Lexicalisation of discourse strategies in the national anthems of selected African states

ABSTRACT

A national anthem is an official song of a nation. Extant studies have examined national anthems from philosophical, thematic, and historical points of view with insufficient attention paid to the lexicalisation of discourse strategies in the anthems of African states. This study, therefore, investigates how lexical choices and discourse strategies are deployed in the construction of national identities and ideologies. Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics and Wodak’s Discourse-Historical Approach were adopted as framework. Data were purposively selected from ideology-laden anthems, four from each of the five African sub-regions namely: Central (Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea); East (Djibouti, Eritrea, Rwanda, and Uganda); North (Egypt, Libya, Sudan, and Tunisia); Southern (Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, and Zimbabwe); and West (Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, and Gambia). The study discovers that lexicalisation of discourse strategies of construction, transformation, perpetuation, and representation reflects socio-cultural, political, and cultural experiences of African states.

KEYWORDS:

• Lexicalisation
• discourse strategies
• national anthems
• Systemic Functional Linguistics
• Discourse-Historical approach

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ojo Akinleye Ayinuola

Ojo Akinleye Ayinuola teaches in the Department of English, Faculty of Humanities, Ajayi Crowther University, Nigeria. His research interests include (Critical) Discourse Analysis, Pragmatics, Syntax, Stylistics, and Translation Studies. He has attended and presented papers in local and international conferences.