scholarly journals The dynamics of political correctness, inclusive language and freedom of speech

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 194-220
Author(s):  
Olga A. Leontovich
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
English Language ◽  
Political Correctness ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Negative Attitude ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Inclusive Language

The study aims to research the historical dynamics of the notions political correctness, inclusive language and freedom of speech, as well as to reveal the mechanisms and new tendencies of their realization in public discourse. The sources of practical material are represented by: a) 126 journal and Internet articles; b) 12 speeches of famous US and British politicians, scholars and celebrities reflecting the notions under study. The leading methods include critical discourse analysis, definition and contextual analyses. The research indicates that during its long and contradictory history, the term political correctness had both positive and negative connotations. When the negative attitude started to prevail, it was replaced by the notions inclusion and inclusive language based on similar mechanisms: ban on the use of offensive terms denoting different aspects of peoples identity; avoidance of stereotypes and false semantic associations; abundant use of euphemisms, etc. The paper reveals the new trends in the English language (non-binary expression of gender; changes in the conceptualization of race, age and disability) and social practices meeting the requirements of inclusive communication. Whereas political correctness and inclusive language aim to protect vulnerable social groups and improve the social climate, they produce certain undesirable tendencies: breach between social groups caused by inefficient communication; reverse racism; complex relationship of political correctness with science, literature and education; its speculative use; and restrictions on freedom of speech. The study also sheds light on the problems of politically correct intercultural communication caused by the non-stop language change, differences in social norms, values, grammatical structures, semantics, and cultural associations.

scholarly journals PRAGMATIC EFFECT OF HUMOR IN PUBLIC POLITICAL SPEECHES

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (87) ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentyna Marchenko ◽  
◽  
Alina Starkina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Communication ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
English Language ◽  
Negative Attitude ◽  
Political Speech ◽  
Communicative Strategies ◽  
Common Strategy ◽  
Campaign Speeches ◽  
Political Speeches ◽  
The Impact

The article is devoted to the analysis of communicative strategies and tactics of realization of pragmatic effect using humorous statements in English-language public political speech. Both verbal and non-verbal means of expressing humor are used to increase the impact on the audience. Expressive language means, in particular vocabulary aimed at humiliation and insult of the addressee, play an important role in the speech of politicians. Humor allows to manage the situation in political communication, creating a situation of misunderstanding, deliberately contributing to the wrong statement of the opponent, provoking an undesirable reaction of the audience. Communicative strategies in public speeches are common among political representatives when presenting their election campaign and delivering campaign speeches. This is due to the desire to influence society, the plans, values and consciousness of the audience, involving various techniques of manipulation. According to communicative situation speakers use certain type of strategies to achieve some goals in communication more efficient. Every strategy is realized in speech through communicative tactics, which implement various language techniques aimed to change opinions of the addressee about politicians. The most common strategy is aims to reduce the importance of a political opponent., embodying the implicit or explicit expression of a negative attitude towards the situation or person. Less common strategy used by politicians is focused on creating the opposite effect, when the manipulator gets the sympathy of the recipient through the creation of a positive image. The most expressive strategy is to give speeches vigor and spectacularness. Sarcasm is one of the means to express communicative tactic implicitly to achieve manipulative influence. The most effective tactics used by politicians are accusations, condemnation, insults, distancing, presentations, ‘friend or foe’ differentiations, appeal to emotions. The article includes detailed analysis of strategies and tactics that form the basis of pragmatic political speech in the examples of English public discourse.

Topoi as part of the argumentation schemes and their role in creating a positive image of the “self” and a negative image of the “other”

Neophilology ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 306-314
Author(s):  
Marina S. MATYTCINA
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
English Language ◽  
Negative Attitude ◽  
Daily Mail ◽  
Negative Image ◽  
The Public ◽  
News Reports ◽  
Negative Images ◽  
Foreign Science ◽  
The Guardian

We analyze the main topoi used by English-language editorials to build their arguments in order to construct a negative image of immigrants. The relevance of this study is due to the specificity of the trends in the construction of immigration discourse and its various aspects, as evidenced by the large number of scientific works in both domestic and foreign science. The purpose of this study is to analyze the main topoi that actualize the discursive reproduction of negative attitude towards immigrants in the English-language press. We investigate the news reports from the American weekly magazine “Time”, the American news channel “FoxNews” and the British editorials “The Daily Mail”, “The Guardian” and “The Telegraph”. The main methodological basis is a critical discourse analysis, which is based on the understanding of discourse as a form of social interaction. We establish that the power elites construct the public opinion that is beneficial for the power bloc in relation to “others”, form and support negative images of “aliens” as representatives of other races, ethnic groups and cultures using the mass media. We analyze the main linguistic tools that identify topoi with respect to immigrants. We present the specific examples that demonstrate the features of topoi functioning in English-language editorials.

Discursive construction of an anti-immigration Europe by a Sweden Democrat in the European Parliament

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-439
Author(s):  
Kamber Güler
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Social Power ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Discursive Construction ◽  
Cognitive Approach ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Group

Discourses are mostly used by the elites as a means of controlling public discourse and hence, the public mind. In this way, they try to legitimate their ideology, values and norms in the society, which may result in social power abuse, dominance or inequality. The role of a critical discourse analyst is to understand and expose such abuses and inequalities. To this end, this paper is aimed at understanding and exposing the discursive construction of an anti-immigration Europe by the elites in the European Parliament (EP), through the example of Kristina Winberg, a member of the Sweden Democrats political party in Sweden and the political group of Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy in the EP. In the theoretical and methodological framework, the premises and strategies of van Dijk’s socio-cognitive approach of critical discourse analysis make it possible to achieve the aim of the paper.

scholarly journals Understanding diversity in later life through images of old age

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Friederike Enßle ◽  
Ilse Helbrecht
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Conceptual Debate ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Images Of Old Age

Abstract This article aims to enhance the conceptual debate on diversity in old age by exploring the interplay of diversity in later life and images of old age. We argue that the analysis of images of old age on the micro-level is a fruitful methodology in order to unravel the meaning of diversity in later life. Drawing on findings from qualitative research in Berlin, we explore how new and diverse imaginations, experiences and lifestyles of old age emerge. The conceptual focus on images of old age enables us to investigate further what diversity in later life comprises and how it simultaneously fosters the genesis of new images of old age. The manifold new images we found in our research suggest that prevalent societal discourses about old age on the macro-level are rather deceptive and represent mostly stereotypes such as ‘active agers’ or ‘frail and dependent elders’. We offer three explanations why alternative images of old age are currently barely present in public discourse: (a) the actors transmitting images of age; (b) the institutionalisation of the images; and (c) the challenge to communicate complexity. We conclude by suggesting that images of old age are a promising starting point to explore and make visible both the diversity of social groups within the older generation as well as the heterogeneity of older individuals.

Corpus-Based Vocabulary Analysis of English Podcasts

RELC Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 003368822097931
Author(s):  
Ulugbek Nurmukhamedov ◽  
Shoaziz Sharakhimov
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Television Programs ◽  
University Professors ◽  
Word Families ◽  
Proper Nouns ◽  
English Language Teachers ◽  
Ted Talks

In addition to movies, television programs, and TED Talks presentations, podcasts are an increasingly popular form of media that promotes authentic public discourse for diverse audiences, including university professors and students. However, English language teachers in the English as a second language/English as a foreign language contexts might wonder: “How do I know that my students can handle the vocabulary demands of podcasts?” To answer that question, we have analyzed a 1,137,163-word corpus comprising transcripts from 170 podcast episodes derived from the following popular podcasts: Freakonomics; Fresh Air; Invisibilia; Hidden Brain; How I Built This; Radiolab; TED Radio Hour; This American Life; and Today Explained. The results showed that knowledge about the most frequent 3000 word families plus proper nouns (PN), marginal words (MW), transparent compounds (TC), and acronyms (AC) provided 96.75% coverage, and knowledge about the most frequent 5000 word families, including PN, MW, TC, and AC provided 98.26% coverage. The analysis also showed that there is some variation in coverage among podcast types. The pedagogical implications for teaching and learning vocabulary via podcasts are discussed.

Constructing the myth of protest masculinity in Chinese English language news media

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yating Yu ◽  
Mark Nartey
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
News Media ◽  
English Language ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Social Harmony ◽  
Chinese Media ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
News Reports ◽  
The Media

Although the Chinese media’s construction of unmarried citizens as ‘leftover’ has incited much controversy, little research attention has been given to the ways ‘leftover men’ are represented in discourse. To fill this gap, this study performs a critical discourse analysis of 65 English language news reports in Chinese media to investigate the predominant gendered discourses underlying representations of leftover men and the discursive strategies used to construct their identities. The findings show that the media perpetuate a myth of ‘protest masculinity’ by suggesting that poor, single men may become a threat to social harmony due to the shortage of marriageable women in China. Leftover men are represented as poor men, troublemakers and victims via discursive processes that include referential, predicational and aggregation strategies as well as metaphor. This study sheds light on the issues and concerns of a marginalised group whose predicament has not been given much attention in the literature.

scholarly journals Schools as Refuge? The Politics and Policy of Educating Refugees in Arizona

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Koyama ◽  
Ethan Chang
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
English Language ◽  
Academic Support ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
The United States ◽  
Education Policies ◽  
Community Based ◽  
English Language Acquisition ◽  
Refugee Students ◽  
State Education

Despite the central role schools have played in the resettlement of refugees, we know little about how principals, teachers, parents, and staff at community-based organizations interpret and negotiate national immigration policy and state education policies. Combing critical discourse analysis (CDA) and actor-network theory (ANT), we capture how these actors work together and against each other to enact supports with regard to these newcomer students. Data includes a 36-month ethnography of refugee networks in Arizona. We argue that policies around English language acquisition and academic support further isolate refugee students and diminish their formal learning experiences in the United States.

scholarly journals Beyond Hegemony: Elaborating on the Use of Gramscian Concepts in Critical Discourse Analysis for Political Studies

2017 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 392-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Donoghue
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Antonio Gramsci ◽  
Political Studies ◽  
Asymmetrical Power

The work of Antonio Gramsci is important for the theoretical underpinnings of critical discourse analysis. However, many scholars’ engagement with Gramsci’s work within critical discourse analysis remains surprisingly thin. This article seeks to highlight the detriment to critical discourse analysis of having only a surface engagement with Gramsci. It critically assesses how Gramscian concepts such as hegemony and ‘common sense’ are currently employed within critical discourse analysis and provides more detailed discussion on the import of these concepts for critical discourse analysis. The article also argues that introducing the Gramscian concepts of the war of position and spontaneous and normative grammars enables the further realisation of critical discourse analysis’ ambition to be an emancipatory tool in political and social science. In so doing, the article contributes to work on critical discourse analysis as a method in political studies, particularly concerning the role of discourse in reproducing and maintaining asymmetrical power relations between classes and social groups, and potential challenges to this.

Paying Attention to Foreign Affairs: How Public Opinion Affects Presidential Decision Making by Thomas Knecht

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-146
Author(s):  
Terrence L. Chapman
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Government Behavior ◽  
Ability To Act ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Relationship

Despite increased attention to the linkages between domestic politics and international relations in political science literature over the last 20 years, considerable debate remains about how well equipped citizens are to act as informed constraints on governments or how attentive and responsive government actors are to public opinion. Debates about citizens' ability to act as a check on government behavior are not new, of course, and have a long tradition in political philosophy and in public discourse. Yet the proliferation of theories of domestic–international linkages in contemporary IR scholarship has unfortunately been accompanied by incomplete dialogue between public opinion and IR scholars and often by claims of unidirectional or unconditional causality regarding domestic constraints, elite framing and opinion leadership, citizens' informational capacities, and the role of the media. The relationship among these factors in shaping foreign policy is quite complex, however, and fortunately Thomas Knecht acknowledges this complexity and advances a conditional argument about the relationship between public attitudes and presidential decision making.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document