Abstract
The genre of songs is a critical component of marriage discourse among many African communities. Language use in the songs within this premise is a means of conveying messages that enable the participants to express some commonsense assumptions that are implicit in the conventions according to which people interact linguistically. The focus of this paper is to illuminate the connections between language and elements of social life such as gender and power within this social practice and how these may define a society’s worldview, articulate societal consciousness, social emancipation and enhancement of social justice. A random sample of marriage ceremony songs from the two communities have been analyzed with a view of discussing how language within this discourse context has been used to give shape and meaning to the world, how language constructions are central in drawing the relationships between language and thought, how we understand abstract meanings and how context influences meaning. The study is grounded on the principles of Wodak and Meyer’s (2004) Discourse Historical Approach where expressions in the songs have been qualitatively examined leading to the argument that language is significant in the production and maintenance of social relations of power and this contributes to the shaping of societal understanding, thoughts and feelings, defining people’s relationships with each other, establishing the kind of speech that one is involved in as well as describing societal ideologies. The findings of this paper are of benefit to leaders and policy makers in our society who are charged with the responsibility of guiding the development of indigenous knowledge systems for posterity. The general public too as consumers of cultural knowledge would benefit from these insights since they contribute to their understanding of the perceptions and meanings embedded in the songs that they so love to participate in.
Highlights
According to King’ei (2002), language is an integral part of the human society and thought system and has been observed to influence socio-economic, cultural and political development
The approach has been described as an interdisciplinary and problem oriented approach which analyses discursive practices by oscillating between theory and empirical data. It focuses on social problems and especially on the role of discourse in the production and reproduction of power abuse or domination by taking the experiences and opinions of members of such groups and supporting their struggle against inequality (Van Dijk, 1997).He further argues that the complex ‘real world problems’ that Critical discourse analysis (CDA) deals with need a historical, cultural, socio-economic, philosophical, logical or neurological approach, depending on what one wants to know this paper’s use of Discourse Historical Approach tenets in its analysis such as the power of language to shape perceptions, ideologies and identities
The analysis further provides evidence that such concepts are dependent on culture as well as knowledge as emphasized through Wodak and Meyer’s (2004) observation that such an analysis would demonstrate the role of analyzing discourse so as to demystify and decipher societal ideologies that are embedded in language
Summary
According to King’ei (2002), language is an integral part of the human society and thought system and has been observed to influence socio-economic, cultural and political development It is significant in the production and maintenance of social relations of power the need to increase consciousness concerning how its elements contribute to the domination of some people by others (Fairclough, 1989). Analysis of discourse as a form of social interaction examine how people use language to accomplish social acts, such as constructing roles and identities (Van Dijk, 1997) These ends are achieved through the content of what is said, what is selected, implied or omitted and through the structure and patterning of talk which in this case refer to the structure and content of the songs. Identities, roles and power associated with femininity and masculinity in society together with social constructions which are identifiable through names and naming, expressions that are verbal or non-verbal as well interpersonal interactions, are communicated
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