Critical Discourse Analysis of Corruption in Presidential Speeches

Abstract

Corruption is not only a well-known lexical expression (e.g. Orpin, 2005), it is also a social phenomenon (e.g. Khondker, 2006; Collier, 2002) researched by scholars from different fields and from different standpoints. However, the study of corruption from the perspective of language has not enjoyed adequate research. This is especially true of the speeches of Nigerian presidents that are particularly revealing of how a president/government construes corruption. This research paper explores and analyzes the discursive positioning of corruption by two successive Nigerian presidents - Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan - using their two official speeches as data. Following Halliday’s system of Transitivity (Halliday, 1978, 1985, 1993) and Fairclough’s three-tier analytical framework grounded in Critical Discourse Analysis (1989, 1992, 1995), this paper argues that official speeches of presidents (particularly in Nigeria) can discursively reveal their commitment to fighting corruption. Also, the instruments of language can be used tactically absolve themselves from corruption.

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