Configuring Socio-economic Crises through Vehicular Discourse in Pakistan

A Socio-linguistic Outlook

Abstract

This research focuses on the discourse analysis of Vehicular discourse on Pakistani public transport vehicles. The data was collected from the roads, parking lots and market places in the twin cities, Rawalpindi and Islamabad. It was purposive data collection, reason being, only those texts were selected that highlighted the theme of socio-economic crises. Vehicular discourse in the twin cities was found to be written in three languages, English, Urdu and Punjabi and there was observance of code-switching. The sample size was twenty-five, but it was delimited to five samples. The data was then analyzed keeping into consideration Janks’ rubrics for linguistic analysis. The linguistic analysis revealed that the text employs the use of lexicalization, over lexicalization and lexical cohesion, and there is extensive use of metaphors, similies and personification. The data was then further analyzed to highlight the socio-economic problems a common man faces in day-to-day life. This research provided a deep insight into the life of public transport drivers in Pakistani society. The drivers, in this research, represent every layman in Pakistan.