Critical Discourse Analysis of Dominance of mother-in-law over
daughter-in-law by applying Van Dijk’s Socio-Cognitive Approach
Teun Van Dijk is a key figure and an
influential theorist in the field of
critical discourse analysis. Van Dijk describes that how hegemony, power and
dominance interrelate to text and discourse structure and in response how
social cognition relates to the macro level and micro level or superstructure
of a text. Society, cognition and text are parasites, deepened and grows out by
lending and borrowing certain attributes to each other. Language and
communication tools are the very modes through which power is enacted in a
weaker group of a society. The ultimate function of critical discourse analysis
is to reveal and unleash the hidden agenda in a discourse and hence it reflects
the sufferings, prejudices, inequalities, injustices etc. between dominant and
dominated individuals, groups or classes. According to Van Dijk, society is
shaped by discourse and discourse is also shaped by society. Language is the
major source of creating identity and ideology.
The ongoing analysis is on a blog which published in a Pakistani
Newspaper ‘The Express Tribune’ by a young writer Syed Zain Raza. Van Dijk’s
framework is applied to critical discourse analysis of this blog in which voice
is given to one member of the society and the voice of other is denied.
The blog is a one of the genres
of social media in which social issues of interest of the blogger are discussed
and viewers comment on such issues. This blog is up-loaded in above-mentioned
newspaper on 24 April 2014 which so far has 37 viewers, who commented on this
blog. Soon after, the title of the blog, a picture is given of a ‘Saas’
(mother-in-law) and her ‘Bahu” (daughter-in-law) with some remarks on their
part followed by a long discourse of the blogger. This study aims to make
critical discourse analysis at macro and micro level by applying social-cognitive
approach by Van Dijk. At the macro level, social cognition, the overall
structure of the blog, title, the central theme and message which the blogger
wants to convey will be discussed. Sentence structure: semantic, syntactic,
lexical choice, etc. will be analyzed and discussed at micro level.
Semantic Macro-Structure
The central theme and message of this blog is that Pakistani
Mother-in-law is an oppressor and dominator whereas the ‘Bahu’ is an oppressed
and being dominated. This is a stereotype, controversial and ironically
debated domestic issue, not only among
the ladies, but men also listen with an eager ear of a few burning news from
these eternal opponents. The blogger tries to persuade his readers to accept
his opinion by showing mother-in-law as a tyrant, oppressive and aggressive
being and her daughter-in-law a weak and oppressed creature. He attempts to
present the ‘Saas’ as the sole dictator authority and ‘Bahu’ as the sole
subject and the victim of a domestic household. The title of this blog is quite
ironical and reflects the mock-epic approach of the blogger of combining
universal concept of one God with that of only one ‘Ammi Jaan’. ‘Ammi Jaan’ has
been shown in the blog three times bigger in magnitude as compared to
daughter-in-law. Three sentences; two interrogative and one exclamatory cum
imperative comprise eighteen words on the part of ‘Saas’ where as the ‘bahu’
utters a very short sentence of three words in a very submissive way and in a
feeble tone ‘ Ji Ammi Jaan’. This gives an impression how oppressive,
aggressive and tyrant the Ammi Jaan’ is and how innocent, gentle and weaker
creature the Bahu is. He takes advantage by highlighting his ideology that
inveterate image of mothers-in-law and their dominance over their daughters-in-law.
The topic of the blog “There is no god but Allah,
there’s no language but Urdu and there’s no ‘Jaan’ but ‘Ammi Jaan’!” indicates
that Urdu language and ‘Ammi Jaan’ i.e. mothers-in-law are unchallenged supreme
authorities in their own domains like that of no but One God. This analogy on
the part of the blogger is not suitable for the justification of his discourse.
Semantic Micro-Structure
The blogger uses various language tools to create the identity of
mother-in-law as a dominator and cruel being and daughter-in-law as an innocent
victim of the injustices of ‘Saas’.
He employs implications, presuppositions, lexical choices and other
syntax structure devices to highlight the social and regional trends and
phenomena of power relationships between Saas and Bahu institution of Pakistani
society.
Generalization
Biased opinion of the blogger is
evident in the photograph; Mother-in-law is in Sari which is not the true
representation of Pakistani society. One can hardly see an aunty in ‘Sari’ in
Pakistani society except a few from the elite class. An elite class’ Bahu does
not work because maids and servants manage all household works and an elite
Bahu generally does not live with the parents of her husband, and especially a
mother-in-law tries to manage a separate villa for her Bahu in advance. But
blogger is reluctant to persuade readers to believe his biased discourse for
believing the Bahu’s poverty.
The elements of generalization
are in abundance and repetition of words and phrases for emphasis is frequently
used by the blogger. In the very first line the blogger creates hype by
involving all aunties for being cruel and he does not support his notions by
arguments.
P.23 ‘the wish-list doesn’t end there’
The blogger generalizes the
requirement list, not a limited one, but a chain of unfinishing desires on the
part of mother-in-law. He generalizes this for every mother-in-law which might
not be the case everywhere.
P. 42 ‘always give the chicken leg piece to Ammi Jaan’
Again, it is generalization on the
part of writer who thinks that mother-in-law in her old age wishes for leg
piece.
Us and Them
The blogger creates the binary of
us and them. He develops his narrative with the binary opposition of
mother-in-law/daughter-in-law, oppressor/oppressed, dominator/dominated,
powerful/weak; master/maid etc.
P. 45 ‘how big a miser his mother’
The blogger gives mother-in-law
the identity of tight-fisted and therefore creates an implied binary opposition
that if the mother is a miser then Bahu definitely is generous. Dividing up a
social class enables him to speak for the downtrodden daughter-in-law.
Lexical Choices
He uses ‘agonizingly funny’ to
highlight the self created trait and persuades readers to believe that the
traits of aunties are not only funnies but these traits are agonizing. He uses
an adverb agonizingly for further humiliating character trait of mother-in-law.
‘Dreaded Saas’ is another lexical
choice to celebrate the discrimination of Saas and Bahu institution.
Victimization of a Saas is giving her criminal and cruel identity.
P. 15 ‘potential mothers-in-law’
Just saying mother-in-law is not sufficient
to convey his meaning, but more powerful and dominant characteristic potential
mother-in-law is necessary for further justification that proves her dictator.
P.41 restroom
Every sentence strengthens the
innocence and subjugation of a daughter-in-law and the dominance of
mother-in-law. The blogger deteriorates Bahu to a maid servant and uses
‘restroom’ for a member of family ‘wife’ and without providing any evidence
blogger proclaims that mother-in-law as an oppressor. ‘Bahu’ has to rest not in
her own room, but in a restroom.
Presuppositions
P.8 physical appearance
The blogger tries to catch the
attention of readers, especially of youth, he rephrases his point of view to
impress readers to believe his discourse because his discourse vehemently lacking
evidence for justification and conveying the voice of daughter-in-law.
P.11 make or break
Every lexical choice is giving
voice to Bahu and mother-in-law is smashed into oblivion. A trivial incident of
tea is the cause of making or breaking a Rishta.
P.21 must produce baby
Another presupposition about the
mother-in-law is the charge that she wants a baby (not girl but a boy) after
nine months. This is another presupposition without giving ample proof.
P.23 conditioned to love only
gora kid
Further charges which the blogger
presupposes is that Dadi only require a gora kid from Bahu even if her own son
may be dark, fat or short.
P.27 ‘in-law pleaser’ or rather a
‘mum-in-law pleaser’
Another presupposition of the
blogger is that ‘Bahu’ has to work hard to win the pleasure, not of husband or
any other member of in-law’s but a singular power hub and authority
mother-in-law.
Implications
P.5 whatever the case
This implication that in any case
blogger will be able to deduce the meanings of subjugation of Bahu. His mission
is only to suppress the voice of mother-in-law and give voice to
daughter-in-law.
P. 8 long hair
Another example of implication of
giving voice and taking the side of daughter-in-law is that only long hair
girls are good otherwise they would not get the approval of higher authority.
P. 40 Friends? What friends?
Blogger waters his propaganda by
questioning about the social relation of a daughter-in-law that after getting
married Bahu cannot even think about her friends.
Negative connotation
P. 9 ‘laden with makeup’
Mother-in-law’s role is being
ridiculed as an artificial analyzer and lacking dignity by applying negative
connotation that for her a daughter must be ‘snow white’ and if she has not inherent whiteness, then
‘laden with makeup’ is the only choice for the acceptance of Rishta by
mother-in-law. Mother-in-law is being blamed for multi attacks by blogger.
P. 11 She shouldn’t argue, discuss politics, religion or Veena
Malik with her mother-in-law
In this sentence blogger
highlights only one sided view and suppresses the voice of mother-in-law, only
Bahu’s point of view is given in which role of Saas is reflecting utter
polarization. Mothers-in-law generally like the inclination of their Bahu’s
towards religion, but the blogger insists upon conveying his biased opinion in
one or other way.
P. 38 Chief Financial Officer
This is the other negative
approach which further pushes mother-in-law to be an executive of a household.
Blogger is producing the commissioned post to an old mother-in-law to prove her
dictator by hook or by crook.
Emotional language
P.34 showered his mother with
expensive presents
Blogger further resists giving
voice to ‘Ammi Jaan’ and tries to prove her the sole receiver of not only
presents but he emphasizes to give her expensive and precious gifts. But it is
not justified in this discourse that the daughter-in-law of post modern world
only content on cheap cotton clothes.
p. 23 washed in milk
Sparkling words helps the blogger
to make a minor domestic and conventional event a burning topic. He embarks for
white or fair complexion, the word ‘washed in milk’ for highlighting the
oppression of Bahu and authority of mothers-in-law.
P.46 the golden of
golden rules
Another word play helps him to make the voice of Bahu
prominent and put mother-in-law in oblivion. This is another generalization
without proofs like other claims to get fascinate readers of cunning word play.
P.9 ‘god forbid’
By using emotional phrases in his
discourse the blogger highlights the oppressive attitude of mother-in-law
towards Bahu but he applies language in a superficial manner. He uses every
weapon to give voice to daughter-in-law and rejects the opponent’s view.
P.53 Viola
Blogger at the end of his blog
makes winning remarks. The emotional word choice helps him to get the
admiration of readers (girls) that after these universal tips they will be able
get the admiration and kind attention of their dear mother-in-law.
Repetition of words is used to
emphasize the adversity of a daughter-in-law and to prove mother-in-law an
absolute potentate. He writes ‘Ammi Jaan’ 27 times, ‘must’ 23 times, ‘should’
22 times and ‘I’ 12 times to justify that mother-in-law is the tyrant chief executive of
the whole house.
Conclusion
The discourse includes general
views and commonly discussed area with less emphasis on the academic
requirement of a discourse. It advocates daughter-in-law against her
mother-in-law. This biased projection of discourse may superficially win the
admiration of the readers and may be able to convey his point of view, but this
discourse provides inefficient evidences, references and social examples to
build up his case. Throughout the blog he tries to persuade the readers to believe him by the repeated
emphasis on ‘I’, ‘Ammi Jaan’ ‘must’ etc. to win the belief of readers without giving an ample
amount of evidence. Finally, he seems to get the attention of young readers to
think about mothers-in-law as an oppressor, dominator and dictator, whereas
daughters-in-law remain oppressed, dominated and weak until and unless they
became themselves mothers-in-law.
Works cited
Raza, Syed Zain.“There’s no god but Allah, there’s no language but Urdu and there’s no ‘jaan’ but ‘Ammi Jaan’!”. The express tribune. 25 Apr, 2014.web. 26 Apr, 2014.
Text of the Blog ( in which lines and paragraphs are enumerated for the
convenience of learned scholars)
1. There is no god but Allah, there’s no language but
Urdu and there’s no ‘jaan’ but ‘Ammi Jaan’!”
2.
3.
Sometimes I think these aunties
forget that they have daughters too and that they themselves were once on the
other side of the scrutiny bench.
4.
Sometimes
when I hear the aunties around me discussing their daughters-in-law, potential
daughters-in-law or girls whom they have shortlisted for their sons, I don’t
know whether to laugh or cry.
5.
Listening to them, I sometimes think
that these aunties have forgotten that they have daughters too and that they
themselves were once on the other side of the scrutiny bench.
Or perhaps, this is their retribution. Whatever the case may be, I find some of
the character traits of the larke ki ammi (boy’s mother) in
Pakistan to be agonisingly funny.
6.
If you’re a boy, please read this
blog with an open mind; if you’re a girl, please understand that I
wholeheartedly sympathise with you; and if you’re the dreaded (or
soon-to-be) saas (mother-in-law), please try to refrain from
such behaviour:
7.
Larki gori
honi chahiye
8.
Physical appearances are very
important in Pakistan. No, let me rephrase that, the physical appearance of a
girl is very important in Pakistan. Mothers of boys want gori (fair
complexioned) wives for their sons. The girl should (read ‘must’) have long
hair; only bad girls have short hair. You know… girls who do Astaghfirullah things.
She should have big doe eyes, a nice, small nose and dainty feet… did you
really think that they would miss your feet in that head-to-toe scrutiny?
9.
And God forbid, if the girl is
not gora (fair-complexioned), she should be laden with makeup
since she will be rejected in spite of all other positive attributes if she is
not ‘snow white’.
10.
Chai connoisseur
11.
She should know how to make
good chai. And by good, I mean that perfectly brewed, aromatic,
piping hot cup of tea that you see in tea ads. I don’t know if those ads are
inspired from the reality of the bahu walking in the room with
a tray laden with perfect chai cups or whether it’s those ads
that raise the chai expectations of mothers-in-law. But take
my advice and practice your tea-making skills if you’re in the rishta race.
Believe me, this particular skill can make or break the deal!
12.
Prim and
proper
13.
She shouldn’t argue, discuss
politics, religion or Veena Malik with her mother-in-law. She should always
keep her head down and act obedient; only bad girls argue, you know the badtameez
girls. She should call her mother-in-law Ammi Jaan and she
must never ever hug her husband in front of Ammi Jaan since
only besharam girls do that.
14.
She must always address her husband
as ‘Chunnoo ke abba’ or ‘Suniye ji’; only ‘bad’
girls take their husbands’ names.
15.
She should carry her dupatta decently.
I don’t know what ‘decently’ means but trust me, you don’t want to ask your
potential mother-in-law that question. And if you think this is bad, let me
tell you about the ‘permissible colours’.
16.
Yes… some mothers-in-law even
have a restriction on the colours that their husband’s wives can and cannot
wear. Once I heard an aunty say,
17.
“Why is she wearing black? Is she
sad? Is she in mourning?”
18.
And if you think they have a problem
with dark, gloomy (as they like to think of them) colours only, you are wrong.
I once met a mother-in-law who didn’t like orange and wouldn’t let her
daughter-in-law wear any orange clothes!
19.
To this day, I wonder what the poor
colour did to that lady.
20.
Baby
producing machine
21.
The girl must produce a baby within
nine months of getting married and it should be a boy. Who cares that it is her
mother-in-law’s son who has the necessary chromosomes to determine the gender
of the baby?
22.
After all, she gave birth to a boy
(her son) didn’t she? So if she could do it, what excuse does this girl have?
She must not argue when Ammi Jaan prays for her to be blessed with a boy and she must never ever wish for or pray for a
daughter.
23.
And the wish-list doesn’t end there.
The baby must be cute, fat and gora. A less than ‘pink and
white’ baby is a big ‘No, No’, and be warned, if she produces a dark-skinned
boy he will be deprived of Dadi Jaan’s love. Dadi Jaans are
conditioned to love only gora kids; it doesn’t matter that her
own son is dark, fat and short. Her grandson must look like he’s been washed in
milk.
24.
Who knows, maybe it’s her own
deficiency in producing a cute, fair child that has led to this mind set. Poor
woman!
25.
The girl should produce another baby
(read ‘son’) next year, otherwise she will not be considered fertile enough.
26.
In-law
pleaser
27.
Once the girl reaches marriageable
age, she must begin her training as an ‘in-law pleaser’ or rather a ‘mum-in-law
pleaser’ because let’s face it, the father-in-law is quite insignificant and
can be easily ignored. He doesn’t need to be fed; he can survive on left-overs.
He is fine with thandi chai and daal chawal.
28.
On the other hand, the girl must
praise Ammi Jaan all the time and she should be very nice to
her sister-in-law and her family. The sister-in-law’s approval is a must for
everything and she can only buy new fry pans and electronics with her consent
and approval, so she must always be in her sister-in-law’s good books.
29.
She must get up early in the morning
and serve Ammi Jaan chai and paratha. Whenever she shops, she should first buy clothes for
her Ammi Jaan. Ideally, she should buy inexpensive lawn clothes for
herself and the branded variety for Ammi Jaan and her
sisters-in-law.
30.
Did you just say,
31.
“What about her own family?”
32.
Well, what about them?
33.
She might as well forget them since
her heart and home is her in-laws’ now. She must never invite her parents,
relatives, cousins or friends over… ever.
34.
She should never ever expect a gift
from her husband when Ammi Jaan is around or at least not one
unless he has showered his mother with expensive presents first. Once he’s done
so, she might get a measly lawn suit from him.
35.
Might.
36.
Ammi Jaan loves surprises so her birthdays should be a grand
affair and everyone should be invited, even if it’s her 78th birthday.
37.
Money
matters
38.
She shouldn’t ask her husband for
money since Ammi Jaan is the chief financial officer (CFO) in
the house. Her husband is only the bread earner; it is the mother-in-law who
manages the finances. And any money she does take from Ammi Jaan is
only a loan which needs to be returned. Also, all her jewellery should be deposited with Ammi Jaan on the wedding night
which she can borrow later; only badtameez girls keep their
jewellery with themselves; ‘good girls’ hand it all over to Ammi Jaan.
39.
Social
life
40.
Friends? What friends?
41.
She must never talk to her friends
on the phone since her old mother-in-law deserves her undivided attention and
time. Socialising will distract her from her responsibilities to Ammi
Jaan and she must ensure that her mother-in-law is fed properly thrice
a day, no excuses allowed. She must always ask Ammi Jaan before
she disappears from her sight even if it’s just to go to the restroom!
42.
When serving food, she should always
give the chicken leg piece to Ammi Jaan. She must ensure that there
are sufficient leg pieces since Ammi Jaan shouldn’t be given
any other piece of meat… that’s just disrespectful!
43.
When going out (which will always be
with the mother-in-law), she must always sit in the back seat of the car
because Ammi Jaan will always sit in front with her beloved
son. If eating out, she must fend for herself because her husband will be too
busy feeding bun kebabs and patties to Ammi Jaan.
44.
Marital
bliss and lies
45.
If she wants her marriage to
survive, the girl must learn the art of lying… and lying well. She must confess
her love for his family at least twice a day. She cannot tell her husband how
big a miser his mother is. She can’t complain that his dear Ammi Jaan makes
her work like a donkey (what else did she expect when she was getting married).
She must not poke her nose when he and Ammi Jaan are sitting
together; in any case she will either be slogging in the kitchen or putting the
children to bed, so she won’t have time.
46.
And the golden of golden rules –
when her mother-in-law eyes her brand new bedspread, she should happily hand it
over and replace it with Ammi Jaan’s old one.
48.
“Ammi Jaan is my
everything. She is my friend, my mother, my father.”
49.
And possibly even her husband since
she’ll interact with Ammi Jaan a lot more than her husband.
50.
Always remember, you will only stay
happy if you keep Ammi Jaan happy!
51.
Now repeat after me,
52.
“There’s no god but Allah, there’s
no language but Urdu and there’s no ‘jaan’ but ‘Ammi Jaan’!”
53.
And voilà! Now you will live happily
ever after, congratulations.
54. Syed Zain Raza
55.
A financial analyst by profession,
who is passionate about his coffee and loves traveling and reading, Zain is a
self proclaimed globe trotter who is posted by his company in China these days
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