Linguistic Discourse Ideologies of Academic Staff Union of Universities in Selected Nigerian Newspapers

Abstract

The study on Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU has gathered momentum as many scholars have been bringing the union to attention in the scholarly researches in academic sphere through various analyses about workings of the union. The union is mostly discussed to go liberal and radical against government policies over issues relating to pressing home the demands of the members of the union as well as interests of the general public. Some previous works have investigated the ideological postures of the Academic Staff Union of Universities and Federal Government of Nigeria in industrial dispute but they have not indicated and discussed the linguistic discourse ideologies deployed against and in favour of Academic Staff Union of Universities. This study, therefore, is designed to bridge the vacuum as reported in Nigerian print media. The research work gathers relevant data from the widely circulated print media in Nigeria. These include The Punch, The Guardian, Leadership and Vanguard. Headlines, lead stories, editorials, letters and other parts of the newspapers' stories concerning Nigerian universities are analysed with the use of critical discourse analysis theory. The used theory gives bias and major adoption to Teun van Dijk's socio-cognitive model of critical discourse analysis. The theory supports bifurcation of the analysis into the linguistic ideologies of in-group positive self-presentation and out-group negative representation of others. The study reveals that ASUU, FGN and other Nigerians deploy many linguistic discourse structures such as ideological polarisation of In-group positive self- representation, out-group representation of others, emphasize their bad things and our good things, authority, comparison, victimisation, consensus, lexicalisations on ASUU discourse in print media.