An Exploration of Muhammadu Bukhari’s Socio-Political Cognition through Stylistic Analysis

Abstract

Political discourse is a recent but increasingly exciting field of study. The political discourse offers much scope for interdisciplinary research. This current study is a stylistic analysis of the Inaugural speech delivered by Nigerian President Muhammadu Bukhari in Abuja on 29th May 2015. The current study aims to signify the role of Stylistics in CDA to unleash socio-political cognition in speeches. This qualitative research owing to its interdisciplinary nature draws on stylistics and critical discourse analysis as well. Teun A. Van Dijk's socio-cognitive approach is used to analyze the mental models underlying linguistic structures made explicit through stylistic analysis. The stylistic analysis is conducted on lexical and grammatical levels, but cohesion and speech acts have also been highlighted in the findings and discussion part. The study explores how stylistic devices are used to create a rhetorical effect and how this effect qualifies for being persuasive. The stylistic analysis reconnoiters the linguistic patterns, and CDA leads to the ideologies that shape these patterns. This study strengthens the belief that both stylistics and critical discourse analysis have great scope and power in revealing discursive practices of hegemony and persuasion.