Analysis of Power and Threat Manifestation in the Discourse of Traffic Police Officers: A CDA Perspective

Abstract

The present study was an attempt to capture the relationship between the role of social status and discourse in relation to choice of words and tone of the speakers. The way people put the words together and express it can sometimes be the source of coercion, threat and somehow extorting the others. In this article, the discourse of traffic police officers and drivers was precisely scrutinized in order to analyze the discriminatory or oppressive linguistic usage observable in exchanges among given social actors. In so doing, the study’s focal point was on instances of illegitimate conversation exchanges between drivers plying highways and the traffic police officers who were controlling the drivers’ speeding and traffic violations. A critical discourse analysis of such conversations, recorded through interview with the fined drivers, unveiled that illegitimate dealings are committed, and that whenever the monetary demand of officers is resisted, there are undesirable consequences for the drivers. In addition, the traffic police officers displayed their power in the language they used and, consequently, they were bribed on the sly by the drivers.