Linguistic Resistance against the Carceral Order: A Critical Discourse Analysis of 'No Friend but the Mountains"

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 English language instructor، Department of languages and literature ، Farhangian university, Kurdistan، Iran.

2 M.A. in General Linguistics, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the discursive acts of resistance in Behrouz Boochani’s No Friend But the Mountains (2018), demonstrating how language can challenge disciplinary institutions of power and serve as a tool for reclaiming agency. The theoretical framework of the study is grounded in Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis across three levels—textual, discursive practice, and social practice—integrated with the dynamic multilingualism approach.

The research adopts a qualitative methodology within an interpretive-critical discourse analysis framework. The unit of analysis consists of “paragraphs containing resistance-oriented events,” representing instances of linguistic struggle between the institutional authority and the incarcerated subject. The dataset comprises 45 paragraphs, selected purposively from the English version of the book and analyzed systematically.

Findings indicate that the author employs discursive strategies of resistance both as acts of reclaiming agency and as challenges to the surrounding institutional order. Such acts, while consciously asserting individual identity, also pave the way for the manifestation of collective and transnational identity. No Friend But the Mountains thus represents not only a literary work but also a paradigm of resistance-oriented linguistic activism in prison literature, wherein language functions not merely as a medium for representing experience but as an active, generative, and agentive force.

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References

 
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Journal of Sociolinguistics
Volume 9, Issue 1 - Serial Number 33
February 2026
Pages 65-84

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