Ideological discourse markers in John McGrath's the Cheviot, the Stag and the black, black oil

Abstract

John McGrath depicts social inequalities and power relations in Scotland in his The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil. This study aims to show how ideologies of bourgeois and labour classes, inequalities and power relations between have been depicted in the play and uses Critical discourse analysis, an approach which attempts to show social disparities and power relations in society. The play has been analysed in terms of word choices, speech acts and conversational implicatures. Word choices show how two opposing classes view and evaluate the events, speech acts show social status of characters and power relations between them and conversational implicatures serve as linguistic tools to reveal real aims and intentions of characters. The analysis of the play indicates that John McGrath made use of discourse markers to provoke the oppressed labour class to fight against the capitalists and unify under the roof of socialism.Keywords: John McGrath, Critical Discourse Analysis, Word Choices, Speech Act, Conversational Implicatures