![]() | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract This study attempts to provide a critical discourse analysis to political discourse in Tom Stoppard’s trilogy the Coast of utopia. Methodologically, critical discourse analysis offers a process that can illuminate presentations within language, providing a systematic set of inquiries in order to analyze the textual and discursive elements and relate them to a wider social and political context. The main approach in this study is Norman Fairclough’s model of critical discourse Analysis (CDA) 1989. The model consists of three levels textual/ descriptive analysis, interpretative/ discursive analysis, and Explanation. The model is applied on each play respectively. The findings of the study reveal the functions of the various types of verb processes. Also, it reveals the role of passivization in thematizing the role of patient/ goal and clouding responsibility of certain actions. Besides, modality gives authority to the speaker, and it reveals the various discursive strategies that are used such as legitimation and deligitimation, topic avoidance and topic specification, and the discursive juxtaposition of ideal and problematic categories and its role in shaping a good environment for change. Moreover, intertextuality is discussed as means of creating speeches, emphatic assertions are used to functionalize rational thinking and emphasizes on the Stoppardian intertextuality. Finally, Explanation plays a role in connecting the discursive practices to a wider social and political context and clarifies the role of media in spreading socio- political awareness. |