Content Details | NUML Online Research Repository

Title CORPORATE IDEOLOGIES: A LINGUISTIC AND SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF MANIFESTOS AND LOGOS OF CELLULAR NETWORKS IN PAKISTAN

Author(s) IFFAT SARDAR

Abstract This study aims to explore ideologies in written and visual corporate discourses of cellular corporations operating in Pakistan. These companies include Mobilink, Telenor, Ufone, Warid and Zong. It is a qualitative research that employs thematic content analysis of written discourse and semiotic analysis of visual discourse. Manifestos (vision, mission statement and values) and extracts of CSR(Corporate Social Responsibility) reports on social developments have been analyzed using FDM (Foundational Document Model) approach proposed by Holland (2014). Logos have been studied using semiotic framework of Penn (2000). FDM is a semantic grammatical model that identifies ideologies using its six distinct categories which are roles, folklores, utopias, ethics, motivations and strategies. It involves intertextual analysis and categorizes text into these distinct social strands. In first round coding, selected four categories namely strategies, utopias, ethics and roles have been identified in text. In second round coding, categories are tabulated into subcategories to observe dominant themes. Narrative fidelity has been explored by comparing ideologies in manifestos with those in CSR texts to check if CSR texts are truthful to ideologies presented in manifestos. Penn‟s (2000) denotational and connotational inventories as well as Goethe‟s (1982) theory of colors are used for semiotic analysis of logos. The online software Fount is used to determine the typeface and font of texts in logos. The ideologies in logos have been uncovered using cultural knowledge. To study flow of ideologies, the ideologies embedded in logs and manifestos have been compared. The results of analysis show that four ideological strands of FDM have been identified in both manifestos and CSR texts. Visual and linguistic elements of logos convey embedded ideologies. Narrative fidelity is evident in strategies, ethics and roles of all corporations except Warid where narrative fidelity is absent in strategies of CSR text. Utopian ideas in CSR texts display no faithfulness to manifestos. The ideologies in logos are thematically similar to dominant ideologies in manifestos. Recommendations for future are given at the end.

Type Thesis/Dissertation MS

Faculty Languages

Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2018-12-28

Subject

Publisher

Contributor(s)

Format

Identifier

Source

Relation

Coverage

Rights