Introduction: Discourse, Conflict and Conflict Resolution

Abstract

Interest in the broad subject of conflict studies by linguists and language scholars has increased over the years with the growing incidents of conflicts, wars and political violence around the world. With the understanding that language mirrors a society’s shared meaning, which enables them to make sense of the world, the study of language use (or discourse) will provide an important “entry point” for investigating how members of a society or group understand and handle conflict (Cohen, Language and Conflict Resolution: The Limits of English. International Studies Review 3 (1): 25–55, 2001). There are interesting studies (e.g., Smith, Language and Discourse in Conflict and Conflict Resolution. Current Issues in Language and Society 4 (3): 190–214, 1997; Cohen 2001; Hayward, Discourses of Conflict and Peace in Northern Ireland, 2011; Evans et al., The Routledge Handbook of Language in Conflict. London: Routledge, 2019) that have applied linguistic and discourse approaches to the study of violent protests, activism and political struggles. These studies have given significant insights to the role of language and discourse in conflict initiation and conflict resolution. From these burgeoning studies, it is clear that there is a strong connection between how what is said or written and how conflict may develop and escalate.