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Title DOXASTIC FAULTLINES IN A LINGUISTICALLY FRACTURED SOCIETY? A GROUNDED THEORY STUDY

Author(s) Ms. Shehr Bano Zaidi

Abstract ABSTRACT Title: Doxastic Faultlines in a Linguistically Fractured Society: A Grounded Theory Study This dissertation theorizes the doxastic relationship between English and Urdu in Pakistan within the parameters of sociolinguistics. The study draws data from 300 opinion articles as published in Pakistan’s four English and four Urdu leading newspapers. The time period is 51 months and 09 days. An effort is made to generate a theory adapting Charmaz’s (2006) constructivist grounded theory approach to reconfigure the relationship between the two languages as conceptualized in the selected data instead of relying on extant theories. Adaptation is done in two ways to fit the sociolinguistic status of the study- innovative use of in vivo codes to construct intertextual doxai based on five main discourses (America, Pakistan Army, corruption, education and women) identified in the selected data, and by adding a new stage of conceptualization. A doxa is conceived as the opinion of the majority and/or the public intellectual who are fashioned after the tradition of Edward Said (1994). Consistent with the grounded theory logic the study does not start with any preconceived categories. The study is divided into main parts on the basis of two types of inferencing: inductive and abductive. Three stages of conceptualization mark the stage of induction and end on an intertextual category/doxa which stands for the doxastic value of the entire data: “An army without any political ambitions would be more acceptable than its present and past role”. In the abductive stage, the same is conceptualized into a conceptual model labeled as “D/doxa”. The small “d” doxa refers to the sumtotal of all opinions present whose meaning-making potential is dependent on an over-arching Doxa, the discourse on Pakistan Army in my case. Using D/doxa as a discursive entity, data are further conceptualized to generate an understanding of the relationship between Urdu and English. The theoretical rendering is named as the ENGURD theory (a portmanteau of English and Urdu). The theory proposes that in the realm of 300 opinion articles English and Urdu make one discourse. The doxastic differences present do not represent any linguistic/discursive fracturing between Urdu and English.

Type Thesis/Dissertation PhD

Faculty Languages

Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2020-06-15

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