Political Language Research Articles

Behn’s White Innocence: Language Politics in the Dutch-Surinamese Translations of Oroonoko (1688)

Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko (1688) has elicited myriad contradictory readings based on its central ideologies about race and slavery. The ambivalence within the novel has made it a popular text to adapt or translate to produce a certain politics. This essay examines two twentieth-century Dutch-Surinamese translations of the novel: H.D. Benjamins’s of 1919 and Albert Helman’s of 1983. I contextualize both translations within each author’s language politics and imperial projects, reading their work through the lens of Gloria Wekker’s notion of “white innocence.” I argue that Benjamins and Helman rely on Behn’s ethnographic authority and her white sentimentalized womanhood to produce an imperialist politics that perpetuates the long-standing myth of the Netherlands as a gentle and benevolent nation. By moving beyond the notorious politicization of Oroonoko during the nineteenth-century abolition movement, this essay sheds new light on how the novel’s ambivalent politics has been manipulated to political ends throughout history.

What It Takes to Be Counted

Abstract In this interview, the publisher and author Ruby Hembrom speaks about being invisibilized and erased as an Adivasi, which led her to set up adivaani (“the first voices”), the first Indigenous-run platform for publishing and documenting Adivasi voices in English in India, in 2012. With a focus on both the ideological and practical aspects of running what Hembrom calls a “dependie” initiative, this interview explores adivaani’s—and Hembrom’s—journey in creating an Indigenous archive; the politics of knowledge production, language, and translation; and the platform’s role in landscapes marked by the cultural and material dispossession of Adivasis in India. Hembrom also provides insight into some of her publishing choices, the global platforms and collaborations she and adivaani have been part of, and her visions for Adivasi feminism and solidarities.

The October 2023 War—From a Colonial to an Imperial Analysis

Abstract This essay introduces an imperial approach to the study of Palestine/Israel in general and to the understanding of the 7 October War in particular as an alternative to the colonial perspective. By focusing on how local dynamics have been embedded in the constantly evolving imperial matrix, this perspective aids in moving beyond the oversimplified and binary viewpoints often found in popular political language, which, while based on academic discourse, tends to overlook its nuanced complexities. Such an imperial approach, I argue, allows a more thorough understanding of local dynamics, contextualized within a broader historical and analytical framework, which is crucial for a more comprehensive explanation of the current war.

DIRECTIVE SPEECH ACTS OF 'BASO PALEMBANG SARI-SARI' : REVIEW OF LANGUAGE POLITENESS

This study aims to describe direktif speech acts used in everyday Palembang conversations and to explore the politeness functions used in everyday Palembang conversations. This study uses a qualitative method with a case study approach. The data source for this research was taken from the conversations of Palembang residents about how to use 'Baso Palembang Sari-Sari' or what is known as the everyday use of Palembang language. While the community is speaking, the researcher observes the ongoing conversation, then the researcher records, encodes, and transcribes the speech of the community to determine which utterances are classified as directive speech acts. The data was taken from community chats using the Baso Palembang Sari-Sari language. The data analysis technique used in this study uses thematic techniques and content analysis. The results of this study indicate that there are six types of directive speech acts in the speeches of 'Baso Palembang Sari-Sari', namely invitations, requests, orders, advice, criticisms and prohibitions. As well as finding 6 functions of politeness in Palembang language in speaking.

Examining the Role of Political Language and Rhetoric in the Context of the Debate on Political Efficacy

Examining the Role of Political Language and Rhetoric in the Context of the Debate on Political Efficacy

Examining the Role of Political Language and Rhetoric in the Context of the Debate on Political Efficacy

Examining the Role of Political Language and Rhetoric in the Context of the Debate on Political Efficacy

The directive politeness level through a test approach completing the Arab Village community discourse

This study aims to understand and describe the realization of language politeness in the people of Sei Bayas Arab Village in Palembang City. The study is based on data from the Complete Discourse Test which was distributed to 40 residents living on the Sei bayas Arabic campus. The results show that the respondents use a variety of strategies, including indirect speech, fenced speech, and words that express respect, to communicate their requests and expectations. The respondents used minimizing losses, disclosing face-threatening acts, and revealing that they owe favor to their speech partners.

Strategi Menanamkan Kesantunan Berbahasa Melalui Penguatan Profil Pelajar Pancasila dalam Pembelajaran PAI dan Budi Pekerti

Education is an important determinant of the progress of a country and nation. Character education has a very important role to maintain a balance between technological progress and human growth in this era of rapid technological progress. Therefore, this study seeks to describe how the teacher's strategy in instilling language politeness through strengthening the Pancasila Student Profile in PAI and Budi Pekerti learning. This research uses qualitative and descriptive methodology. The data collection approaches used include interviews, observation, and documentation. To assess the accuracy of the data, researchers used source triangulation and technique triangulation. The data obtained in this study went through three stages of data analysis: data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion drawing. The results obtained by this study have shown that the strategy of instilling language politeness in class IV students in PAI and Budi Pekerti lessons at SD Negeri 3 Nogosari is carried out using the following methods, namely: 1) Providing habituation activities to students by practicing saying "please, sorry, excuse me, and thank you" to others. 2) Providing a good example when speaking by using a soft voice and not raising your voice or shouting. 3) Give sanctions to students in the form of writing 3 short letters in the notebook.

Penafsiran Ayat-Ayat Toleransi Dalam Tafsir Al-Azhar dan Al-Misbah Serta Implementasinya Terhadap Masyarakat Indonesia

There must be no spelling, grammatical or expression errors in the language used. Indonesia is a plural country, but most people still do not realize and understand the concept of tolerance which results in harmony. The proof is that there are still conflicts between religions such as in East Java in December 2021, in Brikang Village, Menganti sub-district, Gersik, Central Java on April 10, 2022, even 50% of utterances on social media contain intolerant values. This arises because of the lack of understanding of the Muslim community, especially of the content of the Qur'an about the importance of tolerance. The purpose of this research is to examine how the content of tolerance verses in Al-Azhar and Al-Misbah commentaries, is then contextualized in the life of Indonesian society. This research method uses a qualitative method of thematic literature study. The results of this study indicate that Hamka and Quraisy Shihab in Qs. Al-An'am verse 108, QS. Al-Mumtahanah verse 8-9, QS. Saba's verse 25 states that insulting, reviling, and discriminating against non-Muslims is despicable behavior. Both of them allow associating with non-Muslims with the rules: not to criticize their beliefs, not to discuss the shortcomings of beliefs in front of them directly, associate with polite language, questions that are not offensive, associate if it provides inter-religious benefits, and does not bring madharat. However, it is still with the limitations that can be associated as long as they are not hostile and do not expel from the homeland.

Learning Javanese Krama to Cultivate Children's Polite Attitudes

Javanese is a language commonly used in Javanese ethnic communities. Javanese is one of the regional languages ​​used in daily life by Javanese people for communication between people. Manners are not something that can be learned quickly. Etiquette takes a long time to master, especially when it comes to children's language literacy. Developing language politeness must start from an early age. The emphasis on teaching children is necessary to teach children the norms of politeness of their native culture. Local wisdom is considered to have great value because it is an idea that lives in people's minds and its values ​​are also used as a guide in actions, words and deeds. This research uses a qualitative approach with descriptive research type and aims to find out whether learning Javanese at school can foster a sense of politeness in children from an early age. This research uses observation and interview methods. The results of this research are that children learn Javanese which can improve their manners. In this research, some children already have the manners that we want to examine, but there are also children whose manners have not yet developed. Children's learning about politeness is not only obtained through school, but parents also contribute to the growth of politeness values. From the results of this research, it is hoped that teachers and parents can provide more learning to children regarding politeness norms.

Review of Ringe (2022): The Language(s) of Politics: Multilingual Policy-Making in the European Union

Review of Ringe (2022): The Language(s) of Politics: Multilingual Policy-Making in the European Union

Building Rapport in an Oral Mediation Task: An Analysis of Upper-Intermediate Learners’ Use of Small Talk and Other Positive Politeness Language Formulae

This article analyses the individual responses of 20 upper-intermediate learners to an oral mediation task. Particularly, it focuses on the initial and closing linguistic resources and strategies that are displayed in each participant’s production in order to address the needs of the recipient included in the task description. With this aim, some categories of analysis are created. These categories have been designed following the descriptors of the Companion Volume of the CEFRL as well as previous literature and studies on small talk’s functionalities. Therefore, to analyse the initiation of the conversation the categories of using greetings, empathy and compassion linguistic markers and readiness to help formulae are explored. On the other hand, to inquire into the ending of the sustained-monologue, comprehension checking formulae, empathetic markers used as well as concluding and summarizing formulae have been studied. The results show that there is a lack of attention to the task’s description and, thus, to the recipient’s needs. Furthermore, additional training is needed in concluding formulae, including unimportant talk.

Tacitus in the Discorso politico of Ottavio Sammarco: from threat of war into politics

ABSTRACT In 1626, the Neapolitan Ottavio Sammarco published the Discorso politico intorno la conseruatione della pace dell'Italia in which the author referred to the King of Spain as arbiter among the Italian princes and his ministers in Italy as efficient instruments to ensure the stability. This piece of political literature shows an explicit practical orientation, through which the author carries out a systematisation of the political means to achieve quietness in Italy. In articulating the praxis into formal language, Sammarco looks to the past searching for the wisdom of History and uses Tacitus’ account to build a discourse around the tools and mechanisms for preserving stability and avoiding conflicts. The aim of this article, in the first instance, is to examine Sammarco's discursive programme and the purpose of his discourse; in the second place, how Tacitus serves the author's aim and how his account means a fundamental anchor. Furthermore, it will be useful to trace how the political language that transforms the continuous threat of war into politics is modelled by 1626 in Italy and how Sammarco contextualizes his political vocabulary within the Spanish Monarchy political dialectic at the beginning of XVII century.

Coercive impoliteness and blame avoidance in government communication

As government officeholders face criticism for misconduct or policy failures, they are tempted to communicate in self-defensive ways. In this paper, I draw attention to how strategic blame avoidance in government may involve coercive impoliteness, that is, the use of expressions that attack the face of (potential) critics with an aim of forcing them to withhold their (future) criticism. Taking a discourse-historical approach to political rhetoric, I present illustrative examples of institutional government messaging from the United States, the United Kingdom, Estonia, and Russia to demonstrate how these face attacks may be accomplished in subtle ways, such as via sarcasm or mock politeness. I discuss the ethical implications of the uses of coercive impoliteness in government communication for democratic debates over public policy issues. The paper contributes to the study of political blame games, language aggression, and incivility in (digitally) mediated contexts.

KESANTUNAN BERBAHASA ORANGTUA DAN ANAK DALAM LINGKUNGAN KELUARGA DESA ORHILI SUSUA

This research is motivated by language politeness between parents and children in the family environment of Orahili Susua village. The aim of this research is to describe the form of language politeness between parents and children in the family environment in Orahili Susua village. This type of research uses case study research. Case study research is an in-depth exploration of a limited system based on extensive data collection. Based on the research findings and discussion, the result was that politeness in the language of parents and children in Orahili Susua village found 42 utterances, consisting of several maxims: (1) maxim of wisdom 15 utterances (2) maxim of generosity 10 utterances (3) maxim of respect 4 utterances (4) maxim of simplicity 6 utterances (5) maxim of consensus 5 utterances (6) maxim of sympathy 2 utterances. The conclusions from this research show that the speech of parents and children in the Orahili Susua village family environment complies with the principles of language politeness. There are also those who violate the principles of politeness in 10 utterances, consisting of: (1) maxim of wisdom 2 utterances, (2) maxim of respect 4 utterances, (3) maxim of consensus 4 utterances. For this reason, it is hoped that future researchers will further develop this research to provide benefits to readers.

Language Politeness in Elementary School Students Learning Activities

Politeness in language is an important indicator of the success of character education which must be cultivated in every aspect of life, both at school, in the family and in society. Nowadays, language politeness in the younger generation is starting to decline both in the school and family environment. In fact, elementary school age is the initial phase for building character education both in communication and behavior. The importance of politeness in language as a reflection of a person's character in establishing communication and human social interaction. This encourages the need to conduct research related to the use of speech in building students' character. This research uses a qualitative approach. Participants in this research were teachers and students. Data is collected through listening, recording and noting the results of observations. The research results found two principles of compliance and violation of language politeness. The principle of obedience consists of the maxim of generosity contained in speech about respecting others and speech about generosity. Meanwhile, the utterance of the maxim of sympathy is contained in the speech of an attitude of sympathy. Furthermore, violations or deviations from the principles of politeness were found in several maxims in Indonesian language learning activities. Violations of the principles of language politeness that were found included violations of language politeness, the maxims of consensus and generosity. This is because students are used to using Javanese and Indonesian in communication so that code mixing occurs.

Dekadensi Kesantunan Berbahasa Mahasiswa Lintas Budaya di Universitas Tribhuwana Tunggadewi Malang: Kajian Antropososiopragmatik

This research examines the phenomenon of the decadence of language politeness by focusing on changes in politeness values ​​and the decline in communication ethics. This research is based on Brown and Levinson's theory of politeness which pays attention to the factors of social distance, social power, and threat ratings in communication, as well as anthroposociopragmatic theory to understand the influence of culture and social structure on language use. The method used is descriptive qualitative, with data collection through direct observation and analysis of student digital communication documents, especially via WhatsApp. Data analysis shows that there is a decline in politeness in language which is characterized by the use of less polite speech, both in daily communication between students and with lecturers. The research results show that the decadence of language politeness among cross-cultural students at Universitas Tribhuwana Tunggadewi Malang is influenced by various factors, including environmental influences, social media, and a lack of understanding of language politeness norms in diverse socio-cultural contexts. This study emphasizes the importance of understanding intercultural communication, cultural identity, and social interaction in overcoming the decadence of language politeness, as well as the need to integrate material on language politeness in higher education to develop effective and polite student communicative competence.

The awkward rhetoric of Spanish liberalism

Abstract This article explores the ideological controversies around Spanish liberalism through the story of the Citizens party – from its rise in 2006 through 2023, after a sequence of electoral defeats that almost certified its demise. Born as a regional party in Catalonia with an anti-nationalist platform focused on linguistic policies, in national politics it fostered a liberal agenda. The article examines Citizens’ politics of language hiding the party’s liberal identity because of its association to right-wing outlooks. At its founding documents there was an amalgam of liberal and social democratic constitutional values inspiring the party’s political approach. No earnest question was made of their difficult accommodation, given their disparity at the policy level. In 2017 an internal debate arouse, and from 2019 a number of electoral setbacks accelerated it. By then the liberal language legitimizing its passage from regional into a national party had lost its civic appeal.

Республика былого и грядущего?

The review provides a thematic reading of the collective monography, which deals with intellectual history of Russian republicanism. The author of the review underlines that the book, although it is composed of ten separated and conceptually independent parts, could have a general reading in the optics of modern political philosophy’s problematics. This intention derives from the explicitly shown authors’ interest in actual republicanism theory, that started at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries regarding Ph. Pettit’s arguments. Then it is shown that research on the development of the idea of Russian republicanism has a normative model, which can be described as an interpretation of the methodology of Cambridge School of intellectual history. For Russian intellectual space the work with republicanism on the material of social-political thought investigation becomes a reference point, that allows to synchronize methods and subjects of actual philosophy with the global context. A common point for the collective monography is highlighting the inconsistency of the phenomenon of “republic” in Russian political language: being an important idea, although imported from other political tradition, the attempts to define its content and its importance were not always successful and influential enough. An important contribution of the work in the elaboration of political philosophy is clarification of many historical aspects, which results in the narrowing the space for mythologization of Russian political thought.

Directive Speech Act Politeness in a Pediksaan Ritual: A Sociopragmatic Study

This study focused on the concern about the decrease in the use of language politeness among young people both in everyday communication and sacred Hindu rituals such as in a pediksaan ritual, in which not only the place is made sacred but also things related to the inauguration of a sulinggih (high priest) that is, performed in a Geria, home of a brahmana, who is still holding high the high cultural norms. This study analyzed the type of directive speech act politeness, the forms of language politeness, and the application of directive speech act politeness in the pediksaan ritual. The stages of a descriptive qualitative method were employed to achieve those objectives. The population of the study was the people involved in the activity of a pediksaan ritual. Since this event is rare, the population was directly used as the study's sample. The data were collected by observing the pediksaan ritual using a recording technique. The data collected were analyzed with a qualitative descriptive method. The study shows that the types of directive speech act politeness in this study are differentiated into linguistic politeness and pragmatic politeness; the forms of directive speech act politeness consist of (a) agreement maxim of suggesting; (b) sympathizing maxim of order and the politeness principles that consist of (a) the politeness principle that applies tact maxim; (b) the politeness principle that applies approbation maxim; and (c) the politeness maxim that applies sympathy maxim.