INVESTIGATING THE HISTORICAL AND SOCIOPOLITICAL LETHAL EFFECT OF LANGUAGE: A SEMANTIC STUDY OF THE CAUSALITY BETWEEN THE HUTU- TUTSI OTHERNESS DISCOURSE AND THE GENOCIDE OUTBREAK IN RWANDA

Abstract

This paper is a semantic investigation of the cause-effect relationship between the Hutu-Tutsi otherness discourse and the outbreak of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The semantic analysis carried out is based on extracts from various sources such as investigative documents, court reports and media publications, and broadcastings related to the genocide. Using the qualitative method, the study came to the conclusion that the long-run manipulative use of language resulted in semantic shifts with changes from denotative to connotative meanings that played a large part in the genocide.