An Original Methodological Framework for Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Nigerian Political Communication

Multimodal discourse analysis, which examines how meaning is constructed through the simultaneous use of language, image, sound, and space, offers powerful tools for understanding contemporary Nigerian political communication across visual, digital, and performative registers that are underutilised in Nigerian communication research due to the absence of a context-adapted methodological framework. This study developed an original methodological framework for multimodal discourse analysis of Nigerian political communication. The methodological framework development employed a three-stage approach. Stage one critically reviewed existing multimodal discourse analysis methodologies, including Kress and van Leeuwen's social semiotic approach, Gunther Kress's multimodal communication theory, and critical multimodal discourse analysis, identifying their conceptual resources and contextual limitations for Nigerian application. Stage two conducted pilot multimodal analysis of 60 Nigerian political communication artefacts (campaign posters, political television advertisements, viral political social media posts, and political rally audiovisual recordings) using an iterative coding process that identified culturally specific semiotic resources absent from existing frameworks. Stage three produced the validated Nigerian Political Multimodal Discourse Analysis (NP-MDA) Framework, incorporating genre-specific analytical tools for each communication mode, culturally contextualised semiotic resource inventories for Yoruba, Hausa, and Igbo political communication aesthetics, and an ethical analysis dimension for evaluating the democratic quality of multimodal political messages. The framework was piloted by 12 doctoral researchers across three Nigerian universities, confirming its methodological operationalisability. The NP-MDA Framework constitutes an original methodological contribution to both multimodal discourse analysis and Nigerian political communication research.

Keywords: multimodal discourse analysis, political communication, Nigerian politics, methodology, semiotic analysis