Discursive Strategies in Selected Political Campaign Songs in Southwestern Nigeria

Ayo Osisanwo

doi:doi:10.11648/j.cls.20200604.12

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Discursive Strategies in Selected Political Campaign Songs in Southwestern Nigeria

Ayo Osisanwo

Published in Communication and Linguistics Studies (Volume 6, Issue 4)

Received: 26 November 2020 Accepted: 8 December 2020 Published: 22 December 2020

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Abstract

Discursive strategies are often deployed to create awareness, capture and persuade electorate in political campaign songs. Existing scholarly works on political and electoral issues have examined different aspects of political discourses but have not sufficiently examined the import of political campaign songs in electoral and political discourses. Therefore, this paper examines the use of political campaign songs in southwestern Nigeria with a view to identifying the discursive strategies deployed to persuade the electorate. The YouTube Channel was visited in order to retrieve the transcript of political campaign jingles used during the 2011, 2015 and 2019 general elections in southwestern Nigeria. The selected period comprised the most recent general elections in the region. Guided by relevant aspects of the socio-cognitive model of critical discourse analysis, data were subjected to discourse analysis. The analysis uncovers the vital relationship existing between the political campaign songs and the Nigerian socio-cultural spatial setting that produced them. Eight discursive strategies: allusion (historical, religious/biblical, socio-cultural), propaganda, indigenous/native language usage and code alternation, reference to collective ownership, figurative/proverbial expressions, adaptation of common musical tune, and rhythmicity were identified. Politicians use different discursive and rhetorical strategies in their political campaign songs to open the door to the heart of the electorate.

Published in	Communication and Linguistics Studies (Volume 6, Issue 4)
DOI	10.11648/j.cls.20200604.12
Page(s)	73-81
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Discursive Strategies, Discourse Analysis, Political Campaign Songs, Southwestern Nigeria

References

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Ayo Osisanwo. (2020). Discursive Strategies in Selected Political Campaign Songs in Southwestern Nigeria. Communication and Linguistics Studies, 6(4), 73-81. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cls.20200604.12

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Ayo Osisanwo. Discursive Strategies in Selected Political Campaign Songs in Southwestern Nigeria. Commun. Linguist. Stud. 2020, 6(4), 73-81. doi: 10.11648/j.cls.20200604.12

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Ayo Osisanwo. Discursive Strategies in Selected Political Campaign Songs in Southwestern Nigeria. Commun Linguist Stud. 2020;6(4):73-81. doi: 10.11648/j.cls.20200604.12

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@article{10.11648/j.cls.20200604.12,
  author = {Ayo Osisanwo},
  title = {Discursive Strategies in Selected Political Campaign Songs in Southwestern Nigeria},
  journal = {Communication and Linguistics Studies},
  volume = {6},
  number = {4},
  pages = {73-81},
  doi = {10.11648/j.cls.20200604.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cls.20200604.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.cls.20200604.12},
  abstract = {Discursive strategies are often deployed to create awareness, capture and persuade electorate in political campaign songs. Existing scholarly works on political and electoral issues have examined different aspects of political discourses but have not sufficiently examined the import of political campaign songs in electoral and political discourses. Therefore, this paper examines the use of political campaign songs in southwestern Nigeria with a view to identifying the discursive strategies deployed to persuade the electorate. The YouTube Channel was visited in order to retrieve the transcript of political campaign jingles used during the 2011, 2015 and 2019 general elections in southwestern Nigeria. The selected period comprised the most recent general elections in the region. Guided by relevant aspects of the socio-cognitive model of critical discourse analysis, data were subjected to discourse analysis. The analysis uncovers the vital relationship existing between the political campaign songs and the Nigerian socio-cultural spatial setting that produced them. Eight discursive strategies: allusion (historical, religious/biblical, socio-cultural), propaganda, indigenous/native language usage and code alternation, reference to collective ownership, figurative/proverbial expressions, adaptation of common musical tune, and rhythmicity were identified. Politicians use different discursive and rhetorical strategies in their political campaign songs to open the door to the heart of the electorate.},
 year = {2020}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Discursive Strategies in Selected Political Campaign Songs in Southwestern Nigeria
AU  - Ayo Osisanwo
Y1  - 2020/12/22
PY  - 2020
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cls.20200604.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.cls.20200604.12
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JF  - Communication and Linguistics Studies
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PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2380-2529
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cls.20200604.12
AB  - Discursive strategies are often deployed to create awareness, capture and persuade electorate in political campaign songs. Existing scholarly works on political and electoral issues have examined different aspects of political discourses but have not sufficiently examined the import of political campaign songs in electoral and political discourses. Therefore, this paper examines the use of political campaign songs in southwestern Nigeria with a view to identifying the discursive strategies deployed to persuade the electorate. The YouTube Channel was visited in order to retrieve the transcript of political campaign jingles used during the 2011, 2015 and 2019 general elections in southwestern Nigeria. The selected period comprised the most recent general elections in the region. Guided by relevant aspects of the socio-cognitive model of critical discourse analysis, data were subjected to discourse analysis. The analysis uncovers the vital relationship existing between the political campaign songs and the Nigerian socio-cultural spatial setting that produced them. Eight discursive strategies: allusion (historical, religious/biblical, socio-cultural), propaganda, indigenous/native language usage and code alternation, reference to collective ownership, figurative/proverbial expressions, adaptation of common musical tune, and rhythmicity were identified. Politicians use different discursive and rhetorical strategies in their political campaign songs to open the door to the heart of the electorate.
VL  - 6
IS  - 4
ER  -

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Author Information

Ayo Osisanwo

Department of English, Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

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APA Style

Ayo Osisanwo. (2020). Discursive Strategies in Selected Political Campaign Songs in Southwestern Nigeria. Communication and Linguistics Studies, 6(4), 73-81. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cls.20200604.12

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Ayo Osisanwo. Discursive Strategies in Selected Political Campaign Songs in Southwestern Nigeria. Commun. Linguist. Stud. 2020, 6(4), 73-81. doi: 10.11648/j.cls.20200604.12

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AMA Style

Ayo Osisanwo. Discursive Strategies in Selected Political Campaign Songs in Southwestern Nigeria. Commun Linguist Stud. 2020;6(4):73-81. doi: 10.11648/j.cls.20200604.12

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@article{10.11648/j.cls.20200604.12,
  author = {Ayo Osisanwo},
  title = {Discursive Strategies in Selected Political Campaign Songs in Southwestern Nigeria},
  journal = {Communication and Linguistics Studies},
  volume = {6},
  number = {4},
  pages = {73-81},
  doi = {10.11648/j.cls.20200604.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cls.20200604.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.cls.20200604.12},
  abstract = {Discursive strategies are often deployed to create awareness, capture and persuade electorate in political campaign songs. Existing scholarly works on political and electoral issues have examined different aspects of political discourses but have not sufficiently examined the import of political campaign songs in electoral and political discourses. Therefore, this paper examines the use of political campaign songs in southwestern Nigeria with a view to identifying the discursive strategies deployed to persuade the electorate. The YouTube Channel was visited in order to retrieve the transcript of political campaign jingles used during the 2011, 2015 and 2019 general elections in southwestern Nigeria. The selected period comprised the most recent general elections in the region. Guided by relevant aspects of the socio-cognitive model of critical discourse analysis, data were subjected to discourse analysis. The analysis uncovers the vital relationship existing between the political campaign songs and the Nigerian socio-cultural spatial setting that produced them. Eight discursive strategies: allusion (historical, religious/biblical, socio-cultural), propaganda, indigenous/native language usage and code alternation, reference to collective ownership, figurative/proverbial expressions, adaptation of common musical tune, and rhythmicity were identified. Politicians use different discursive and rhetorical strategies in their political campaign songs to open the door to the heart of the electorate.},
 year = {2020}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Discursive Strategies in Selected Political Campaign Songs in Southwestern Nigeria
AU  - Ayo Osisanwo
Y1  - 2020/12/22
PY  - 2020
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cls.20200604.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.cls.20200604.12
T2  - Communication and Linguistics Studies
JF  - Communication and Linguistics Studies
JO  - Communication and Linguistics Studies
SP  - 73
EP  - 81
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2380-2529
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cls.20200604.12
AB  - Discursive strategies are often deployed to create awareness, capture and persuade electorate in political campaign songs. Existing scholarly works on political and electoral issues have examined different aspects of political discourses but have not sufficiently examined the import of political campaign songs in electoral and political discourses. Therefore, this paper examines the use of political campaign songs in southwestern Nigeria with a view to identifying the discursive strategies deployed to persuade the electorate. The YouTube Channel was visited in order to retrieve the transcript of political campaign jingles used during the 2011, 2015 and 2019 general elections in southwestern Nigeria. The selected period comprised the most recent general elections in the region. Guided by relevant aspects of the socio-cognitive model of critical discourse analysis, data were subjected to discourse analysis. The analysis uncovers the vital relationship existing between the political campaign songs and the Nigerian socio-cultural spatial setting that produced them. Eight discursive strategies: allusion (historical, religious/biblical, socio-cultural), propaganda, indigenous/native language usage and code alternation, reference to collective ownership, figurative/proverbial expressions, adaptation of common musical tune, and rhythmicity were identified. Politicians use different discursive and rhetorical strategies in their political campaign songs to open the door to the heart of the electorate.
VL  - 6
IS  - 4
ER  -

Copy | Download