WAR DURING RECONCILIATION? A STUDY OF PRESIDENTIAL SPEECHES ON THE SRI LANKAN ETHNIC CONFLICT BRIDGING WAR AND RECONCILIATION A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Linguistics By Esther Priyanthini Surenthiraraj, B.A. Washington, DC April 16, 2013 Copyright 2013 by Esther Priyanthini Surenthiraraj All Rights Reserved ii WAR DURING RECONCILIATION? A STUDY OF PRESIDENTIAL SPEECHES ON THE SRI LANKAN ETHNIC CONFLICT BRIDGING WAR AND RECONCILIATION Esther Priyanthini Surenthiraraj, B.A. Thesis Advisor: Heidi E. Hamilton , Ph.D. ABSTRACT This paper examines the discourse produced by Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, in six presidential speeches delivered across five years from 2008 to 2012. It draws on political discourse analysis (van Dijk, 1997), positioning theory (van Langenhove & Harré, 1999), and schema (van Dijk, 1998) to form a cross-disciplinary approach and traces President Rajapaksa’s portrayal of the ethnic conflict in speeches delivered during the latter stages of the war to post- war speeches. Throughout this paper, the importance of detailed linguistic analysis is highlighted, stressing its role in anchoring day-to-day language use to larger ideologies in the world. In order to trace patterns across the President’s discourse, this paper analyzes the positions he adopts a) towards the main parties involved in the conflict and b) through storylines issued to explain the conflict. Understanding the storylines issued as also indexing schema that the President draws on to perceive and discursively produce the ethnic conflict in a particular way, this paper also inquires whether there is a shift in positioning as the speeches progress from a war time context into a post-war setting which would reveal the President’s transition from ‘war schema’ to ‘reconciliation schema’. The study finds that the President’s positioning of the five main actors in his conflict narrative, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Tamil people, the Sri Lankan armed forces, the government, and the international community, remain the same across war time and post-war speeches. The discursive construction of narrative describes a storyline, and the President issues three main storylines to support his positioning of iii these actors. His ‘historical lens’ narrative that compares the ethnic conflict to invasions of the country by Indian kings and Western colonizers subsumes and enhances his three storylines, thereby becoming a metanarrative through which the positions ascribed to the main actors of the conflict are interpreted. The paper also argues that analysis of the President’s discourse does not reveal a shift from ‘war schema’ into ‘reconciliation schema’ following the end of the war, and instead draws on existing discriminatory beliefs that uphold majority ethnic group ideologies. iv The research and writing of this thesis is dedicated to Diyan, my family, Suhithi Pieris, Brett Goodman, Dr. Hamilton, Dr. Trester, and my friends who have supported and encouraged me throughout this process. Many thanks, ESTHER P. SURENTHIRARAJ v TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: Theoretical framework .................................................................................................. 7 2.1. Discourse analysis of political discourse ......................................................................... 7 2.2. Positioning theory and linguistic cues .............................................................................. 9 2.3. Political discourse analysis and schema ......................................................................... 15 2.4. Creating schema for reconciliation discourse ................................................................ 18 Chapter 3: Background to the study and methods ........................................................................ 23 3.1. Background to the study ................................................................................................. 23 3.2. Methodology .................................................................................................................. 27 3.2.1. Data ......................................................................................................................... 27 3.2.2. Methods of analysis ................................................................................................ 28 Chapter 4: Positioning during the latter stages of the war ............................................................ 31 4.1. Positions adopted by speaker towards other social actors during the latter stages of the war ........................................................................................................................................ 31 4.1.1. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ...................................................... 31 4.1.2. The Tamil people .................................................................................................... 37 4.1.3. The Sri Lankan armed forces .................................................................................. 41 4.1.4. The government ...................................................................................................... 43 4.1.5. The international community .................................................................................. 47 4.2. Storylines used to position social actors during the latter stages of the war .................. 50 Chapter 5: Announcing the end of the war: the ‘historical lens’ storyline ................................... 53 5.1. Positioning social actors immediately following the end of the war ............................. 57 5.1.1. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ................................................................... 58 5.1.2. The Tamil people .................................................................................................... 59 5.1.3. The Sri Lankan armed forces .................................................................................. 61 5.1.4. The government ...................................................................................................... 62 5.1.5. The international community .................................................................................. 63 5.2. Storylines used to position social actors immediately following the end of the war ..... 64 5.3. Imagery and metaphor .................................................................................................... 65 vi 5.4. The local solution: is it inclusive? .................................................................................. 67 Chapter 6: Post-war discourse ...................................................................................................... 71 6.1. Positions adopted: is there any change in positioning social actors? ............................. 71 6.1.1. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ................................................................... 71 6.1.2. The Tamil people .................................................................................................... 72 6.1.3. The Sri Lankan armed forces .................................................................................. 74 6.1.4. The government ...................................................................................................... 74 6.1.5. The international community .................................................................................. 78 6.2. Is there any change in the storylines issued?.................................................................. 80 6.3. Self-positioning: Claiming ownership of a royal identity .............................................. 81 6.4. Reconciliation discourses: are there any in post-conflict speeches? .............................. 87 6.4.1. Inclusive discourse .................................................................................................. 87 6.4.2. Discourse dealing with reconciliation efforts ......................................................... 91 6.4.3. A discussion of the schemata that inform the President’s perspectives .................. 94 Chapter 7: Conclusion................................................................................................................... 98 7.1. Overview ........................................................................................................................ 98 7.2. Key findings ................................................................................................................... 98 7.3. Limitations ................................................................................................................... 100 7.4. Implications .................................................................................................................. 101 Appendix A ................................................................................................................................. 103 Appendix B ................................................................................................................................. 107 Appendix C ................................................................................................................................. 114 Bibliography ..............................................................................................................................