U.S. "Friendly Fire" Bombing of Canadian Troops: Analysis of the Investigative Reports

Abstract

This article compares two military investigative reports using the techniques of corpus linguistics and drawing on the interpretive framework provided by politeness theory and critical discourse analysis. The corpus data for the study comprise two bodies of texts investigating the Kandahar "friendly fire" incident of 17 April 2002: The U.S.-led Board of Inquiry Report and the Canadian Board of Inquiry Report. The analysis depended on interpreting the use and/or frequency of the following linguistic, pragmatic and rhetorical resources: salient terms of representation, agency, and stance markers. The main purpose was to identify the language resources by which a text expresses and negotiates attitudinal or ideological positions. The analysis reveals similar as well as different patterns in the use of many of these language resources which are motivated by the desire to enhance acceptability and insure the mutual protection of face.