scholarly journals “We believe in democracy…”: Epistemic Modality in Justin Trudeau’s Political Speeches

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 130
Author(s):  
Tofan Dwi Hardjanto ◽  
Nala Mazia
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Epistemic Modality ◽  
Auxiliary Verbs ◽  
The Social ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Word Classes ◽  
Political Speeches ◽  
Discourse Functions

This article investigates epistemic modality in political discourse. It focuses on modality markers in terms of their word classes, semantic meanings and discourse functions in political speeches. The data were taken from three speeches delivered by the 23rd Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The results show that the markers found in the three speeches are of five different types, i.e., lexical verbs, modal adjectives, modal adverbs, modal auxiliary verbs and modal nouns, with meanings ranging from possibility, probability, to certainty. The markers also indicate the speaker’s commitment whose degree reflects the function in the social context. The speaker’s commitment is divided into three degrees of engagement, each of which serves as a means to be polite, to be diplomatic, and to be persuasive. The findings suggest that Trudeau tends to use reasonable judgment expressions to sound diplomatic and persuasive in his speeches. 

scholarly journals “We believe in democracy…”: Epistemic Modality in Justin Trudeau’s Political Speeches

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 130
Author(s):  
Tofan Dwi Hardjanto ◽  
Nala Mazia
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Epistemic Modality ◽  
Auxiliary Verbs ◽  
The Social ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Word Classes ◽  
Political Speeches ◽  
Discourse Functions

This article investigates epistemic modality in political discourse. It focuses on modality markers in terms of their word classes, semantic meanings and discourse functions in political speeches. The data were taken from three speeches delivered by the 23rd Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The results show that the markers found in the three speeches are of five different types, i.e., lexical verbs, modal adjectives, modal adverbs, modal auxiliary verbs and modal nouns, with meanings ranging from possibility, probability, to certainty. The markers also indicate the speaker’s commitment whose degree reflects the function in the social context. The speaker’s commitment is divided into three degrees of engagement, each of which serves as a means to be polite, to be diplomatic, and to be persuasive. The findings suggest that Trudeau tends to use reasonable judgment expressions to sound diplomatic and persuasive in his speeches. 

Speaker-Oriented Attitude Datives in Social Context

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youssef A. Haddad
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Shared Values ◽  
Social Functions ◽  
Rapport Management ◽  
The Social ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Levantine Arabic ◽  
Values And Beliefs ◽  
Social Acts

This chapter examines the social functions of speaker-oriented attitude datives in Levantine Arabic. It analyzes these datives as perspectivizers used by a speaker to instruct her hearer to view her as a form of authority in relation to him, to the content of her utterance, and to the activity they are both involved in. The nature of this authority depends on the sociocultural, situational, and co-textual context, including the speaker’s and hearer’s shared values and beliefs, their respective identities, and the social acts employed in interaction. The chapter analyzes specific instances of speaker-oriented attitude datives as used in different types of social acts (e.g., commands, complaints) and in different types of settings (e.g., family talk, gossip). It also examines how these datives interact with facework, politeness, and rapport management.

scholarly journals A Comparative Study of Political Discourse Features in English and Arabic

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 148
Author(s):  
Asmaa Alduhaim
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Speeches ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Metaphor And Metonymy

This article is devoted to examine political discourse, in particular features of political speeches in English and Arabic Language. Political speeches are often shaped in a specific cultural and social context, using various linguistic features to persuade the public of the speaker’s goals. The study has two aims: firstly, it intends to highlight the prominent features of political discourse in English and Arabic. For example, the use of metaphor and metonymy, pronouns, intertextuality, repetition, style and code-switching. In addition, the study examines the way these features were employed by the speakers. Secondly, the comparison across English and Arabic language establishes similarities and differences between the features of political discourse in English and Arabic, and understands to what extent are the features of political discourse universal and shared between languages, and to further examine in which ways they differ. Three main features were identified as shared between the two languages: pronouns, repetition, and intertextuality. Even though there were shared features, it emerges from the study that these features, as well as others, are employed differently based on the language convention and the culture it exists in.

scholarly journals Hedging in Political Discourse: The Case of Trump’s Speeches

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-398
Keyword(s):  
Political Discourse ◽  
Auxiliary Verbs ◽  
American President ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
Discourse Functions ◽  
One Year

This study examines the use and functions of hedging devices in political discourse by analysing two of the now former American President Donald Trump’s speeches. The study adopts Salager-Meyer’s (1997) framework to analyse the use of hedging devices and Rabab’ah and Abu Rumman’s (2015) framework to assign functions to hedges. The findings reveal that approximators and modal auxiliary verbs were the most frequently used hedging devices in the two speeches and that there is a noticeably frequent use of the modal auxiliary verbs will and must, an indication of power. In addition, the findings show that Trump used hedging devices almost equally between the two speeches although there is a one-year gap between the speeches selected . As for the functions, the analysis shows that, in addition to the five functions in Rabab’ah and Abu Rumman (2015), there emerged three additional functions; namely, emphasis, power and multi-functional hedges. Most hedges were generally used to mitigate language while some were used to indicate necessity and authority. Keywords: Hedging, Political discourse, Functions, Trump.

Hearer-Oriented Attitude Datives in Social Context

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youssef A. Haddad
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Social Functions ◽  
Shared Identity ◽  
The Social ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Levantine Arabic ◽  
Social Acts ◽  
Main Message

This chapter examines the social functions of hear-oriented attitude datives in Levantine Arabic. These are often used to grab the hearer’s attention, especially in such activities as storytelling. In addition, the datives may also be employed by a speaker to anchor the main message of her utterance, along with her evaluation of it, to her hearers and to mark their engagement in an attempt to recruit their empathy, solicit their assent, and/or invoke a shared identity, experience, knowledge, and membership. The chapter analyzes specific instances of hearer-oriented attitude datives as used in different types of social acts (e.g., promises) and in different types of activities (e.g., gossip).

‘What I would say to John and everyone like John is ...’: The construction of ordinariness through quotations in mediated political discourse

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 495-513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Fetzer ◽  
Elda Weizman
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
Discursive Construction ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Status

This article examines the discursive construction of ordinariness in the context of mediated political discourse, considering in particular contexts, in which ‘non-ordinary speakers’ quote ordinary people, bring them into the mediated public arena and assign them and their quoted contributions the status of an object of talk, and in which ‘ordinary speakers’ follow up on the ‘brought-in-ordinariness’. The contexts under investigation are Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) transmitted in the social media and commenters’ posts on the exchanges between the Prime Minister’s and Leader of the Opposition’s bringing-in-ordinariness. The Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition treat the ‘brought-in-ordinariness’ in an ordinary manner by naming quoter and quoted and providing responses to the quoted questions while accommodating the political elite in their contributions; some of the ordinary commenters take up the ‘brought-in-ordinariness’ by negotiating its perlocutionary effects with evaluative metacomments. The ‘brought-in-ordinariness’ receives various kinds of uptakes, ranging from enthusiastic responses hailing true democracy to negative responses criticizing the non-professional manner of doing politics.

scholarly journals WHO ARE AMERICANS? ANALYSIS OF OBAMA AND TRUMP’S POLITICAL SPEECHES ON IMMIGRATION

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-87
Author(s):  
Sonia Tinshe ◽  
Junaidi Junaidi
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
The Political ◽  
Word Choice ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Speeches ◽  
American Society

Immigration has been a crucial discussion in the American politics ever since the nation was still writing its constitution. Seeing how immigrants have shaped the American society, it is important to see how they are perceived, as minorities, by significant political figures, such as the president. The objective of this paper is to understand the ideology behind Obama and Trump’s political speeches about immigration, as well as its relevance to the political discourse and social context in America. Five political speeches from Obama (2009-2014), as well as two political speeches from Trump (2016-2017) are analyzed, as the primary data, using Critical Discourse Analysis, particularly Fairclough’s (1993) three-dimensional framework. The finding shows that Obama’s and Trump’s ideology on immigration is related with their idea of the immigrant’s identity in American society. It is shown through their word choice, such as pejorative adjective, and the theme related with the issue of immigration. Seen from the political discourse, the speeches are showing perceived superiority that the presidents have over immigrants. Moreover, from the social perspective, it dehumanizes and reduces the identity of immigrants.

scholarly journals WHO ARE AMERICANS? ANALYSIS OF OBAMA AND TRUMP’S POLITICAL SPEECHES ON IMMIGRATION

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Sonia Tinshe ◽  
Junaidi Junaidi
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
The Political ◽  
Word Choice ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Speeches ◽  
American Society

Immigration has been a crucial discussion in the American politics ever since the nation was still writing its constitution. Seeing how immigrants have shaped the American society, it is important to see how they are perceived, as minorities, by significant political figures, such as the president. The objective of this paper is to understand the ideology behind Obama and Trump’s political speeches about immigration, as well as its relevance to the political discourse and social context in America. Five political speeches from Obama (2009-2014), as well as two political speeches from Trump (2016-2017) are analyzed, as the primary data, using Critical Discourse Analysis, particularly Fairclough’s (1993) three-dimensional framework. The finding shows that Obama’s and Trump’s ideology on immigration is related with their idea of the immigrant’s identity in American society. It is shown through their word choice, such as pejorative adjective, and the theme related with the issue of immigration. Seen from the political discourse, the speeches are showing perceived superiority that the presidents have over immigrants. Moreover, from the social perspective, it dehumanizes and reduces the identity of immigrants.

The interpersonal strand of political speech

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zohar Livnat ◽  
Beverly A. Lewin
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Social Bonds ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Political Speech ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Speeches ◽  
Dialogic Interaction

The present study offers an underlying theoretical framework for examining political speeches from a rhetorical perspective. This framework is based on systemic functional linguistics developed by Halliday (most recently updated by Halliday and Matthiessen 2014), and includes discourse structures suggested by later authors. We suggest that the interpersonal stratum of meaning, through which we manage social relations, represents a powerful resource for creating a dialogue with the audience in order to recruit it to a politician’s call for action. To address this issue, we analyzed ten speeches delivered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to five different international audiences. We examined strategies that foster dialogic interaction with the audience, by directly addressing them, or otherwise acknowledging their presence. The interpersonal strategies we identified combine into larger domains which we term forming social bonds, building a consensus and revealing ideology. These strategies may be salient because they tap into various aspects of the audience’s experience and identity: the social, affective, and ideological spheres.

scholarly journals The Journey Metaphor in Mediatized Political Discourse

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 7-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gyula Dávid ◽  
Bálint Péter Furkó
Keyword(s):  
Political Discourse ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Third ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Analytical Perspective ◽  
Political Speeches ◽  
Manipulative Intent ◽  
Discourse Strategy

Abstract The present paper will analyse manifestations of the journey metaphor from a critical discourse analytical perspective in order to observe how the journey metaphor is used as a discourse strategy in mediatized political speeches and interviews whereby political actors manipulate the second-frame interactional participants (the audience) into sharing a (spurious) sense of solidarity with them. There are three hypotheses that will be tested in the course of the analysis: the first is that a wide-variety of realjourney elements are exploited for the political metaphor of journey, and there is a concrete correspondence between journey vehicles and political scenarios. The second hypothesis is that journey metaphors that are used in political speeches, celebrity interviews and confrontational political interviews are of different types and complexity. The third hypothesis is that the manipulative intent behind the use of metaphors is exposed in the latter types of mediatized political discourse to varying degrees as a result of the different degrees of pragmatic accountability adhered to in the two subgenres. We argue that the first two hypotheses are confirmed on the basis of the qualitative analysis presented in the paper, whereas the third hypothesis is not borne out by the data.

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