Ideological discursive structures in political speeches: A critical discourse analysis of selected speeches of Mr. John Dramani Mahama

Abstract

Language continues to be a very important tool in politics. This is because, in political communication, politicians usually employ linguistic structures that have ideological implications so that they will be able to win the trust, confidence and ratification of their audiences. Towards this end, this study looks at the role of language in creating ideology and ideological discursive structures in political speeches. The study specifically explores the linguistic expressions that carry the ideologies of President John Dramani Mahama. The study uses the qualitative research approach and adopts critical discourse analysis (CDA) as the design. The purposive sampling was employed and the theoretical lens of Fairclough and van Dijk’s critical discourse analysis framework was used to analyse the data. The study discovered that Mahama conceals his ideologies in his speeches and that he employs discursive structures such as evidentiality, pronouns, rhetorical questions, metaphors and modal verbs. The study further revealed that the discursive structures also produce and sustain power and unequal power relations between Mahama and his audience. The study afforded much evidence to conclude that politics is a game that can be successfully played through a skillful employment of language.