The discursive manifestation of two publics

The case of selected speeches of three former African leaders

Authors

  • Beatrice Ekanjume-Ilongo National Universityof Lesotho
  • Ntṡoeu Seepheephe National University of Lesotho

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32642/julace.v4i2.1469

Keywords:

discursive, Manifestation, primordial public, amoral civic public, speeches

Abstract

The explanation of the political problem pervading the majority of countries in post-colonial Africa lies in the existence of two publics namely, the amoral civic public and the primordial public, which African political leaders are said to operate in. The amoral civic public, which includes institutions such as the military and the civil service, is dominated by the primordial public, which is based on primordial ties and gives politicians their moral framework. Using the practices of Political Discourse Analysis (PDA) which falls under Critical Discourse Studies (CDS) and perceives discourse as an (social) action, this paper explores how the two publics manifest in selected speeches of three African leaders namely former Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili, former South African President Jacob Zuma, and former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. The speeches, taken from media outlets such as newspapers, were chosen on the bases that they generated controversy and were widely discussed in media. The paper explains how some elements of the speeches that fulfil the requirements of a good image in the primordial public contravene the principles and norms of democracy. The findings show that that there is an existence of two publics that have a relationship with each other and which are the cause most of the problems in post-colonial Africa.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Beatrice Ekanjume-Ilongo, National Universityof Lesotho

Professor Beatrice Ekanjume-Ilongo is currently the Acting Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the National University of Lesotho. Prior to this, she was the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities. She is a holder of a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Yaounde 1, Cameroon. She has taught a broad range of linguistics courses such as Introduction to Linguistics, Phonetics, Phonology, Morphology, Advanced Grammar, Advanced Phonetics, Advanced Morphology, Translation and Interpreting, and Research Methodology. She also supervise postgraduate student in research. She also has a high profile of postgraduate supervision, at Honours, Masters and PhD levels. She is a prolific scholar who has published several articles in accredited and refereed journals, and an author of three books. Her research interests include Phonetics, Phonology, Morphology, Sociolinguistics, African Linguistics, Error Analysis, Onomastics, Communication and Pragmatics. Email: bilongo.ekanjume@yahoo.com

Ntṡoeu Seepheephe, National University of Lesotho

Dr Ntṡoeu Seepheephe is a lecturer at the National University of Lesotho. Currently he is the Coordinator of the Communication and Study Skills Units in the Department of English. He is a holder of a PhD in English Language and Linguistics. He is a co-author of ‘The use of intertextuality by males and females in South African parliament’ (2016) Language Matters 47(2):166-183. DOI: 10.1080/10228195.2016.1169310 and ‘Linguistic metaphor identification in Sesotho’ In Susan Nacey, Aletta G. Dorst, Tina Krennmayr and W. Gudrun Reijnierse Metaphor Identification in Multiple Languages: MIPVU around the World. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. His research interests are in Critical Discourse Analysis, metaphor and illness, particularly in Sesotho, and language acquisition. Email: seepheephe@yahoo.com

Downloads

Published

2020-09-28

How to Cite

Ekanjume-Ilongo, B. ., & Seepheephe, N. . (2020). The discursive manifestation of two publics: The case of selected speeches of three former African leaders. JULACE: Journal of the University of Namibia Language Centre, 4(2), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.32642/julace.v4i2.1469

Issue

Section

Articles