The Pragmatics of Political Discourse: Explorations across cultures (Pragmatics & Beyond New Series)

"The volume promotes a pragmatic perspective to the analysis of political discourse as multilayered mediated discourse. The chapters cross the disciplinary and methodological boundaries of speech act theory, social positioning theory, and argumentation theory and rhetorics. They address the strategic use of address terms and irony, the form and function of questions, and the expression of certainty in the contexts of parliamentary discourse, interview, talkshow, phone-in programme and motion of support across different discourse domains. Different cultural contexts are represented, including Africa, the Middle East, different parts of Europe and the United States."--Provided by publisher P&BNS 228 The Pragmatics of Political Discourse 2 Editorial page 3 Title page 4 LCC data 5 Table of contents 6 The multilayered and multifaceted nature of political discourse 8 1. Introduction 8 2. The dynamics of political discourse 14 The contributions 21 Acknowledgement 23 References 23 I. Political discourse from above: Parliamentary discourse 26 On the metapragmatics of British, German and Russian political questions and answers 28 1. Introduction 28 2. The types of critical meta-moves in political question-answer sessions 30 3. The types of meta-responses in political question-answer sessions 36 4. Patterns of metacommunicative counter-attacks in question-answer sessions 42 5. Concluding remarks 49 References 52 The discursive practice of addressing in the Romanian Parliament 54 1. Introduction 54 2. Previous work on parliamentary debates 55 3. Setting the scene 56 4. Description of the corpus 57 5. Initial discursive practices: Forms of address in the Romanian Parliament 58 6. Discussion 69 7. Conclusion 71 References 71 II. Political discourse mediated: Interviews 74 Argumentation in broadcast election campaign discourse: Towards a rhetorical reconstruction 76 1. Introduction 76 2. Reconstruction procedures 76 3. Election campaign discourse 86 4. Towards a rhetorical reconstruction 95 References 103 Appendix 105 Strategic manoeuvring in a political interview: The case of responding to an accusation of inconsist 110 1. Introduction 110 2. Accusations of inconsistency as a form of criticism 112 3. Exploiting commitments in political interviews 117 4. Strategic manoeuvering in practice 124 5. Conclusion 129 References 130 The communication of certainty and uncertainty in Italian political media discourses 132 1. Introduction 132 2. The study 137 3. Conclusions 159 References 161 Transcription notes 165 Appendix 166 Political irony: Constructing reciprocal positioning in the news interview 174 1. Introduction 174 2. Positioning 176 3. Direct and indirect positioning 179 4. Conclusion 194 References 195 III. Political discourse from below: Phone-ins and letters 198 The effect of irony in radio talk-back programmes in Israel 200 1. Introduction 200 2. The effect of irony 201 3. Corpus 204 4. Analysis: Zehavi’s use of irony 205 5. Conclusions 222 References 223 ‘Motions of support’ and the communicative act of thanking in political discourse 226 Prologue 226 1. Introduction 228 2. Motions of support and the public-private sphere 230 3. Thanking as speech act or communicative act 232 4. Political discourse and sociocultural norms 235 5. Thanking in MoS: Towards a taxonomy 237 6. Wording and intention in MoS 242 7. Conclusion 247 References 248 Index of names 250 Index of terms 252 The Multilayered And Multifaceted Nature Of Political Discourse / Anita Fetzer -- Political Discourse From Above : Parliamentary Discourse. On The Metapragmatics Of British, German And Russian Political Questions And Answers / Maria Sivenkova ; The Discursive Practice Of Addressing In The Romanian Parliament / Rǎzvan Sǎfioiu -- Political Discourse Mediated : Interviews. Argumentation In Broadcast Election Campaign Discourse : Towards A Rhetorical Reconstruction / Margareth Sandvik ; Strategie Manoeuvring In A Political Interview : The Case Of Responding To An Accusation Of Inconsistency / Corina Andone ; The Communication Of Certainty And Uncertainty In Italian Political Media Discourses / Ilaria Riccioni, Ramona Bongelli And Andrzej Zuczkowski ; Political Irony : Constructing Reeiprocal Positioning In The News Interview / Elda Weizman -- Political Discourse From Below : Phone-ins And Letters. The Effect Of Irony In Radio Talk-back Programmes In Israel / Zohar Livnat And Gonen Dori-hacohen ; 'motions Of Support' And The Communicative Act Of Thanking In Political Discourse / Eric A. Anchimbe -- Index Of Names -- Index Of Terms. Edited By Anita Fetzer, University Of Augsburg. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes. Using political discourses produced from below, i.e. by the common people in Cameroon rather than by prominent politicians, this chapter illustrates how the social act of thanking is realised in the written political discourse sub-genre called 'motions of support'. These are letters read on radio or TV or published in newspapers, addressed to the president thanking him for a political favour or action deemed beneficial to the group writing the motion. In most of these open letters, groups of people extend thanks to the president for appointing a member of their community, ethnic group, town, Promotes a pragmatic perspective to the analysis of political discourse as multilayered mediated discourse. In this title, the chapters cross the disciplinary and methodological boundaries of speech act theory, social positioning theory, and argumentation theory and rhetorics.