Fighting words

The purpose of this research is to investigate how, through the blending of orders of discourse, words can become actions and militarizing language can lead a nation to the brink of war. By exerting political power while broadcasting his weekly program, Aló, Presidente, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez not only creates a hybrid discourse, but also integrates the processes of entextualization and contextualization in that hybrid. Using a critical discourse analysis, a pragmatic model of multilayered context unveils elements in those processes whereby the talk and interaction render an external reality. Ultimately, it is the careful and systematic choice and inclusion of synchronic and diachronic elements that will resonate with the target audience, even when introduced over a relatively short period of time, which ostensibly manages to create a plausible enemy in order to support military aggression. Thus, manipulation of language begets manipulation of ideology