A Semiological Discourse Analysis of Pak- Army Representation in Pakistani Print Media

Abstract

The present research analyses visual and linguistic techniques used in the discourses of Pakistani English newspaper (The Nation) to represent Pakistan Army. The time span for the data collection in the present study ranges from 17th dec,2014 to March 15, 2015. All the caricatures about the representations of Pak- Army were collected from the newspaper and one of them was purposively selected to analyse by employing a devised research model for the study in hand. The research employs an amended by drawing upon Van Dijk (2004) model critical discourse analysis, Barthes’ (1974) model of Semiological Discourse Analysis (SDA). The analytical categories include representation, polarization, use of lexical items, metaphors, implicature and person as state metaphor. The SDA model works on Identical, Iconic and Indexical levels. Moreover, the researchers have also validated their findings of semiotic analysis by incorporating the remarks of focus group participants. For that purpose, two focus group discussions among the students of linguistic and other disciplines were conducted and visually recorded. The study reveals that the role of Pakistan Army in state matters of Pakistan, and in the mechanics of power distribution is very significant.