Table Of Contenttitle: Analysing Political Speeches
author: Schäffner, Christina.
publisher: Multilingual Matters
isbn10 | asin: 1853594016
print isbn13: 9781853594014
ebook isbn13: 9780585147000
language: English
Political oratory, Public speaking, Language
subject and languages --Political aspects, Discourse
analysis.
publication date: 1997
lcc: PN4193.P6A53 1997eb
ddc: 808.5/1/088329
Political oratory, Public speaking, Language
subject: and languages --Political aspects, Discourse
analysis.
Page i
Analysing Political Speeches
Page ii
CURRENT ISSUES IN LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY
Editor: Sue Wright
Editorial Board: Dennis Ager, Paul Chilton, Helen Kelly-Holmes &
Christina Schäffner
Other Books in the Series
Children Talking: The Development of Pragmatic Competence
Linda Thompson (ed.)
Cultural Functions of Translation
Christina Schäffner and Helen Kelly-Holmes (eds.)
Discourse and Ideologies
Christina Schäffner and Helen Kelly-Holmes (eds.)
Ethnicity in Eastern Europe
Sue Wright (ed.)
Language and the State
Sue Wright (ed.)
Languages in Contact and Conflict
Sue Wright (ed.)
Monolingualism and Bilingualism: Lessons from Canada and Spain
Sue Wright (ed.)
Other Books of Interest:
Encyclopedia of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education
Colin Baker and Sylvia Prys Jones
'Francophonie' in the 1990s
Dennis Ager
Language, Culture and Communication in Contemporary Europe
Charlotte Hoffmann (ed.)
Language Planning: from Practice to Theory
Robert B. Kaplan and Richard B. Baldauf, Jr
Language Reclamation
Hubisi Nwenmely
Mass Media in the Asian Pacific
Bryce T. McIntyre (ed.)
Quebec's Aboriginal Languages
Jacques Maurais (ed.)
Please contact us for the latest book information:
Multilingual Matters Ltd, Frankfurt Lodge, Clevedon Hall,
Victoria Road, Clevedon, BS21 7HH, England
Web pages: http://www.multi.demon.co.uk
Page iii
Analysing Political Speeches
Edited by
Christina Schäffner
Multilingual Matters Ltd
Clevedon · Philadelphia · Toronto · Sydney · Johannesburg
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Analysing Political Speeches/Edited By Christina Schäffner
Based On A Series Of CILS Seminars
Includes Bibliographical References
1. Political Oratory. 2. Public Speaking. 3. Language And LanguagesPolitical Aspects.
4. Discourse Analysis. I. Schäffner, Christina
PN4193.P6A53 1997
808.5'1'08835dc21 97-33503
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 1-85359-401-6 (hbk)
Multilingual Matters Ltd
UK: Frankfurt Lodge, Clevedon Hall, Victoria Road, Clevedon BS21 7HH.
USA: 1900 Frost Road, Suite 101, Bristol, PA 19007, USA.
Canada: OISE, 712 Gordon Baker Road, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M2H 3R7.
Australia: P.O. Box 586, Artamon, NSW, Australia.
South Africa: PO Box 1080, Northcliffe 2115, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Copyright © 1997 Christina Schäffner and the authors of individual articles.
This book is also available as Vol. 3, No. 3 of the journal Current Issues in Language
and Society.
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any
means without permission in writing from the publisher.
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Short Run Press Ltd.
Page v
Contents
Christina Schäffner: Editorial: Political Speeches and 1
Discourse Analysis
Titus Ensink: The Footing of a Royal Address: An Analysis 5
of Representativeness in Political Speech, Exemplified in
Queen Beatrix' Address to the Knesset on March 28, 1995
Christoph Sauer: Echoes from Abroad - Speeches for the 33
Domestic Audience: Queen Beatrix' Address to the Israeli
Parliament
The Debate 68
Norman Fairclough: Rhetoric and Critical Discourse 86
Analysis: A Reply to Titus Ensink and Christoph Sauer
Page 1
Editorial: Political Speeches and Discourse Analysis
Christina Schäffner
Institute for the Study of Language and Society, Aston University,
Birmingham B4 7ET, UK
Language and Politics
When we think of politics, we think of it mainly in terms of the
struggle for power in order to secure specific ideas and interests and
put them into practice. This process of manifesting a political will and
transforming it into concrete social action is realised first of all
between political parties. In this process, language plays an important
role. In fact, any political action is prepared, accompanied, controlled
and influenced by language. We could easily add other verbs to this
list, such as guided, explained, justified, evaluated, criticised, . . .
The study of language has recently become more central to those
academic disciplines concerned with politics. However, political
scientists on the one hand, and linguists, or discourse analysts, on the
other hand, focus on different aspects when they discuss the
relationship between language and politics, and they also apply
different theories and methods in doing so. Political scientists are
mainly concerned with the consequences of political decisions and
actions for (the history of) a society, and they may be interested in the
political realities which are constructed in and through discourse.
Linguists, on the other hand, have always been particularly interested
in the linguistic structures used to get politically relevant messages
across to the addressees in order to fulfil a specific function. But also
a more narrow linguistic analysis of political discourse cannot ignore
the broader societal and political framework in which such discourse
is embedded. Van Dijk has recently argued, that 'despite some studies
on "political language", discourse and conversation analysis has thus
far had little to offer to political science', and he has called for
discourse analysis to be a 'genuine social, political or cultural analysis'
(van Dijk, 1994: 164). Such an interdisciplinary perspective should in
all probability yield most promising results.
One problem in the complex of language and politics, however, is
how to define what is political. Particularly in the twentieth century,
as a result of the massive expansion of print and electronic media,
more and more people are exposed to discourse that may be
characterised as political in nature. In addition, more and more people
are involved in their daily life in political action, by, for example,
being asked to cast their votes in an election, or by watching the news
on TV or reading a newspaper, or simply by talking with friends about
the consequences which recent decisions of the government might
have for each individual. The opportunities for each person to bemore
or less activelyinvolved in political discourse have increased
enormously.
Looked at it from the point of view of linguistics and discourse
analysis, we have to admit that political language, political discourse,
and political text themselves are vague terms. In linguistic literature,
political language has been used either to
Page 2
denote the use of language in the context of politics, i.e. a specific
language use with the purpose of achieving a specific, politically
motivated function, or it has been used to denote the specific political
vocabulary, i.e. words and phrases that refer to extralinguistic
phenomena in the domain of politics (see Dieckmann, 1981). From
the point of view of language use, we can again differentiate between
internal and external political communication, based on the setting
and the communicative partners involved. Internal political
communication would refer to all forms of discourse that concern first
of all the functioning of politics within political institutions, i.e.
governmental bodies, parties or other organisations. The texts in this
context discuss political ideas, beliefs, and practices of a society or
some part of it. External political communication, on the other hand,
is first of all aimed at the general public, i.e. non-politicians. These
two types of communication are realised by a variety of text types, or
genres, which may sometimes function both in internal and external
communication. Political discourse includes both inner-state and inter-
state discourse, and it may take various forms. Examples are bilateral
or multilateral treaties, speeches made during an electioneering
campaign or at a congress of a political party, a contribution of a
member of parliament to a parliamentary debate, editorials or
commentaries in newspapers, a press conference with a politician, or a
politician's memoirs. Here we concentrate on political speeches as a
specific sub-genre of political texts.
Political speeches
The characterisation of a text as political can be based on functional
and thematic criteria. Political texts are a part of and/or the result of
politics, they are historically and culturally determined (see the
contributions in Bochmann, 1986). They fulfil different functions due
to different political activities. Their topics are primarily related to
Description:This volume deals with political speeches, particularly commemorative addresses, from the perspective of critical discourse analysis. Such addresses are characterized as representative and epideictic, as exemplified by an address fo the Dutch Queen Beatrix to the Knesset during her 1995 state visit
