LANGUAGE AND IDEOLOGICAL EXPLOITATION

Abstract

This qualitative study aims to explore the hidden ideological agenda in the discourse of a mega corruption scandal of Pakistan- Defence Housing Authority (DefHA) scandal from Western angle within the theoretical concerns of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) by using Ruth Wodak’s Discourse Historical Approach (DHA) (2011). Data has been taken from an article ‘Pakistan Army’s Housing Ventures Face Corruption Investigation’ published in the newspaper the Guardian in 2016. The study takes into account the history and the political practices of the military bureaucracy of Pakistan as background study which largely shape the present sociopolitical conditions of the country. History and politics are deeply connected with the underlying concepts of power, ideology and exploitation within the discourse of this scandal. Discourse-Historical Approach by correlating the available knowledge and the background knowledge of the social and political practices helps in analysing data from multiple angles. By critically analyzing the discourse of the newspaper article the study expects to find hidden manipulative agenda of this most respectful organization of the country.