A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF WOLE SOYINKA’S THE BEATIFICATION OF AREA BOY

Background of the Study: The gift of language is the single human trait that marks us all, genetically setting us apart from the rest of life. Language is, like nest building or hive making, the universal and biologically specific activity of human beings. We engage in it communally, compulsively, and automatically. We cannot be human without it; if we were to be separated from it our minds would die as surely as bees lost from the hive (Algeo 87). Language is a unique endowment from God to human which makes us totally distinct from other creatures. Although, these other creatures communicate using sounds, their communication is certainly different from human language and is not categorized as language. Communication can therefore take place between human, or between animals and even between humans and animals, whereas language is human specific.

Language is simply man’s instrument of expression through sound. It is an instrument of thought, that is, a psycho-social interactive measure, which binds human society together in communities and linguistics group. According to Sapir (8), language is purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols. The use of language in communication is called Discourse.

The word “Discourse” originates from the Latin word “discursus” which denotes ‘conversation or speech’. It is the actual instances of communication in the medium of language. Barbara Johnstone (2) defines discourse as an institutionalized way of speaking that determines not only what we say and how we say it, but also what we do not say which can be inferred from what we say. It follows that Discourse Analysis is also concerned with language use in social contexts, as interaction or dialogue between speakers. One major approach to doing Discourse Analysis is Critical Discourse Analysis.

Critical Discourse Analysis is explicitly concerned with investigating how language is used to construct and maintain power relationships in the society; the aim is to reveal the connection between language and power and between language and ideology. CDA focuses on the study of language and discourses in social institution. Its major concern is to study and analyze written and spoken texts in order to draw attention to power imbalance or abuse, social inequalities and the domination of certain group of people in the society.

The Critical Discourse analyst deliberately dons a pair of critical spectacles and looks for evidence of the covert exercise of power in supposedly ‘equal’ interactions, or for indications of hidden ideological assumptions about ‘normal’ ways of doing things that disadvantage minority groups. CDA primarily seeks to discover how discourse structures enact, confirm, legitimize, reproduce or challenge power relations and dominance in society. Thus, a Critical Discourse Analyst takes explicit position and seeks to understand, expose, and ultimately resist social inequality.