LUMINA Volume 21 No. 2


WHEN LANGUAGE MEANS POWER: A SOCIOLINGUISTIC STUDY OF BILL CLINTON'S BETWEEN HOPE AND HISTORY: MEETING AMERICA'S CHALLENGES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY


by Dr. Uzoechi Nwagbara

The acknowledgement of language as a medium for acquiring power is integral in all communicative situations aimed at rhetorical or sociolinguistic effectiveness. Every sociolinguistic setting operates with disparate set of linguistic rules in order to maximise power in such instance. Thus, the kernel of this study is to interrogate how power is exerted and couched in political languages or speeches that take as their primacy the social arrangement of the people being addressed. Studies abound regarding sociolinguistic strategies that are employed to gain power through well crafted linguistic pieces that pay attention to target audience's social, political and cultural configurations. The realisation of the significance of language in human society particularly in the political and social facets is crucial in apprehending how to exert or gain power.



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