Innovation in Language Learning
Partisan Narrative, Divided Society: A Critical Analysis of the US Political Language
Omar A. W. Atatfa, Wasit University (Iraq)
Abstract
Political discourse is not merely a means of expressing political positions but also a resource for constructing social identities, ideological boundaries, and perceptions of reality. This study investigates how Republican political actors construct representations of “Us” and “Them” and how these representations contribute to social division in the United States.
Drawing on van Dijk’s (2006) socio-cognitive approach, the study examines selected extracts from White House press briefings in 2025, focusing on contested issues including immigration, elections and democracy, abortion, and race and social justice. The analysis explores lexicalization, actor representation, ideological polarization, presupposition, attribution of responsibility, and positive self-presentation versus negative other-presentation.
The study argues that partisan discourse does not only reflect existing social divisions but can also reproduce them by constructing competing representations of political identity, national belonging, and “the American people.” It highlights the relevance of critical language awareness to understanding contemporary political discourse and its wider social
implications.
Keywords: Critical Discourse Analysis; partisan discourse; ideology; social division; political polarization; language and society.
REFERENCES
[1] van Dijk, T. A. (2006). Politics, ideology, and discourse. In K. Brown (Ed.),
Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics (2nd ed., pp. 728–740). Elsevier.
[2] van Dijk, T. A. (1998). Ideology: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Sage.
[3] McCarty, N., Poole, K. T., & Rosenthal, H. (2016). Polarized America: The
Dance of Ideology and Unequal Riches (2nd ed.). MIT Press.
