Taher Ben Khalifa - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Taher Ben Khalifa
Trends in Education and Educational Studies, 2024
The impact of the gap between education and economy on the dynamic progress of society is frequen... more The impact of the gap between education and economy on the dynamic progress
of society is frequently searched. In Tunisia, the increase of unemployment among
graduates is a logical reason to question the match between our education and
economy. To study this question, a theoretical connection between theory of social
change, theory of economic change, theory of educational innovation, and theory
of matching is established. The concepts and ideas that form these theories are
analyzed and discussed in the conceptual analysis section. Then, they
wereapplied for the analysis of the changes occurring in the three contexts in the
section devoted to data analysis and discussion using a pure qualitative method.
First, the changes occurring in the social, economic, and educational contexts are
analyzed. Second, the findings of the analysis are discussed. The results of the
study showed that society, economy, and education witnessed many changes. The
examination of the match between these changes proved that higher education
reforms did not succeed to fit with the needs of both society and economy. This
mismatch is the outcome of a gap between the theorizing for reform and the
practice of it, a problem of orientedness, a limited ability to build creativity, a limited
ability to predict, a problem of logic in specialty creation, and a temporal
disconnection between past, present, and future. Finally, the paper recommends
that the success of educational reforms to fit with social and economic changes
entails the reduction of the gap between theory of reform and its practice, making
reform context-dependent, and making reform creativity-oriented. Therefore,
though valuable these recommendations are, a quantitative study of the topic
could be another important axe to investigate in a future research.
Archives of Political Science Research, 2024
This paper purports to study the erasure of the other in Trump’s discourse. It consists of a theo... more This paper purports to study the erasure of the other in Trump’s discourse. It
consists of a theoretical and a practical part. The theories elaborated, in part one,
are applied to analyze examples from Trump’s speeches in part two. This is based
on Van Dijk’s triangulation of discourse, society, and cognition. To apply this
approach, a simple method is used. First, the textual traces of erasure are pointed
out. Second, the data are categorized and analyzed. Third, the findings are
interpreted and discussed. The results demonstrate that: a) erasure manifests
itself at various levels of discourse; b) erasure is the result of power abuse; and c)
erasure is ideologically monitored to re-shape different realities. These ideologies
revolve around concepts like interests, victory, gain, control, and domination.
Finally, the paper brings theoretical and practical contributions to the study of
erasure and high-lights the need to use other theories like psychology. By highlighting this, the paper leaves the doors open for further investigations on how
politicians use language to remove their counter parts and how researchers can
fights erasure.
Advances in Social Science and Culture, 2019
The relation between knowledge and discourse is a problematic one. While speaking, we may activat... more The relation between knowledge and discourse is a problematic one. While speaking, we may activate one part of our knowledge and leave anther one silent to serve the coherence of what we seek to convey. Having this in mind, this paper seeks to discuss the importance of out-side-text knowledge in the analysis and comprehension of political discourse. To study this issue, concern is devoted to two axes of discussion. First, focus is given to the analysis and discussion of some key concepts to form a workable frame for the study. It also seeks to high-light the boundaries between interpretation and over-interpretation. Second, focus shifts to the analysis of some examples to put into practice the tools of the established approach. Also, the extent to which the knowledge we activated served to produce worthwhile interpretations is questioned. The selected examples are taken from presidential speeches delivered by Bush, Obama, and Trump. The method we used consists of two phases: one sim...
This paper deals with the critical study of the way the denial of racism works in political disco... more This paper deals with the critical study of the way the denial of racism works in political discourse to serve for the justification of public policies. To study this issue two texts are selected for analysis. These are the republican Jeb Bush's interview on CNN in November the 15 th 2016 and the democrat Barack Obama's press conference speech in the G-20 summit in November the 16 th 2016 in Antalya, Turkey. The analysis of these two texts is carried within the framework of a multidisciplinary theoretical approach ranging from semantics, syntax, pragmatics, argumentation theories, rhetoric, and context. This multi-dimensional approach finds its ground within the CDA framework of discourse and language study. The methodology used for the analysis of the selected texts consists of two phases. The first phase is based on the collection of data via the scrutiny of the texts phrase by phrase, clause by clause, sentence by sentence, and even paragraph by paragraph tracing the disc...
Starting with the differentiation between the literal meaning of the notion of intersection and i... more Starting with the differentiation between the literal meaning of the notion of intersection and its philosophical understanding in the multidimensional contexts of the debate, this paper seeks to highlight those contact zones where the postcolonial meets the postmodern. The discussion of the concept starts from an already existing course in literature, seeking a new path to a more elaborate definition of the term and building an adequate frame for the study of the topic. The analysis of those points where the postcolonial intersects with the postmodern will be undertaken in three sections. First, focus is given to the theoretical dimension of the notion of intersection. Second, the focus shifts to the practical dimension of the concept. Third, our interest is oriented towards a discussion of several examples of African and Indian literature. These have been selected to broaden the discussion of the theoretical and the practical points highlighted in the previous two sections with the aim of making these points clear to the reader. This paper shows that these movements intersect in many concepts and practices. These results are explained by the fact that they have shared origins and goals. In the selected works, these intersections are traced, showing that postmodern aesthetics are used in the critique of postcolonial reality. This paper presents a multidisciplinary approach and a well-developed method of research for the study of literature. However, it leaves the door open for future researchers to add more contributions to the study of this topic.
In the post-revolution Tunisia, religious discourse becomes at the heart of different social issu... more In the post-revolution Tunisia, religious discourse becomes at the heart of different social issues and social debates. Regaining its power after a long time of disempowerment, religious discourse is strengthened by the emergence of religious groups like salafists as visible social groups. These religious groups exist in the pre-revolution era, but they are oppressed and controlled by the government to maintain social order and omit diversity at the social level. The manipulative role of religious discourse is a problematic question that this article seeks to answer. In this paper, I am going to use Van Dijk's (2006) triangulated approach to manipulation: manipulation as a form of social power abuse, cognitive mind control and discursive interaction. This will be illustrated by the analysis of some expressions used to push people to stick to their religious teachings and beliefs to overcome difficulties and save their souls from corruption.
The present paper uses a multidisciplinary CDA framework ranging from argumentation theories, dis... more The present paper uses a multidisciplinary CDA framework ranging from argumentation theories, discourse representation theories and pragmatics elaborated in Van Dijk (2000) focusing mainly on representation, humanitarianism, evidentiality and implication to explain how racist ideologies are explored in political discourse to manipulate the addresses and justify elite policies. Exploring how these discursive strategies are used to legitimize power, domination, inequality and injustice is carried through the critical analysis of the Republican Jeb Bush's live aired interview on CNN (November the 15 th 2015) and the Democrat Barack Obama's press conference speech delivered in Antalya, Turkey (November the 16 th 2015). The results of the analysis proved that: a) the polarization of Us vs. Them and the strategies of positive self-representation and negative other-representation are used to serve for the anti-racist arguments, b) the humanitarianism strategies are used to humanize Us and de-humanize Them and evidentiality, which is based on the use of different sorts of proofs that are close to the audiences' minds, are employed to justify the American migration policies and war strategies, and c) implication is employed to demystify such racist ideologies that do not fit with the speakers' arguments. Hence, the manipulative nature of these discursive strategies is justified.
This paper deals with the critical study of the way the denial of racism works in political disco... more This paper deals with the critical study of the way the denial of racism works in political discourse to serve for the justification of public policies. To study this issue two texts are selected for analysis. These are the republican Jeb Bush's interview on CNN in November the 15 th 2016 and the democrat Barack Obama's press conference speech in the G-20 summit in November the 16 th 2016 in Antalya, Turkey. The analysis of these two texts is carried within the framework of a multidisciplinary theoretical approach ranging from semantics, syntax, pragmatics, argumentation theories, rhetoric, and context. This multi-dimensional approach finds its ground within the CDA framework of discourse and language study. The methodology used for the analysis of the selected texts consists of two phases. The first phase is based on the collection of data via the scrutiny of the texts phrase by phrase, clause by clause, sentence by sentence, and even paragraph by paragraph tracing the discursive strategies of actor description, authority, burden, consensus, empathy, fallacies, lexicalization, normative expressions, reasonableness, populism, and victimization determined in Van Dijk (2000). The second phase is devoted to the establishment of relations between the employed strategies to determine how they serve for the denial of racism, the justification of the speakers' policies, and the extent to which they can reflect political continuity. The results showed that the denial of racism at various levels of discourse structure is justified and public policies are determined and justified through both the denial of racism and the political manipulation of the war on terror. Thus, the results of the analysis highlighted the relation between the concepts of policy (migration), denial of racism, and terrorism. These parameters form a triangulation we need to understand how terrorism is used in connection with the denial of racism to justify public policies.
This paper deals with the critical study of the way the denial of racism works in political disco... more This paper deals with the critical study of the way the denial of racism works in political discourse to serve for the justification of public policies. To study this issue two texts are selected for analysis. These are the republican Jeb Bush's interview on CNN in November the 15 th 2016 and the democrat Barack Obama's press conference speech in the G-20 summit in November the 16 th 2016 in Antalya, Turkey. The analysis of these two texts is carried within the framework of a multidisciplinary theoretical approach ranging from semantics, syntax, pragmatics, argumentation theories, rhetoric, and context. This multi-dimensional approach finds its ground within the CDA framework of discourse and language study. The methodology used for the analysis of the selected texts consists of two phases. The first phase is based on the collection of data via the scrutiny of the texts phrase by phrase, clause by clause, sentence by sentence, and even paragraph by paragraph tracing the discursive strategies of actor description, authority, burden, consensus, empathy, fallacies, lexicalization, normative expressions, reasonableness, populism, and victimization determined in Van Dijk (2000). The second phase is devoted to the establishment of relations between the employed strategies to determine how they serve for the denial of racism, the justification of the speakers' policies, and the extent to which they can reflect political continuity. The results showed that the denial of racism at various levels of discourse structure is justified and public policies are determined and justified through both the denial of racism and the political manipulation of the war on terror. Thus, the results of the analysis highlighted the relation between the concepts of policy (migration), denial of racism, and terrorism. These parameters form a triangulation we need to understand how terrorism is used in connection with the denial of racism to justify public policies.
International journal of humanities and social sciences, 2016
The systemic functional study of language is open to a multiplicity of approaches and theoretical... more The systemic functional study of language is open to a multiplicity of approaches and theoretical frameworks among which Discourse Analysis (DA) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). Being an applied linguistic theory, SFL becomes connected to different theories and disciplines that are devoted to the investigation of different topics related to the study of the discursive practices of language. The study of discourse, as a social practice, from a systemic functional perspective can be related to other forms of social theories such as argumentation theories. This article will focus on the analysis and evaluation of argument logical structure together with its linguistic structure in the UN resolutions about the Syrian civil war using the SFL theory and the CDA approach with reference to (Fairclough, Isabella and Norman Fairclough 2010, 2011a, 2011b, 2012) and (Matthiessen, 2014). This systemic functional analysis of the arguments developed in the texts to be under focus is meant to...
This paper deals with the study of how racist ideologies are constructed in Crane’s “A Dark Brown... more This paper deals with the study of how racist ideologies are constructed in Crane’s “A Dark Brown Dog” using the CDA framework. Benefitting from the approaching between literature and linguistics, it focuses on the linguistic examination of the (re)construction of whiteness and blackness based on the assumption that racism is: a social, a discursive, and an ideological construct. This tri-dimensional construct is treated within a theoretical triangulation ranging from cognition, society, and discourse. Based on the view of discourse as a process of coding and decoding of meaning, the text of this story is explored at various levels of language use: a) contextual analysis focuses on the study of how the depiction of the setting and the characters serves to draw the scene of racial inequality; b) textual analysis deals with the way narration contributes to the (re)production of racism; and c) identity analysis is devoted to the study of how racial identity evolves across generations. ...
The present paper aims at providing a multi-dimensional discussion to the way the notion of ident... more The present paper aims at providing a multi-dimensional discussion to the way the notion of identity is being constructed in Crane`s short story, “A Dark Brown Dog”. To reach an in-depth critique of the issue, the paper seeks to formulate a workable definition of the term and to establish a multi-disciplinary theoretical framework that is adequate to trace how theevolution of the narrative serves in the construction of the characters’ identity. The story under focus is written at the end of the 19 th century, in 1893, during the Jim Crow era that stretches from the late 19 th century to the sixties of the 20 th century.Aiming to study how the identity of the white character and the identity of the black character are being linguistically constructed in this story, a simple method of data collection and analysis will be used. This method is summarized in three steps: a) the collection of textual data that reflect the characters’ identities; b) the analysis of the collected data; and ...
The present paper seeks to determine the ways hatred attitudes and practices manifest themselves ... more The present paper seeks to determine the ways hatred attitudes and practices manifest themselves in Trump’s language. It focuses mainly on the critical examination of sexism, bigotry, and xenophobia. Having determined the manifestation of these racist ideologies, our focus will shift towards finding the appropriate sociological and psychological interpretations for the obtained findings. To undertake this study, four speeches were selected for analysis: Trump’s taped comments about women (the study of sexism), Trump’s executive orders banning refugees and Muslim travelers (the study of bigotry), and Trump’s speech on Jobs and the economy and Trump’s immigration speech (the study of xenophobia). To analyze these texts, we used a combination between theories of discourse analysis (text analysis and context analysis), theories of sociology, and theories of psychology. The application of this combination consists in the use of a simple method of analysis summarized in three steps: colle...
Advances in Social Science and Culture
Regarding the ability doublespeak offers to its users to distort and mislead, the question about ... more Regarding the ability doublespeak offers to its users to distort and mislead, the question about how power is (re)produce, distributed, and enacted becomes of great concern. Within this context, the present paper seeks to study how the use of doublespeak serves for the empowerment of the self and the dis-empowerment of the other. The study of this topic consists in the analysis of some examples that are taken from political speeches delivered by the US presidents; Bush, Obama, and Trump. To analyze these examples, a combination of three theories—theories of discourse analysis, theories of power, and theories of politics—is used. The application of this theoretical combination is based on the use of a simple method of research. This method follows three successive steps. First, the traces of doublespeak are detected and classified. Second, interest is given to the study of how each of the traced uses of doublespeak serves for empowerment. Third, interest shifts to the interpretation ...
Advances in Social Science and Culture, 2019
The relation between knowledge and discourse is a problematic one. While speaking, we may activat... more The relation between knowledge and discourse is a problematic one. While speaking, we may activate
one part of our knowledge and leave anther one silent to serve the coherence of what we seek to convey.
Having this in mind, this paper seeks to discuss the importance of out-side-text knowledge in the
analysis and comprehension of political discourse. To study this issue, concern is devoted to two axes
of discussion. First, focus is given to the analysis and discussion of some key concepts to form a
workable frame for the study. It also seeks to high-light the boundaries between interpretation and
over-interpretation. Second, focus shifts to the analysis of some examples to put into practice the tools
of the established approach. Also, the extent to which the knowledge we activated served to produce
worthwhile interpretations is questioned. The selected examples are taken from presidential speeches
delivered by Bush, Obama, and Trump. The method we used consists of two phases: one simple and the
other complex. In phase one, the meaning the speaker sought to convey is decoded based on the types
of knowledge he activated. In phase two, we activated the knowledge we have about the context of each
speech to communicate the un-said. While doing this, we used the logic of critique to avoid
over-interpreting the examples. The results showed that our activation of the required knowledge
served to demystify what the speakers hide and to work out deception by highlighting the gap between
discursive reality and social reality. It is also proved that the issue of boundaries between
interpretation and over-interpretation remains a matter of critique. Though bringing valuable
contributions to the critical study of language in use, the paper left the doors open for further research
on how to use out-side-text knowledge to communicate the un-said.
Humanities and Social Sciences Letters
Trends in Education and Educational Studies, 2024
The impact of the gap between education and economy on the dynamic progress of society is frequen... more The impact of the gap between education and economy on the dynamic progress
of society is frequently searched. In Tunisia, the increase of unemployment among
graduates is a logical reason to question the match between our education and
economy. To study this question, a theoretical connection between theory of social
change, theory of economic change, theory of educational innovation, and theory
of matching is established. The concepts and ideas that form these theories are
analyzed and discussed in the conceptual analysis section. Then, they
wereapplied for the analysis of the changes occurring in the three contexts in the
section devoted to data analysis and discussion using a pure qualitative method.
First, the changes occurring in the social, economic, and educational contexts are
analyzed. Second, the findings of the analysis are discussed. The results of the
study showed that society, economy, and education witnessed many changes. The
examination of the match between these changes proved that higher education
reforms did not succeed to fit with the needs of both society and economy. This
mismatch is the outcome of a gap between the theorizing for reform and the
practice of it, a problem of orientedness, a limited ability to build creativity, a limited
ability to predict, a problem of logic in specialty creation, and a temporal
disconnection between past, present, and future. Finally, the paper recommends
that the success of educational reforms to fit with social and economic changes
entails the reduction of the gap between theory of reform and its practice, making
reform context-dependent, and making reform creativity-oriented. Therefore,
though valuable these recommendations are, a quantitative study of the topic
could be another important axe to investigate in a future research.
Archives of Political Science Research, 2024
This paper purports to study the erasure of the other in Trump’s discourse. It consists of a theo... more This paper purports to study the erasure of the other in Trump’s discourse. It
consists of a theoretical and a practical part. The theories elaborated, in part one,
are applied to analyze examples from Trump’s speeches in part two. This is based
on Van Dijk’s triangulation of discourse, society, and cognition. To apply this
approach, a simple method is used. First, the textual traces of erasure are pointed
out. Second, the data are categorized and analyzed. Third, the findings are
interpreted and discussed. The results demonstrate that: a) erasure manifests
itself at various levels of discourse; b) erasure is the result of power abuse; and c)
erasure is ideologically monitored to re-shape different realities. These ideologies
revolve around concepts like interests, victory, gain, control, and domination.
Finally, the paper brings theoretical and practical contributions to the study of
erasure and high-lights the need to use other theories like psychology. By highlighting this, the paper leaves the doors open for further investigations on how
politicians use language to remove their counter parts and how researchers can
fights erasure.
Advances in Social Science and Culture, 2019
The relation between knowledge and discourse is a problematic one. While speaking, we may activat... more The relation between knowledge and discourse is a problematic one. While speaking, we may activate one part of our knowledge and leave anther one silent to serve the coherence of what we seek to convey. Having this in mind, this paper seeks to discuss the importance of out-side-text knowledge in the analysis and comprehension of political discourse. To study this issue, concern is devoted to two axes of discussion. First, focus is given to the analysis and discussion of some key concepts to form a workable frame for the study. It also seeks to high-light the boundaries between interpretation and over-interpretation. Second, focus shifts to the analysis of some examples to put into practice the tools of the established approach. Also, the extent to which the knowledge we activated served to produce worthwhile interpretations is questioned. The selected examples are taken from presidential speeches delivered by Bush, Obama, and Trump. The method we used consists of two phases: one sim...
This paper deals with the critical study of the way the denial of racism works in political disco... more This paper deals with the critical study of the way the denial of racism works in political discourse to serve for the justification of public policies. To study this issue two texts are selected for analysis. These are the republican Jeb Bush's interview on CNN in November the 15 th 2016 and the democrat Barack Obama's press conference speech in the G-20 summit in November the 16 th 2016 in Antalya, Turkey. The analysis of these two texts is carried within the framework of a multidisciplinary theoretical approach ranging from semantics, syntax, pragmatics, argumentation theories, rhetoric, and context. This multi-dimensional approach finds its ground within the CDA framework of discourse and language study. The methodology used for the analysis of the selected texts consists of two phases. The first phase is based on the collection of data via the scrutiny of the texts phrase by phrase, clause by clause, sentence by sentence, and even paragraph by paragraph tracing the disc...
Starting with the differentiation between the literal meaning of the notion of intersection and i... more Starting with the differentiation between the literal meaning of the notion of intersection and its philosophical understanding in the multidimensional contexts of the debate, this paper seeks to highlight those contact zones where the postcolonial meets the postmodern. The discussion of the concept starts from an already existing course in literature, seeking a new path to a more elaborate definition of the term and building an adequate frame for the study of the topic. The analysis of those points where the postcolonial intersects with the postmodern will be undertaken in three sections. First, focus is given to the theoretical dimension of the notion of intersection. Second, the focus shifts to the practical dimension of the concept. Third, our interest is oriented towards a discussion of several examples of African and Indian literature. These have been selected to broaden the discussion of the theoretical and the practical points highlighted in the previous two sections with the aim of making these points clear to the reader. This paper shows that these movements intersect in many concepts and practices. These results are explained by the fact that they have shared origins and goals. In the selected works, these intersections are traced, showing that postmodern aesthetics are used in the critique of postcolonial reality. This paper presents a multidisciplinary approach and a well-developed method of research for the study of literature. However, it leaves the door open for future researchers to add more contributions to the study of this topic.
In the post-revolution Tunisia, religious discourse becomes at the heart of different social issu... more In the post-revolution Tunisia, religious discourse becomes at the heart of different social issues and social debates. Regaining its power after a long time of disempowerment, religious discourse is strengthened by the emergence of religious groups like salafists as visible social groups. These religious groups exist in the pre-revolution era, but they are oppressed and controlled by the government to maintain social order and omit diversity at the social level. The manipulative role of religious discourse is a problematic question that this article seeks to answer. In this paper, I am going to use Van Dijk's (2006) triangulated approach to manipulation: manipulation as a form of social power abuse, cognitive mind control and discursive interaction. This will be illustrated by the analysis of some expressions used to push people to stick to their religious teachings and beliefs to overcome difficulties and save their souls from corruption.
The present paper uses a multidisciplinary CDA framework ranging from argumentation theories, dis... more The present paper uses a multidisciplinary CDA framework ranging from argumentation theories, discourse representation theories and pragmatics elaborated in Van Dijk (2000) focusing mainly on representation, humanitarianism, evidentiality and implication to explain how racist ideologies are explored in political discourse to manipulate the addresses and justify elite policies. Exploring how these discursive strategies are used to legitimize power, domination, inequality and injustice is carried through the critical analysis of the Republican Jeb Bush's live aired interview on CNN (November the 15 th 2015) and the Democrat Barack Obama's press conference speech delivered in Antalya, Turkey (November the 16 th 2015). The results of the analysis proved that: a) the polarization of Us vs. Them and the strategies of positive self-representation and negative other-representation are used to serve for the anti-racist arguments, b) the humanitarianism strategies are used to humanize Us and de-humanize Them and evidentiality, which is based on the use of different sorts of proofs that are close to the audiences' minds, are employed to justify the American migration policies and war strategies, and c) implication is employed to demystify such racist ideologies that do not fit with the speakers' arguments. Hence, the manipulative nature of these discursive strategies is justified.
This paper deals with the critical study of the way the denial of racism works in political disco... more This paper deals with the critical study of the way the denial of racism works in political discourse to serve for the justification of public policies. To study this issue two texts are selected for analysis. These are the republican Jeb Bush's interview on CNN in November the 15 th 2016 and the democrat Barack Obama's press conference speech in the G-20 summit in November the 16 th 2016 in Antalya, Turkey. The analysis of these two texts is carried within the framework of a multidisciplinary theoretical approach ranging from semantics, syntax, pragmatics, argumentation theories, rhetoric, and context. This multi-dimensional approach finds its ground within the CDA framework of discourse and language study. The methodology used for the analysis of the selected texts consists of two phases. The first phase is based on the collection of data via the scrutiny of the texts phrase by phrase, clause by clause, sentence by sentence, and even paragraph by paragraph tracing the discursive strategies of actor description, authority, burden, consensus, empathy, fallacies, lexicalization, normative expressions, reasonableness, populism, and victimization determined in Van Dijk (2000). The second phase is devoted to the establishment of relations between the employed strategies to determine how they serve for the denial of racism, the justification of the speakers' policies, and the extent to which they can reflect political continuity. The results showed that the denial of racism at various levels of discourse structure is justified and public policies are determined and justified through both the denial of racism and the political manipulation of the war on terror. Thus, the results of the analysis highlighted the relation between the concepts of policy (migration), denial of racism, and terrorism. These parameters form a triangulation we need to understand how terrorism is used in connection with the denial of racism to justify public policies.
This paper deals with the critical study of the way the denial of racism works in political disco... more This paper deals with the critical study of the way the denial of racism works in political discourse to serve for the justification of public policies. To study this issue two texts are selected for analysis. These are the republican Jeb Bush's interview on CNN in November the 15 th 2016 and the democrat Barack Obama's press conference speech in the G-20 summit in November the 16 th 2016 in Antalya, Turkey. The analysis of these two texts is carried within the framework of a multidisciplinary theoretical approach ranging from semantics, syntax, pragmatics, argumentation theories, rhetoric, and context. This multi-dimensional approach finds its ground within the CDA framework of discourse and language study. The methodology used for the analysis of the selected texts consists of two phases. The first phase is based on the collection of data via the scrutiny of the texts phrase by phrase, clause by clause, sentence by sentence, and even paragraph by paragraph tracing the discursive strategies of actor description, authority, burden, consensus, empathy, fallacies, lexicalization, normative expressions, reasonableness, populism, and victimization determined in Van Dijk (2000). The second phase is devoted to the establishment of relations between the employed strategies to determine how they serve for the denial of racism, the justification of the speakers' policies, and the extent to which they can reflect political continuity. The results showed that the denial of racism at various levels of discourse structure is justified and public policies are determined and justified through both the denial of racism and the political manipulation of the war on terror. Thus, the results of the analysis highlighted the relation between the concepts of policy (migration), denial of racism, and terrorism. These parameters form a triangulation we need to understand how terrorism is used in connection with the denial of racism to justify public policies.
International journal of humanities and social sciences, 2016
The systemic functional study of language is open to a multiplicity of approaches and theoretical... more The systemic functional study of language is open to a multiplicity of approaches and theoretical frameworks among which Discourse Analysis (DA) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). Being an applied linguistic theory, SFL becomes connected to different theories and disciplines that are devoted to the investigation of different topics related to the study of the discursive practices of language. The study of discourse, as a social practice, from a systemic functional perspective can be related to other forms of social theories such as argumentation theories. This article will focus on the analysis and evaluation of argument logical structure together with its linguistic structure in the UN resolutions about the Syrian civil war using the SFL theory and the CDA approach with reference to (Fairclough, Isabella and Norman Fairclough 2010, 2011a, 2011b, 2012) and (Matthiessen, 2014). This systemic functional analysis of the arguments developed in the texts to be under focus is meant to...
This paper deals with the study of how racist ideologies are constructed in Crane’s “A Dark Brown... more This paper deals with the study of how racist ideologies are constructed in Crane’s “A Dark Brown Dog” using the CDA framework. Benefitting from the approaching between literature and linguistics, it focuses on the linguistic examination of the (re)construction of whiteness and blackness based on the assumption that racism is: a social, a discursive, and an ideological construct. This tri-dimensional construct is treated within a theoretical triangulation ranging from cognition, society, and discourse. Based on the view of discourse as a process of coding and decoding of meaning, the text of this story is explored at various levels of language use: a) contextual analysis focuses on the study of how the depiction of the setting and the characters serves to draw the scene of racial inequality; b) textual analysis deals with the way narration contributes to the (re)production of racism; and c) identity analysis is devoted to the study of how racial identity evolves across generations. ...
The present paper aims at providing a multi-dimensional discussion to the way the notion of ident... more The present paper aims at providing a multi-dimensional discussion to the way the notion of identity is being constructed in Crane`s short story, “A Dark Brown Dog”. To reach an in-depth critique of the issue, the paper seeks to formulate a workable definition of the term and to establish a multi-disciplinary theoretical framework that is adequate to trace how theevolution of the narrative serves in the construction of the characters’ identity. The story under focus is written at the end of the 19 th century, in 1893, during the Jim Crow era that stretches from the late 19 th century to the sixties of the 20 th century.Aiming to study how the identity of the white character and the identity of the black character are being linguistically constructed in this story, a simple method of data collection and analysis will be used. This method is summarized in three steps: a) the collection of textual data that reflect the characters’ identities; b) the analysis of the collected data; and ...
The present paper seeks to determine the ways hatred attitudes and practices manifest themselves ... more The present paper seeks to determine the ways hatred attitudes and practices manifest themselves in Trump’s language. It focuses mainly on the critical examination of sexism, bigotry, and xenophobia. Having determined the manifestation of these racist ideologies, our focus will shift towards finding the appropriate sociological and psychological interpretations for the obtained findings. To undertake this study, four speeches were selected for analysis: Trump’s taped comments about women (the study of sexism), Trump’s executive orders banning refugees and Muslim travelers (the study of bigotry), and Trump’s speech on Jobs and the economy and Trump’s immigration speech (the study of xenophobia). To analyze these texts, we used a combination between theories of discourse analysis (text analysis and context analysis), theories of sociology, and theories of psychology. The application of this combination consists in the use of a simple method of analysis summarized in three steps: colle...
Advances in Social Science and Culture
Regarding the ability doublespeak offers to its users to distort and mislead, the question about ... more Regarding the ability doublespeak offers to its users to distort and mislead, the question about how power is (re)produce, distributed, and enacted becomes of great concern. Within this context, the present paper seeks to study how the use of doublespeak serves for the empowerment of the self and the dis-empowerment of the other. The study of this topic consists in the analysis of some examples that are taken from political speeches delivered by the US presidents; Bush, Obama, and Trump. To analyze these examples, a combination of three theories—theories of discourse analysis, theories of power, and theories of politics—is used. The application of this theoretical combination is based on the use of a simple method of research. This method follows three successive steps. First, the traces of doublespeak are detected and classified. Second, interest is given to the study of how each of the traced uses of doublespeak serves for empowerment. Third, interest shifts to the interpretation ...
Advances in Social Science and Culture, 2019
The relation between knowledge and discourse is a problematic one. While speaking, we may activat... more The relation between knowledge and discourse is a problematic one. While speaking, we may activate
one part of our knowledge and leave anther one silent to serve the coherence of what we seek to convey.
Having this in mind, this paper seeks to discuss the importance of out-side-text knowledge in the
analysis and comprehension of political discourse. To study this issue, concern is devoted to two axes
of discussion. First, focus is given to the analysis and discussion of some key concepts to form a
workable frame for the study. It also seeks to high-light the boundaries between interpretation and
over-interpretation. Second, focus shifts to the analysis of some examples to put into practice the tools
of the established approach. Also, the extent to which the knowledge we activated served to produce
worthwhile interpretations is questioned. The selected examples are taken from presidential speeches
delivered by Bush, Obama, and Trump. The method we used consists of two phases: one simple and the
other complex. In phase one, the meaning the speaker sought to convey is decoded based on the types
of knowledge he activated. In phase two, we activated the knowledge we have about the context of each
speech to communicate the un-said. While doing this, we used the logic of critique to avoid
over-interpreting the examples. The results showed that our activation of the required knowledge
served to demystify what the speakers hide and to work out deception by highlighting the gap between
discursive reality and social reality. It is also proved that the issue of boundaries between
interpretation and over-interpretation remains a matter of critique. Though bringing valuable
contributions to the critical study of language in use, the paper left the doors open for further research
on how to use out-side-text knowledge to communicate the un-said.
Humanities and Social Sciences Letters