A Critical Discourse Analysis of Com peting Narratives on International Mother Tongue Day in Pakistani Print Media (2009 -2023)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48047/Keywords:
International Mother Tongue Day, Critical Discourse Analysis, Discourse Historical Approach, language politics, Pakistan, national identity, collective memory, linguistic nationalismAbstract
The present study focused on International Mother Tongue Day (IMTD) on 21st February, which was celebrated worldwide as IMTD and critically analyzes how this is discursively produced in Pakistani English language newspapers. The study based on Discourse Historical Approach (DHA) of Ruth Wodak, utilized a purposive sampling of eight articles from Dawn and The Express Tribune, as they appeared from 2009 to 2023. This study examined the rhetorical and linguistic approaches that contribute to the reconstruction of the Bengali Language Movement of 1952 in the contemporary print media, targeting at how collective memory, National identity and historical guilt are interrelated in the print media. The results of analysis show that there is no uniform stance of Pakistani newspapers, rather there are competing discourses that range from careful historical revisionism to minimization of state responsibility, while the counter-discourses are rare but have significant impact on directly challenging the linguistic repression of East Pakistan. Some use the concept of unity versus diversity of the nation to depoliticize the day and others question the mono-nationalistic views of Pakistan and the implications they carry with them in terms of federalism and identity. The results shed light on the ongoing contestation over a common yet contested historical event as it is negotiated through media language in a postcolonial context in Pakistan and how February 21 is still a space of contestation between official amnesia and a new critical discourse.
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