under the NPP agriculture section: the plural possessive pronoun, “our”. This pronoun has been used for two functions: referring to the writer and members of his political party: “Our policies and interventions…” (NPP-AGR: Pg.49, P.3) and referring to the writer, members of his political party and the people of Ghana: “…our farmers and fisher-folk…” (NPP-AGR: Pg.49: P.3). At the conclusion, NDC again, used the pronouns, “we and our”: “We practiced an open, accountable and responsive government, which contributed tremendously to the enjoyment of personal freedoms, the maintenance of peace and security and the protection of our territorial integrity.” (NDC-CON: Pg.78, P.5) The writer employed the plural personal pronoun “we” to refer to members of the NDC and himself. Example: “We practiced an open, accountable and responsive government…” (NPP-CON: Pg. 179, P.5). Similarly, like the other uses identified, “our” 87 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh was used to refer to all the people in Ghana. Hence, the use of “…our territorial integrity”. Where a territory does not belong to political parties alone but all the people within the country. Also, the pronoun “you” was also used: “Stay with those you trust” (NDC-CON: Pg.78, LL1). This finding agrees with Fairclough’s (1989:128) argument that the pronoun “you” is used to address an unknown audience. It is not possible for the writers to mention all the names of Ghanaians. Hence, they used the pronoun “you” to refer to all Ghanaians. The only instance of “you” was used by the NDC at their conclusion to finally call on Ghanaians who have the right to vote: “Stay with those you trust”. (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, LL). Likewise, the NPP foreword also employed the pronoun “you”: “… I will serve you all.” (NPP-FWD: Pg. vii, P.8) and “Join me, so together, we can build a country where, if you show up, step up, and work hard, you will have your fair share of its wealth, and be fairly rewarded for your hard work. A country in which hard work pays, and cutting corners does not. A country in which, no matter where you come from, you will be rewarded…” (NPP-FWD: Pg. vii, P. 11). The findings on the use of pronouns under the NDC and NPP manifestos also agree with that of Nadeem et al (2014) who also proved that personal and possessive pronouns help in persuading voters. 4.2.3 Verbs Ehineni (2014), Nartey and Yankson (2014) and Nadeem et al (2014) studied verbs used in political manifestos. Whereas Ehinneni (2014) and Nartey and Yankson (2014) focused on only modal verbs, Nadeem et al (2014) also studied modal verbs and included the present and past tense form of verbs. The analysis of verbs for the current study will focus on these forms of verbs - present, past, to-infinitives and modal verbs to expose the meaning behind their usage in the manifestos. The verb phrases identified in the manifestos 88 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh helped the reader to know the time that certain policies will be implemented. As a persuasive strategy, it was observed that many of the verbs employed connoted positive meanings. As regards to the verbs used under the NDC manifesto, it was observed that the writer was informing readers that the current economy has no problem and the government is putting up measures to work on improving the economy. He further explains to readers that the NDC has carried out many works to help in developing the country and it will continue with that when given another chance to rule. On the other hand, NPP used verbs that talked about new development since it is in opposition. The vision of both manifestos is to introduce an agenda that will improve the lives of the people in the country. Examples of modal verbs used included “will”, “can”, “must”, “should” and “would”. However, the dominant modals were “will” and “can”. The verb phrases introduced by the modals “will” and “can” indicated promise and ability respectively. Ehineni (2014), Nartey and Yankson (2014) and Nadeem et al (2014) agree that modal verbs have hidden meanings. They also maintain that modal verbs are employed in political manifestos, purposely to make promises, commitments and persuade. Similarly, these uses of modal verbs were identified in the manifestos. Examples, the NDC, at their foreword used the modal, “will” to promise the people on how their governance will project the country: “…I am confident that my second and final term will move Ghana even closer towards the era of prosperity…” (NDC-FWD: Pg.4, P.1) The modal “can” was also used to describe how they feel about their achievements: “Indeed, I feel inspired by the success we have achieved in the last four years. We can be proud of that record.” (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.10) 89 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Likewise, the NPP also employed “will” and “can” in their foreword. “Will” was used to promise their commitment to Ghanaians when given the mandate: “…I will be committed to a different kind of government…” (NPP-FWD: Pg. v, P.2) “Can” on the other hand, was employed to show their ability with regards to the development of the county: “…we can build a country…” (NPP-FWD: Pg. vii, P.11) It was also observed that the education section of NDC did not employ the modals, “will and can”. On the other hand, that of NPP employed both “will” and “can”. It used “will” together with the idiom: …will come to naught…” (NPP-EDU: Pg. 104, P.8) Again, “can” was used to show ability: “…and raising literate, confident, and engage citizens who can think critically”. (NPP-EDU: Pg. 103, P.4) Whereas the NPP’s health section used only the modal “will”, that of the NDC did not use any of these two (2) modal verbs. The NPP also used it to promise Ghanaians about their intention to develop the sector: “…the NPP will expand health promotion programmes…”. (NPP-HTH: Pg. 115, P.2). Just like the health section of NDC, the agriculture section did not employ any of the modal verbs. However, the NPP section on agriculture employed only “will” to promise higher incomes to farmers and fisher-folks: “Our policies and interventions will ensure that our farmers and fisher-folk earn higher incomes.” (NPP-AGR: Pg. 49, P.3) In their conclusions, the two documents employed “will” to further make promises to the people:  “This Manifesto contains policies and programmes that will consolidate the achievements…” (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, P.7)  “…the NPP will build in Ghana the most people friendly and the most business friendly economy…” (NPP-CON: Pg. 179, P.2) 90 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The modal verbs identified are similar to those identified in the works of Ehineni (2014), Nartey and Yankson (2014) and Nadeem et al (2014). Thus, they were employed to aid in persuading voter to vote for their party. The present finite and past finite verbs were also identified in the manifestos. The present finite verbs indicate an action in progress while the past finite verbs show a work that has already been done. The use of the present form of verb, affirmed the argument made by Nadeem et al (2014, p.8) that “The present form of verb shows a kind of improvement in the country that itself is a trick of manipulation”. They further maintain that “these verbs show development and claims about improvement in the country”. The findings of Nadeem et al (2014) on the less occurrence of present form of verb in the manifestos they analyzed is similar to the current study. Examples of the use of the present and past tense verbs under the foreword (of both) sections of the manifestos include the following:  “…we will continue policies and programmes and introduce new initiatives…” (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.6)  “…and in some instances completed, major institutional reforms and built strong and viable institutions.” (NDC-FWD: Pg.4, P.5). The present finite verb, “introduce” shows an action that is yet to be put to practice, while the verbs “completed” and “built” are past tense meaning the action has already been put in place. Also, the NPP’s foreword employed these verbs: “Join me, so together, we can build a country...” (NPP-FWD: Pg. vii, P.11). The present finite verb, “Join” means that the writer is currently asking the people of Ghana to come together so that they work to improve the current state of the country. 91 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Also, an example of the use of the past finite verbs includes: “Our nation is in crisis: a crisis created and sustained by the mismanagement…” (NPP-FWD: Pg. v, P.1). Implying that the country has been put “in crisis” by the NDC government since it came into power. Thus, the nation has been destroyed since things are not improving and everyone is suffering. It was identified that, the NDC’s education section used more perfective verbs together with finite past verbs; for instance, “We have introduced social interventions in the education sector…” (NDC-EDU, Pg. 10, P.1). These forms of verbs were used to tell the people about the policies they have implemented under the education sector. The NPP’s education section also employed the present verb: “That is why the NPP declares Education to be a MAJOR PRIORITY and commits itself…” (NPP-EDU: Pg. 104, P.8). Thus, it sees the education sector as an important institution in the country that needs to be developed. CDA discovered that the political parties used the present forms of verbs to inform their readers about their intention to develop Ghana. CDA exposed that there was also the use of the past form of verb which had low occurrence like the present form. Again, this is similar to the finding on the past form of verb used in the manifestos analyzed by Nadeem et al (2014). The findings from the Pakistan manifestos made Nadeem et al (2014) conclude that the use of the second form of the verb is not appreciative in manifestos because most of the times verbs are used in their past tense in order to describe the future plans. Aside the use of the present forms of verbs, the NPP’s education section also used past tense: “When Nana Akuffo-Addo announced the commitment of the NPP…” (NPP-EDU: Pg. 103, P.5). The health sections of the two (2) manifestos also employed the two finite verbs (present and past): 92 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh  “We give credit to the ingenuity and responsiveness of health workers for effective prevention, management and control of diseases…” (NDC-HTH: Pg. 19, P.3)  “Resulting from the strategic investments made by the NDC Government, we achieved our target…” (NDC-HTH: Pg. 18, P.3)  “…the NPP will expand health promotion programmes, scale up disease prevention strategies and improve access to curative and emergency services…” (NPP-HTH: Pg. 115, P.2)  “Under the leadership of President J. A. Kufuor, the NPP improved the health of Ghanaians…” (NPP-HTH: Pg. 115, P.3) Whereas the NDC health section used present verbs including “give” and the past tense verbs, “made and achieved”; the NPP also used verbs such as “improve” and “improved”. The agriculture sections also employed these verbs (present and past). It is interesting to note that they both (NDC and NPP) used the present verb, “improve”. Examples  “It was further to reduce poverty, raise rural incomes and improve the standards of living”. (NDC-AGR: Pg. 39, P.1)  “Our vision for the next four years is to modernize agriculture, improve production efficiency…” (NPP-AGR: Pg. 49, P.2) Meaning, the two (2) political parties have an aim to develop the sector so that poverty will be reduced in the country. Hence the use of the verb, “improve”. The past tense of verbs was also used under the sections:  “… we promised, among other things, to promote agriculture modernization…” (NDC-AGR: Pg. 39, P.1)  “…the NPP will adopt policies specifically targeted at supporting women in agriculture.” (NPP-AGR: Pg. 49, P.4) These past tense of the verbs used: “promised” and “targeted at supporting” all make reference to actions that have already taken place. The conclusion sections were not different, since the present and past tense of verbs were equally used. The present tense of the verbs employed at the conclusions includes: 93 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh  “Vote for the NDC!” (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, LL2)  “So support us and together, let’s get Ghana working again.” (NPP-CON: Pg. 179, P.3) As a way of getting people to vote for them, the two manifestos used these verbs to communicate to the people. It is arguable that the NDC was straightforward in terms of using verb, “Vote”. On the other, the NPP used the verb, “support” which indirectly calls on Ghanaians to vote them into power. The past tense of verbs was also used in the following: “We practiced an open, accountable and responsive government, which contributed tremendously to the enjoyment of personal freedom…” (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, P.5). This also informs readers of an action that the NDC put in place and its effect on the lives of Ghanaians. The NPP used the perfective verb “have” together with the past tense form of verbs: “The solutions we have set out in this document have been well-considered.” (NPP-CON: Pg. 179, P. 1) This makes readers aware of how the NPP have provided policies that will solve the “mismanagement, incompetence and corruption” they have identified in the country. Again, Nadeem et al (2014, p. 9) maintain that “CDA discovers that the past from of the verb is used in order to defend the government whether by describing their positive points or the negative points of the opposition”.  To-infinitive verb It was revealed that the to-infinitive verb, like the present and past forms, further pointed out the development that the writers intend to implement when given the mandate. Examples:  “I will continue to work together with the people of Ghana to create opportunities…” (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.1) 94 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh  “I have dedicated my life to public service to change Ghana for good”. (NPP-FWD: Pg. v, P.2) Since the NDC is in power, it employed the present verb, “continue” in addition to the infinitive verb, “to work”. This indicates that, as a ruling party, it aims to continue all its actions and wish to work harder. The NPP also wants to change the country as a way of developing it. More so, the NPP’s education section employed them (the to-infinitive verbs) to describe what they intend to do: “We aim to shift the structure and content of our education system from merely passing examinations to building character…” (NPP-EDU: Pg.103, P.4) As already mentioned the NDC’s education section used more perfective verbs throughout its introductory section to tell what they have done as a ruling party and employed a single instance of a to-infinitive verb in addition to an adverb: “These interventions have allowed the NDC Government to significantly expand access to education at all levels”. (NDC- EDU: Pg. 10, P.2) In addition, the health sections also used the to-infinitive verbs to point out what they seek to do. Examples include “…we achieved our target and we are working to improve on the gains”. (NDC-HLT: Pg. 18-19, P.3) “The vision of the NPP is to see that the right to health of all Ghanaians is guaranteed…” (NPP-HTH: Pg. 115, P.1) The verbs, “to improve” and “to see” are all communicating one theme, which is development. This is not different from the agriculture sections since the infinitive verb was used to point out what the political parties seek to do:  “In our 2012 Manifesto, we promised, among other things, to promote agriculture modernization…” (NDC-AGR: Pg.39, P.1) 95 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh  “Our vision for the next four (4) years is to modernize agriculture, improve production efficiency and achieve food security…” (NPP- AGR: Pg. 49, P.2) The NPP intends to promote and to modernize agriculture in Ghana, as part of its development agenda. The same instances were identified in the conclusions, where the to-infinitive verbs were used to communicate to readers about the actions that the political parties will further put in place: “Our investments in infrastructure and in the social services such as education, health, housing and water are providing opportunities for the private sector to create jobs.” (NDC-CON: Pg.78, P.4) Although the NPP employed the infinitive verbs to indicate development, they also used them to show that the current NDC government has made the country stand still and they will revive the country and make it active: “We aim to restore hope and to get the country back to working again…” (NPP-CON: Pg. 179, P.2) With regard to Payne’s (2006, p.116) view on manipulative verbs, it was observed that both the NDC and the NPP used such verbs too. Whereas the NDC used it in their foreword and conclusion, the NPP used it only at their conclusion. These are as follows:  “We will sustain the transformation and we will make more progress”. (NDC: FWD, Pg. 4, P.10)  “…we urge you to renew our mandate with a massive vote for the NDC’s Presidential and Parliamentary candidates in December, 2016”. (NDC: CON, Pg. 78, P.8) 96 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh  “So support us and together let’s get Ghana working again”. (NPP: CON, Pg. 179, P. 3) Payne (2006) classified verbs such as make, urge, let and allow as manipulative and indicated that such verbs are used to enhance rhetorical force to get someone to agree to take an action. Aside the uses of verbs that connote positive meanings, verbs connoting negativity were also used at a point in time. However, it was interestingly observed that the NDC foreword, education, health and agriculture sections; and the NPP health section used only positive connoting verbs. On the other hand, the NPP foreword employed negative connoting verbs including “cannot find”, “cannot afford”, “have been betrayed” and “does not care”. An example of a negative connoting verb used in a sentence is “… for ordinary Ghanaians who have been betrayed by a government that does not care”. (NPP- FWD: Pg. vi, P.4) This was making reference to the NDC government (a government that does not care). Since the writer of the NPP manifesto sees it to be the reason for the suffering and hardship in the lives of Ghanaians. Whereas the NDC education section did not make use of negative connoting verbs, the NPP education did. It employed negative verbs such as “are deeply demoralized”, “are starved” and “denounced”. Example: “When Nana Akufo- Addo announced the commitment of the NPP to the delivery of free education for senior high schools, the NDC promptly denounced it as impractical.” (NPP-EDU: Pg. 103, P.5). By employing the past finite verb “denounced” means that the NDC at a point in time criticized some of the policies that the NPP wanted to put in place under the education sector. The NDC’s conclusion employed the negative connoting verb, “affected”: “But for the prolonged global developments that adversely affected the earnings from Ghana’s 97 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh export commodities…” (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, P.2). The verb “affected” was used to indicate a negative effect of the “global development” on “the earnings from Ghana’s export commodities”. Like the NDC’s conclusion, the NPP’s also employed a single use of a negative connoting verb: “They are a response to the real problems faced by the Ghanaian people as a result of the mismanagement, incompetence and corruption of the Mahama- led NDC government.” (NPP-CON: Pg.179, P.1). The verb, “faced by” helped the writer to explain the issues that are affecting the people of Ghana due to the current government, NDC. It was observed that almost all the verbs used in the two (2) manifestos, connoted positive meanings which shows that the writers of the manifesto have positive plans for the country and they are willing to take actions that will lead to the sustainable development of the country. 4.2.4 Adverbs The writers of the NPP and NDC manifestos also utilized adverbs to augment their messages. The analysis of adverbs employed in the manifestos is in contrast to the works identified on manifestos. It was identified that there was less use of adverbs by the creators of the manifestos. Examples include the following: “Already and systematically, we are Changing Lives and Transforming Ghana.” (NDC-FWD: Pg.4, P.9) The use of the adverbs, “Already and systematically” means that because the NDC government is in power, it is informing Ghanaians that they are stilling ensuring that the country changes and they are doing so systematically which means that they have planned all that they intend to do for Ghana to be transformed and for people to live peaceful lives. 98 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh At their foreword, the NPP also employed the adverb, “fairly”: “…we can build a country where, if you show up, step up, and work hard, you will have your fair share of its wealth, and be fairly rewarded for your hard work.” (NPP-FWD: Pg. vii, P.11) This adverb, “fairly” further describes the NPP’s intention to ensure that all the people in Ghana are treated equally. They aim to avoid any form of discrimination where there will be preferential treatment for some people in the country. At the education section, the NDC used the adverb “significantly” to help them describe how they have essentially worked on the expansion of education in the country: “These interventions have allowed the NDC Government to significantly expand access to education at all levels.” (NDC-EDU: Pg.10, P. 2) The NPP also under the education section tells how they wish to improve the education sector. They are not satisfied with the trends in the educational sector. They intend to move the education system in Ghana to a different level so that it does not only focus on how students pass examination, hence the use of the adverb, “merely”: “We aim to shift the structure and content of our education system from merely passing examinations to building character…” (NPP-EDU: Pg.103, P.4) The NPP further used a negative connoting adverb: “Examination malpractices have sadly become regular features of life in our country…” (NPP-EDU: Pg. 103, P.3) The adverb, “sadly” describes the negative effect of Examination malpractices in the country where students have cultivated the habit of cheating during examinations and some parents proudly purchase examination questions for their children so that they succeed in their education. The NDC’s health and agriculture sections did not use adverbs in communicating to the readers but the NPP did: “…provision of highly subsidized anti-retroviral medicines for HIV/AIDS patients…” (NPP-HTH: Pg.115, P.3). They want to ensure that the 99 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh medicines given to HIV/AIDS patients are affordable so that all of them will be able to purchase them. Also, under the agriculture sector: “The NPP will pursue a value-addition strategy, aimed at rapidly ramping up agro-processing…” (NPP-AGR: Pg.49, P.2) “Food is unnecessarily expensive in a country that is blessed with fertile land.” (NPP- AGR: Pg. 49, P.1) The use of the adverb “rapidly” means that the development of the agriculture sector will be done with great speed or within a short time. The adverb “unnecessarily” means that the increment on prices of foods in the country is irrelevant since the country has fertile land and should have been able to produce much food to bring down the prices of food items. The use of adverbs was not identified under the conclusion of the NPP. On the other hand, the NDC used them:  “We practiced an open, accountable and responsive government, which contributed tremendously to the enjoyment of personal freedoms…” (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, P.5)  “But for the prolonged global developments that adversely affected the earnings from Ghana’s export commodities…” (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, P.2) The adverbs “tremendously and adversely” employed under the NDC’s conclusion help in making two (2) arguments: That the NDC has been able to “tremendously” develop the country. Thus, making the country extraordinary excellent for all Ghanaians. Also, that the NDC would have carried out more development policies had it not been the “prolonged global development”, which negatively affected the country’s economy thus making it impossible for the party to develop the nation as they would have wished. However, they 100 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh were of the view that they succeeded to a large extent: “… the record of our achievements would have been even more remarkable.” (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, P.2) 4.2.5 Adjectives Aside the use of nouns, pronouns, verbs and adverbs, adjectives were also employed in writing the manifestos. The study on adjectives was not identified from the works reviewed and this further makes the work different from other works on manifestos. The researcher observed that adjectives contributed in persuading readers of the manifestos since they were used to describe the actions of the political parties. From the data, it was discovered that there was consistent repetition of the adjective “more” at the foreword of the NDC manifesto: “We still have more roads to construct, more houses to build, more food to produce...” (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.6). This is a way of convincing readers that as a political party (NDC) in power, they have not finished with the development of the country and still needed more time to put things in place. Thus, they should be given the mandate for them to complete their developmental agenda. The NPP on the other hand used adjectives such as “optimistic” to describe the nation: “My vision for Ghana is of an optimistic, self-confident and prosperous nation with a strong and thriving democratic society…” (NPP-FWD: Pg. vii, P.5). This means they have plans to project Ghana higher and this has been described by the adjectives “optimistic, self- confident and prosperous, strong and thriving democratic”. Interestingly, the NDC government which was accused for denouncing the NPP’s policy to ensure “the provision of free senior high school education” kept repeating the adjective “free” under its education section: “We have introduced social interventions in the education sector including the implementation of progressively free SHS programme, scholarships for over 10,000 Senior High School (SHS) students, free school uniforms, free exercise books and free sandals…” (NDC-EDU: Pg. 10, P.1) 101 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Although they denounced free SHS education, they made mention that “they have introduced social interventions in the education sector” which included the provision of “free school uniforms, free exercise books and free sandals" for students. The NPP also capitalized some of the adjectives employed under the education section to stress on them: “That is why the NPP declares Education to be a MAJOR PRIORITY and commits itself to a BOLD, CREATIVE and VISIONARY and ALL EMBRACING PROGRAM…” (NPP-EDU, P.8) All these capitalized adjectives connote positive implications under the education sector that the writer has in mind. The adjectives identified under the NDC’s health sections also described the improvement under the health sector and the developments that the political party seeks to bring up. The NDC begins their introduction: “Ghanaians are living longer and healthier lives” (NDC-HTH: Pg.18, P.1). These are second degree adjectives hence capture the idea of comparing; probably with the state they met the sector when they took over the administration the country from the NPP government led by President Kufour in January2001. This implies that the NDC believes it has improved the health sector of Ghana and Ghanaians are enjoying peaceful healthy lives. It is evident that the NPP does not recognize that Ghanaians are living longer and healthier lives. They seek “to deliver affordable, equitable and easily accessible healthcare.” (NPP-HTH: Pg.115, P.1). This description employed under the NPP’s health section was further supported with the “development and strengthening of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS)” (NPP- HTH: Pg. 115, P.2). Where “the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS)” will assist in making the healthcare in Ghana, affordable. The agriculture sections also benefited from the use of adjectives by both parties:  “It was also to ensure reduced imports, increased exports…” (NDC-AGR” Pg. 39, P.1) 102 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh  “Our policies and interventions will ensure that our farmers and fisher-folk earn higher incomes.” (NPP-AGR: Pg.49, P.3) These adjectives further add to the message of the manifestos in the agriculture section; to promote development under the agriculture sector. Whereas the NDC government is thinking about reducing imports and increasing exports. The NPP also wants to ensure that those who work under the agriculture sector are well-paid (earn higher incomes). A critical look at the use of the adjective ‘higher’ by the NPP gives an indication that it has accepted the fact that the farmers were already making some incomes which it wants to enhance if given the mandate. At their conclusions, many adjectives were used by the two parties whose manifestos were studied. Examples can be seen from the following: “… and, in addition, introduce new initiatives that will launch Ghana into a new era of accelerated growth…” (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, P.7). Since they are in power, The NDC intend to introduce new policies to buttress the ones they are already implementing. The NPP also mentions that their plans have been carefully analyzed: “We have a well-thought out programme…” (NPP-CON: Pg.179, P.3). Plans that they think can solve the crisis they have identified in the country. B. Discourse as Discourse Practice This is the second dimension of Fairclough’s (1995) model. It involves the process of production and interpretation of a text. Jorgensen and Phillips (2002, p. 69), argue that “the analysis of discursive practice focuses on how authors of texts draw on already existing discourses and genres to create a text, and on how receivers of texts also apply available discourses and genres in the consumption and interpretation of the texts.” This model is basically about how a text was produced by the writer and how it was consumed 103 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh by the readers. While making reference to Foucault’s ‘archaeological’ studies, Fairclough (1992, pp. 39-40), specifically to Foucault (1972), argues that “an emphasis on the interdependency of the discourse practices of a society or institution: texts always draw upon and transform other contemporary and historically prior texts (a property commonly referred to as the 'intertextuality' of texts”. Instances of intertextuality were identified under the two (2) manifestos since they both employed features including allusions. These forms of intertextuality were also rhetoric and persuasive. 4.3 Intertextuality Identifying intertextuality in the manifestos is similar to the works by Dobson (2007) and Moloi and Bojabotseha (2014). They examined intertextuality in the manifestos they analyzed. Their findings agree with that of the current study on intertextuality since it was identified that both writers referred to other texts. The NDC referred to its 2012 manifesto while NPP alluded to gains made under the Kufour administration. These would be discussed later. Fairclough (1992, p. 195) further argues that the intertextual properties of a text are realized in its linguistic features. It was identified that as regards intertextuality, references made to other works included are literary devices such as allusions to history, comparison and the use of metaphors. These were also persuasive. 4.3.1 Historical Allusion The NDC and NPP manifestos alluded to history. The NDC made reference to their 2012 manifesto under the health, agriculture and conclusion sections:  “In our 2012 Manifesto, we committed ourselves to delivering a better and improved healthcare system.” (NDC-HTH: Pg. 18, P.3)  “In our 2012 Manifesto, we promised, among other things, to promote agriculture modernization…” (NDC-AGR: Pg. 39, P.1) 104 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh  “We made a number of promises in our 2012 Manifesto and the records show that we have delivered more than we pledged in several sectors.” (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, P.2) Under the education section, the writer of the NPP manifesto alluded to the history of the education system in Ghana: “Teachers at all levels, from the primary to the Universities, have been subjected to such denigration and contempt that morale has sunk to the lowest ebb in the nation’s history.” (NPP-EDU: Pg. 104, P.6) He made mention of how teachers in the various education institutions are not fairly treated as compared to the previous years. This is because they are not well paid and are always informed that, ‘their reward is in heaven’. Another instance of historical allusion identified was under the health sector where the 2016 NPP manifesto alluded to the governance of the former president, J. A. Kufuor who ruled Ghana from the year 2001 to 2008. Since his governance was under “the New Patriotic Party (NPP)”: “Under the leadership of President J. A. Kufuor, the NPP improved the health of Ghanaians…” (NPP-HLT: Pg. 115, P.3) 4.3.2 Metaphor Fairclough (1989, p. 119) posits that “metaphor is a means of representing one aspect of experience in terms of another, and by no means restricted to the sort of discourse it tends to be stereotypically associated with – poetry and literary discourse”. Also, cited in Heracleous and Klaering (2014, p. 139), “metaphors can also appeal to people and groups with diverse interests, as they are inherently ambiguous, and they convey a multiplicity of connotations and meanings (Milne, Kearins, & Walton, 2006; Ortony, 1975).” With reference to the manifestos, the NPP, at their foreword used “the Black Star of Africa” which is a metaphor: 105 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh “I have an unshakeable faith that our country, the Black Star of Africa, under the leadership of the NPP, has a bright future, a future that will be secured by the enterprise, creativity, and hard work of the Ghanaian people.” (NPP-FWD: Pg. vii, P. 10) This is used to refer to the country, Ghana. This is NPP’s attempt to evoke the euphoria and the expectations of the Ghanaian, which is associated with Ghana’s independence where the founders, particularly the late former President Kwame Nkrumah, declared Ghana, “the Black Star of Africa” and insisted that the black man can manage his own affairs and take his place among the powers of the world. Thus, “the Black Star of Africa” image is closely associated with economic independence, sovereignty and cultural pride. By claiming to restore Ghana back to its place as “the Black Star of Africa”, what the NPP is saying is that under the NDC government, Ghana has lost its place as “the Black Star of Africa” and therefore, the need for restoration. This represents another instance of persuasive strategy which indicates that Ghana is an important country in Africa and her citizens are privileged to be a part of her. This was also used to embellish the manifesto and reinforce persuasion. 4.3.3 The Use of Comparison The writer of the NDC manifesto compared the health system of Ghana to some of her neighbouring African countries (Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire and sub-Sahara Africa), where Ghana had increased in improvement under healthcare delivery as compared to these other countries: “Ghana’s life expectancy at birth increased from 60 years in 2008 to 63 years by 2013. Ghana’s current Life Expectancy at birth is higher than Nigeria’s (55 years), Cote d’Ivoire’s (51.5 years) as well as the sub- Sahara Africa average (56.8 years).” (NDC-HTH: Pg. 18, P.1) This means that there has been an improvement in the health sector since the NDC took over Ghana in 2009. This argument was further supported with tables and figures on the 106 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh NDC-HTH: Pg. 18, P. 2, indicating that the political party has made a research to identify the healthcare delivery rates in Ghana: Year Infant mortality Child mortality Under-5 mortality 2008 50 31 80 2014 41 19 60 Thus, commenting on how the NDC party has been able to reduce “Infant mortality”, “Child mortality” and “Under-5 mortality” in the country. These are all instances of persuasive strategies and they give readers a chance to also calculate the figures and know how far the political party has helped in reducing mortality rates since it came into power. As regards intertextuality, the findings of Moloi and Bojabotseha (2014) and Dobson (2007) from the manifestos they analyzed, differ from the current study. Moloi and Bojabotseha (2014) identified that the South African manifestos made reference to “the reconstruction and development programme (RDP)”, “the Freedom Charter” and “the ANC’s Orientation towards Critical and Oppositional voices”. Dobson’s (2007) study is more related to the current study since his findings included historical allusions and pronouns, while the current study identified historical allusion, metaphor and comparison. C. Discourse as Socio-Cultural Practice This is the third and final dimension of Fairclough’s (1995, p. 98) model which is basically the context within which a text or speech is produced. Fairclough (1995, p.134) further mentions that “the analysis of the discursive event as social practice may refer to different levels of social organizations - the context of situation, the institutional context and the wider societal context or ‘context of culture’ (Malinowski, 1923; Halliday & Hasan, 1985).” By “discourse as social practice”, Fairclough (1989) identified three (3) meanings: “Firstly, that language is a part of society, and not somehow external to it. Secondly, that language is a social process. Thirdly, that language is a socially conditioned 107 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh process; conditioned that is by other (non-linguistic) parts of society” (p.24). Commenting on political discourse, Pu (2007, pp. 206-207) cited, “in political discourse linguists have always been interested in the linguistic structures used to get politically relevant messages across to the addressees in order to fulfill a specific function, but narrow linguistic analysis of political discourse cannot ignore the broader societal and political framework in which such discourse is embedded (Schaffner, 1996, p. 201).” As regards the data for the analysis, the context is the Ghanaian setting, specifically, politics in Ghana. Soule (2006) opines that, “when investigating party political and electoral rhetoric that discourse must be socially and culturally situated, and that these are important perspectives from which to analyse texts, in order to glean their meaning effectively” (p.58). Thus, the use of the manifestos within the Ghanaian context indicated that the writers of the NDC and NPP manifestos made sure they wrote to achieve a purpose. They used vocabularies that agreed with the norms of the society. This indicates that society influences language use and language also influences society. The writers of the manifestos were careful since they avoided the use of abusive words or words that were likely to negatively affect the feelings of readers. Obviously, no Ghanaian will vote for a political party whose manifesto is replete with abusive words. From the analysis, the NPP at a point in time blamed the NDC government for mismanaging the country. This can be referred to as ‘abusive’ since it means that the NDC government is not capable of ruling the country, hence the NDC is ‘incompetent’. The writers were also discreet since Ghana is made up of people from diverse social- cultural backgrounds and they may be addressing only a particular group of people. Although, from the analysis, it was observed that, as regards religion, both manifestos made reference to the Christian maker, “God”. This meant that they were associating themselves with Christians in Ghana. Yet, Ghana is also made up of Muslims and 108 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Traditionalist and the use of “God” means these people are not being addressed. The writers also made language choices allowed under political discourse and critical discourse analysis helped to reveal that their languages were persuasive since they were convincing readers to elect them into power. Politically, in Ghana, it has been observed that although there exist many political parties, much attention is given to only the two (2) under discussion here. As such, these two (2) political parties: “The National Democratic Congress (NDC)” and “the New Patriotic Party (NPP)” keep alternating the presidential office. Also, in Ghana, since general elections take place every four (4) years, political parties also present their manifestos around the same time. As regards context, since the manifestos were produced within the Ghanaian context, it is obvious that the manifestos were addressing Ghanaians who have the right to vote in the country’s general elections. This is attested to by the frequent use of the words ‘Ghana’ and ‘Ghanaian’ Thus, Ghanaians who have attained the age of 18 years and above and are of sound minds. The writers made sure they discussed some of the needs of Ghanaians under all the selected sections analyzed: Foreword, Education, Health, Agriculture and Conclusion. Whereas the NDC manifesto mentioned their challenges and how they have been successful; and their willingness to continue developing the country, the NPP manifesto commented on what they regard as inappropriate in the country under the governance of the NDC. They further informed their readers about their plans of developing the country when given the chance to rule. For instance, at the foreword, the NDC manifesto mentions that: “We have invested in building robust infrastructure to stimulate economic growth.” (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.5) They also mentioned the development of the economy at their conclusion: “Our economy is becoming more robust and resilient and this has led to several positive forecasts and a better outlook for Ghana in the future.” (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, P.3) 109 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Also, the NPP mentioned their desire to improve the economy of Ghana: “Economic conditions are worsening by the day and there is so much suffering in the land. But Ghana does not have to be like this. Ghana deserves the best!” (NPP-FWD: Pg. v, P. 1). This means that the poor state of the economy of Ghana has resulted in the hardship in the country. At their conclusion, the NPP further states that: “… the NPP will build in Ghana the most people friendly and the most business friendly economy in Africa.” (NPP-CON: Pg. 179, P. 2) This is a way of promising the people that it will improve the economic conditions of the country since they are aware that “Economic conditions are worsening.” (NPP-FWD: Pg. v, P.1) The NPP manifesto employed two words from two local languages in Ghana. This draws the attention of readers to the context of the study which is Ghana (Africa). Examples:  by the husband with a family of four who lost his job two years ago, because his employers had to close down the business due to DUMSOR and the high cost of operations  by the kayayei who have no opportunities or shelter and are forced to sleep on the streets of our cities. (NPP-FWD: Pg.vi, P.3) These words are “DUMSOR” from the Akan language and “kayayei” which is a blend from both Hausa and Ga languages. As mentioned earlier on, “DUMSOR” was coined to describe the instability of electricity in the country. “DUM” means “put off” and “SOR” means “put on”. On the other hand, “kaya” from the Hausa language means “load” and “yie” from the Ga language means “women”. The singular form is “yoo” which means “woman”. 110 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Within the Ghanaian context, it has been observed that only few people read the manifestos of political parties. The majority of the people prefer to listen to the reading of manifestos during political campaigns. Socially, political positions in Ghana are attributed to the rich in the society since a large amount of money is involved in campaigning. 4.4 Conclusion The analysis of the NDC and the NPP manifestos revealed some findings that are similar to the works reviewed on manifestos. Also, some of the findings were items which were not mentioned by Ehineni (2014); Nartey and Yankson (2014); Sarvat (2015); Moloi and Bojabotseha (2014); Dobson (2007); and Nadeem et al (2014). From the analysis of the data, it was observed that the writer of “the National Democratic Congress (NDC)” manifesto was straightforward with his aim. He clearly mentions that he wants the people of Ghana to vote for his political party. He is of the view that his political party has worked out many of the problems in the country and they still want to improve on what they have done. However, the writer of “the New Patriotic Party (NPP)” manifesto, used a lot of negativity all directed at the NDC government. The repetitive use of the negative words implies that he is driving at something. He is foregrounding the negative and directing the readers to agree with him. He is throwing dirt at the ruling party. This is a form of persuasion since he is using that to draw the attention of readers to the negative things he sees happening in the ruling government and wants to be elected so that he effects a positive change. Since CDA is interested in unraveling the hidden meaning behind discourse used in communication, it was identified that the language of the manifestos had some hidden meanings. 111 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CHAPTER FIVE SUMMARY, OVERVIEW, FINDINGS, THEORETICAL RECONSIDERATION, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION This chapter provides the summary, an overview of the entire research, the findings identified from the study, some theoretical reconsideration, the conclusion and the recommendation as regards further studies. 5.1 Summary The research was carried out in five chapters. The first chapter is the introduction to the study. The second chapter reviewed works that were relevant to the study. These included studies on critical discourse analysis, the theoretical framework and political discourse (manifestos). Chapter three discussed how the research was carried out in terms of methodology. It includes how the data was gathered, a description of the data and how it was analyzed. The analysis and discussion of the data was done under chapter four. Here, the researcher identified the answers to her research questions after an investigation on the manifestos. Some rhetorical strategies and linguistic features were identified. Finally, chapter five concluded the study and the researcher identified some theoretical consideration and made some recommendations for further studies. 5.2 Overview Since the manifestos are from two (2) different political parties, they were both uniquely written because each political party wanted to persuade readers in its own way. The analysis of the five (5) selected sections of each manifesto revealed that the 2016 New Patriotic Party (NPP) manifesto employed more rhetorical strategies than the 2016 National Democratic Congress (NDC) manifesto. From the point of view of “Discourse 112 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh as Text” the researcher identified the use of rhetorical strategies such as power struggle, blame-game, contrast, unity/togetherness, self-praising, dream, transformation, parallelism, emphasis, overload of emotive words, the use of local words, and subordination. The linguistic features seen in the text include nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives. For the analysis under “Discourse as Discourse Practice”, allusions, metaphors and comparisons were identified. The context of the data was also identified and explained under “Discourse as Socio-cultural Practice”. Whereas the two 2016 manifestos shared the same rhetorical strategies; Power Struggle, Blame-Game, Contrast, Unity or Togetherness, Self-Praising, Dream, Transformation, Parallelism and Historical Allusion, that of NPP added rhetorical strategies such as The Use of Emphasis, The Overload of Emotive Words, The Use of Local Words and The Use of Subordination as well as Metaphor. The NDC on the other hand added The Use of Comparison. In addition, both manifesto shared the same linguistic features. 5.3 Findings It was identified that the 2016 manifestos of “the National Democratic Congress (NDC)” and “the New Patriotic Party (NPP)” were written with diverse rhetorical strategies which were identified through some linguistic features. Although some of the selected sections shared the same rhetorical strategies, there were some differences between the two (2) manifestos. The analysis was done by employing Fairclough’s (1995, p.98) model: “Discourse as Text (Description)”, “Discourse as Discourse Practice (Interpretation)” and “Discourse as Socio-cultural Practice (Explanation)”. The findings have been discussed below: 113 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 5.3.1 Rhetorical Strategies The analysis revealed that the writers of the NPP and NDC manifestos for the 2016 electioneering period employed the following rhetorical strategies with the motive of persuading readers to vote their political parties into power. These are Blame Game, Overload of emotions, The use of local words, Contrast, Unity or Togetherness, Emphasis, The use of subordination, Transformation and Dream. It was revealed that the two political parties were struggling to win power. Whereas the NDC is requesting for a renewal of mandate since it is already in government that of the NPP outlined a number of promises they intend to implement when given the mandate. All the instances of power struggle identified were directed to an implied addressee. The Blame-Game strategy was employed by both manifestos. The NPP manifesto kept blaming the NDC for mismanaging the country and contributing to the hardships in the lives of Ghanaians. The NDC manifesto on its part, blamed “the prolonged global development” for impeding their achievements. The two (2) manifestos employed contrast which can be judged by the readers. For example, NDC manifesto mentioned that it has improved the education sector. By contrast, the NPP criticized the same sector for being in a deplorable state to the extent that schools at all levels are losing “dedicated teachers”. Ghanaians were also assured that there will be unity when any of the two (2) political parties comes into power. The point on unity was buttressed with the writers’ argument that the manifestos serve as a compact between the political parties and the people of Ghana. This was mentioned at their concluding sections. It was also identified that in attempting to persuade, the manifestos served as panegyric (a published text or a public speech in praise of something or someone) which 114 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh the writers used to praise themselves of what they have done or intend to do for the people of Ghana. This was employed under the conclusions of both manifestos where some instances of the use of language indicated that each of the writers had hope that they were going to win the elections. This strategy also aimed at informing readers that the writers believe in them and trust that they will vote for them. At the end of the 2016 general elections in Ghana, the dream of the NDC was not fulfilled because the NPP won the elections and had their dream fulfilled. It was also observed that both manifestos, in all the sections analyzed, mentioned development plans, that is, the transformation of the country. Thus making it a better place for the people. The NDC manifesto mentioned continuous development, since they are already in power. Alternatively, the NPP mentioned a new development to correct the mismanagement they have discovered under the Mahama-led NDC government. Moreover, it was identified that there was repetition at the lexical, syntactic and semantic levels which contributed to the beauty of the manifestos. It was observed that too many repetitions were avoided to make reading interesting. It was also revealed that there were the repetitions of some sounds to add rhythm to the reading of the manifestos. Aside the repetition to achieve emphasis, the NPP manifesto in their education section, employed capitalization of some words to enhance emphasis: “MAJORITY PRIORITY”; “BOLD, CREATIVE and VISIONARY and ALL-EMBRACING PROGRAM”; and “TRANSFORMATION OF EDUCATION IN GHANA”. The NPP manifesto employed words that aroused the emotions of readers. This was seen at the third paragraph of their foreword when the writer repeatedly mentioned how Ghanaians were suffering in their own country. This was also a strategy to inform readers that many Ghanaians are suffering economically since the current NDC 115 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh government has made their lives uncomfortable. Hence the NPP government can make their lives better. Also, the NPP manifesto employed local words at the foreword: “DUMSOR” and “kayayei”. It can be argued that these local lexicons were used to help readers identify themselves with some of the serious situations in the country which have become part of the political vocabulary in Ghana. Further description of ideas was employed under the NPP manifesto through the use of subordination. This was to get readers to understand their actions as regards the development of the country. The second dimensional model (discourse as discourse practice) under Fairclough’s (1995) framework involves the production of text by the writers. Under this model, the focus was on intertextuality which is used to describe how writers draw on other texts when creating a new one. From the data, allusions, metaphors and comparisons were employed at a point in time which made reference to other works: Historical Allusion, Metaphors and Comparison. Both manifestos employed historical allusions. For instance, the NDC alluded to their 2012 manifesto while the NPP alluded to Ghana’s history and the Kufuor-led government. It was identified that only the NPP manifesto used a single instance of metaphor when it referred to Ghana as “the Black Star of Africa” at its foreword. Also, comparison was employed by the NDC to compare the improvement of Ghana’s healthcare to other countries. 5.3.2 Linguistic Features The analysis also revealed the linguistic features through which the rhetorical strategies were achieved: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives. 116 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh It was observed that both manifestos made use of noun phrases (NPs’) that were positively dominant. The writer of the NPP manifesto used negative noun phrases (NPs’) to make reference to the ruling NDC government by pointing out all that he considers wrong under their administration. He even went to the extent of describing the government as “incompetent”. The writers, however, used the positive noun phrases as convincing tools to persuade Ghanaians to agree with them in order to win their votes. The pronouns (P) identified were used under three (3) instances that relate to Fairclough’s (1989, p. 127) view on the use of pronouns (P). These specific ones are, the pronouns “we” and “you”. Fairclough argues that the use of the pronoun “we” has two (2) forms: “the inclusive we” and “the exclusive we”. Whereas “the inclusive we” includes the writer or speaker and the reader or audience; “the exclusive we” includes the writer or speaker and other people with the exception of the reader or audience. Also, Fairclough (1989) mentioned that the pronoun “you” is used when the writer or speaker has no knowledge of the names of the people he is addressing. In some instances, it was identified that the writers used pronouns to refer to the political party and all the people in the country (inclusive we); to refer to their political parties and the members (exclusive we); and also, to refer to only the people of Ghana (the use of the pronoun “you”). The pronoun “our” was also used exclusively and inclusively. This indicates that at a point in time the writers considered themselves to be in power where the people were their subordinates. This portrays the writers as being individualistic since they create a distance between themselves and the people. At another point in time, they considered themselves as being equal to the people which shows an essence of communalism where everyone should come together to build Ghana. The pronouns used to refer to the people of Ghana alone meant that the writers were addressing them to pay attention to their messages. 117 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The use of verbs in the manifestos which were also dominantly positive shows that the two (2) political parties are ready to work when given the mandate. The use of the perfective verbs shows executive powers. Thus, the writers already were executing their powers as leaders of the people. Additionally, the adjectives employed helped in painting pictures of what the writers wanted their readers to know. These added to the persuasive strategies since the writers wanted readers to know the beauty of their plans so that they vote for them. Also, like the adjectives, the use of adverbs helped in persuading readers. This was employed by both manifestos to indicate how the political parties will ensure that development occurs in the country. Hence, the use of the adverbs: “rapidly” and “highly”. Furthermore, the third model of Fairclough’s (1995) framework (discourse as socio-cultural practice) helps researchers to identify and explain the context within which their data was produced. The data for the study falls under political discourse within the Ghanaian setting where there exist many political parties in the country but much attention is given to only two (2) political parties since the coming into force of the 1992 Republican Constitution: “The National Democratic Congress (NDC)” and “the New Patriotic Party (NPP)”. 5.4 Theoretical Reconsideration Fairclough’s (1995) three- dimensional model was found potent for the analysis of the discourse (manifestos). As regards his views on pronouns, Fairclough (1989, pp. 127- 128) identified two (2) uses of the pronoun “we”: “the inclusive we” and “the exclusive we”. Whereas “inclusive we” involves the writer or speaker and all the listeners or readers within the context of the situation, the “exclusive we” includes the writer or speaker and 118 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh his/her associates only. Thus, it does not include the readers or listeners. The researcher has also identified “inclusive our” and “exclusive our” which correspond to Fairclough’s view on the pronoun “we”. For example, “our nation”; where the nation belongs to everyone thus involving the writer or readers and everyone within the context (inclusive our). Again, the use of “our policies and programmes” within a context involves only the writer or reader and his/her associates. 5.5 Conclusion The rhetorical position is effective since it tells the kind of presidential candidates each political party is presenting to the people of Ghana. This is in relation to the argument made by van Dijk (1993) as regards the analysis of language under CDA: critical discourse analysis can only make a significant and specific contribution to critical social or political analyses if it is able to provide an account of the role of language, language use, discourse or communicative events in the (re)production of dominance and inequality (p.279). Thus, through a critical analysis of the language employed by the writers of the manifestos, these findings were revealed. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) helped to unravel the real meaning behind the language of the two (2) manifestos in terms of how they were used to persuade readers. The analysis of the data affirms a quotation cited in Ehineni (2014, p. 112) on the language of political discourse: Language use in political discourses including speeches, manifestos and other political texts has been identified to be associated with different rhetoric and figurative strategies like circumlocution, irony, symbolisms, innuendos, euphemisms, and metaphors (Yusuf, 2003; Linfoot-Ham, Kerry. 2005; Carver & Pikalo, 2008). 119 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Thus political discourse is rich in rhetorical strategies like metaphors and irony which are used in passing on information to the supporters of the political parties or everyone within the political environment. Similarly, to Agyekum (2004, p. 353) “The language of politics refers to the terminology, rhetoric and discourse of political activities of politicians and their supporters”. He continues to argue that “The language of politics can also be seen as the use of language in various situations and institutions that are conventionally recognized as political” Agyekum (2004, p. 354). Nadeem et al. (2014), while commenting on the language of politicians argued that: Politicians use planned language in order to persuade and influence the people. They have the ability to sustain and prolong their power and to appeal to the harmony of the voters through language that support their own benefits. CDA analyzes such discourse patterns and exposes the purposes behind political statements (p.1). Nadeem, Mahmood, and Mahmood (2014) share the same view with Agyekum (2004, p. 354) who explained that “Politicians connect political language with the theory and practice of public oratory. The use of proper language, oratory and rhetoric in political realms dates back to fifth century Greece”. He further posits that “Politicians are supposed to be ideal orators and be able to use effective political language to persuade and influence the thoughts and emotions of their audience”. At the end of the 2016 elections in Ghana, “the New Patriotic Party”, led by Nana Akufo-Addo replaced the NDC (the Mahama-led NDC government). Hence, this act affirms the habitual alternation of the two (2) political parties in Ghana since the 4th Republic. 120 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh In addition, Fairclough’s, model is said to be the well-developed approach among all the approaches under critical discourse analysis. Commenting on the three (3) dimensional model of Fairclough, Jorgensen and Phillips (2002) argue that: Among the different approaches to critical discourse analysis, Fairclough has, in our view, constructed the most sophisticated framework for analysis of the relationship between language use and societal practices in general. The main problem with his approach is that the consequences for empirical research of the theoretical distinction between the discursive and the non- discursive remain unclear. How can one demonstrate empirically that something is in a dialectical relationship with something else? Where does one locate the line of demarcation between two or more things that are in dialectical interplay? (p.89) Although they regard Fairclough’s approach as the best under CDA, they have also criticized it on the basis that it lacks clarity as regards its usage. The rhetorical strategies and the linguistic features identified from the study were persuasive properties to help improve the clarity, effectiveness and beauty of the manifestos. These strategies were employed to persuade and show the ability of the writers to persuade, to provide information or deliver messages to Ghanaians and for emphasis. Thus, all these strategies were also used to create a vivid positive impression in the minds of readers as regards what the writers intend to achieve with their manifestos. 5.6 Recommendation The current study used Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as a framework. It specifically focused on Fairclough’s (1995, p. 98) three (3) dimensional models under CDA: “Discourse as Text (Description)”; “Discourse as Discourse Practice (Interpretation)”; and “Discourse as Sociocultural Practice (Explanation)”. It is recommended that other researchers use the same framework to unravel the rhetorical strategies and linguistic features that were used as persuasive tools but were not identified by the researcher. 121 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Also, there exists other approaches to CDA and the current researcher would like to recommend the use of any of them for an analysis of her five (5) selected sections (The Foreword, Education, Health, Agriculture and the Conclusion). Again, studies should be conducted on the remaining sections of the 2016 manifestos using Fairclough’s model to unravel the hidden meaning behind the language used. At the foreword of the two (2) manifestos, it was identified that the use of the pronouns “I” and “Our” created a certain gap between the writer and the people. Thus, there was a form of distancing power relation. The writers should have sustained the plural pronouns to drag the people throughout the reading of the manifestos. 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A New Agenda in (Critical) Discourse Analysis: Theory, Methodology and Interdisciplinarity (Vol. 13). John Benjamins Publishing. Wodak, R., & Meyer, M. (Eds). (2001). Methods for Critical Discourse Analysis. Sage Wodak, R., & Meyer, M. (Eds.). (2009). Methods for Critical Discourse Analysis. Sage. Wodak, R., & Meyer, M. (Eds.). (2015). Methods of Critical Discourse Studies. Sage. www.citifmonline.com - the 2016 manifesto of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), assessed on Saturday, 1st October, 2016 www.nanaakufoaddo.org - the 2016 manifesto of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the history of NPP, assessed on Wednesday, 23rd November, 2016 130 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh APPENDICES Appendix One: The Selected Sections of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Manifesto 1. THE FOREWORD (Pg. 4) As my first term as the President of the Republic of Ghana comes to an end, I have come to appreciate even more the potential of Ghana to provide prosperity and security to all its citizens. The journey so far has been worth the effort. We have been confronted with challenges but have achieved major successes. (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, Intro. P.) With the blessings of the Almighty God and the support of the people of Ghana, I am confident that my second and final term will move Ghana even closer towards the era of prosperity and security that I have envisioned. I will continue to work, together with the people of Ghana, to create opportunities that will generate prosperity for all. (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.1) This is what the Agenda for Transformation signifies. This transformation entails moving away from over-reliance on commodity exports towards diversification and value addition. All these have begun. They will be sustained and accelerated in the next four years. (NDC- FWD: Pg. 4, P.2) An integral part of the NDC’s Agenda for Transformation is our unwavering belief that Ghana’s greatest wealth is its people. Our country will continue to rise as we focus a large part of our development effort on harnessing the skills, potentials and ingenuity of our people. There is tremendous potential in the Ghanaian to create, innovate and transform our nation. (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.3) As leader of the NDC and Government, our policies, programmes and projects have been directed at putting people first, building a strong and resilient economy, expanding 131 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh infrastructure for accelerated growth and jobs, and advancing transparent and accountable governance. We have been vindicated, as we have seen huge payoffs in terms of access to education, health care and other social services. This has led to improved educational outcomes and favourable health indices for our people. (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.4) We have undertaken, and in some instances completed, major institutional reforms and built strong and viable institutions. We have invested in building robust infrastructure to stimulate economic growth. This has created jobs and we intend to create even more jobs. Addressing unemployment and creating job opportunities will be at the core of my renewed mandate. (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.5) With the renewed mandate I am seeking, we will continue policies and programmes and introduce new initiatives that are consistent with our key social democratic principle of equitable development. We still have more roads to construct, more houses to build, more food to produce, additional educational and health facilities to provide and more jobs to create. (NDC-FWD: Pg.4, P.6) Indeed, these are also key demands of the global compact encapsulated in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which we have agreed to uphold. (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.7) With the collaboration of the Bank of Ghana, we will institute mechanisms that will significantly lower the cost of credit and position the private sector to play its role in the Transformation Agenda. (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.8) Already, and systematically, we are Changing Lives and Transforming Ghana. (NDC- FWD: Pg. 4, P.9) 132 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Indeed, I feel inspired by the success we have achieved in the last four years. We can be proud of that record. We will sustain the transformation and we will make more progress. (NDC-FWD: Pg.4, P.10) I have abiding faith in the people of Ghana and in the future of our country. More importantly, I remain committed to the cause of making our nation greater and stronger. (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.11) God bless our Homeland! (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, LL) 2. EDUCATION (Pg. 10) We have introduced social interventions in the education sector including the implementation of the progressively free SHS programme, scholarships for over 10,000 Senior High School (SHS) students, free school uniforms, free exercise books and free sandals for school children. We have also expanded the school-feeding programme, thus reducing the direct and indirect cost barriers to parents, and that has allowed for improved attendance rates in our education system. (NDC-EDU: Pg. 10, P.1) These interventions have allowed the NDC Government to significantly expand access to education at all levels. (NDC-EDU: Pg. 10, P.2) 3. HEALTH (Pg. 18-19) Ghanaians are living longer and healthier lives. Ghana’s life expectancy at birth increased from 60 years in 2008 to 63 years by 2013. Ghana’s current Life Expectancy at birth is higher than Nigeria’s (55 years), Cote d’Ivoire’s (51.5 years) as well as the sub-Sahara Africa average (56.8 years). (NDC-HTH: Pg. 18, P.1) Infant, Child and Maternal mortality rates are all on a downward trend. Year Infant mortality Child mortality Under-5 mortality 133 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 2008 50 31 80 2014 41 19 60 (NDC-HTH: Pg. 18, P.2) In our 2012 Manifesto, we committed ourselves to delivering a better and improved healthcare system. Resulting from the strategic investments made by the NDC Government, we achieved our target and we are working to improve on the gains. We give credit to the ingenuity and responsiveness of health workers for effective prevention, management and control of diseases, improved health conditions and better quality of life of citizens. (NDC-HTH: Pg. 18-19, P.3) 4. AGRICULTURE (Pg. 39) In our 2012 Manifesto, we promised, among other things, to promote agriculture modernization and to transform the rural economy. The objective was to ensure food security and increased production of cash crops. It was also to ensure reduced imports, increased exports and the production of raw materials for industry. It was further to reduce poverty, raise rural incomes and improve the standards of living. (NDC-AGR: Pg. 39, P.1) 5. CONCLUSION (Pg. 78) In 2017, the National Democratic Congress will celebrate its 25th Anniversary. It will be historical and will represent a significant approval by the people of Ghana of the performance of our Government. (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, P.1) We made a number of promises in our 2012 Manifesto and the records show that we have delivered more than we pledged in several sectors. But for the prolonged global developments that adversely affected the earnings from Ghana’s export commodities and increased the prices of imports, the record of our achievements would have been even more remarkable. (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, P.2) 134 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh We demonstrated that with prudent management, the negative impact of the global challenges could be managed. Our economy is becoming more robust and resilient and this has led to several positive forecasts and a better outlook for Ghana in the future. (NDC- CON: Pg. 78, P.3) Our investments in infrastructure and in the social services such as education, health, housing and water are providing opportunities for the private sector to create jobs. (NDC- CON: Pg. 78, P.4) We practiced an open, accountable and responsive government, which contributed tremendously to the enjoyment of personal freedoms, the maintenance of peace and security and the protection of our territorial integrity. (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, P.5) We are deeply committed to continuing the good work of the past four years and we are confident that the good people of Ghana will continue to repose confidence in the stewardship of John Dramani Mahama and our Parliamentary Candidates, who will help deliver on the commitments in this Manifesto. (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, P.6) This Manifesto contains policies and programmes that will consolidate the achievements so far made and, in addition, introduce new initiatives that will launch Ghana into a new era of accelerated growth and the transformation of our society. (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, P.7) As the goal of the 2016 Manifesto states, the implementation of our policies and programmes is to change your life and transform Ghana. The Manifesto is our compact with you, the people of Ghana, and given our record of promising and delivering, we urge you to renew our mandate with a massive vote for the NDC’s Presidential and Parliamentary candidates in December 2016. (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, P.8) Stay with those you trust. (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, LL 1) Vote for the NDC! (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, LL 2) 135 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Appendix Two: The Selected Sections of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Manifesto 1. FOREWORD (Pg. v-vii) My Vision for Ghana (TITLE) Our nation is in crisis: a crisis created and sustained by the mismanagement, incompetence and corruption of the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government. Economic conditions are worsening by the day and there is so much suffering in the land. But Ghana does not have to be like this. Ghana deserves the best! (NPP-FWD: Pg. v, P.1) I have dedicated my life to public service to change Ghana for good. As President, with the help of the Almighty God, I will be committed to a different kind of government, one that governs in the national interest, not for private gain. (NPP-FWD: Pg. v, P.2) As I travel the country over the years, I see the pain and sacrifices made by ordinary Ghanaians everyday: • by the farmer who struggles to feed his family and send his children to school, but does not know, whether having made that sacrifice to pay the bills, his children will even be able to get a job at the end of their studies • by the mother of the sick child, who has to walk miles on the dusty road to the clinic to get medicine only to be turned away because the clinic will not accept her NHIS card and she has no money to pay • by the young man and woman who, through no fault of their own, have had to drop out of school and cannot find a way out of life’s difficulties • by the young man who, because of financial circumstances at home, never had the opportunity to go to school and is now sleeping rough on the streets of Accra 136 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh • by youth who have worked hard at school, or the University, but still cannot find a job when they leave. They become street hawkers and even open roadside shops, but find they struggle to survive because the falling cedi raises the costs of their goods. Their shops also close because they cannot afford electricity bills • by the husband with a family of four who lost his job two years ago, because his employers had to close down the business due to DUMSOR and the high cost of operations • by that young woman whose wages can barely cover her transport fares to and from work and her share of the one bedroom she shares with her friend, and • by the kayayei who have no opportunities or shelter and are forced to sleep on the streets of our cities. (NPP-FWD: Pg. vi, P.3) It is for these people that I am running for President - for ordinary Ghanaians who have been betrayed by a government that does not care. It is to them that my Government will be dedicated. (NPP-FWD: Pg. vi, P.4) My vision for Ghana is of an optimistic, self-confident and prosperous nation with a strong and thriving democratic society in which mutual trust and economic opportunities exist for all, irrespective of their background. (NPP-FWD: Pg. vii, P.5) The next New Patriotic Party (NPP) government will place people at its centre. Their hopes and their concerns will drive its policies and priorities. (NPP-FWD: Pg. vii, P.6) I promise to build a Ghana that works and gives each and every one of us the opportunity to improve our lives. A Ghana that works for us and our families, not just for the rich and powerful. (NPP-FWD: Pg. vii, P.7) I will be a President for all Ghanaians. Whatever your region, your tribe, your gender, your status, or your religion, I will serve you all. (NPP-FWD: Pg. vii, P.8) 137 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh I will champion your cause with the help of the Almighty God, and every day I wake up as President, my first and only consideration will be what is best for the country we all love and what will improve the lives of all our people. (NPP-FWD: Pg. vii, P.9) I have an unshakeable faith that our country, the Black Star of Africa, under the leadership of the NPP, has a bright future, a future that will be secured by the enterprise, creativity, and hard work of the Ghanaian people. (NPP-FWD: Pg. vii, P.10) Join me, so together, we can build a country where, if you show up, step up, and work hard, you will have your fair share of its wealth, and be fairly rewarded for your hard work. A country in which hard work pays, and cutting corners does not. A country in which, no matter where you come from, you will be rewarded based on merit, not on whom-you- know-basis. A country in which every young person can hope, and aspire, and reach his or her fullest potential, right here in Ghana. (NPP-FWD: Pg. vii, P.11) 2. EDUCATION (Pg. 103-104) Education is critical in the building of the cohesive and prosperous Ghana on which we have set our eyes. Our children, and young people, must be equipped with the knowledge, skills, and aptitudes that would enable them compete with the best in the world. Every country that has made rapid, and significant progress has placed education at the heart of its development. (NPP-EDU: Pg. 103, P.1) Today the education sector in our country is in a sad state. Teachers who should be at the heart of the provision of education are deeply demoralized and feel unappreciated. The payment of salaries and the processing of their promotions and annual increments are always in arrears. (NPP-EDU: Pg. 103, P.2) 138 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Examination malpractices have sadly become regular features of life in our country leading to the undermining and loss of confidence in academic qualifications from our institutions. (NPP-EDU: Pg. 103, P.3) We aim to shift the structure and content of our education system from merely passing examinations to building character, nurturing values, and raising literate, confident, and engaged citizens who can think critically. (NPP-EDU: Pg. 103, P.4) When Nana Akufo-Addo announced the commitment of the NPP to the delivery of free education for senior high schools, the NDC promptly denounced it as impractical. As the import of the proposal, however, began to dawn on them, they began to back track and through massive propaganda created the impression to the people that they too were committed to free education step by step. (NPP-EDU: Pg. 103, P.5) But, as the evidence of the past four years clearly shows, the commitment has only been skin-deep. Parents still face massive fees for the education of their children. In spite of the burdens on parents and guardians, our schools are starved of the basic tools and equipment needed for teaching. Anything from simple common things like chalk to text books and laboratory equipment and computers have been in short supply. (NPP-EDU: Pg. 103, P.6) On top of all this has been the most sustained evidence of contempt by a government towards the teaching profession. Teachers at all levels, from the primary to the Universities, have been subjected to such denigration and contempt that morale has sunk to the lowest ebb in the nation’s history. It is no wonder, therefore, that even at a time of the highest unemployment level in history, schools are still finding difficulty keeping their dedicated teachers. And it is no wonder that questions are being raised about the quality of education in Ghana today. (NPP-EDU: Pg. 104, P.7) 139 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The NPP believes that all the hopes of Ghanaians for a bright future will come to naught unless the country is able to resolve its education crisis. That is why the NPP declares Education to be a MAJOR PRIORITY and commits itself to a BOLD, CREATIVE and VISIONARY and ALLEMBRACING PROGRAM for the TRANSFORMATION OF EDUCATION IN GHANA. (NPP-EDU: Pg. 104, P.8) 3. HEALTH (Pg. 115) The health system in the country is critical for national development. The vision of the NPP is to see that the right to health of all Ghanaians is guaranteed through an established health sector with sustainable ability to deliver affordable, equitable and easily accessible healthcare. (NPP-HTH: Pg. 115, P.1) To realise this vision, the NPP will expand health promotion programmes, scale up disease prevention strategies and improve access to curative and emergency services, through vigorous human resource and health infrastructure development and strengthening of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). (NPP-HTH: Pg. 115, P.2) Under the leadership of President J.A. Kufuor, the NPP improved the health of Ghanaians by the: i. introduction and implementation of NHIS and free maternal care ii. implementation of the Community Health Planning and Service concept iii. establishment of the National Ambulance Service iv. expansion, equipping and increasing of the number of health facilities v. capacity building and increase of the number of health professionals vi. establishment of the Ghana Postgraduate Medical College vii. introduction of Regenerative Health and Nutrition through health promotion programmes 140 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh viii. improvement of the provision of vaccine for preventable childhood diseases ix. provision of highly subsidized anti-retroviral medicines for HIV/ AIDS patients, and x. introduction of sanitation programmes. (NPP-HTH: Pg. 115, P.3) 4. AGRICULTURE (Pg. 49) Agriculture continues to be the anchor of the country’s economy, employing more than half of our workforce. Growth in this sector has declined dramatically under the NDC’s mismanagement, incompetence and corruption. Food is unnecessarily expensive in a country that is blessed with fertile land. Our production methods are not modern and income levels of farmers and fisherfolk remain low, thus making the sector unattractive for the youth as a sustainable means of livelihood. (NPP-AGR: Pg. 49, P.1) Our vision for the next four years is to modernize agriculture, improve production efficiency, achieve food security, and profitability for our farmers, all aimed at significantly increasing agricultural productivity. The NPP will pursue a value- addition strategy, aimed at rapidly ramping up agro-processing and developing new and stable markets for our products. (NPP-AGR: Pg. 49, P.2) Our policies and interventions will ensure that our farmers and fisherfolk earn higher incomes. Our reforms will encompass the full agricultural value chain and create additional businesses and job opportunities in the areas of storage, transport, processing, packaging and marketing of agricultural produce. (NPP-AGR: Pg. 49, P.3) District Assemblies and Traditional Authorities will be assigned specific roles in agricultural development and the NPP will adopt policies specifically targeted at supporting women in agriculture. (NPP-AGR: Pg. 49, P.4) 141 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 5. CONCLUSION (Pg. 179) The solutions we have set out in this document have been well- considered. They are a response to the real problems faced by the Ghanaian people as a result of the mismanagement, incompetence and corruption of the Mahama-led NDC government. (NPP-CON: Pg. 179, P.1) This Manifesto is our commitment to the people of Ghana. It is a social contract between us and the people of Ghana. We aim to restore hope and to get the country back to working again and relieve the hardships of our people. The plans we have set out are for the long term sustainable development of our country. With the help of the Almighty God, the NPP will build in Ghana the most people friendly and the most business friendly economy in Africa, which will create prosperity for the great majority of our people, and thereby secure the stability of our society and the peace of the nation. (NPP-CON: Pg. 179, P.2) We have an excellent team of men and women who are ready and eager to serve our beloved Ghana. We have a well-thought out programme, and we have a track record of good performance in government. So support us and together, let’s get Ghana working again. (NPP-CON: Pg. 179, P.3) The future is bright. (NPP-CON: Pg. 179, LL 1) God bless Ghana, God bless us all. (NPP-CON: Pg. 179, LL 2) 142 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Appendix Three: A Summary of the Rhetorical Strategies and the Linguistic Features TABLE 1 1. RHETORICAL STRATEGIES The table summarizes the rhetorical strategies identified and how they were used under the selected sections of each manifesto. RHETORICAL EXAMPLES STRATEGIES Power Struggle Instances of power struggle were 1. “With the renewed mandate I am identified under the two seeking…” ( NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, manifestos. P.6) 2. “I will be President for all Ghanaians. whatever your region, your tribe, your gender…” (NPP- FWD: Pg. vii, P.8) Blame Game This strategy was employed by 1. “Our nation is in crisis: a both NDC and NPP. Whereas the crisis created and sustained NPP blamed the NDC for by the mismanagement, mismanaging the country, the incompetence and NDC also blamed the “prolonged corruption of the global development” for being the Mahama-led National reason they could not achieve all Democratic Congress their goals. (NDC) government.” (NPP-FW: Pg. v, P.1) 2. “The solutions we have set out in this document have been well- considered. They are a response to the real problems faced by the Ghanaian people as a result of the mismanagement, incompetence and corruption of the Mahama-led NDC government.” (NPP-CON: Pg. 179, P.1) 3. “On top of all this has been the most sustained evidence of contempt by a government towards the 143 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh teaching profession.” (NPP-EDU: Pg.104, P.7) 4. “Growth in this sector has declined dramatically under the NDC’s mismanagement, incompetence and corruption.” (NPP-AGR: Pg.49, P.1) 5. “We made a number of promises in our 2012 Manifesto and the records show that we have delivered more than we pledged in several sectors. But for the prolonged global developments that adversely affected the earnings from Ghana’s export commodities and increased the prices of imports, the record of our achievements would have been even more remarkable.” (NDC-CON: Pg.78, P.2) Contrast Both the NDC and the NPP used Example, “Our nation is in crisis: a contrast as a strategy. Whereas the crisis created and sustained by the NPP used contrast to point out that mismanagement, incompetence it can manage the country, the and corruption of the Mahama-led NDC used it to inform Ghanaians National Democratic Congress that their country is better than (NDC) government”. (NPP-FWD: some African countries as regards Pg. v, P.1) health. is in contrast to “We have been confronted with challenges but have achieved major success”. (NDC-FWD: Pg.4, INTRO.P) Unity/Togethern The NDC and NPP talked about Examples, 1. “I will continue to ess ensuring unity in the country. work, together with the people of Ghana, to create opportunities that will generate prosperity for all.” (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.1) 2. “Join me, so together, we can build a country…” (NPP- FWD: Pg. vii, P.11) 3. “The Manifesto is our compact with you, the people of Ghana, and given our record of promising and 144 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh delivering…” (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, P.7) 4. “This Manifesto is our commitment to the people of Ghana.” (NPP-CON: Pg. 179, P.2) Self-praising Both manifestos praised 1. “Already and systematically, themselves for what they have we are Changing Lives and either done or intend to do for the Transforming Ghana”. ( NDC- people of Ghana. FWD: Pg. 4, P.9) 2. “ I have dedicated my life to public service to change Ghana for good”. (NPP-FWD: Pg.v, P.2) Dream Both NPP and NDC talked about Examples, 1. “…we are confident their dreams in their manifestos. that the good people of Ghana will continue to repose confidence in the stewardship of John Dramani Mahama”. (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, P.6) 2. “We aim to restore hope and to get the country back to working again…” (NPP-CON: Pg.179, P.2). Transformation The NDC and NPP through their Examples, 1. “This transformation manifestos expressed their desire entails moving away from over- to change Ghana for the best. reliance on commodity exports towards diversification and value addition.” (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.2) 2. “I have dedicated my life to public service to change Ghana for good.” (NPP-FWD: Pg. v, P.2) 3. “We have introduced social interventions in the education sector…” (NDC-EDU: Pg.10, P.1) 4. “We aim to shift the structure and content of our education system from merely passing examinations to building character…” (NPP-EDU: Pg. 103, P.4) 5. “…we achieved our target and we are working to improve on the gains.” (NDC-HLT: Pg. 18, P.3) 6. “The vision of the NPP is to see that the right to health of all Ghanaians is guaranteed…” (NPP-HTH: Pg. 115, P.1) 7. “Our vision for the next four (4) years is to modernize agriculture, improve production efficiency, 145 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh achieve food security…” (NPP- AGR: Pg. 49, P.2) Parallelism This included the repetition of Examples, LEXICAL - 1. “Our some words under the manifestos. nation is in crisis: a crisis created These were grouped under lexical, and sustained…” (NPP-FWD: Pg. syntactic and semantic repetitions. v, P.1) 2. “God bless…” and “God bless…” (NPP-CON: Pg.179, LL) SYNTACTIC - 1. “I will continue to work, together with the people of Ghana, to create opportunities that will generate prosperity for all.” (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P. 1) 2. “To realise this vision, the NPP will expand health promotion programmes, scale up disease prevention strategies and improve access to curative and emergency services…” (NPP-HTH: Pg. 115, P.2) SEMANTIC – “to ensure food security” – (NDC-AGR: Pg. 39, P.1) “achieve food security” – (NPP- AGR: Pg. 49, P.2) THE REPETITION OF SOUNDS - “ I have come to appreciate even more the potential of Ghana to provide prosperity and security …”. ( NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, Intro.P.) “ The next New Patriotic Party (NPP) government will place people at its centre. Their hopes and their concerns will drive its policies and priorities”. (NPP- FWD: Pg. vii, P.6) The use of The NPP employed a unique form For example, That is why the NPP emphasis of emphasis which was the declares Education to be a MAJOR capitalization of some words. PRIORITY and commits itself to a BOLD, CREATIVE and VISIONARY and ALL EMBRACING PROGRAMME for the TRANSFORMATION OF EDUCATION IN GHANA. (NPP- EDU: Pg.104, P.8) 146 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The overload of This was employed by only the Example, “As I travel the country emotive words NPP to indicate that all Ghanaians over the years, I see the pain and in the country are suffering under sacrifice made by ordinary the governance of the NDC. Ghanaians everyday: by the farmer who struggles to feed his family and sends his children to school… by the mother of the sick child, who has to walk miles on the dusty road to the clinic… by the young man and woman who, through no fault of their own, have had to drop out of school… by the young man who, because of financial circumstances at home, never had the opportunity to go to school… by the kayayei who have no opportunities or shelter and are forced to sleep on the streets…” (NPP-FWD: Pg. vi, P.3) The use of local There was also the use of local Example, “by the husband with a words words which were identified under family of four (4) who lost his job the manifesto of the NPP. two (2) years ago, because his employers had to close down the business due to DUMSOR… by the kayayei who have no opportunities or shelter…” (NPP-FWD: Pg. vi, P.3) The use of The NPP employed Examples, 1. “Our children, and subordination subordinations to further explain young people, must be equipped the message they were passing to with the knowledge, skills, and Ghanaians. aptitudes that would enable them compete with the best in the world.” (NPP-EDU: Pg. 103, P.1) 2. “Food is unnecessarily expensive in a country that is blessed with fertile land.” (NPP- AGR: Pg.49, P.1) Historical The NDC and NPP also alluded to Examples, 1. “In our 2012 allusion history. Whereas the NDC alluded Manifesto, we committed ourselves to their 2012 manifesto, the NPP to delivering a better and improved alluded to the history of Ghana. healthcare system.” (NDC-HTH: Pg. 18, P.3) 2.“In our 2012 Manifesto, we promised, among other things, to promote agriculture 147 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh modernization…” (NDC-AGR: Pg. 39, P.1) 3.“We made a number of promises in our 2012 Manifesto and the records show that we have delivered more than we pledged in several sectors.” (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, P.2) 4. “Teachers at all levels, from the primary to the Universities, have been subjected to such denigration and contempt that morale has sunk to the lowest ebb in the nation’s history.” (NPP-EDU: Pg. 104, P.6) Metaphor The NPP manifesto used a single Example, “I have an unshakeable instance of a conceptual metaphor. faith that our country, the Black Star of Africa, under the leadership of the NPP, has a bright future, a future that will be secured by the enterprise, creativity, and hard work of the Ghanaian people.” (NPP-FWD: Pg. vii, P. 10) The use of The NDC manifesto employed Example, “Ghana’s current Life comparison this strategy to compare Ghana’s Expectancy at birth is higher than healthcare to that of other African Nigeria’s (55 years), Cote countries. d’Ivoire’s (51.5 years) as well as the sub-Sahara Africa average (56.8 years).” (NDC-HTH: Pg. 18, P.1) 148 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh TABLE 2 2. LINGUISTIC FEATURES The table summarizes the linguistic features that helped in identifying the rhetorical strategies. LINGUISTIC EXAMPLES FEATURES Nouns Both NDC and NPP used many Examples include: the NDC used nouns throughout their manifestos nouns such as “mandate”, “Transformation”, “policies”, “prosperity and security”, “growth”, “jobs”, “Ghana”, “country”, “nation” and “the people of Ghana.” The NPP also used nouns including: “government”, “President”, “people”, “Ghanaians”, “Ghana”, “a country”, “a job” and “school”. Pronouns The two manifestos also used Examples, 1. my first term as the personal pronouns such as “my”, President of the Republic of Ghana “I”, “We” and “Our”. comes to an end…” (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, NTRO. P) and 2. “I have come to appreciate even more the potential of Ghana to provide prosperity…” (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.1) 3. “We have been confronted with challenges…” (NDC-FWD: Pg.4, Intro. P) 4. “Our country will continue to rise…” (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.3). 5. “I have dedicated my life to public service to change Ghana for good. (NPP-FWD: Pg. v, P.2 6. “…my first and only consideration will be what is best for the country we all love …” (NPP- FWD: Pg. vii, P.9) 7. “…and that has allowed for improved attendance rates in our education system.” (NDC-EDU: Pg.10, P.1) Verbs Many verbs were used under both Examples, 1. “… I am confident that manifestos. These included modals, my second and final term will move to-infinitives, present and past tense Ghana even closer towards the era forms of verbs. 149 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh of prosperity…” (NDC-FWD: Pg.4, P.1) 2. “Indeed, I feel inspired by the success we have achieved in the last four years. We can be proud of that record.” (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.10) 3. “…the NPP will expand health promotion programmes…”. (NPP- HTH: Pg. 115, P.2). 4. “…we can build a country…” (NPP-FWD: Pg. vii, P.11) 5. “I will continue to work together with the people of Ghana to create opportunities…” (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.1) 6. “…we will continue policies and programmes and introduce new initiatives…” (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.6) 7. “I have dedicated my life to public service to change Ghana for good”. (NPP-FWD: Pg. v, P.2) 8. “…and in some instances completed, major institutional reforms and built strong and viable institutions.” (NDC-FWD: Pg.4, P.5). 9. “That is why the NPP declares Education to be a MAJOR PRIORITY and commits itself…” (NPP-EDU: Pg. 104, P.8). 10. “Under the leadership of President J. A. Kufuor, the NPP improved the health of Ghanaians…” (NPP-HTH: Pg. 115, P.3) Adverbs Adverbs were also employed by Examples, 1. “Already and both manifestos and these helped in systematically, we are Changing the identification of the rhetorical or Lives and Transforming Ghana.” persuasive strategies. (NDC-FWD: Pg.4, P.9) 2. “… we can build a country where, if you show up, step up, and work hard, you will have your fair share of its wealth, and be fairly rewarded 150 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh for your hard work.” (NPP-FWD: Pg. vii, P.11) 3. “These interventions have allowed the NDC Government to significantly expand access to education at all levels.” (NDC- EDU: Pg.10, P. 2) 4. “We aim to shift the structure and content of our education system from merely passing examinations to building character…” (NPP- EDU: Pg.103, P.4) 5. “Examination malpractices have sadly become regular features of life in our country…” (NPP-EDU: Pg. 103, P.3) 6. “…provision of highly subsidized anti-retroviral medicines for HIV/AIDS patients…” (NPP-HTH: Pg.115, P.3) 7. “The NPP will pursue a value- addition strategy, aimed at rapidly ramping up agro-processing…” (NPP-AGR: Pg.49, P.2) 8. “Food is unnecessarily expensive in a country that is blessed with fertile land.” (NPP-AGR: Pg. 49, P.1) 9. “We practiced an open, accountable and responsive government, which contributed tremendously to the enjoyment of personal freedoms…” (NDC-CON: Pg. 78, P.5) 10. “But for the prolonged global developments that adversely affected the earnings from Ghana’s export commodities…” (NDC- CON: Pg. 78, P.2) Adjectives The adjectives used by both NDC Examples, 1. “We still have more and NPP in their manifestos also roads to construct, more houses to helped in the identification of the build, more food to produce...” rhetorical strategies. (NDC-FWD: Pg. 4, P.6). 2. “My vision for Ghana is of an optimistic, self-confident and prosperous nation with a strong and thriving democratic society…” (NPP-FWD: Pg. vii, P.5). 151 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3. “We have introduced social interventions in the education sector including the implementation of progressively free SHS programme scholarships for over 10,000 Senior High School (SHS) students, free school uniforms, free exercise books and free sandals…” (NDC-EDU: Pg. 10, P.1) 4. “That is why the NPP declares Education to be a MAJOR PRIORITY and commits itself to a BOLD, CREATIVE and VISIONARY and ALL EMBRACING PROGRAM…” (NPP-EDU, P.8) 152