Lexicalization, leadership, and identity: Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamads' discourse analysis

Abstract

Language plays a potent role in a social process. But social analyst, including linguist always ignore the linguistic potential in explaining the process. Thus, this paper discusses how language functions in a leadership as one of the social processes, and simultaneously is also a study of how a prominent leader uses language in his leadership process. This is because the calculated design of leadership language is a salient factor for success in leadership struggle. For that purpose, the language - in terms of discourse - of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is chosen for the analysis. However, the linguistic aspect chosen here is lexicalization, while the Prime Minister's leadership discourse is his New Year messages. Lexicalization is about a process of wording the world differently. In this paper, lexicalization analysis intends to see the relationship of 'word to meanings' as 'many-to-one'. But the analysis of lexicalization in this sense is focused on the aspect of 'wording' only, which involves the uses of alternative words. From the analysis, it is found that in the leadership discourse of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, meanings are typically 'worded' in various ways and repeatedly. These linguistic features also imply the leader's identity.