INVESTIGATING THE HISTORICAL AND SOCIOPOLITICAL LETHAL EFFECT OF LANGUAGE: A SEMANTIC STUDY OF THE CAUSALITY BETWEEN THE HUTU- TUTSI OTHERNESS DISCOURSE AND THE GENOCIDE OUTBREAK IN RWANDA

Cocou André Datondji

Abstract


This paper is a semantic investigation of the cause-effect relationship between the Hutu-Tutsi otherness discourse and the outbreak of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The semantic analysis carried out is based on extracts from various sources such as investigative documents, court reports and media publications, and broadcastings related to the genocide. Using the qualitative method, the study came to the conclusion that the long-run manipulative use of language resulted in semantic shifts with changes from denotative to connotative meanings that played a large part in the genocide.

Ce travail de recherche est une étude sémantique de la relation de cause à effet entre le discours d’altérité entre Hutu et Tutsi et l’éclatement du génocide rwandais en 1994. L’analyse sémantique effectuée est basée sur divers extraits tirés de sources telles que des documents d’investigation, des rapports de tribunaux, des publications et émissions radiodiffusées liées au génocide. A l’aide de la méthode qualitative, l’étude conclut que l’utilisation manipulative à long terme du langage a provoqué des glissements sémantiques et des changements des sens dénotatifs vers des sens connotatifs qui ont joué un rôle important dans le génocide.

 

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Keywords


public speech, otherness, semantic shift, speech act, identity construction / discours public, altérité, glissement sémantique, acte du langage, construction identitaire

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejlll.v6i3.409

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