| dc.description.abstract | Language is a carrier of the deep culture of societies that substratum of beliefs about reality which defines what is regarded as natural, normal, moral and good, as well as what is bad, other, undesirable and evil, i.e. the collective cosmology, world view, woven into and inherited by all members of a social body. By analysing how language is used, and, more specifically, by analysing discourse, one can identify elements and traces of this deep culture and how its use in language shapes both our understanding of events, and how, in turn, we act upon and shape these events and the world.
The case study chosen here to analyse the relationship between language and discourse and the concepts/practice of ideology, hegemony, deep culture and cultural violence, are two speeches by the President of the United States, George W. Bush, following the September 11th, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The first hypothesis put forth is that by analysing discourse in these speeches we are able to unveil the assumptions, messages and complexes of the deep culture it draws upon. By using methods of critical discourse analysis it is possible to bring these underlying assumptions to light, and to reflect upon what principles, values, social orders, ideologies and world views they are truly communicating. The second hypothesis, motivated by this observation, is that the speeches encourage, ordain and authorize violent means of dealing with the attacks as a result of the particular world-view and cosmology arising from US deep culture.
The methodology for conducting this analysis draws upon Norman Fairclough s theory of critical discourse analysis (CDA). This model of CDA is constructed as a three-dimensional investigation of discourse as instance of language use, analysing:
(1) the text itself
(2) the discourse practice
(3) the social practice
The three important philosophical concepts ideology, hegemony, and deep culture and their relation to language is profound. The role of each of these issues in the political, social, cultural and intellectual life of a society or collective is to be analysed, particularly in relation to how they each emerge through language and discourse in the process of communication of the Presidential speeches. The concept of deep culture is closely related to that of ideology: if the latter is defined as system of conscious thought and framework for understanding and interpreting the world as it is or should be , deep culture is the deeper stratum of the assumptions and unquestioned beliefs of a collective.
Why would the concept of deep culture be of any concern in research of this type (i.e. linguistic, discourse analysis)? Because it reveals the basis for what we consider to be false , good , bad , right , wrong , beautiful , ugly , sacred or profane, showing the determinations behind these interpretations, and their communication in language. Language is one of the most common and all pervasive social forms of communicating the rationale and determinations of reality. By analysing language one can identify such values and further our understanding of how they impact upon our consciousness, beliefs, opinions and social awareness.
The thesis bridges the disciplines of CDA with that of peace research, by using the methodology put forth by the first to analyse the relation of determination between deep culture, ideology, hegemony and language. | nor |