scholarly journals ‘Grandmas’ in debate: A first-person story told in Taiwan’s presidential debate as a rhetorical device and public reactions to its credibility

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Ping-Hsuan Wang
Keyword(s):  
Political Discourse ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Elderly Women ◽  
First Person ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Rhetorical Device ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
Local Dialect ◽  
Constructed Dialogue ◽  
Presidential Debate

This study examines data from a 2016 presidential debate in Taiwan to explore the use of first-person narrative in political discourse as a rhetorical device, and how public reactions to its credibility are influenced by the narrative’s context. While previous studies of political debate discourse (e.g. Kuo 2001) investigate, for example, the use of “constructed dialogue” (Tannen 2007), there is a lack of studies focusing on first-person narrative in political debates. Using three-level positioning as outlined by Bamberg (1997), I analyze a narrative featuring a grandma character told by presidential candidate Eric Chu, also comparing it to another candidate James Soong’s “grandma narrative.” I argue that the context places constraints on the effects of their narratives. Whereas Chu’s narrative, a traditional Labovian first-person story, is widely ridiculed with memes for its lack of credibility, Soong’s narrative, a habitual narrative, receives little attention.The analysis shows how Chu’s narrative serves his rhetorical purposes and suggests why the public doubts its credibility. At level 1 (characters positioned vis-à-vis one another), Chu presents himself as non-agentive with constructed dialogue, thereby excusing an earlier decision he made -- failing to keep his promise to finish his term as a mayor. At level 2 (speaker positioned to audience), he switches from Mandarin to Taiwanese, a local dialect, which can be seen as an appeal to his current audience. At level 3 (identity claims locally instantiated), the grandma character draws on the archetype of elderly women in Taiwanese culture, fundamental to national economic growth, while his description of praying at a temple casts him against the local tradition of religious practices in Taiwan. The study helps fill the knowledge gap regarding first-person narrative in political discourse, while highlighting the context in which political narratives are embedded and contributing to understanding positioning in Taiwanese public discourse.

Bridges between Wedges and Frames: Outreach and Compromise in American Political Discourse

2020 ◽  
Vol 114 (4) ◽  
pp. 1280-1296
Author(s):  
ANDREW STARK
Keyword(s):  
American Politics ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Actor ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
Trade Offs

Wedges and frames, two much-studied strategies of American political combat, are generally thought to be partisan weapons, meant to manipulate voters into making trade-offs that favor the political actor wielding them. My inquiry here explores whether there exists anything comparably schematic to wedges and frames at work in attempts by American politicians not to polarize but to find consensus, not to cater to extremes but moderate them. Despite the seeming paucity of such efforts in American public discourse, there is one such common and as-yet untheorized scheme, which uses the two issue positions involved in wedges to overcome the ill effects of reframing and the two value dimensions involved in reframing to overcome the ill effects of wedges. I elaborate this discursive structure by examining its presence in a number of American political debates, showing how it differs from other contemporary normative-theoretic frameworks for understanding compromise in American politics.

scholarly journals A cross-linguistic analysis of the ‘homework’ metaphor in German and English political discourse

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 609-628 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Bisiada
Keyword(s):  
Moral Obligation ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
American English ◽  
Economic Reforms ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
Public Debates ◽  
German Newspaper

A frequently encountered expression in political discourse across languages is the assertion that someone has not ‘done their homework’. As the expression is a combination of structural metaphor and understatement, it is a figurative frame that simplifies public debates by presenting complex issues such as economic reforms as simple tasks and stifles critical and consensual political debates by replacing questions of fairness and adequacy with unquestionable moral obligation. In spite of this manipulative force, metaphor research has paid little attention to this metaphor. I investigate its emergence and pragmatic effects in American and German newspaper discourse through the Corpus of Historical American English/Corpus of Contemporary American English and Die ZEIT corpora. Findings for both English and German show that, while the metaphor was originally used for positive self- and negative other-representation, it is now used increasingly often without specifying whether or not someone has done their homework, which is evidence to suggest that it has become accepted in public discourse as a normal way of framing political issues.

scholarly journals The Application of Functional Theory: Indonesian Presidential Debate

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wahyuningsih Wahyuningsih ◽  
Deli Nirmala
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Political Context ◽  
Language Function ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Functional Theory ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
Political Discourse Analysis ◽  
Presidential Debate

<em>Functional theory is a one of theories that are common used on the research of political debates in American campaign discourse. In the present article, Indonesian presidential debate is analyzed from the perspective of functional theory. The goal of this study is to analyze language function produced by candidates and to evaluate the applicability of functional theory in analyzing Indonesian presidential debate. The authors employ qualitative method in analyzing data. Supporting instruments in analyzing data were functional theory and political discourse analysis (PDA). PDA used in interpreting language function in political context. While, functional theory provides three functions, namely: attacks, defends, and acclaims. The finding shows that two different axioms are found. The first is the use of attack more than defense; it is line with the prediction of functional theory that has been tested in American political debate. Second, the use of acclaims less than attack, it differs in a way from the prediction of functional theory. Fundamentally, functional theory can be used as an instrument in analysis political debates in Indonesia even though the findings were not exactly consistence with the prediction. Thereby, the theory needs to be developed discursively</em>.

Speech Acts by the Governor Candidates of North Sumatera in Political Debates

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vidya Dwi Amalia Zati ◽  
Sumarsih Sumarsih ◽  
Lince Sihombing
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Direct Speech ◽  
Dominant Type ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
The Way ◽  
Descriptive Qualitative

The objectives of the research were to describe the types of speech acts used in televised political debates of governor candidates of North Sumatera, to derive the dominant type of speech acts used in televised political debates of governor candidates of North Sumatera and to elaborate the way of five governor candidates of North Sumatera use speech acts in televised political debates. This research was conducted by applying descriptive qualitative research. The findings show that there were only four types of speech acts used in televised political debates, Debat Pemilukada Sumatera Utara and Uji Publik Cagub dan Cawagub Sumatera Utara, they were assertives, directives, commissives and expressives. The dominant type of speech acts used in both televised political debates was assertives, with 82 utterances or 51.6% in Debat Pemilukada Sumatera Utara and 36 utterances or 41.37% in Uji Publik Cagub dan Cawagub Sumatera Utara. The way of governor candidates of North Sumatera used speech acts in televised political debates is in direct speech acts, they spoke straight to the point and clearly in order to make the other candidates and audiences understand their utterances.   Keywords: Governor Candidate; Political Debate; Speech Acts

TURN TAKING STRATEGIES IN POLITICAL DEBATES

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 56-63
Author(s):  
Desi Dwi Natalia ◽  
Fajar Subekti ◽  
Ni Ketut Mirahayuni
Keyword(s):  
Dominant Strategy ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
Communication Mechanism ◽  
Turn Taking ◽  
Youtube Videos ◽  
Presidential Debate ◽  
Descriptive Qualitative

This article reports on two separate studies—Natalia (2019) and Subekti (2019)—on  communication mechanism in political debates. Specifically these studies focus on turn taking strategies adopted in political debates by political figures during their campaign for presidency or in dealing with specific issues. Both studies adopted Stenstrom’s (1994) classification of turn taking strategies which include three main strategies: taking the turn, holding the turn, and yielding the turn, each of which was further specified into more specific strategies. The data were two Youtube videos: first, Trump and Clinton First Presidential Debate 2016 (36 minutes 22 seconds [Natalia, 2019]) and second, BBC World Debate “Why Poverty”November 30,2012 (47 minutes 16 seconds, [Subekti, 2019]). Employing descriptive qualitative, with the aim of analyzing turn taking strategies adopted in the debates, both studies found interesting points: first, Stenstrom’s three strategies appeared in the debates; second, taking the turn strategy was the dominant strategy, followed by holding the turn strategy and the least used one was yielding to turn; and third, interruption which was a specific type of taking the turn strategy seems to be most often used in the debater’s attempt to maintain the turn and present their points and thus dominate the debate.

scholarly journals Conocimiento cultural como base para la construcción de identidad nacional. Un análisis del discurso de la prensa sobre el default de 2014 en Argentina

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-103
Author(s):  
Simone Mwangi
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
Identidad Nacional ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
Major Threat ◽  
Crisis Events

AbstractEconomic and political crisis situations are interpreted differently in different societies and cultures. What is perceived as a major threat in one society can be experienced as an everyday occurrence in other societies. This shows that crises are not issues that exist independently of people, but that they are to a large extent the result of social interpretations. An example of how a community interprets events as a surmountable challenge, rather than a crisis, is Argentina’s public discourse on the 2014 default. Instead of a discourse that concentrates on economic, political and social problems, the event provoked a political discourse on national identity. The present paper uses the methods of descriptive discourse analysis to study this solution-driven way of handling crisis events. The investigation focuses on the cultural knowledge and discourse traditions used in Argentina to interpret the country’s situation in the summer of 2014. The study analyzes how these cultural and linguistic resources contribute to coping with the situation of default while strengthening national identity.

Family as a framing resource for political identity construction: Introduction sequences in presidential primary debates

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Sclafani
Keyword(s):  
Political Discourse ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
Presidential Debates ◽  
Family Identity ◽  
Political Identities ◽  
Presidential Primary ◽  
Family Discourse ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Family Identities

AbstractThis study investigates the construction of political identity in the 2011–2012 US Republican presidential primary debates. Focusing on candidates’ self-introductions, I analyze how candidates use references to family members and roles to frame their political identities or ‘presidential selves’. Family references are shown to (i) frame candidates’ personal identities as family men/women; (ii) interweave the spheres of home and politics and consequently, their private and public selves; (iii) serve as a tool of discursive one-upmanship in self-introduction sequences; and (iv) demonstrate intimate familiarity and expertise on the topic of national security. This study extends research on family discourse and identity by examining the rhetorical function of mentioning family-related identities in explicitly persuasive public discourse, and contributes to sociolinguistic research on political discourse by examining how family identities serve as a resource for framing political identities. (Discourse analysis, framing, family, identity, political discourse, presidential debates, sequentiality)

scholarly journals ‘You dribble faster than Messi and jump higher than Jordan’: The art of complimenting and praising in political discourse

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zohar Kampf ◽  
Roni Danziger
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Political Community ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Political Communities

Abstract Communicating admiration and appreciation in public discourse are two important tasks for political actors who wish to secure relationships and advance models for civic behavior. Our goal in this study is to understand how political actors signal their desire to please addressees and advance political sociability by way of manifesting positive judgment towards others. On the basis of 241 utterances praising and complimenting others’ words and deeds, we identify the topics, patterns, and functions of these speech acts and the processes and struggles they evoke in Israeli public discourse. We conclude by discussing the role of positive evaluations in demarcating the boundaries of proper conduct in political communities and the ways the distinctive logic of politics is integrated with specific cultural speaking styles in influencing how members of the Israeli political community signal their appreciation and affect for other members’ skills, performances, and personalities.

scholarly journals Conflicting Communication Strategies of Election Debates in Spanish and Ukrainian Political Discourse

2020 ◽  
pp. 59-71
Author(s):  
Laura Floyd
Keyword(s):  
Political Discourse ◽  
Communication Strategies ◽  
Communicative Interaction ◽  
General Direction ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
Political Agitation ◽  
Card Index ◽  
Communicative Strategy ◽  
Conflict Interaction

The article analyzes the conflicting communication strategies of the participants of the election debates in Spain in 2019. The peculiarities of communicative interaction of Spanish politicians in the conditions of political agitation on the eve of the parliamentary elections are considered the main strategies of their interaction are singled out. The purpose of the analysis was to identify and characterize the main communication strategies used by Spanish politicians during the 2019 election campaign during a televised debate. The material of the study was a card index of text fragments of speeches by Spanish politicians A. Lastro, C. Alvarez, I. Monteros, G. Rufian, A. Esteban, and others. A total of 350 micro texts were analyzed, which allowed us to identify communicative conflict as the main type of interaction in the pre-election discourse. The article defines that communicative strategy in political discourse is a general direction of interaction of politicians, which directs language means in order to realize the intention – to influence the addressee. In the pre-election discourse of political debates, the main strategies are focusedon conflict interaction, within which strategies of discrediting and manipulation aresingled out. The strategy of discrediting involves reducing the communicative status of the opponent and is represented by tactics of accusation and insults. The main linguistic means of implementing the strategy of discrediting are stylistically reduced vocabulary and grammatical forms of dialogic nature. The strategy of manipulation is implemented through the tactics of interpretation, declaration and intimidation. At the linguistic level, manipulation involves the use of abstract vocabulary, precedent phenomena and expressive and evaluative means.

scholarly journals Rhetorical Discourse Analysis of State of the Nation Address of Select Philippine Presidents

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lilibeth A. Calonge ◽  
Ismael N. Talili
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Public Speaking ◽  
Frequency Standard ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Weighted Mean ◽  
Rhetorical Device ◽  
Rhetorical Devices ◽  
Rhetorical Discourse

The art of public speaking has been one of the commonly feared tasks for some people because they are not prepared and equipped with knowledge in rhetoric. The study was conducted to analyze the State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered by the three presidents of the Philippines. Speech videos and speech manuscripts were analyzed using validated rubrics. A survey was also conducted to gather information on students’ perception on the study of rhetoric. Frequency, standard deviation, and weighted mean were used to analyze the rhetorical devices and canons of rhetoric employed in the speeches. It was found out that metaphor is a common rhetorical device used by the Presidents. The results show that the canons of rhetoric: invention, arrangement, style, memory and delivery were utilized in the speeches. Majority of the students of Rhetoric and Public Discourse, self-reported (or agreed) that the rhetorical discourse analysis of the SONA is beneficial to them as Rhetoric and Public Discourse students. The study concludes that the Presidents used the rhetorical elements and techniques to convince and influence the audience. It is recommended that the presidents (or their speech writers) should consider optimum use of the rhetorical elements and techniques to evoke the desired response from the audience.

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