Abstract:
Due to the significance of campaign discourse in multiparty politics, and the role discursive strategies play in political manifestoes, a text-based study was carried out to compare electoral manifestoes in the French and Ghanaian contexts to find out the similarities and differences in the use of discursive markers and strategies between the two political worlds. To this end, two electoral manifestoes were selected, and the discursive markers and strategies were identified and analysed based on the framework proposed by Charaudeau (2005a). The result revealed that though the two manifestoes are somewhat identical in termes of structure and the use of discursive markers and strategies, they were still different in the use of polemical language. Such differences can be attributed to the presence or absence of an immediate political opponent and the differences in the ideologies of the political parties. The findings help us to understand the reasons behind the use of polemic language. In the spirit of encouraging argumentative writing and enhancing the mastery of political register in the French context, this study recommends that political manifestoes of Francophone countries should be used as a teaching aid in the classroom to help build students’ vocabulary, mastery of Grammar, and competence in argumentative writing. Also, Ghanaian politicians are encouraged to use passive voice or other linguistic resources instead of openly attacking their political opponents.
