MEDIATED MANIFESTATIONS OF LANGUAGE IDEOLOGY THROUGH SPEECH: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF BRTISH SITCOM 'MIND YOUR LANGUAGE '

Abstract

How do television (TV) shows affect the way we perceive languages? How do individual speech acts combine to produce an implicit message? This thesis examines how utterances are used to implicitly reinforce ideological stances as truth. Crucially, the use of comedy as a tool for communicating ideas is effective as it lessens the face threating effect of overt assertions. Searle’s conception of speech act theory provides a structural frame to analyse techniques which enable these usually strong ideological stances to go undetected by audiences. Critical Discourse Analysis is crucial to reconciling how a speaker’s power and dominance affects their perceived legitimacy by audiences who trust in their hegemonic authority. This analysis aims to provide clarity on the methods and techniques used to perpetuate ideology, as well as identify underlying ideologies persisting in TV situational comedies today.