Power Manifestations and Manipulations in Interactive Discourses: Evidence from Ezikeoba Elders’ Council

Abstract

This paper examines interactive discourses of Elugwu Ezike Elders’ Council in Elugwu-Ezike speech community of Igboland, southeast Nigeria from Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) perspective to discern the linguistic forms that create unequal balance of power relations and determine the extent to which traditional judicial system can be enlisted in the interpretation of interactional power. The Elders’ Council acts as a repository of discursive resources and all such signals act within the interactional context to provide useful inputs for the interpretation of the different power equations that exist. The identified discursive signals usually employed for marking interactional power include: asymmetrical employment of politeness strategies, address forms, prerogative use of proverbs, scatological and anecdotal resources, topic selection and sustenance, use of evaluative statements, negotiation of speaking turns and speaking rights, questioning, overt statement of power, and dominant interpretive framework.

Keywords: power, interactive discourse, CDA, Elders’ Council, manipulation, Igbo.