Language In Political Discourse Research Articles

‘Where there is a will there is a way’: figurative language use and its pragmatic functions in political discourse

Abstract Although political discourse is essentially expected to be fact-based and objective, both practice and research show that literal language in political discourse is very often compounded with figurative language. The paper at hand tackles figurative language use in political interviews. For the purposes of this research, we conducted a critical discourse analysis of a corpus of political interviews given by a former Macedonian female politician – Radmila Shekerinska. The corpus consists of six interviews (with a total duration of about 3 h) in which she answers questions about the political climate and the challenges of North Macedonia in the last couple of decades. The selected interviews are all conducted in English as they are aimed at international audiences and they all fit into the time frame from 2017 to 2021, which practically overlaps with the final years of Shekerinska’s long-standing political career. This study uses a descriptive qualitative research design and focuses, first, on ascertaining the presence of different types of figures of speech in her answers (e.g. metaphors, simile, metonymy, synecdoche, personification, rhetorical questions, idiomatic expressions, proverbs, etc.); then, on identifying the pragmatic functions they perform in the context in which they are used, and finally, on establishing an interface between the figurative language use and the political ideology propagated by this politician. The results point to an extraordinarily resourceful use of a wide spectrum of figurative devices, skillfully intertwined with fact-based political discourse, primarily for addressing highly sensitive political issues, but also for driving important political points home; also, for gaining support from both the domestic and international community regarding the political ideology of this political figure as well as for enhancing the criticism addressed to political adversaries with an additional layer of creative flourish.

Source text ideological load modulates ideological shifts in interpreting right-wing and left-wing political discourse, but interpreters’ political orientation does not

As the public sphere is undergoing a process of ideological radicalization, simultaneous interpreting has been explored as a potential factor in shaping multilingual political debates. This paper investigates the notion of ideological shift between source texts and target texts in interpreting – the weakening or strengthening of ideologically loaded language in political discourse. Research paradigms from Interpreting Studies and Critical Discourse Studies are combined to conduct an experimental study in which political speeches controlled for their ideological orientation are interpreted by experienced interpreters working in the English – Polish language combination. Additionally, the participants’ political views are measured using the euandi 2019 questionnaire – a valid and reliable tool situating interpreters on the political spectrum. Initial assessment of linguistic strategies employed in target text renditions using tools of the Discourse-Historical Approach is followed by a quantitative analysis. The results indicate that highly ideologically loaded source texts, regardless of their ideological orientation, are shifted more often than those with a less salient ideological load. The political orientation of the interpreters themselves appears to have no significant effect on the presence of ideological shifts in target texts. These results contribute to the growing body of knowledge on interpreter agency and the pivotal role of the process of interpreting on discourse co-construction.

On the Pragmatic Functions of Vague Language in Political Discourse: A Study on Vague Language in Donald Trump’s Inaugural Address

This study employs discourse analysis to examine the pragmatic functions of vague language in Donald Trump’s Inaugural Address. By interpreting hedging, abstract concepts and generalizations in the address, the author explores how vague language is strategically utilized by political leaders to achieve his political purposes, such as establishing unity and inclusivity, alluding to past grievances, and promising change, eliciting emotional reactions, allowing flexibility, and calling attention to threats. The findings of this analysis enhance our comprehension of the inaugural address given by the former US president, while also providing valuable insights into the language strategies utilized by politicians in political discourses.

"The Power of Words: Some Notes on the Language of Political Discourse in an Exchange from a Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) Session"

The paper dwells on the language of a political dialogue between two members of the UK Parliament in the House of Commons during the weekly event called Prime Minister’s Questions, which took place on the 29th March 2023. At the time, standing in for the Prime Minister was the Conservative Deputy Prime Minster, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Dominic Raab; the other MP is Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Angela Rayner. The present analysis highlights textual and linguistic features of the discourse from several points of view: that of register, pragmatic and semantic, lexico-grammatical, rhetorical and stylistic. The verbal exchange is heated, with an intensely dramatic effect, with all the elements converging towards the conative function of communication, as the public is meant to be drawn to one side or the other of the political agenda.

Лингвокоммуникативные особенности политического дискурса и возможность его внедрения в процесс изучения иностранного языка

The article explains the role of a language in political discourse, analyses its influence on the formation of ideological attitudes, the formation of political messages and interaction with the audience. The main definitions of political discourse, its characteristics and the forms in which it is implemented are outlined. The linguistic and communicative features of political discourse are determined, and a way to use it in the process of teaching English is proposed. The author describes the possibilities of including political discourse in the process of studying a foreign language, suggests to structure lexical units using the context, which can help students not only develop language skills, but also increase "political literacy" through a conscious and critical perception of political discourse.

Donald J. Trump’s Protest Response: Rhetorical Language of His Speech at the “Save America” Rally

Language is deliberately utilized by politicians. Admittedly, it can perform a purposive function: to achieve the politicians’ goals crucially in attempt to gain people’s support. This study is interested in the current political context in the U.S. In the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Donald J. Trump lost in his second election. He, therefore, delivers his response of objection at the “Save America” rally in Washington, D.C. This study is targeted to explore a political speech from the defeated candidate perspective. Recently, rhetorical language in political discourse has been commonly analysed. However, this study contributes to an analysis of rhetorical strategy used in an informal, implicit, and pursuing to protest speech by Trump. This study is designed by a descriptive qualitative approach. The data is the speech text of Trump’s speech on 6th January 2021. Technique of data collection undertakes observation of the speech and the transcript, categorization, and coding. The grand theories include Teun van Dijk’s discourse theory (1980) and Reisigl political speech’s schemes (2008). The results indicate that repetition has become Trump’s most potent strategy in his protest speech. Seemingly, he prefers to utilize the devices that are beneficial for him to emphasize something good about Us and emphasize something bad about Them. This is crucial for him since from the defeated side, it can impress the Republicans to support his objection. Nonetheless, Trump’s capability to persuade the Republicans has caused an impulse, anarchic and illegal movement, which is contrary to their ideal vision to the country.

THE POWER OF LANGUAGE IN POLITICAL DISCOURSE: A CASE STUDY OF POLITICAL SPEECHES AND THEIR IMPACT ON PUBLIC PERCEPTION

THE POWER OF LANGUAGE IN POLITICAL DISCOURSE: A CASE STUDY OF POLITICAL SPEECHES AND THEIR IMPACT ON PUBLIC PERCEPTION

Древнекитайские прецедентные тексты в современном китайском политическом дискурсе (на материале поздравительных речей председателя КНР Си Цзиньпина)

Since its inception, modern Chinese political discourse has been heavily influenced by traditional cultural thought, Confucianism’s idea of a people-oriented and benevolent government; the Taoist idea of atheism and the Taoist law of nature; the legist idea of governance by law, etc. These concepts have a very profound influence on the language of political discourse in the new period. The political discourses of various periods and dynasties in antiquity had an equally important influence on the political language of the new period leader Xi Jinping. Ancient Chinese precedent texts are an important object of study in Chinese modern linguistics, because they are related to the system of Chinese civilization and reflect the specifics of the interaction of language, thought and traditional culture. The presence of ancient Chinese precedent texts characterizes Chinese traditional linguocultures, representing different perceptions of existing values and ways of perceiving the picture of the world. The presence of ancient Chinese precedent texts is a prerequisite for successful speech in Chinese political discourse. The semantic and contextual analysis of congratulatory speeches in the structure of Xi Jinping’s discourse shows the role of precedent texts from 礼记 (“Book of Rituals”), 周易 (“Zhou Yi”), 道德经 (“Dao De Jing”), which not only function as tools of persuasion and motivation for the recipients to rally, but also development of traditional Chinese culture.

‘Politics is Game’: An Analysis of Cricket Language Used as Metaphors in Imran Khan’s Political Speeches

The dexterous use of language is crucial to convey feelings, emotions, likes, dislikes, or to emphasize an idea. Politicians are known for exercising their power through discourse, which is mostly carried out through the tool of persuasion which is the central key of political discourse that attracts the audience. Persuasion can be carried out through the use of figurative language that is used for expressing complex ideas. The interesting use of figurative language in political discourse has become the center of attention due to the vast implications of political discourse. This study analyses the metaphorical use of cricket language in the domain of politics in the political speeches of Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan. The whole attention was gathered around the specific parts of the political speeches delivered by him. For analyzing the data, the researchers applied Lakoff and Johnson's (1980) work ‘Metaphor We Live By’ as the theoretical framework. The finding of the study showed that Imran Khan constantly uses cricket language in his political speeches for different purposes like positivity, negation, tribute/praising, patriotism, emphasizing rules, and boasting/power showing. The results show his preoccupation with idiosyncratic language choices as it seems he considers politics as a game of choosing words. He specifically uses cricket language when he addresses the public and wants to recall his past, criticizes someone, shows his love towards the motherland, emphasizes his fairness and impartiality. Along with this, he also uses cricket language for pursuing foreigners. The study is significant for students of language as well as politics as it uncovers mapping of various domains to express a phenomenon. Keywords: Cricket Language; Political Discourse; Metaphors; Political Speeches

The Renewal of Tradition in the Political Thought of Early Modern Japan: The Confucian Concept of Dao and the Question of the Origin of Social Order in Ogyū Sorai’s Theory

In Japan’s early modern period, Confucian philosophy was considered as a pattern of political discourse. Hence, many Japanese thinkers of the time were involved into solving political problems. The paper deals with the theory of social order developed by Ogyū Sorai (1666–1728), a major Confucian philosopher and the most progressive thinker of the time, who criticized modern schools for the practical incompetence of their ideas. Sorai’s theory unfolded around the idea of the Way of Early Kings, which he saw as a complex of principles that formed the foundation of social order. The Confucian concept of Dao is fundamental for this idea, the ethical interpretation of which was proposed by Sorai’s contemporaries, while Sorai considered the Way as a political category. The paper begins with a brief introduction to the role that Confucian thought played in the forming of the language of political discourse in Japan. Further, the author discusses Sorai’s ideas on the early kings and the Way created by them, as well as on social order, the role of the ruler, and human nature. The author pays special attention to Sorai’s theory of language that connects his lexicographic and political works. The fact is that since Sorai’s attention to the Way was grounded on his methodology, he believed that careful work with the language was the way to proper government and social order. The article concludes with an analysis of the way Sorai theorized the concept of Dao. On one hand, in his practical precepts, Sorai offered a pragmatic and politically-problematized interpretation of Dao. On the other hand, in his ideas on Heaven, gods, and spirits, Sorai offered a metaphysical perspective of Dao that is characterized with concerns for ontological and epistemological questions. As a result, in order to point out the significance of Sorai’s utilitarian and disenchanting world ideas since they were an important step in the history of Japanese philosophy that preceded modernity, the author attempts to describe Ogyū Sorai’s logic of social order based on both the pragmatical and metaphysical perspectives of his theory.

Language In Political Discourse: A Pragmatic Study Of Presupposition And Politeness In The Inaugural Speech Of President Donald Trump

Language In Political Discourse: A Pragmatic Study Of Presupposition And Politeness In The Inaugural Speech Of President Donald Trump

CREATION OF PAKISTAN

Creation of a country is not an ordinary situation. But creation of Pakistan is an exception in the world history. This is one of the most debated topics in the subcontinent's socioeconomic, literature, art and political realm. Scores of researchers have investigated this extraordinary historical development in a diversity of perspectives and paradigms. Variety of exogenous and endogenous factors and a range of variables that acted, reacted and interacted among each other are evaluated. Following are the few of the contradicting and contesting narratives that are often used to explain and conclude the division of British India. 1) WWII led to exceptional circumstances that drove British to divide subcontinent. 2) Hindus created Pakistan like Lala Lajpat Rai had proposed the partition in 1920s to keep Hindustan a peaceful land for Hindus. 3) The unscrupulous attitude of Hindu leadership and the atrocities of the Congress Ministries paved the way of partition. 4) Allama Iqbal’s dreams and Ch. Rehmat Ali’s “Now or Never” motivated the Muslims of the subcontinent to parting their ways. 5) Pakistan was a creation of the British mind. 6) Pakistan was the result of strenuous efforts of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. These different scholarships are neither absolute truths, nor an utter deception, but a language of political discourse. This paper will adopt a postmodernist approach to re-search and appraise the above stated hypothesis. This is a qualitative and descriptive research and secondary data is used to carry out this project. Subsequent questions are used in this paper : 1. To explore and investigate both the domestic and international circumstances that led to the creation of Pakistan. 2. To evaluate the role of leadership in dividing British India. 3. To investigate the ideological standings of different actors of the subcontinent Time period and variables: 1935 to 1947 is the time slot selected to evaluate the above stated questions. Based on these questions three variables, i) Events ii) Leadership and iii) Ideology are chosen to carry out this project; All these variables, events, leadership and ideology were intertwined and contributed in the creation of Pakistan. There was no one point formula that can be made responsible for the division of India. Different factors bestowed for this unique incident in the history. Of course the pressure of marginality and absorption played as a fear factor among the Muslims. But, it goes without saying that Hindus and Muslims were different from each other and the British styled political system fanned these differences and drifted them towards opposite directions. Their cultural, linguistic dissimilarities were stirred up. The same concepts emerged on the political horizon of British India with totally different meanings, like freedom, self-rule, representation, and justice. A long series of events happened both at the national and international level, cultivated a peculiar environment that was nurtured by the leaders of British India and further shaped by the ideology of the participants, eventually divided British India into two sovereign states India and Pakistan. Keywords: Pakistan, freedom, leadership, ideology, WW-ll, communalism, imperialism, colonization

Violence, hate speech and inflammatory broadcasting in Kenya: The problems of definition and identification

During and after the 2007/8 post-election violence in Kenya, media monitors, human rights groups, politicians and journalists accused sections of the Kenyan media - notably local vernacular radio stations - of broadcasting messages of hate and inciting ethnic hatred and violence. Some observers went so far as to suggest that certain radio stations had acted like the infamous Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) in Rwanda, during the 1994 genocide. This article looks at the context of the violence, the inflammatory and at times violent nature of political discourse in Kenya, the role in that discourse of vernacular radio stations, and the ways in which we identify and define hate broadcasting and propaganda. The behaviour of the stations is viewed in the context of Kenya's political environment, language of political discourse, and media structure and history.

Theology in Public Reason and Legal Discourse: A Case for the Preferential Option for the Poor

There is a strange disconnect between the formal understanding of the separation of religion from government in the United States and the almost ubiquitous use of religious language in political discourse, not to mention the web of complicated religious motivations that sit on or just below the surface of policy debates. This paper presents an argument for the relevance of the principle of the preferential option for the from Catholic social thought in public reason and legal discourse in order to explore the possible advantages of making the veil between religion and the secular state more permeable. As a case study, it proposes dialogue between Catholicism and complementary secular thought, including standpoint theory, outsider methodology, and law and economics to explore possibilities for more effectively ensuring justice for the poor and marginalized. (An earlier version of this article was presented at Law, Culture and the Humanities at Georgetown Law Center in 2007.)

The racialization of language in British political discourse

In the summer of 2001 there were violent disturbances on the streets of towns and cities in the north of England. These disturbances, popularly described in the British media as ‘race riots’, principally involved young British Asian men, young White British men, and the police. In November 2002 the Nationality, Immigration, and Asylum Act was granted Royal Assent, and passed into British law, introducing legislation which required spouses of British citizens to demonstrate their proficiency in English when applying for British citizenship. This paper provides an analysis of the racialization of language in political discourse which linked the violence on the streets of northern England with the argument for extended citizenship language testing. The paper concludes that this discourse is recontextualized and transformed in increasingly legitimate contexts, gaining authority as it travels, until it is enshrined in the least negotiable domain of all – the law.

Preface

Preface

Réflexions sur l'irréversible en histoire ou la preuve par 15.30.48

SUMMARY In this article Michel Péronnet discusses the phenomenon of the acceptance of radical or revolutionary changes in society, through which, in time, they become a recognized part of the normal political structure of the society and are generally taken to be irreversible. The example chosen in the article is the way in which the basic principles of the French Revolution of 1789 came to be incorporated into successive political settlements in France, became part of the ordinary language of political discourse, and were increasingly incorporated into constitutional law and political practice. The article focuses on the settlements of 1815, 1830 and 1848. It shows how even the Bourbon Restoration of 1815 had to come to terms with irreversibility of much of the agenda of 1789, though it left areas of ambivalence, so that the possibility of counterrevolution was not definitively excluded. But when these areas were explored by Charles X, they led to the revolution of 1830, after which the principles of 1789 were reinforced in the revised Charter. When Louis-Philippe and Guizot in turn failed to accept the full implications of the revolutionary programme, it was forcibly reasserted in 1848, and it was never seriously challenged thereafter as the basis on which French political society was constructed.

The German Language and the Real World: Sociolinguistic, Cultural and Pragmatic Perspectives on Contemporary German

Language has always been a major marker of cultural identity in the German-speaking world, and the reunification of Germany, with its dramatic political and cultural consequences, has led to an upsurge of interest in contemporary German. In this collection of essays, German linguists consider a wide range of topics, including language change, language in political discourse, language in Berlin after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, language and gender, the speech styles of youth subcultures, and language and television.