LINGUIST List 33.3103: Diss: English; Cognitive Science; Discourse Analysis; Pragmatics; Semantics; Text/Corpus Linguistics: Fidelis Musi Aseh: ''Diss Title: Outer and Inner Circle Rhetoric Specificity in Political Discourse: A Corpus-based Study''

LINGUIST List 33.3103

Tue Oct 11 2022

Diss: English; Cognitive Science; Discourse Analysis; Pragmatics; Semantics; Text/Corpus Linguistics: Fidelis Musi Aseh: ''Diss Title: Outer and Inner Circle Rhetoric Specificity in Political Discourse: A Corpus-based Study''

Editor for this issue: Sarah Goldfinch <sgoldfinchlinguistlist.org>

Date: 06-Oct-2022
From: FIDELIS ASEH <asfidelismyahoo.com>
Subject: Diss Title: Outer and Inner Circle Rhetoric Specificity in Political Discourse: A Corpus-based Study
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Institution: Katholischen Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
Program: English and Comparative Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2020

Author: Fidelis Musi Aseh

Dissertation Title: Outer and Inner Circle Rhetoric Specificity in Political Discourse: A Corpus-based Study

Dissertation URL: https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-ku-eichstaett/frontdoor/index/index/docId/602

Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science
                            Discourse Analysis
                            Pragmatics
                            Semantics
                            Text/Corpus Linguistics

Subject Language(s): English (eng)

Dissertation Director:
Heiner Böttger
Thomas Hoffmann

Dissertation Abstract:

The study explores the distinctive patterns of language use in political discourse across selected outer circle (Cameroon and Ghana) and inner circle (US and South Africa) varieties, using a corpus-based approach. More specifically, the research sets out to investigate the use of two types of linguistic features, namely, personal pronouns and kinship metaphors. In a first analysis, I adopt an alternative approach to investigating the use of personal pronouns in political discourse. The approach essentially draws from the cognitive linguistic concept of ‘frames’ as articulated by the theory of frame semantics (Fillmore, 1976, 1977a, 1982, 1985, 2008; Fillmore & Baker, 2010). I use an automatic frame semantic parsing tool, the SEMAFOR parser (Das et al, 2014), to identify the different types of (semantic) frames and frame roles with which specific personal pronouns are instantiated across the four varieties. I then compare the findings to illustrate instances of universality and variation.
In a second analysis, I examine the types of metaphorical conceptualizations which are made using kinship terms across the varieties. Working top-down from conceptual schemas to linguistic instantiation, I identify and compare the frequencies of metaphors from the kinship field and also describe the types of cross-domain mappings typically involved in each of the varieties. My analysis is mostly informed by mainstream
cognitive approaches to the study of metaphors, more especially cultural variations in the use of conceptual metaphors (Kövecses, 2002, 2005). I demonstrate that although there is empirical evidence for the use of a kinship conceptual schema across all four varieties, there are however significant variances in the specific metaphorical mappings used to
instantiate this high-level conceptual structure. Both analyses make a case for the fact that in the field of political discourse especially, language use may be structured and constrained by conceptual schemas which themselves are culturally determined.

Keywords: Political discourse, cultural variation, World Englishes, frames,
conceptual metaphors

Page Updated: 11-Oct-2022