Manipulative rhetoric and post-war reconstruction in President Johnson-Sirleaf’s first inaugural address

Following the devastating consequences of Liberia’s fourteen-year civil war for the people and the country at large, the task of mobilising the people and reinforcing their commitment to the cause of nation (re)building rests not only on the leader’s vision but also on how they expressly share the v...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Adegoju, Adeyemi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Pusat Pengajian Bahasa dan Linguistik, FSSK, UKM 2013
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/6144/1/1051-5057-1-PB%5B1%5D.pdf
_version_ 1796930227719372800
author Adegoju, Adeyemi
author_facet Adegoju, Adeyemi
author_sort Adegoju, Adeyemi
collection UKM
description Following the devastating consequences of Liberia’s fourteen-year civil war for the people and the country at large, the task of mobilising the people and reinforcing their commitment to the cause of nation (re)building rests not only on the leader’s vision but also on how they expressly share the vision with their followers. This paper examines how President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf tailors certain rhetorical strategies in her first inaugural speech of 16th January 2006 to tuning up the Liberian people’s mindset to embrace her vision and imbibe the attitude necessary for the attainment of social and political goals in post-war Liberia. Applying the principles of the socio-cognitive model of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as espoused by van Dijk (2006) to the analysis of the text of the inaugural address, the study interrogates the manipulative nature of the discourse even when it appears that the speaker is mobilising the people for a common goal. The study observes that the asymmetrical relations between the political public speaker and the audience offer the former the latitude to exercise some kind of control on the latter on issues of social representations such as knowledge and ideologies in political processes.
first_indexed 2024-03-06T03:59:47Z
format Article
id ukm.eprints-6144
institution Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-06T03:59:47Z
publishDate 2013
publisher Pusat Pengajian Bahasa dan Linguistik, FSSK, UKM
record_format dspace
spelling ukm.eprints-61442016-12-14T06:40:28Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/6144/ Manipulative rhetoric and post-war reconstruction in President Johnson-Sirleaf’s first inaugural address Adegoju, Adeyemi Following the devastating consequences of Liberia’s fourteen-year civil war for the people and the country at large, the task of mobilising the people and reinforcing their commitment to the cause of nation (re)building rests not only on the leader’s vision but also on how they expressly share the vision with their followers. This paper examines how President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf tailors certain rhetorical strategies in her first inaugural speech of 16th January 2006 to tuning up the Liberian people’s mindset to embrace her vision and imbibe the attitude necessary for the attainment of social and political goals in post-war Liberia. Applying the principles of the socio-cognitive model of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as espoused by van Dijk (2006) to the analysis of the text of the inaugural address, the study interrogates the manipulative nature of the discourse even when it appears that the speaker is mobilising the people for a common goal. The study observes that the asymmetrical relations between the political public speaker and the audience offer the former the latitude to exercise some kind of control on the latter on issues of social representations such as knowledge and ideologies in political processes. Pusat Pengajian Bahasa dan Linguistik, FSSK, UKM 2013 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/6144/1/1051-5057-1-PB%5B1%5D.pdf Adegoju, Adeyemi (2013) Manipulative rhetoric and post-war reconstruction in President Johnson-Sirleaf’s first inaugural address. 3L; Language,Linguistics and Literature,The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies., 19 (1). pp. 105-118. ISSN 0128-5157 http://ukm.my/ppbl/3L/3LHome.html
spellingShingle Adegoju, Adeyemi
Manipulative rhetoric and post-war reconstruction in President Johnson-Sirleaf’s first inaugural address
title Manipulative rhetoric and post-war reconstruction in President Johnson-Sirleaf’s first inaugural address
title_full Manipulative rhetoric and post-war reconstruction in President Johnson-Sirleaf’s first inaugural address
title_fullStr Manipulative rhetoric and post-war reconstruction in President Johnson-Sirleaf’s first inaugural address
title_full_unstemmed Manipulative rhetoric and post-war reconstruction in President Johnson-Sirleaf’s first inaugural address
title_short Manipulative rhetoric and post-war reconstruction in President Johnson-Sirleaf’s first inaugural address
title_sort manipulative rhetoric and post war reconstruction in president johnson sirleaf s first inaugural address
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/6144/1/1051-5057-1-PB%5B1%5D.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT adegojuadeyemi manipulativerhetoricandpostwarreconstructioninpresidentjohnsonsirleafsfirstinauguraladdress