Key words: East African political Discourse, multilingual terms, semantic shifts, linguistic choices and the syntactic, lexical and semantic levels
1.1.0 IntroductionThe Kenyan constitutional referendum in 2010, The Tanzanian General Elections in 2010 and the Ugandan General Elections in 2011 took East African political discourse to very high levels. The ability of an East African politician to invent, re-invent, shift, twist and manipulate multilingual terms amidst high-tempo political discourses has found verbal expression and linguistic life in post-electoral period. The use of these terms highlighted the inter-connectedness between language and politics in East African. Chilton (2004) asserts that “politics is very largely the use of language.” Butt (2004) makes a similar albeit somewhat stronger claim when he writes that “the very use of language is ideological.” He argues that this is so because “the use of language necessitates choices between different modes of meaning.” It is precisely these choices that are simply unavoidable during political campaigns (meetings) and have to be made at all levels of language (such as semantic, syntactic, lexical and so on) of language that can be used by political actors to attain political effect.
Competition on the political arena is often spiced by effective mobilization tools central to which is language.Hasan (1996) states, “we not only use language to shape reality, but we use it also to defend that reality, against anyone who’s alternative values might threaten ours.” Such linguistic choices alluded to above and which characterize all forms of political discourse, can be overt or covert in nature and are obtainable in East African.
East African countries endured a tough electioneering period inside the last two years (2010-2011). The region’s political actors, borrowing from their rich multilingual repertoire, displayed rare gift of the garb. In Kenya, the post-referendum period saw the coming to birth of multilingual terms such as: the water melon, prayer meetings, O’campo 6, KKK (Kikuyu, kamba and kalenjin), G7, Kapenguria 6, Red card, etc. Uganda has its fair share of the M7, walking races, pakalast, Temangalo, Bicupa, Mahogany, sprays, whereas Tanzania has Kujivua gamba (skin shading), dark market, chakachu (adulterate ‘fuel’), kijani (green), loliondo, kikombe cha babu (grandfather’s cup), etc. Such political discourses have undergone some semantic shifts. Unraveling the meanings and semantic shifts inherent in the East African political operators’ linguistic choices at the syntactic, lexical and semantic levels informs the basis of this study.
1.2.0 Political discourse TheoryPolitical discourse analysis studies political text and talk, i.e. communicative acts which have “a direct functional role as a form of political action in the political process” (van Dijk 1997) and which are performed by political actors, mostly but not only “professional politicians such as presidents and prime ministers and other members of government, parliament or political parties” (van Dijk 1997). One of the principal goals of political discourse analysis, according to Wilson (2001), is to identify the many ways in which language can be used or manipulated by political actors to produce specific effects in the political realm. The second objective establishes a link with political science. In that case such a study would adopt what van Dijk (1997) called an ‘integrated approach’. It goes beyond a purely languagebased analysis of the speeches in so far as it also examines the functionality of the observed discursive practices in their wider political context. I considered these ideas while analyzing the East African politicians’ linguistic choices at the syntactic, lexical and semantic levels in this study.
2. 1.0 Language manipulation strategyLinguistic choices on the syntactic level of language can be covert operations, i.e. operations that might go unnoticed by the listener or reader because they “lie beneath the threshold of consciousness” (Butt 2004:270).Choices on the lexical level of language, on the other hand, tend to be more or less overt operations, in the sense that they rarely go fully unnoticed by the listener or reader since they lie above the threshold of consciousness. Both overt and covert operations, however, can be used to political effect, and exert the desired influence on public opinion. Bellow we present strategies that have been employed:
2 1.1 Antonymous lexical choicesWords with positive connotations will be used to describe the in-group and its qualities whereas words with negative connotations will be used to evoke the out-group and its supposed shortcomings and faults. These antonymous lexical sets are often made up of “moral value vocabulary” (Chilton 2004), words that help to establish a dichotomy between a moral we versus an immoral them. Antonyms are therefore used where one group expresses itself the extreme end opposite of the other. Indeed, language and the quasi infinite number of linguistic choices it offers political actors among the rules and components of its levels allows for the expression of differing and even opposing worldviews and values. In East African political discourse it is common to have two parties arguing at the extreme ends. Examples:
The frequency with which linguistic choices and patterns linked to a particular worldview are instantiated in a communicative act or series of acts may lead to their habituation. They become part “general public’s collective meaning potential.” In other words, the repeated linguistic choices and discursive patterns influence the general public’s perception. They lay a role in establishing a common view of the world and lead to shared views of social, economic and global phenomena. Examples:
Kapenguria 6-Six prominent Kenyans-who included founding President Jomo Kenyatta-were jailed in 1952 at a notorious North Rift prison called Kapenguria for agitating for independence. They were considered innocent national heroes. The O’ocampo 6 sought to gain mileage by comparing themselves with the Kapenguria 6.
G7-Ordinarily a group of seven (7) industralised countries but adopted by seven (7) Kenyan regional leaders out to derail Mr. Odinga’s presidential ambitions come 2012. The G7 loaded message is that they are stronger, united in ideology and possessing numbers than lone ranger Odinga. A historical fact is that the industralised G7 beat the Soviet Union thus domestication of a worldview.
Pentagon-The term refers to ODM top decision making organ which comprises a team of five regional leaders with Odinga as captain. However, and world over, the Pentagon refers to the USA defense headquarters. Unsuspecting voters are wont to perceive ODM’s Pentagon just like the invincible USA Army with the requisite technology, united, with firepower, a superpower, robust, equipped, tried and tested.
Hague-a Netherlands based International Criminal Court (ICC) for genocide and crimes against humanity. Hague is generally used in Kenya to refer to any prison or a place for justice and cripple impunity.
2 1.3 Use of legitimising and delegitimising languagePolitical actors, therefore, have to be doubly strategic in their language use. The use of legitimising language is usually accompanied by the use of its counterpart, ‘delegitimising language’, i.e. language which negatively depicts the opposing worldview or approach as well as those who hold these different opinions and values.
Fisadi is a Swahili word for the corrupt. Sad as it may, Tanzanian opposition activists have generalized it to refer to mainly CCM leaders thanks to the many corrupt activities associated with its leadership.
Water melon is a term that gained prominence during Kenya’s constitution referendum campaigns. Voters were expected to choose between RED (for No) and GREEN (for Yes). Politicians who played it safe (neutrals) or were ambivalent during the campaigns were coded water melons. The logic is simple in that a water melon has a green colour on the outer cover and red colour in the inside.
2 1.4 Bipolar representationsPolitical actors use bipolar representations often while on campaign train. The repeated instantiation of these binary conceptualisations tends, furthermore, to lead to similar bipolar representations in the collective consciousness of the general public. In the end the political operators assign meanings and definition to words to not only belittle their opponents but also to manipulate voters. Examples:
They concern the use of:
2 2 1 Deictic pronouns-such as us and themIdioms laced with political undertones have also been used:
Coinage of political terms from words and numbers, code-mixing, acronyms, pet (nick) names and place names. This word formation processes have generally brought to birth new words. They are discussed in details:
2.4.1 Joining words and numbers6 (Kiswahili for six) Sita simply written as 6 on social media is Tanzanian minister for East African Affairs and a former highly regarded speaker of the national assembly in 2006-2012. He was forced out by CCM due to his independent views on issues. Whenever the current speaker Ann Makinda misjudges the public mood, tweets such as ‘we need 6’ resurface.
O’ocampo 6 This is a group of six prominent Kenyans namely: The Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Former Minister William Ruto, Radio Journalist Joshua Sang, Minister Henry Kosgey, Former police commissioner General Hussein Ali and The Head of civil service and the secretary to the Cabinet Ambassador Francis Muthaura. The six (6) have been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) as persons bearing the greatest responsibility for post-election violence that occurred in Kenya in 2008. Whenever people use the term O’ocampo 6 or simply ‘the 6’ Kenyans easily decipher the suspects.
G7 Ordinarily a group of seven (7) industralised countries but adopted by seven (7) Kenyan regional leaders out to derail Mr. Odinga’s presidential ambitions come 2012.
M7 Ugandan president is called Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. Now Museveni is pronounced as /museveni/ hence M7 (M for mu and 7 for seven)-take note of the similarity in pronunciation.
Kapenguria 6-Six prominent Kenyans-who included founding President Jomo Kenyatta-were jailed in 1952 at a notorious North Rift prison called Kapenguria for agitating for independence. They were considered innocent national heroes.
2.4.2 Code-Mixing Lexical BorrowingPakalast This word is a blend from both Kiswahili and English language derivatives. Paka is Swahili term for ‘until/ awaiting/ pending/ in anticipation of’ whereas last is English for ‘final/ very last/ after everything/ end/ in anticipation of etc.’ The purpose of the pakalast propaganda was to inform their competitors and gullible electorates that M7 would be there until end. This Museveni campaign slogan was initially used by WARID telecoms in Uganda as a measure for product strength and reliability.
Vuvuzela Oxford (2010:1666) defines a vuvuzela as “a long plastic instrument in the shape of a trumpet that makes a very loud noise when you blow it and it is popular with football fans in South Africa.
Maombi meetings nationwide maombi (Swahili for prayer) meetings were held countrywide to proclaim solidarity with the O’O campo 6. The irony is the prayer meetings-which should ordinarily shoe decorum-turned in to Odinga and O’O campo bashing. They took the format of real egoistic political meetings. Nowadays patrons are wont to christen similar like-minded fellows meetings as prayer meetings instead of political, social or business meetings. This brings to birth the closeness of state and politics in Kenya.
2.4.3 Acronyms and word order substitutionsDokta/ Doctor the East African political leadership has developed an obsession with elitism. In Tanzania, we saw supporters of the two largest parties fighting over the real and unreal Doctor.
Mahogany is a pet name given to Gilbert Bukenya, former Vice President, coz he was thought to be tough politically and hard nut to crack. But as fate would have it, he has since lost his post as Vice President in recent cabinet reshuffle and is currently facing corruption charges over handling of Commonwealth Heads of state and government meeting (CHOGM) funds a few years ago.
Bicupa pronounced vichupa this name is used to describe former Kampala Mayor Nasser Ndege Seggabala. The name is derived from Lugganda name "bicuppuli" pronounced vichupuli which refers to fake things. Those who refer to him as bicupa believe that he is a fake, because he is not educated, with a poor command of English language and has never kept a promise.
Mama Mabira pronounced Mavira is a name given to a female Ugandan parliamentarian called Beatrice Anywa. She fought hard and successfully in opposing a government’s plan to give out the expansive and indigenous Mabira forest to investors who wanted to cut trees and plant sugar cane plantation. She literary saved the forest hence mama mabira.
Kiwani pronounced as chiwaani is a common name now used to describe 'fake' or nonoriginal/ non-branded items sold on the Ugandan local market. It may also refer to activities done by people but generally considered as fake or untrue. It derives its origin from a song by a famous Ugandan musician Bobi wine in his song Kiwani.
2.6.0 Place names‘Nenda Loliondo unywe kikombe cha babu’ loosely translated as go to loliondo and take a sip from the grandfather’s cup. Loliondo is a place in northern Tanzania that was made famous by a traditional healer. Sick people from home and abroad thronged the village to ‘drink a cup of his miraculous drug.’ The name Loliondo has been assimilated in to political discourse to imply ‘a savior.’ Parties often tease opponents to go to loliondo for inspiration.
*Hague-(the explanation given elsewhere applies).
Mpererwe is a Kampala suburb and home to opposition leader Kizya Besyige. The small town became the centre at which the walk to work protests were launched. The brutal force exercised by the military and the police led to many injuries. To many, Mpererwe has become synonymous with ‘walk to work protests.’
3.0 Sexually loaded vocabularyThe relationship between political terminologies and sexual loading of terms is widespread. Since discussion on sex is culturally governed by taboos and innuendos, many a political terms have acquired sexual connotations.
Kilimo kwanza is a Tanzanian slogan translated as ‘Agriculture first.’ This is a clarion call to citizens to enhance farming as a sure way to wealth creation. Local populace has distorted it to mean more sexual activity to get many children (voters).
Chakachu, which initially referred to ‘fuel adulteration,’ has gained notoriety as referring to ‘sexual intercourse’ or any lady who has lost the traditionally cherished virginity.
Temangalo is a wetland that the current prime minister Amama Mbabazi and former NSSF boss Chandi Jamwa wanted to sell illegally. Nowadays it has been sexualised by Uganda's tabloid Red Pepper. When Mr. A is accused of raping Ms.Z, Red Pepper will say Mr.A caught raiding Ms. Z's Temangalo.
Consultations and Coalition The Kenyan coalition government’s decisions are arrived at after proper consultations between the prime minister and the president. Time and again members of the either side of the coalition partners (ODM or PNU) have leveled accusations at each other as having acted in bad faith without proper consultation. In Kenyan street discourses marriages or relationships are coalitions whereas dates or even sexual activities are Consultations.
4.0 ColourManipulation of Colour as a tool for mass mobilization and party identity KIJANI is Swahili for green colour. CCM rank and file use green uniforms. The CCM code is simply kijani
Red card was associated with the NO referendum campaigns in Kenya. The YES campaign touted them as cheats who had already red carded and out of the game (read contest). Red was associated with violence/ bloodshed and pain whereas green represented life and continuity. To a great extent a number of voters were easily swayed a side by such words.
5.0 ConclusionBEARD, A. (2000): The Language of Politics, London: Routledge.
BREKLE, H. E. (1989): “War with words”, in: R. Wodak (Ed.), Language, Power and Ideology. Studies in Political Discourse, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 81-91.
BUTT, D. G. et al. (2004): “Grammar – the first covert operation of war”, Discourse & Society, 15(2-3), 267-290.
CHILTON, P. (2004): Analysing Political Discourse. Theory and Practice, London: Routledge.
CLORAN, C. et al. (Eds.) (1996): Ways of Saying, Ways of Meaning: Selected Papers of Ruqaiya Hasan, London: Cassell.
DEDIAC, M. N. and D. NELSON (Eds.) (2003): At War with Words, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. HASAN, R. (1996): “What kind of resource is language?”, in: C. Cloran et al. (Eds.), Ways of Saying, Ways of Meaning: Selected Papers of Ruqaiya Hasan, London: Cassell.
GRAHAM, P. et al. (2004): “A call to arms at the end of history: a discourse-historical analysis of George W. Bush’s declaration of war on terror”, Discourse & Society, 15(2-3): 199-221.
LEUDAR, I. et al. (2004): “On membership categorization: ‘us’, ‘them’ and ‘doing violence’ in political discourse”, Discourse & Society, 15(2-3), 243-266.
MARTIN, D.-C. (1995): “The choices of identity”, Social Identities, 1(1), 5-20.
Oxford University Press (2010): Oxford Advanced learners Dictionary (8 edn). Oxford. OUP.
RUUD, K. (2003): “Liberal parasites and other creepers: Rush Limbaugh, Ken Hamblin, and the discursive construction of group identities”, in: M. N. Dediac and D. Nelson (Eds.), At War with Words, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 27-62.
SARACENI, M. (2003): “The strange case of Dr Blair and Mr Bush: Counting their words to solve a mystery”, English Today 75, 3, 3-13.
SCHIFFRIN, D. et al. (Eds.) (2001): The Handbook of Discourse Analysis, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
VAN DE MIEROOP, D. (2005): “An integrated approach of quantitative and qualitative analysis in the study of identity in speeches”, Discourse & Society, 16(1), 107-130.
VAN DIJK, T. (1993): “Principles of critical discourse analysis”, Discourse & Society, 4(2), 249-283.
VAN DIJK, T. (1997): “What is political discourse analysis?” Belgian Journal of Linguistics, 11, 11-52.
WILSON, J. (2001): “Political discourse”, in: D. Schiffrin et al, The Handbook of Discourse analysis, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 398-415
WODAK, R. (Ed.) (1989): Language, Power and Ideology: Studies in Political Discourse Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamin’s Publishing Company.
WODAK, R. et al. (1999): “The discursive construction of national identities”, discourse and Society, 10(2), 149-173.