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Analysing Political Speeches - Charteris-Black, Jonathan
Analysing Political Speeches - Charteris-Black, Jonathan
(1st edition)
2nd edition
Jonathan Charteris-Black
The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this
PALGRAVE
London, N1 9XW.
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from
fully
country of origin.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Contents
List of Figures x
List of Tables xi
Introduction xii
Acknowledgements xx
12
16
19
1.5 Summary
27
Essential reading
33
34
34
36
2.3.1 Schemes
43
2.3.2 Tropes
49
54
2.4 Summary
58
Essential reading
58
59
59
59
61
3.3.1 Reference
62
vi Contents
3.3.2 Deixis
64
67
68
69
70
71
72
3.4.3 Collocation
73
3.5 Summary
77
Essential reading
83
87
87
90
91
94
97
4.3 Persuasion
99
4.4 Summary
105
Essential reading
108
109
5.1 Agency
109
109
110
113
5.2 Modality
115
115
119
5.2.3 Types of modality
121
5.3 Summary
132
Essential reading
132
133
6.1 Introduction
133
137
139
143
147
148
6.5 Sample text analysis using DHA
151
Contents vii
157
6.7 Summary
160
Essential reading
161
162
162
168
Donald Trump
173
175
181
185
188
7.5 Summary
192
Essential reading
193
197
197
an overview 205
213
8.5 Summary
215
Essential reading
216
217
9.1 Introduction
217
219
225
228
9.4.1 Conceptual metaphor theory applied
229
231
236
240
9.7 Summary
241
Essential reading
242
viii Contents
243
10.1 Introduction
243
247
10.2.1 General rhetorical purpose: gaining the audience’s
248
an argument 249
251
to the speaker
254
255
257
262
262
Essential reading
266
Comments on Exercises
267
283
Glossary
289
Index
295
27
39
78
5 Emma Watson Gender Equality Speech to the United Nations,
20 September 2014
105
123
152
172
183
(extract) 259
ix
List of Figures
13
1.4 Reason
13
1.5 Comparison/analogy
13
38
42
63
65
68
78
90
94
97
100
112
135
148
150
199
218
232
233
234
236
248
264
inaugural address
265
List of Tables
26
2.1 Adjectival collocations of ‘style’ in the British National Corpus
35
44
50
70
74
76
76
77
95
121
130
142
144
156
160
169
176
178
7.4 Trump’s ‘positive people’ phrases
178
179
180
186
186
187
188
210
9.1 The ten most common collocates in the position after ‘incendiary’
225
227
9.3 Analysis of metaphor source domains in sections 1–10
238
239
239
260
xi
Introduction
The aim of the second edition of this book is to further enhance the
reader’s ability to understand the variety of ways in which political
speeches may
It is hoped that the second edition of this book will encourage readers
the social and cultural contexts in which they are spoken. People who
read
a cookery book are neither guaranteed a gourmet result nor will they
nec-
Introduction xiii
The preface ends with an overview of the book. As they enter the
tenth
in his 2007 election campaign that oratory was a sleeping giant, it can
be
argued that his successor, Donald Trump, has substituted the tweet
for the
political speech, and the giant has become an ogre. However, this
would
Trump used the collocation ‘talk’ and ‘no action’ no fewer than twenty-
four times in a corpus of eighty-two of his campaign speeches, and
yet it was
the supporters of Brexit, Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson, were doing
in
Political speech
xiv Introduction
gural address also fed into a policy for the United States to build
alliances in the Third World. Perhaps the best way to conceptualise
the distinction
policy and so on, and will view short-term decisions against the
backdrop
Introduction xv
and her talent for rebuking her opponents and turning the rhetorical
and Barack Obama have all inspired their followers by reviving differ-
mythic thinking about good and evil, the ability to establish political
Political speakers should always have the audience in mind, and their
assumed that many people knew that there was a high level of unem-
ployment, for which the Labour government of the time could be held
used the slogan ‘Are you thinking what we’re thinking?’ – a rather
indi-
taboo topic in British politics. Their failure in that election implied that
they had made the wrong assumption because at that time the
majority of people were not preoccupied by immigration (though they
were soon
they had read the future and were ahead of their time. But a
misjudgement about the current preoccupations of the audience
undermined the persuasiveness of their rhetoric.
xvi Introduction
her own words Hillary Clinton misjudged the mood of the electorate:
and what a lot of the country wanted to hear in 2016. I’ve learned that
even the best plans and proposals can land on deaf ears when
people are
When people are angry and looking for someone to blame, they don’t
want to hear your 10-point plan to create jobs and raise wages. They
It was Donald Trump who was more successful in giving voice to this
their expertise (or lack of it) in social media. For some in the
audience, it is the intensity of effect that comes from listening to the
radio; for others it is more the intimacy offered by the visual close-up;
and for others it will be through the symbolic effect of physical
performance, engaging in some
of Twitter that has given his followers the feeling that they are actively
face and injured by a souvenir model of a building, got out of the car
he was travelling in to display his injuries to the media – aware of how
the event might have a negative impact on the ‘character’ of his
opponents,
Introduction xvii
invented identity (‘tag’), with the knowledge that they are unlikely ever
to meet those about whom they express strong opinions. Social
media sites
ticians and gain insight into their ongoing thoughts and views on
political topics. Many social media sites provide platforms for the
discussion of
political issues – usually with those who share similar views – as well
as
and has 1.14 million followers on Twitter; this compares with the
current
prime minister, Theresa May, who has 476,000 followers. Part of the
xviii Introduction
may not come from study and erudition. It could be that the opposite
is the case: the more analytical, the less authentic a speaker may
seem. So formal oratorical analysis – for example studying lists of
figures of speech as in the rhetorical schools of ancient Greece –
may have exactly the opposite
happening now, in real time, and when orators go off script, they may
be
Overview
What is distinctive about the approach taken here is that it does not
restrict itself to a single theoretical approach. Just as rival schools of
rhetoric –
Dijk’s extensive work on racist discourse (van Dijk, 2008) and Paul
Introduction xix
The book is divided into three parts, which are organised chronolog-
cians, military leaders and actors, and are referred to as ‘core texts’.
New speeches that I have included in the second edition are those by
Emma
exercises are provided after the final chapter, and there is a glossary
at the end of the book.
Jonathan
Charteris-Black
Acknowledgements
Many of the extracts in this book come from the speeches of well-
known
orators. I would like to acknowledge both the orators and their speech
speech (core text 2). I would also like to thank Ruth Wodak and
Michael
Meyer and their publisher, Sage, for permission to use the discursive
strategies in Table 6.5 (reproduced by permission of SAGE
Publications from
ideological square (Figure 5.1). I would also like to thank Mark Davies
for making accessible material in the British National Corpus and the
4 www.thegrammarlab.com/?nor-portfolio=corpus-of-presidential-
speeches-
cops-and-a-clintontrump-corpus
xx
PART I
Traditional Approaches
Discourse
Chapter 1
and Arrangement
British National Corpus (Davies, 2004) we find that the most common
adjectives that precede ‘rhetoric’ are ‘political’, ‘public’, ‘mere’,
‘radical’,
This morning, the right hon. member for Birmingham, Sparkbrook (Mr
when he was a member of the last Labour Cabinet he cut the number
of
All quoted speeches in this book were taken from the Hansard
Corpus, British Parliament,
with hypocrisy or falsehood, and ‘reality’ with truth. Does this just
reflect contemporary scepticism towards politicians because of their
poor track
the primacy of Truth and placed this above all other considerations.
By
contrast, although rhetoric was not unconcerned with truth, its focus
circumstances.
Plato would sympathise with the disdain towards rhetoric that is fre-
Union Congress:
John Major himself, when they put adverts in every press in Europe,
Come to Britain, our employees have no rights and they are cheap
Britain’s industry is weaker now than it was fifteen years ago, and
sure as anything Britain is a much nastier place to live in. Forget the
rhetoric about the enterprise economy. Forget the bullshit about the
Citizen’s Charter. If you want to find the reality of Britain today, after
fourteen years of Conservatism, go to a DSS [Department of Social
look at the misery of a country that will not provide sustenance and
dignity for its people. (Trades Union Annual Congress, 6 June 1993
[emphasis added])
Here, Plato would focus on the argument: the claim that things had
got
and distributed to the people, there would need to be those who were
time, place and situation, rather than Plato’s idealised and permanent
truth. Aristotle also assumed that rhetoric could be learnt, which is
why he wrote The Art of Rhetoric.
Exercise 1.1
the war dead as typical of this genre. But there are other types of
epid-
a reputation for the speaker and influence the social world. Figure 1.1
summarises the branches of oratory according to classical rhetorical
theory:
Branches of
oratory
Deliberative
Forensic
Epideictic
have stood the test of time quite well, as they highlight how a speech
event can be classified according to its social purpose, its audience
and the role played by this audience.
Exercise 1.2
Draw a table with three columns, giving each one a heading with one
of the
branches of oratory. Now position the following speeches in the table:
between artistic and inartistic proofs. The inartistic proofs were not
based in language at all, but in sources of persuasion that existed
before oratory, such as laws or evidence from witnesses, evidence
taken under oath or even
as ethos, logos and pathos, and these were created through oratory.
From
May 2007, at a critical point near the beginning of the speech Gordon
ple fairly, and duty to others. And now the sheer joy of being a father
myself – seeing young children develop, grow and flourish – like for
all
sis added])
Over the last couple of months I have sat in all kinds of EU meetings
vast
washed down with the finest wines known to man and on one
occasion
selves from the EU treaties and indeed there are some ways in which
we
will be liberated to be more active on the world stage than ever before
because his image is not that of the high moral ground. He coins new
Every day I go into an office so vast that you could comfortably fit two
squash courts and so dripping with gilt bling that it looks like
something
that the Iraq War had cost so many lives and resources that it had led
to a loss of trust by the American people in their elected leaders:
When it comes to the war in Iraq, the time for promises and
assurances,
for waiting and patience, is over. Too many lives have been lost and
too
many billions have been spent for us to trust the president on another
lenges we face at home and the wider struggle against terror yet to
be
We can seek to regain not just an office, but the trust of the American
people that their leaders in Washington will tell them the truth. That’s
2017 was the year America lost its independence. We will not let that
His major argument was that his major rival for office was dishonest
Drain the swamps, you’ve gotta ‘drain the swamp’ sign back there;
we’re going to drain the swamp, believe me. (27 October 2016)
Trump was alert to the potential of the phrase ‘drain the swamp’ for
interacting with audiences and his use of it grew in both length and
frequency through his campaign until it became his prime metaphor
for establishing ethos:
I said it’s so hokey. And then one group heard it, they went crazy.
Another group heard it, then we had a big, big rally in Florida. They
went crazy
about it, and now I love it. It’s true. It’s very accurate. (28 October
2016) Notice how the image of ‘draining a swamp’ is a synonym for
‘end government corruption’ but also how he claims to have disliked
the phrase
initially, and only come to love it because of its popular appeal. This
implies that he is a leader who establishes credibility by not allowing
personal preferences to override popular choice. In subsequent
campaign speeches he
the words we all are about to say, we all – you ready? Isn’t it amazing
how this phrase has gone up? I didn’t like it. I thought it was corny.
I thought it was really sort of a corny phrase – I didn’t like it. When we
going to drain the swamp. I thought it was corny, and then I went to
one rally and another, and they’re all screaming, “Drain the swamp.”
But Frank Sinatra didn’t like ‘My Way’ – he didn’t like it until he sang
it – the audience went crazy, sang it again, became number one. All
of
improve the moral basis for government.1 At the same time, the
catchphrase
imply that they are acting in their own self-interest rather than in the
interests of the group. Trump was able to reject accusations of self-
interest by attributing these entirely to his rivals. But ethos is an
appeal in which behaviour has to match language and subsequent
criticisms of Trump have sought to
Exercise 1.3
Read the first and last two paragraphs of Barack Obama’s inaugural
speech (see Core Text 1 at the end of the chapter), and identify any
appeals to ethos (the character of the speaker; his wisdom, goodwill
and virtue). Discuss these values.
part of the argument unstated, as this could draw the audience into
making
[Reason] After all, with taxation, the more you earn, the more you
pay.
[Reason] After all, with taxation, the more you earn, the more you
pay.
1 Present a counterposition
But in reality that is not the case, because there are other ways of
funding universities.
dential debate on 9 October 2016; two days before the debate, the
2005
beautiful – I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t
even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it – you can do
anything …
grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.’ The recording became
a
about the tape that was released on Friday, as you can imagine. You
called what you said ‘locker room banter’. You described kissing
You bragged that you have sexually assaulted women. Do you under-
stand that?
TRUMP: No, I didn’t say that at all. I don’t think you understood what
was – this was locker room talk. I’m not proud of it. I apologise to my
What we all saw and heard on Friday was Donald talking about
has said that the video doesn’t represent who he is. (1)
But I think it’s clear to anyone who heard it, that it represents exactly
who he is. Because we have seen this throughout the campaign. We
have seen
ranking them from one to ten, we’ve seen him embarrass women on
TV
and on Twitter. We saw him, after the first debate, spend nearly a
week
denigrating a former Miss Universe in the harshest, most personal
terms. (2) So, yes, this is who Donald Trump is. But it’s not only
women, and
it’s not only this video that raises questions about his fitness to be our
he has changed.
how he has not changed: during the campaign he has rated women
on
ing the claim, she seeks to undermine his ethical credibility through
reasoned argument. In terms of logical argument, she is persuasive,
but although she may have been winning in the appeal to reason
through logos, she was losing the appeal to the emotions, and it is to
these that I turn next.
Exercise 1.4
2007, p. 117), this means that they are directed towards something,
so, to use a contemporary example, someone might be angry with
the North
by Bob Hope what it felt like to be president. He replied, ‘It’s not a lot
different than being an actor, except I get to write the script.’ The
arousal of emotion was a controversial issue in classical rhetoric, as
rhetoricians debated the extent to which it was acceptable in
developing arguments.
Perhaps the most eloquent case arguing for the connection between
lan-
joy, increase pity … For just as various drugs expel various humours
from the body … Some speeches give pain, some pleasure; some
fear,
cratic style of the EU and the claimed arrogance of its leaders. The
pro-Leave supporting Boris Johnson is a politician whose reputation
was established
Europa:
Well thank you very much, Andrew, and good morning everybody.
Europa, which of course is the single market. This is it; this is the
abso-
lute quintessential British success in Europe and will remain so in or
out
about time [that] TFL [Transport for London], about time TFL were
the arguments they make, this is the one that infuriates me the most.
In a
son: the threat that loss of trade with Europe presented to the
economy and the danger of loss of cheaper labour for specific
industries such as vegetable and fruit picking and in the National
Health Service. The success of the
Pathos was also employed directly after the Leave campaign won the
referendum in Nigel Farage’s stinging rebuke delivered to the
European
Parliament:
Funny, isn’t it? Funny, isn’t it? Thank you very much for that very
warm
welcome. Funny, isn’t it? When I came here 17 years ago, and I said
that I wanted to lead a campaign to get Britain to leave the EU, you
all
laughed at me. Well, I have to say, you’re not laughing now, are you?
I know that virtually none of you have ever done a proper job in your
a job, but listen, just listen. [Jeering from other MEPs (members of
the
Exercise 1.5
Examine the following extracts from Donald Trump’s inaugural
speech, and
1. For too long, a small group in our nation’s capital has reaped the
rewards of government while the people have borne the cost.
Washington flourished
– but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered –
but the jobs left, and the factories closed. The establishment
protected itself, but not the citizens of our country. Their victories
have not been your victories.
Their triumphs have not been your triumphs. And while they
celebrated in
our nation’s capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families
all across our land.
2. That all changes – starting right here and right now, because this
moment is your moment: it belongs to you. It belongs to everyone
gathered here today
and everyone watching all across America. This is your day. This is
your
celebration. And this, the United States of America, is your country. ...
3. From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this
day
4. A new national pride will stir our souls, lift our sights, and heal our
divisions.
It’s time to remember that old wisdom our soldiers will never forget:
that
whether we are black, or brown, or white, we all bleed the same red
blood
of patriots. …
ory and delivery. Initially there is a need to gain hold of the audience’s
into which a speech might be divided and what types of appeal might
trate below.
The first part was a prologue, in which the orator sought to create
rapport with the audience and to arouse interest. Some techniques,
such as flattery or an appeal to goodwill, were directed towards the
audience; others, such
ing that he shared the same values as the audience by using the first
person plural pronoun, ‘we’, and by displaying his humility towards
the audience.
stances. The Civil War was one of the bloodiest in history, and yet it
was only through the crucible of the sword, the sacrifice of multitudes,
that we could begin to perfect this union and drive the scourge of
slavery
policy:
The crowds we’re getting – I’m the messenger, but I’ll tell you what,
the
message is the right message. We’re tired of incompetence. We’re
tired
of not taking care of our military. We’re tired of not taking care of our
vets, who are being taken care of very poorly. (9 August 2016)
start of a speech:
There is nothing the political establishment will not do, and no lie they
will not tell, to hold on to their prestige and power at your expense.
driven by the desire to hold attention by not beating about the bush
and
out the central facts of a case; the way these facts were laid out
would
that I owe a debt to all of those who came before me, and that in no
to affirm the greatness of our nation, not because of the height of our
tion made over 200 years ago, ‘We hold these truths to be self-
evident,
that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness.’
within a epideictic ‘grand’ narrative that makes the transition from his
frames this larger, social story by quoting a section from the American
that fund it, exists for only one reason: to protect and enrich itself. …
But the central base of world political power is here in America, and it
is our corrupt political establishment that is the greatest power behind
the
are unlimited. Their media resources are unlimited. And, most impor-
Tonight, I will share with you my plan for action for America. The most
[APPLAUSE]
politicians who will not put America first, then we can be assured that
other nations will not treat America with respect. The respect that we
deserve.
[APPLAUSE]
My plan will begin with safety at home. Which means, safe neighbor-
The Proof
Following the narrative (or sometimes integrated with it) is the ‘proof’
– a part in which the orator identifies whether the argument will draw
primarily on the artless or artistic proofs and which of the artistic
proofs are most likely to be persuasive. The proof is at the very kernel
of a speech,
south side of Chicago who can’t read, that matters to me, even if it’s
not my child. If there’s a senior citizen somewhere who can’t pay for
her prescription and has to choose between medicine and the rent,
that
makes this country work. It’s what allows us to pursue our individual
27 July 2004)
tion and economic and foreign policies that have bled our country
dry.
factories, and our jobs, as they flee to Mexico, China and other coun-
It’s a global power structure that is responsible for the economic deci-
sions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its
wealth and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large
corpo-
This is a struggle for the survival of our nation. And this will be our
last chance to save it. (13 November 2016)
ing for the very sad depletion of our military. We’ve defended other
nations’ borders while refusing to defend our own. And we’ve spent
has fallen into disrepair and decay. We’ve made other countries rich
over the horizon. One by one, the factories shuttered and left our
shores
with not even a thought about the millions and millions of American
workers that were left behind. The wealth of our middle class has
been
ripped from their homes and then redistributed all across the world.
But
that is the past, and now we are looking only to the future. (Inaugural
By arousing anger in the harm that has been done to America, Trump
seeks
3 The Refutation
The refutation can either be treated as part of the proof (as we saw in
We already know what we’re getting from the other party’s nominee.
respect that, but what he’s not offering is any meaningful change from
with no exit strategy; a war that’s sending our troops on their third
tour, and fourth tour, and fifth tour of duty; a war that’s costing us
billions of dollars a month and hasn’t made us any safer … (2) We
already know
that John McCain offers more of the same. The question is not
whether
the other party will bring about change in Washington – the question
is,
above making cheap personal gibes. This allows him in (2) to put
forward a
(i) there is no plan for ending it; (ii) it is expensive; and (iii) it has not
achieved its objective of ensuring security. In (3) he links his
opponent
Obama has proved in the foregoing argument that McCain will simply
con-
tinue with previous (discredited) Republican policies. Notice how,
through
4 The Epilogue
the skill required in the epilogue: ‘A speech is like a love affair. Any
fool can start it, but to end it requires considerable skill’ ( Reader’s
Digest, February 1967). Rhetorical theory proposed that the purpose
of the epilogue was to bring the focus of the speech back to the
orator by summa-
sacrificed and struggled and faced down the greatest odds to perfect
our
willing to shed our cynicism and our doubts and our fears; if we’re
will-
win this primary election, we won’t just win this election in November,
we will change this country, and keep this country’s promise alive in
the
twenty-first century. Thank you, and may God Bless the United States
[APPLAUSE]
I am your voice. So to every parent who dreams for their child, and
every
child who dreams for their future, I say these words to you tonight: I
am
with you. I will fight for you. And I will win for you.
[APPLAUSE]
To all Americans tonight, in all of our cities and in all of our towns, I
make this promise: We will make America strong again. We will make
America proud again. We will make America safe again. And we will
make America great again. God bless you, and good night. I love
you.
need to do this, folks, believe me. I built a great company and I had
a wonderful life. I could have enjoyed the fruits and benefits of years
I’m doing it because this country has given me so much, and I feel so
strongly that it’s my turn to give back to the country that I love.
I’m doing this for the people and for the movement, and we will take
back this country for you and we will make America great again.
shows Aristotle’s advice on the type of artistic proof that was likely to
be most persuasive in each part.
Part
Rhetorical Purpose
Artistic Proof
Prologue
Narrative
Sets out the facts of the case from a Appeals can be made by
ethos or logos
Proof
speaker’s case
or logos
Refutation
on logos or ethos
Epilogue
an outcome
Exercise 1.6
1.5 Summary
cept provides the basis for much of our current understanding of how
they evoke, their social setting and their orientation towards time.
20 January 2009
My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before (1)
us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sac-
rifices borne by our ancestors (1). I thank President Bush for his
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath (1). (2)
and the still waters of peace (2). Yet, every so often the oath is
That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood (1). (3)
for a new age (3). Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses
shuttered (4). Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too
many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use
These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics (4)
inevitable and that the next generation must lower its sights (2).
Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real (1). They (5)
are serious and they are many (2). They will not be met easily or
in a short span of time (3). But know this, America – they will
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, (6)
ises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too
time has come to set aside childish things (1). The time has
ise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to
has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less (3). It has not
been the path for the faint-hearted – for those who prefer leisure
over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame (4).
Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things –
some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled (9)
across oceans in search of a new life (1). For us, they toiled in
sweat-shops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip
and plowed the hard earth (2). For us, they fought and died, in
places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn (3).
Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed (10)
and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a
better life (1). They saw America as bigger than the sum of our
This is the journey we continue today (1). We remain the most (11)
productive than when this crisis began (3). Our minds are no less
inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last
week or last month or last year (4). Our capacity remains undi-
interests and putting off unpleasant decisions – that time has surely
passed (6). Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves
off, and begin again the work of remaking America (7). [CHEERS]
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done (1). The state (12)
of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act –
not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for
growth (2). We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids
and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together (3).
gy’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost (4).
We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our
cars and run our factories (5). And we will transform our schools
Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions – (13)
who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans
(1). Their memories are short (2). For they have forgotten what
this country has already done; what free men and women can
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted (14)
beneath them – that the stale political arguments that have con-
today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but
the answer is no, programs will end (4). And those of us who
day – because only then can we restore the vital trust between a
Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for (15)
good or ill (1). Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is
eye, the market can spin out of control – and that a nation cannot
prosper long when it favors only the prosperous (2). The success of
our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross
our safety and our ideals (1). Our Founding Fathers, faced with
blood of generations (2). Those ideals still light the world, and
and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace
and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more (4). [CHEERS
not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and
Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use;
our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of
We are the keepers of this legacy (1). Guided by these principles (18)
once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even
With old friends and former foes, we’ll work tirelessly to lessen
the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet
(4). We will not apologise for our way of life, nor will we waver
in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by
that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot out-
last us, and we will defeat you (5). [CHEERS and APPLAUSE]
language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and
because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation,
and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united,
we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday
pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world
grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that
America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace (3).
the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills
on the West – know that your people will judge you on what
the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side
to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish
starved bodies and feed hungry minds (1). And to those nations
For the world has changed, and we must change with it (3).
As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with
(22)
patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains (1). They have some-
thing to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper
through the ages (2). We honor them not only because they are
themselves (3). And yet, at this moment – a moment that will define
cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us
Our challenges may be new (1). The instruments with which we (24)
meet them may be new (2). But those values upon which our
success depends – honesty and hard work, courage and fair play,
old (3). These things are true (4). They have been the quiet force
This is the price and the promise of citizenship (1). This is the source
(25) of our confidence – the knowledge that God calls on us to shape
an uncertain destiny (2). This is the meaning of our liberty and our
creed – why men and women and children of every race and every
faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a
man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been
served
at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred
campfires on the shores of an icy river (2). The capital was aban-
doned (3). The enemy was advancing (4). The snow was stained
was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be
read to the people: ‘Let it be told to the future world … that in the
depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive
… that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger,
hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and
endure what storms may come (2). Let it be said by our children’s
end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with
eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried
forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future
generations (3).
Thank you. God bless you and God bless the United States of (28)
Essential reading
Chapter 2
Figures
2.1 Introduction: what is style?
inscription and a blunt one for erasure) – which suggests that ‘style’
was used in relation to language before it was used in these other
expressive domains.
‘new’ and ‘old’ imply a contrast with what has gone before, and
‘different’,
The difference between style and delivery is that style covers a range
of modes of communication, whereas delivery is restricted only to the
appearance clearly indicated that this was his ethnicity, and his
delivery
New style
167
Old style
88
Gothic style
73
Traditional style
60
Different style
59
Particular style
57
Personal style
41
Fine style
39
Italian style
39
10
Classical style
38
11
Modern style
36
12
Architectural style
33
13
American style
33
14
Distinctive style
30
15
English style
29
16
French style
25
17
Continental style
24
18
Individual style
24
19
Political style
23
20
Romanesque style
23
21
Grand style
22
22
Similar style
22
23
Western style
22
24
High style
21
that make an orator sound unique with others that imply a shared set
social meaning, and between the spoken mode and other means of
com-
ple of this would be the Shi-ite leader, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who
rarely talked above the level of a whisper. This style of delivery
differentiated
him from other ayatollahs in Iraq, who had a more aggressive, ranting
style; it also ensured that the audience had to strain to hear him as
well as giving the impression of saintliness – spiritual values therefore
formed the basis of a social meaning that was shared between leader
and followers.
marked him out both as part of a group but also as distinct: style is
per-
Exercise 2.1
and compare how these match with the evidence of its meaning in
the British National Corpus. (You may also wish to compare the
adjective collocates of
‘style’ as actual word choices and ‘delivery’ as the control of the voice
and other performance-related aspects such as gesture and facial
expression.
tion modes. In ancient Greece, the term for style was simply lexis –
style was equated with the selection of words (rather than other
modes), and
words and simpler phrases led to a plain style, whereas less familiar
words and more elaborate expressions led to an elevated style.
Simpler words
was commonly known as the ‘Attic’ style, while the elevated style was
known as ‘Asianic’ because of the influence of Asian rhetoric once
the
Greek states had expanded into Asia. There was also a middle style
that
I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think
you
were brought against her, and there was Russian collusion, the fact of
the
election defeat, turning away the tide of popular opinion that had
been
national elections. The indictment cites the illegal use of social media
‘to sow political discord, including actions that supported the
presidential candidacy of Donald Trump and disparaged his
opponent, Hillary Clinton’.2
Style
Deliberative:
Epideictic:
elaborate and
Forensic:
elevated, grand
complex
precise, simple
style
Issues of style and timing are crucial in all types of public speaking,
including speeches by individuals who are not politicians. This is
particularly the case with motivational speaking to audiences who are
facing imminent danger as a result of decisions taken by politicians,
as is the case with ‘eve-of-battle’
speeches by those in positions of military command. As the executive
arm
amidst gathering clouds and raging storms’ and in the ‘call to arms’
style that is intended to unify, motivate and raise morale: ‘Today I say
to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and
they are many. They will
com/2018/02/16/us/politics/russians-indicted-mueller-election-
interference.html, retrieved
not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America –
they will be met.’ A combination of a mood of uncertainty (here from
the metaphors) and the certainty that a challenge will be faced up to
with courage characterises both speeches that address political
crises and eves of battles because of the overlap between the
psychological states of their audiences.
19 March 2003
We go to liberate, not to conquer (1). We will not fly our flags in (1)
their country (2). We are entering Iraq to free a people, and the
only flag which will be flown in that ancient land is their own (3).
There are some who are alive at this moment who will not be alive (2)
not send (2). As for the others, I expect you to rock their world.
Wipe them out if that is what they choose (3). But if you are fero-
Iraq is steeped in history (1). It is the site of the Garden of Eden, (3)
and you will have to go a long way to find a more decent, gen-
erous and upright people than the Iraqis (4). You will be embar-
Don’t treat them as refugees, for they are in their own country
(6). Their children will be poor, in years to come they will know
that the light of liberation in their lives was brought by you (7).
If there are casualties of war, then remember that when they (4)
woke up and got dressed in the morning, they did not plan to die
this day (1). Allow them dignity in death. Bury them properly,
alive, but there may be people among us who will not see the end
of this campaign (1). We will put them in their sleeping bags and
send them back (2). There will be no time for sorrow (3).
The enemy should be in no doubt that we are his nemesis and (6)
and they are stoking the fires of hell for Saddam (2). He and his
forces will be destroyed by this coalition for what they have done
(3). As they die, they will know their deeds have brought them to
It is a big step to take another human life (1). It is not to be done (7)
lightly (2). I know of men who have taken life needlessly in other
conflicts, I can assure you they live with the mark of Cain upon
that right in international law, and ensure that one day they go
(8)
for your deeds will follow you down through history (2). We will
➜
Style and Figures 41
As for ourselves, let’s bring everyone home and leave Iraq a bet-
(11)
(12)
be likely. There are also some elements of an elevated style that fit
with
would have not have been the case had any reference been made to
Jesus.
made explicit when he warns about the consequences for those who
do not
comply with such principles: ‘It is a big step to take another human
life.
It is not to be done lightly’ and ‘If you harm the regiment or its history
its consequences.
◇ consistency;
The speech has all these features – there is a very clear instance of
parallelism within a sentence’s structure in 10.1:
The enemy should be in no doubt that we are his nemesis and that
we are bringing about his rightful destruction.
Simplicity implies
Middle Style
Display excites
sincerity
e.g. Isocrates
admiration
e.g. Lysias
e.g. Cicero
I share that belief, and I believe that readers of this book do too.
your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your
country’;
2.3.1 Schemes
of speech they could identify, and these later formed the basis of
handbooks
44
not
what’s
. Our
is enough’
doesn’t know
Eight
doesn’t care
our own lives what we will, but that we also have the obligation
up to their responsibilities.
keep grasping at
on ‘change’).
On November
George Bush was elected for two presidencies of four years each).
This country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but
that’s not
universities and our culture are the envy of the world, but that’s
not what
2.2
Table
Scheme
anaphora
antithesis
chiasmus
ellipsis
epiphora
45
have
We
CHEERS
are
folks.
2015).
. A nation of
more
a wall,
to build
have
‘a nation of whiners’
once more.
we
More
USA! USA!] …
more
more
USA!
America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better
AND APPLAUSE
USA!
Tonight,
whiners?
to create a build-up.
the other).
closure of a topic).
isocolon
parataxis
parison
parallelism
repetition
tricolon
otherwise indicated) and put the scheme in italics (see Table 2.2).
phrase ‘now is the time’ and the resulting effect on speech pace and
rhythm leads to audible audience responses:
care, my plan will lower your premiums. If you don’t, you’ll be able
insurance companies while she lay in bed dying of cancer, I will make
certain those companies stop discriminating against those who are
sick
Now is the time to help families with paid sick days and better family
leave, because nobody in America should have to choose between
keeping their jobs and caring for a sick child or ailing parent. Now is
the time to change our bankruptcy laws, so that your pensions are
protected ahead of CEO bonuses; and the time to protect Social
Security for future
generations. And now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for
an equal day’s work, because I want my daughters to have exactly
the exact
You will have noted that the phrase is repeated at increasingly shorter
You know, they said this day would never come. [CHEERS]
They said this country was too divided; too disillusioned to ever come
together around a common purpose.
have done what the cynics said we couldn’t do. [CHEERS] You have
done what the state of New Hampshire can do in five days. [CHEERS
and APPLAUSE] You have done what America can do in this New
Year,
... you’ll be able to look back with pride and say that this was the
This was the moment when the improbable beat what Washington
This was the moment when we tore down barriers that have divided
us for too long – when we rallied people of all parties and ages to a
common cause; when we finally gave Americans who’d never
participated in
This was the moment when we finally beat back the politics of fear,
and doubt, and cynicism; the politics where we tear each other down
instead
There are some who believe that we must try to turn back the clock
on
this new world; that the only chance to maintain our living standards
tries, shut down immigration, and rely on old industries (1). I disagree
(2). Not only is it impossible to turn back the tide of globalization, but
efforts to do so can make us worse off (3). Rather than fear the
future,
A warning about the use of schemes such as the tricolon is that they
Exercise 2.2
Identify the schemes in the speech by Tim Collins given in Core Text
2.
Style and Figures 49
2.3.2 Tropes
let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us
brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may
come.
we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back, nor did
we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon
us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to
future generations. Thank you. God bless you, and God bless the
United States of America.
The metaphors (in italics) are from the semantic fields of weather
(‘winter’,
arrangement of the speech because they are from the same semantic
fields
The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the
still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst
gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has
carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high
office, but
because we, the People, have remained faithful to the ideals of our
for-
50
, and
a King’s
more
2007, alludes to
– a moment
once
. (Thatcher,
February
economy is in turmoil
defining moments
, our
no mean achievement
. (Obama, 10
2008)
August
nation is at war
1982)
great progress
August
April
Example
28
from Georgia.)
when our
the
(Obama, 28
led to ‘
22
But because Russia and the West know that there can be no
October
litos
: ‘over’ or
hyper
cultural reference.
‘beyond’).
own question.
‘plain’/‘meagre’).
2.3
Table
Figure
allusion
autonomasia
hyperbole
hypophora
irony
litotes
51
brick
. (Obama,
Blue
. (Obama,
2008)
and
August
Red States
improbable quest
August
2008)
2007)
February
January
November
January
February
It’s the answer that led those who have been told for so long
we can achieve to
States
10
be done, and
(Obama, 10
time
(Obama, 3
a genuine question).
entity.
metaphor
metonymy
oxymoron
periphrasis
personification
rhetorical
question
synecdoche
appropriate to the main theme of his speech, which is the need for a
heroic narrative of nation.
Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save.
Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend.
America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this
moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the
future. Let us keep that promise – that American promise – and, in
the words of Scripture,
hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess. Thank you,
and God Bless the United States of America. (28 August 2008)
And if you will join me in this improbable quest, if you feel destiny
calling, and see as I see, a future of endless possibility stretching
before us; if you sense, as I sense, that the time is now to shake off
our slumber, and slough off our fear, and make good on the debt we
owe past and future generations, then I’m ready to take up the cause,
and march with you, and work with you. Together, starting today, let
us finish the work that
Obama has been likened to the classical orator Cicero, and we might
presidents? We have seen from the above analysis that one reason
for this
is that figures of speech are not employed just to add colour and
interest
Exercise 2.3
➢ Identify the tropes in the eve of war speech by Tim Collins (Core
Text 2).
In this section, I suggest that middle and higher styles are often
characterised by an interaction between tropes and schemes; this is
effective, as it combines the resources of lexical semantics and
syntax. I will also suggest interacting figures avoids the audience’s
attention being drawn too heavily to any particular figure and so has a
more general rhetorical impact than
It’s not change when he offers four more years of Bush economic
poli-
cies that have failed to create well-paying jobs, or insure our workers,
the gap between Wall Street and Main Street, and left our children
with
a mountain of debt. (3 June 2008)
The metonym here arises from a street standing for the activities that
occur there, which in turn stand for the value system underlying those
activities –
values (via small business in the American small town). His own
policies
to strike bargains that are good not just for Wall Street, but also for
Main Street. And when I am President, that’s what we will do.
the political allegiances that the colours symbolise. There are also the
synecdoches ‘brick’, ‘block’ and ‘hand’, that stand for the activity of
building, which in turn stands for productive activities in general (as
building is a prototypical purposeful activity). The whole argument is
structured by several antitheses: ‘up’ is contrasted with ‘down’;
‘ordinary’ with ‘extraordinary’; and ‘Red’ with ‘Blue’. These antitheses
themselves occur in a triplet, and this is juxtaposed with a tricolon
(syntactic repetition) of syntactically equivalent phrases, beginning
with ‘brick by brick’. There are other
as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation;
and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American
story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to
shining sea – Yes. We. Can. (8 January 2008)
phors. The parallelism arising from the schemes gives the speech a
rhyth-
mic balance that is aesthetically satisfying and, like the movement of
tides, sets up expectations that are then fulfilled – culminating in the
epiphoric
the ‘hope’ and ‘history’ conceptual frames; the metaphor of words that
acterises the formula that eventually became the slogan for his
successful
YES WE CAN.
YES WE CAN.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and
pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
YES WE CAN.
It was the call of workers who organised; women who reached for the
ballot; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a
King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the
Promised
Land.
prosperity. YES WE CAN heal this nation. YES WE CAN repair this
world. YES WE CAN.
(8 January 2008)
(in italics) create structural patterns into which the trope of metaphor
can be slotted; the parallelisms introduce a mythic account of
American history by integrating the founding fathers (white) with the
struggle of slaves (black), the pioneers of the West and the space
race (largely white) and
From the classical tradition, there are a range of schemes and tropes,
ing are hallmarks of Obama’s elevated style and often occur at salient
emotional.
the emphasis on a shared Christian faith that unites the ‘white’ and
‘black’
traditions, and evidence for this is in the choice of the word ‘creed’ in
‘Yes we can. It was a creed written into the founding documents that
declared the destiny of a nation.’ It is a return to religious faith that is
rhetorically the means for overcoming political and ethnic divisions –
a fundamental
Exercise 2.4
2.4 Summary
three types of style – the elevated, the plain and the middle style –
and these styles were evident in the extent to which figures of speech
were used and
Essential reading
Edwards, P. (2009). How to Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip-Hop
MC
Chapter 3
Discourse
that he was a valiant, vigorous and heroic leader rather than a victim
of
sidering first grammatical and then lexical cohesion. I argue that the
close correspondence between coherence and cohesion contributes
to
great speeches.
might say that coherence is the understanding that arises when there
is a
world. The knowledge that Kennedy assumed his audience had when
he
gave his first inaugural address was that the United States was
struggling
59
that Kennedy would have assumed among his audience, and this
might be
as follows: the Second World War had led to the break-up of the
colonial
they could no longer resist the pressure for independence from the
col-
emerge. As part of this struggle, the United States and the Soviet
Union
leader in his own right. Since the election had been won only
narrowly,
cations, this global audience was coming within reach for the first
time.
The speech was perhaps the first truly modern piece of political
oratory
communication.
The coherence of a speech relies on how far it fits with the reader’s
knowledge context that would have been shared by Kennedy with his
audi-
ence. The full text of Kennedy’s speech is given at the end of this
chapter; it is divided into numbered paragraphs, and each paragraph
is divided
into sentences (although the text was written to be spoken, for ease
of
ments to those countries that are potential allies of the United States
(commitments that will later impose their own obligations), and he is
offering
an alliance with any nation that is prepared to resist the Soviet Union.
in 8.1, and the Soviet Union is implied by ‘iron tyranny’ in 7.1. This is
We should recall that the speech was co-authored with Ted Sorenson
–
the Cold War, and so their interpretation of the text relies more
heavily
have been able to rely more on shared knowledge frames. Yet the
speech
has stood the test of time, and an audience of young people today
can still access the speech because its coherence also arises from
cohesion; this is what requires analysis in the next section.
Exercise 3.1
(4.1) Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we
shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support
any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the
success of liberty.
known as a cohesive tie, and the type of cohesion where the hearer
refers back to something that has already been mentioned is known
as anaphoric
lowing sections.
3.3.1 Reference
Cohesion
Grammatical
Lexical
(1.2) For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same
solemn oath
(2.3) And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears
fought are still at issue around the globe – the belief that the rights
of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the
hand of God.
When ‘forebears’ occurs for the first time (in 1.2), it refers to the
founders of the American Republic – who have not yet been referred
to in the
from the Greek prefix endon, meaning ‘within’. Other phrases in 2.3,
such as ‘revolutionary beliefs’ and ‘rights of man’, have not previously
they refer to ideas that are external to the text. Exophoric reference
independence.
has always seen itself as the prototype for freedom as it was the first
nation to break away from British Imperial rule. In public
communication, there
(20.1) All this will not be finished in the first 100 days.
(20.2) Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of
this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet.
Deixis comes from the Greek word for ‘pointing’ and is a term used
for
in which they are spoken. The speaker views him- or herself as being
at the deictic centre, and other entities are positioned in relation to
who and where he or she is, and when he or she is speaking. Deictic
references are the words the orator uses for pointing to the various
aspects of the context in which he or she is located in time and
space. The three primary elements to which the speaker at the deictic
centre can refer are people (persons),
Deixis
person
place
time
ically elected leader who will follow the will of the people. Earlier, he
says: (11.1) Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our
adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request.
that are allied with the Soviet Union rather than the United States.
These are all examples of person deixis, and the first person plural,
‘we’, (as in 11.1) is always a significant pronoun in persuasive
language as
previously opponents.
‘Place deixis’ means all the spatial relations that are referred to in the
‘South of our border’ uses the compass point ‘south’ and spatial
location
the danger of Cuba, which since the Castro revolution was allying
itself
with the Soviet Union. Sometimes place and person deixis work in
combination:
(8.1) To those peoples in the huts and villages across the globe strug-
(1.2) For I have sworn before you and almighty God the same solemn
ters ago.
(2.1) The world is very different now.
‘Now’ and ‘ago’ are both instances of time deixis, as they contrast the
present time with the past, relying on the historical knowledge of what
(3.1) We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first
revolution.
Exercise 3.2
➢ Identify examples of reference in Core Text 4 (p. 78). Try to
categorise these by deciding whether the reference is exophoric or
endophoric.
pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have
passed
only understand the meaning of 7.2 with reference to 7.1. ‘We’ in 7.1
refers back to ‘we’ in 5.1, and in 6.1–6.3 we assume that each use of
‘we’
refers to the same group of people of whom the speaker is one. But
‘we’ is
deliberately imprecise in political rhetoric and it could also be
interpreted in a critical analysis as referring to different entities – for
example, the government, Americans and so on, in which case it
would be analysed as
But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own
welcome to the ranks of the free’, so anaphora can stretch back over
more
The audience may wonder if this is the same ‘those’ as in ‘To those
peoples in the huts and villages across the globe struggling to break
the
Union.
when a word refers forward to something that will follow in the text. It
example, ‘This much we pledge – and more’ (5.1); ‘and more’ refers
to the
Reference
Exophoric
Endophoric
Anaphoric
Cataphoric
In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been
Substitution
This is a relationship where one word takes the place of a phrase. So,
for
example, in ‘If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it
cannot save the few who are rich’ (8.2), ‘the many’ is a substitution
for ‘the many people’. In practice, this category does not occur very
frequently, and you will do well if you can find other examples in the
speech.
Ellipsis
unite us’, ‘let us begin to explore the stars, conquer the deserts etc.’;
in these cases the verb phrases are omitted because they are taken
for granted and so can be analysed as ellipsis.
Conjunction
found within sentences, they are only relevant for the analysis of
cohesion when they join separate sentences:
But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort
ern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly
atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that
stays
Type
Logical Relationship
Examples
additive
add/give an alternative
adversative
opposition
causal
another
temporal
one event follows
another in time
next day
continuative
please continue to
after all
Exercise 3.3
➢ For each of the references you analysed as endophoric in the
previous exercise, decide whether it is anaphoric or cataphoric.
➢ Can you think of certain types of text that may rely more on a
particular type of grammatical cohesion?
sion. According to Halliday and Hasan (1976), there are only two
main
related simply because they often occur together, not because they
are
‘sex’, ‘drugs’ and ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ are semantically unrelated, but
because they are associated in experience they became collocates
for ‘baby boomers’.
This means that when one of the words occurs (e.g. ‘sex’), there is a
like-
lihood that another one of the group will also occur (e.g. ‘drugs’),
though there is no explanation in the semantic system – having sex is
different
from taking drugs, but because people who take drugs sometimes do
so to
In the analysis of the speech at the end of this chapter, repetitions are
that shares the same root. I would like to illustrate how repetition
organ-
(6.1) To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share,
The word ‘pledge’ in 6.1 refers back to the same pledge in 5.1, so this
is
repeated in 7.1, 8.1, 9.1, 10.1 and 11.1; each time we come to one of
these words, it refers back to both the previous occurrence and all the
previous
for a young leader, especially one uncertain about his health and
physical
The more the meaning stays the same, the more the words can be
con-
‘world’ from 2.1, to produce ‘And yet the same revolutionary beliefs
for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the world’, this
‘We dare not forget now that we are the heirs of that first revolution’,
the style is less acceptable, but the meaning is hardly affected. Quite
often a synonym is used to avoid repetition and enhance style; for
example, at
the end of 4.1, ‘to assure the survival and the success of liberty’
sounds
better than ‘to assure the survival and the success of freedom’,
because
‘freedom’ has already been used in 1.1 and occurs four other times in
the speech, whereas this is the only use of ‘liberty’. Such lexical
varia-
tion enhances a speech: ‘liberty’ will have more impact when used
only
sparingly.
‘split asunder’ is a verb phrase. But they have opposite senses that
contribute to the lexical cohesiveness between the two sentences.
We could test the
‘wet’ and ‘dry’ can be put on a scale, so there are degrees of wetness
or dry-ness that can be contrasted with each other. Conversely,
‘dead’ and ‘alive’
Exercise 3.4
3.4.3 Collocation
Apart from lexical repetition, the other main type of lexical cohesion is
that link its meaning to situations when pledges are made – such as
when friends need support or are short of money. We make pledges
to protect
us against the possibility of times being hard because of poverty,
illness, loneliness and so on.
Now that the financial markets are beginning to stabilise and the big
Wall Street players pledge to pay back their bailout billions, they are
digging in against fundamental change.
Here’s how the new deal works: the Hawks have made an unsecured
pledge to pay the $12.5 million in annual debt service if arena
revenue falls short.
[S]ay they will not agree to take the necessary environmental actions
unless the developed nations pledge in advance to pay for them.
Source: http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/.
it can occur with other variations. These lines were from the
‘newspaper’,
‘magazine’ and ‘spoken’ sections of the corpus, and we could limit the
The claim made by Halliday and Hasan is that when these two words
occur in different sentences, they retain a link with each other
because they commonly occur together in the language. What this
means is that part of our understanding of speeches depends on how
words are normally used – as well as their isolated meaning when
taken out of context; these ‘normal’ meanings also contribute to the
cohesion of the speech.
Large corpora, such as the COCA, were not available until relatively
recently, so Halliday and Hasan were not able to test the concept of
language.
The corpus provides a useful resource for testing other cohesive ties
that
in COCA.
The colourful metaphor in 7.1 warns those nations who are consider-
9.1; but Table 3.4 shows that the corpus provides evidence that they
are collocates.
To give a final example of a collocation – consider ‘destruction’ in 11.1
and ‘abolish’ in 2.1; an initial search of the corpus did not produce
any
… the trees in Amur tiger range. The pines’ cones are critical food for
tiger prey such as wild boar.
The delta still has enough healthy tugai to offer cover to good
numbers of tiger prey such as wild boar.
‘This delta still has enough healthy tugai to offer cover to good
numbers of tiger prey,’ Pereladova says. ‘Without prey, there can be
no tigers.’
The Asian traditional medicine trade in big cat organs and bones and
the decline of tiger prey species, and better protect habitat.
Aside from minor abrasions from the snare cable, the tiger was …
… and its prime minister, Ismail Haniya of Hamas, and named a new
emergency government whose writ runs only in the West Bank. Mr.
Abbas says he can no …
The government’s writ hardly extends beyond the capital and other
district centers. The Maoists control …
Source: http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/.
that are close together in the text, these are nine paragraphs apart;
yet the
abolish and destroy are bandied about. Says one student, ‘We’re
just trying to get …
… our position for the last 40 years has been to abolish and destroy
both nuclear tests and nuclear weapons … we shall …’
Source: http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/.
seems to fit well with the rather menacing claim of nuclear danger at
the
very start of the speech: ‘For man holds in his mortal hands the
power
to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life’
(2.2).
and the other a noun, and it is therefore rather hard to substitute one
for the other. However, there is scope for discussion over this type of
lexical relation, and Hoey (1991) refers to it (along with antonymy) as
‘complex paraphrase’.
Exercise 3.5
➢ Analyse the second half of Core Text 4 (14 onwards) for examples
of collocation: draw a table showing the two words that collocate with
each other
3.5 Summary
Cohesion
Grammatical
Lexical
Reference Substitution
Ellipsis
Conjunction
Collocation
Repetition
20 January 1961
Italics – collocation
Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. 1 Lexical choices in the first
para-Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice
and ‘forebears’.
(2).
The world is very different now (1). For 2 ‘now’ ANTONYM ‘ago’ (1.2)
man holds in his mortal hands the power
COLLOCATION
‘ renewal’
(1.1)
the same revolutionary beliefs for which
God (3).
We dare not forget today that we are the 3 SYNONYM ‘now’ (2.1)
REPETITION ‘revolutionary’
(2.3)
has been passed to a new generation
COLLOCATION ‘ forebears’
(2.3)
(6.1) COLLOCATION
‘ disciplined’ (3.2)
asunder (3).
ANTONYM ‘cooperative
ventures’ (6.2)
misery’ (8.1)
border’ (9.1)
COLLOCATION
‘ governments’ (9.1)
Finally, to those nations who would make 11 REPETITION ‘nations’
(10.1) themselves our adversary, we offer not
COLLOCATION ‘ abolish’
(2.1)
(10.1)
COLLOCATION ‘ humanity’
(11.1)
begin (3).
world (4).
man (1).
Finally, whether you are citizens of 27
Essential reading
Chapter 3.
PART II
Critical Approaches to
Discourse
Chapter 4
Persuasion
In this part of the book, I first examine, in this chapter, two concepts
that are central to all critical analysis of discourse: context and
persuasion. I present a theory of persuasion and illustrate how this
works with reference to a speech on gender equality by the British
actress Emma Watson, who became famous
as Hermione in several Harry Potter films (see Core Text 5 at the end
of the chapter). In Chapter 5, I analyse the verbal processes of
modality and transitivity that are employed in critical linguistics and
illustrate this with reference to the arguments that were put forward in
support of the case for the invasion
of Iraq that led to the fall of Saddam Hussein. I follow this in Chapter
6 with an account of one of the most well-known critical linguistic
approaches – the discourse-historical approach. I illustrate how
naming choices reflect underlying value systems, as well as
integrating within this chapter a discussion of argument theory
drawing on the work of Stephen Tolmin with reference to
illegitimate; this means that they do not have the right to use
language
87
group(s).
represents a state of affairs ‘in such a way that it either reflects, more
or less closely, the social relations of the participants, or it projects –
more or less plausible – versions of such a relation. The motivating
dynamic
(Kress, 1992, p. 89). This point of view assumes that power is not dis-
Power is a central notion in CDA and can be taken to mean the way
that
a particular social group is able to enforce its will over other social
groups.
(B) to do things that are in A’s best interests, and prevents B from
doing
the things that are in B’s best interests. We should also distinguish
between legitimate and illegitimate forms of control: that is, between
power and the abuse of power, as van Dijk (2008a, p. 9) puts it:
‘Traditionally, control is defined as control over the actions of others. If
such control is also in the interest of those who exercise such power,
and against the interest of those who are controlled, we may speak of
power abuse.’ CDA is interested in
exercised in a society.
parents should have legitimate control over their children and are
criticised when they do not, so teachers have legitimate authority over
their students, and in general society has legitimate forms of control
over those who commit crimes. Some inequalities are normal or
legitimate because without
things that they would not otherwise do and which are bad for them to
they make laws, lawyers who interpret them, and the policemen who
have
power as much as does the legal system, and so those who control
money,
such as chief executives of financial institutions and insurance
companies, and traders in stocks and shares, are also powerful.
Those who control
Exercise 4.1
tity of the relative social positions of speaker and addressee, and the
role of language in constructing these relationships. Critical analysis
of public communication maps out correspondences between
particular language
the audience’s beliefs, how these influenced the speech and how
they were
which a speech was given, the cognitive states of the speaker and
audience, the processes through which a speech was generated and
those involved in
1.
Analysis of
2.
speech
Identification
circumstances
and analysis of
and an
features
3.
Interpretation
and
explanation
1.
Analysis of
2.
situational
Analysis of
circumstances
cognitive
cog
circumstances
ances
3.
Analysis of
process
circumstances
Speech circumstances
ering the situation in which a speech was given and the states of
mind of
◇ Situational circumstances
• Speech setting – speaker, location, date, occasion and audience
purposes
◇ Process circumstances
Situational circumstances
account of her own ‘journey’ to feminism and invited men and boys to
join
I have not used this term because it is not really clear whether the
source of this knowledge is in the mind of the speaker, the audience
or the
the audience and other parties. For example, an audience that listens
to
that the audience may have experienced some negative effects from
this
analysis of the language of the far right will know both angles. It is the
interaction between audience’s and speaker’s beliefs that determines
the
premise that many arguments for gender equality had, in the past,
been
based on hatred of men; she takes issue with this position by arguing
that
men and boys should be treated as the allies rather than the
opponents of
‘You might be thinking, “Who is this Harry Potter girl, and what is she
doing speaking at the UN?” And it’s a really good question.’ As well
as
humour, she shows awareness of both her relatively young age and
the fact
that she is known for her role in films made primarily for children. In
the word of thanks following the speech, the UN representative – in
an attempt
Process circumstances
of the social context of the speech, and the politician, who is more
con-
cerned with issues such as image and persona. For this reason a
political
the speech (see Core Text 5) and a few audible whoops. There is
also
social media sites and had a very positive response from a wide
audience.
Exercise 4.2
words belong (e.g. ‘war’ or ‘the family’), what parts of speech they are
and whether their associations are usually negative or positive. When
analysing 1.
Analysis of
2.
language:
Analysis of
Identification
lexis
performance:
and analysis of
grammar
gra
appearance,
features
style
manner and
manner and
gesture
gesture
Analysis of features
position, gaze, smile, use of pointing and other hand gestures as well
as
by tone of voice and the emotional mood that is conveyed. However,
to
Performance Feature
Illustration
Bodily appearance
Bodily performance
Performance Feature
Illustration
nothing.’”
Dress
new job.
Voice
absorbed.
it occurs.
culture.
Exercise 4.3
and social purpose of the speech; it explains how the situational and
cog-
nitive circumstances interact with the linguistic and performance
features, and process circumstances to realise socially persuasive
outcomes. These
that the language features observed in Stage 2 are not arbitrary, but
moti-
1.
Interaction
2.
between
Norms of
speaker and
interaction
speech writer
between
spee
speaker and
speaker and
audience
in their 2005 campaign by using the poster slogan ‘Are you thinking
what
Bernstein [1990]):
absent, prominent/backgrounded?
what ways and with what effect does an orator discuss his or her
speech
the speech in mind; they make assumptions about the listeners’ state
of
base, there were 216 news stories (hardcopy and online) in which
both
indicating the level of her personal impact on the media. There were
256
line in the period between when the speech was made and February
2018:
a view. Other critics noted that the campaign was run by privileged
women
Within each of these phases are embedded phases; for example, the
analysis of speech circumstances requires attention to three aspects
of circumstance: situational, cognitive and process. But to understand
discourse, it is also necessary to consider the intentions that underlie
a political speech –
on a command of modality.
Exercise 4.4
speech.
4.3 Persuasion
that they have changed their point of view about a topic according to
the
influence of a persuasive agent, and that this changing of mind might
be
◇ thinking right;
◇ sounding right;
◇ looking right.
Not all are likely to occur when a particular speech is made, but in
most
cases a speaker will rely on more than one of these methods. The
means of
1. Establishing
integrity ( ethos)
intentions’
5. Appearance,
2. Expressing
political arguments
gesture
( logos)
‘Looking right’
‘Thinking right’
Persuasion
‘Being right’
4. Mental
3. Heightening
representations,
emotional impact
myths, frames
( pathos)
and schemata
‘Sounding right’
story’
The Emma Watson speech soon went viral, and here I draw on the
She is so right.
Emma Watson Says That The View Feminism Is “Man Hating” Has
To Stop.
When Watson says, ‘I have realised that fighting for women’s rights
has
know for certain, it is that this has to stop’, she appears sincere and
as
prerequisite for the other artistic proofs. Here Watson displays such
ethos by rejecting a self-interested position while also explaining how
it is one derived from her own experience.
or she prioritised his or her own interests or those of the public. Here
Watson:
Go Emma Watson! Loved the speech. Fuck all the basement dwellers
that think you can use her pictures as a weapon to get her to stop.
I almost pity the trolls threatening Emma Watson. They must be very
thinking, “Who is this Harry Potter girl, and what is she doing
speaking
at the UN?” And it’s a really good question. I’ve been asking myself
the
same thing. All I know is that I care about this problem and I want to
make it better.’ Here she sounds right because she is both amusing
and shows
nied by broad smiling while she delivers this part. Many tweeters
attested
proud.
Why has the word (feminist) become such an uncomfortable one? (5)
How can we affect change in the world when only half of it is invited
or
“Who is this Harry Potter girl, and what is she doing speaking at the
UN?” (13)
Emma Watson’s speech was brilliant and I can’t wait to see more
women in her position of fame and power continue to speak out. I’ve
told myself firmly: if not me, who? If not now, when? If you have sim-
ilar doubts when opportunities are presented to you, I hope that those
fit with the audience’s assumptions about how the world works. In the
case
(14) soon went viral and was tweeted over 1,000 times in the week
follow-
performance and delivery (Table 4.1) here the orator looked precisely
that –
Apart from Twitter, how else might we know when public communica-
Men, I would like to take this opportunity to extend your formal invi-
for the first time in the United Kingdom. More internationally, it has
been coloured by the fallout from the allegations of sexual
misconduct against
to the invitation for other women to come forward about such issues
by
using the Twitter hashtag ‘MeToo’; the phrase was initiated by the
activ-
ist Tarana Burke and has become a focal point for the sharing of
stories
as the one analysed here, but also a wide range of spoken and
written genres including TV and radio debates, legislative debates as
well as social media.
Exercise 4.5
Now that we have seen how persuasion works within a social context,
we need to consider in the next chapter a method for analysing the
linguis-
4.4 Summary
as ‘fact’; this is done by, for example, the use of the simple present
tense, the use of short sentences, and by drawing on other modal
resources of
one involved. This is the first campaign of its kind at the UN. We
be advocates for change. And we don’t just want to talk about it.
months ago and the more I’ve spoken about feminism, the more
I have realised that fighting for women’s rights has too often
For the record, feminism by definition is the belief that men (3)
sexes.
wanted to direct the plays that we would put on for our parents,
but the boys were not. When at 14, I started being sexualised by
But sadly, I can say that there is no one country in the world (6)
in the world can yet say that they have achieved gender equality.
lucky ones.
because I might give birth to a child one day. These influences with
They may not know it, but they are the inadvertent feminists
And if you still hate the word, it is not the word that is important. (7)
Its the idea and the ambition behind it. Because not all women
have received the same rights that I have. In fact, statistically, very
few have been.
change are still true today. But what stood out for me the most,
was that less than 30 per cent of the audience were male. How
(9)
much as my mother’s.
I’ve seen young men suffering from mental illness unable to (10)
ask for help for fear it would make them less of a men or less
nary heart disease. I’ve seen men made fragile and insecure by a
types, but I can see that they are and that when they are free, things
have to be controlled.
Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive. Both men (11)
and women should feel free to be strong. It is time that we all per-
start defining ourselves by who we are, we can all be freer, and this
I want men to take up this mantle so that their daughters, sisters (12)
and mothers can be free from prejudice. But also so that their
You might be thinking, ‘Who is this Harry Potter girl, and what
is she doing speaking at the UN?’ and it’s a really good question.
I have been asking myself the same thing. All I know is that I care
about this problem and I want to make it better. And having seen
to say something.
Statesman Edmund Burke said: ‘All that is needed for the forces (13)
I told myself firmly, ‘If not me, who? If not now, when?’ If you
hope that those words might will be helpful. (14) Because the
same as men for the same work. Fifteen and a half million girls
rates, it won’t be until 2086 before all rural African girls will be
are struggling for a uniting word but the good news is that we
have a uniting movement. It is called HeForShe. I am inviting you
to step forward, to be seen and to ask yourself, ‘If not me, who?
(17)
Essential reading
Chapter 1.
Chapter 1.
Chapter 5
of nouns and names and through the choice of verbs and verbal
processes.
from the attention of the reader. The term ‘agent’ refers to the person
or
‘scroungers’. Both the presence and the identity of social agents can
either be made very clear by using language that states plainly who is
doing
relation to events that they think will be evaluated positively, and their
Who busted our banks, who smothered our businesses, who wracked
up
our debts, who, wrecked our economy, who ruined our reputation,
who
risked our future. Who … did this? – Labour did this – and this
country
Here the fact that much of the planning for the Olympics had been
done
representation:
◇ Nominal forms (i.e. involving nouns): methods of foregrounding or
backgrounding social agency by referring to social actors. These
include
or collective nouns.
cesses, as follows:
the people who are affected by what is done. The participants will
either
rhetoric, speakers use ‘we’ in a rather loose way that could refer
either
to the speaker alone, to his or her party or to any group who he seeks
to represent himself as speaking for – such as the nation or even the
‘we’ refers in each context that this pronoun is used. For example, in
his 2012 party conference speech, David Cameron uses ‘we’ to refer
to
members of the Conservative Party): ‘We knew then that it was not
just
the ordinary duties of office that we were assuming.’ Soon after this,
‘we’
refers to the British public: ‘All of my adult life, whatever the
difficulties, the British people have at least been confident about one
thing: we have
thought we can pay our way.’ And later, ‘we’ refers to all members of
the
British aid money has vaccinated 130,000 children around the world.’
uses ‘we’ to refer to him and his father: ‘When I was a boy, I
remember
once going on a long walk with him in the village where we lived.’ The
are referred to collectively using a very general noun (in the example
above, Cameron referred to ‘the British public’). Sometimes individual
identity is concealed by referring to a person by his or her role in
representing an institution – for example ‘a spokesman for British
Gas/Scottish Power’ and so on.
negative?
the same type of job. This identification may exceed what they have
in
common with others who share the same ethnicity but have a
different
they do when compared with people from the same ethnic origin who
are
not footballers. The search for sameness and difference is crucial to
how
created by names.
Emphasize
De-emphasize
our positive
their positive
characteristics
characteristics
De-emphasize
Emphasize
our negative
their negative
characteristics
characteristics
when the active voice of verbs is used or absent when the passive
voice is
bankrupt’
(who died) and so highlights only one participant; whereas the verb
‘kill’ is transitive because it requires a subject and an object –
therefore highlighting two participants in a process.
(1) Mental
to be successful.
(2) Mental
(1) Relational
(1) Mental
for years …
… but it’s hard to believe (1) what’s happening (2) in (1) Mental
Brazil, in Indonesia; in Nigeria too.
(1) Relational
(1) Relational
And what do the countries on the slide have (1) in common? (1)
Relational They’re (1) fat, sclerotic, over-regulated, spending
(1) Relational
(2) Verbal
moving (1) so fast it’s creating (2) a new economy the (2) Material
transitive size of Greece every three months.
(3) Relational
My job – our job – is to make (1) sure that in this
(2) Relational
(1) Relational
aspiration …
…the ideas you have, (1) the businesses you start, (2)
(1) Relational
(1) Relational
brief analysis in this table shows that mental verbs are used to
indicate
areas of shared knowledge between speaker and audience; for
example,
‘I am not going to stand here as Prime Minister and allow this country
to join the slide.’ He avoids the passive voice because he wants to
give prominence to his own agency, and that of his party, in improving
achievements:
In the last two years, Google, Intel, Cisco – the big tech firms –
they’ve
They saw the huge gap in the market – and they started a mobile
banking firm.
I visited a business the other day that wanted to open a big factory
just
outside Liverpool.
effect of this angle of viewing and what other linguistic means could
have
5.2 Modality
are rarely hesitant or doubtful for very long because, like astrologers,
the likelihood of their predictions coming true, and when they do so,
such as ‘should’ and ‘might’ as well as many other features that are
discussed here.
tions in their audiences, but the first person they have to convince is
themselves.
rhetoric to reformulate his beliefs about ‘good’ and ‘evil’ into powerful
opponents, because when views are expressed with such force, they
a similar outcome.
future means knowing what action to take now so that the future is
sises that this state presents a real material threat – not just a hypo-
granted. The dangers to it are greater now than they have ever been
since 1945. The threat of the Soviet Union is ever present. It is
growing continually. Their military spending goes up by 5 per cent a
year. A
Russians turn out over 3,000 tanks and 1,500 combat aircraft. Their
The Soviet forces are organised and trained for attack. The Russians
do not tell us why they are making this tremendous and costly effort
to increase their military power. Heaven knows, they have enough to
do on the consumer side. But we cannot ignore the fact that this
power
has allowed it to pull ahead of the Alliance in many fields. We and our
allies are resolved to make the effort that will restore the balance. We
must keep up all our defences, whether nuclear or conventional. It is
no good having first-class nuclear forces if we can be overwhelmed
by
October 1979)
‘the threat … is ever present’ etc.); the present tense is often used
with
so on.
◇ Some of the verbs are in the passive voice: ‘is launched’, which is
often used when the subject of an action is unknown or not relevant.
It does
a serious threat, and something needs to be done about this. The fact
that
The linguistic term that describes how certainty and conviction are
expressed is ‘modality’; this is the linguistic means for conveying how
sure someone is about what he or she is saying. It assumes a basic
distinction between (i) what is said; and (ii) what the speaker thinks
about what is
◇ true;
◇ necessary or obligatory; or
◇ desirable or undesirable.
All of these convey how far the speaker is committed towards the
truth of
threat; and (ii) this was the right thing to do, so she uses language to
and opinions.
for their claim that Iraq presented a serious threat to world peace,
certain modifications were made to this dossier. Consider the effects
of changing
Original text:
After editing:
In the original text, a modal verb is used (‘may’), and in the edited
version this is replaced by a verb in the simple present tense (‘is’);
‘may be able to’ expresses a considerably lower level of commitment
to the truth than
‘is able to’. This, of course, heightened the threat posed by Iraq (as
Mrs
or obligation
obligation
rhetorical effect.
by emphasising obligation. And when she said, ‘We must never take
it for
◇ ‘It seems that …’, ‘it appears that …’ or ‘I believe that …’ indicates
a personal view based on some evidence.
Adverbs:
Truth
Obligation
Modal Verb
High
certainly
required to
must/have to
Medium
probably
supposed to
could/would/
should
Low
possibly
allowed to
may/might
Exercise 5.1
1. I’m allowed to stand in line next to other men and women. I’m
allowed to get shouted at and shoot a gun to protect myself and my
nation. But when
it’s time to order my meal, when it’s time to benefit from the freedoms
of
the constitution that I protect and I fight for, I have to pay extra. I
shouldn’t have to pay extra. I should have the ability, the opportunity,
the right, to enjoy the same rights, the same piece of meat, that my
fellow soldiers, fellow straight soldiers, already have included in their
meal of rights. (Lady Gaga) 2. I am from Britain, and I think it is right
that I am paid the same as my male counterparts. I think it is right that
I should be able to make decisions about my own body. I think it is
right that women be involved on my behalf in the policies and
decisions that will affect my life. I think it is right that socially I am
afforded the same respect as men. But sadly, I can say that there is
no one country in the world where all women can expect to receive
these rights.
No country in the world can yet say that they have achieved gender
equality.
(Emma Watson)
Epistemic modality
Deontic modality
I shall illustrate the difference between the two main types of modality
and how they often interact with each other by analysing them in
Core
Text 6: the crucial speech made by Tony Blair entitled ‘We face a
tough and stark choice’. The speech was given in the House of
Commons on
6 below).
It was a masterful and convincing speech, and Blair won the vote
con-
use of epistemic modality shows in the evidence that the WMDs have
not
certainty between his views and those of the inspectors. Then there is
the
claim that the decision taken will influence international politics for a
long time (something he was right about).
The shift to deontic modality comes in two forms: first, the evidence
code. Then the linking together of Islamic terrorism and WMDs; this
was part of the so-called ‘War on Terror’ that had become official US
policy after the events of 9/11: because these two are connected
(though
now.
There are other deontic arguments developed from this: that there is
a
moral necessity for the allies to act now in order to prevent both a
worse
123
bio
➜
and
chemical
listing
by
upheld
Analysis of modality
1 DEONTIC MODALITY
2 EPISTEMIC MODALITY
3 EPISTEMIC MODALITY
is
logical weapons.
is false.
Iraqi
inspec
develop
of the
the
the
destruction]
future
mass
century;
of
March 2003
than the
thought. When
[weapons
more
twenty-first
hitherto
speech,
the
of
WMDs
than
the
threat
that
extensive
War
security
more
far
fate of the
the
central
were
the
6: Tony
after
Iraq
than the
clear
of
more
confront
Core Text
became
The speech
At the outset I say: it is right that this House debate this issue and
pass judgement.
That is the democracy that is our right but that others struggle for in
vain. And again I say: I do not disrespect the views of those in
opposition to mine. This is a tough choice. But it is also a stark one:
to stand British troops down and turn back; or to hold firm to the
course we have set. I believe we must hold firm (1).
So, why does it matter so much? Because the outcome of this issue
will now deter mine
ment of the UN; the relationship between Europe and the US; the
relations within the EU and the way the US engages with the rest of
the world. It will determine the pattern of international politics for the
next generation (2).
It
ambitions
tors left in 1998, they left unaccounted for: 10,000 litres of anthrax;
124
Iraq to
rhetor
repeats
He
force.
of
threat
Analysis of modality
4 EPISTEMIC MODALITY
5 DEONTIC MODALITY
6 EPISTEMIC MODALITY
It is certain
the
we
had
basis,
this
On
(4).
exist’
still
may
and
destroyed
not
was
anthrax
of
The speech
We are now seriously asked to accept that, in the last few years,
contrary to all history, contrary to all intelligence, he decided
unilaterally to destroy the weapons.
litres
meant what we said in [the UN] Resolution 1441, the Security Council
should have convened and condemned Iraq as in material breach (5).
What is perfectly clear is that Saddam is playing the same old games
in the same old way.
From December 1998 to December 2002, no UN inspector was
allowed to inspect anything in Iraq. For four years, not a thing. What
changed his mind? The threat of force. From December to January,
and then from January through to February, concessions were made.
What changed his mind?
125
now,
act
not
do
with WMDs
we if
gimes
that
l re
ALITY
certain is
rannica
7 EPISTEMIC + DEONTIC
MOD
It
8 EPISTEMIC MODALITY
‘Ty
links to Iraq in 7.
we
can use
limit,
WMDs.
the
with
to
regime
only
fact,
the
in
not
Dangerous if
is
when
Iraq
incapacity;
impact.
disbelieve us.
its in
permanent
total
such regimes
for
more
war
bigger,
dangerous if
against
The threat of force. And what makes him now issue invitations to the
inspectors, discover documents he said he never had, produce
evidence of weapons supposed to be non-existent, destroy missiles
he said he would keep? The imminence of force (6). The only
persuasive power to which he responds is 250,000 allied troops on
his doorstep.
It is
will act. But then when we act, after years of pretence, the action will
have to be harder,
But back away now from this confrontation and future conflicts will be
infinitely worse and more devastating (7).
126
-
way
by list
our
to DEONTIC
certainty
of
threatens
shift a
as it
level
then
raises
is
terrorism
Analysis of modality
know’:
ing ‘facts’.
There
MODALITY on the obligation to
resist
of life.
per
serious
suffered
who profess a
have
groups
nations
terrorist
different
20
extreme
and
around
years,
two
with WMDs
last
the
regimes
in
as
Just
The speech
Tyrannical
I know that there are some countries or groups within countries that
are prolifer ating and trading in WMDs, especially nuclear weapons
technology.
We all know that there are terrorist cells now operating in most major
countries (9).
127
+ DEO
10 DEONTIC MODALITY
of the UN.
11 DEONTIC MODALITY
TIC MODALITY
ally wrong.
I have come to the conclusion after much reluctance that the greater
danger to the UN is inaction: that to pass Resolution 1441 and then
refuse to enforce it would do the most deadly damage to the UN’s
future strength, confirming it as an instru ment of diplomacy but not of
action, forcing nations down the very unilateralist path we wish to
avoid (10).
But there will be, in any event, no sound future for the UN, no
guarantee against the repetition of these events, unless we recognise
the urgent need for a political agenda we can unite upon.
And if this House now demands that at this moment, faced with this
threat from this regime, that British troops are pulled back, that we
turn away at the point of reckoning, and that is what it means – what
then?
128
now
happens
what
that
certain is
Analysis of modality
13 EPISTEMIC MODALITY
It
the
of
challenge
global
this
recognise
to
strength
the
summon
we
whether
The speech
This House wanted this decision. Well, it has it. Those are the
choices. And in this dilemma, no choice is perfect, no cause ideal.
Of
Of our armed forces – brave men and women of whom we can feel
proud, whose
between claims made on the basis of truth and evidence (e.g. the
listing
find it difficult to unpack the rhetorical use of modality and were also
fluent delivery. There is little doubt that Blair believed himself – even if
not many others did – and this was sufficient to embark on a war that
caused
chapter.
Exercise 5.2
Table 5.4 shows the changes that were made between the original
Joint
12 January 2005.
130
3 of the dossier]
Chapter
Published Dossier
Title:
This chapter [
available evidence.
House of Commons)
Draft Dossier
Title:
Destruction
– Possible Scenarios
JIC Assessment
Title:
Weapons
further UN inspections.
Table 5.4
131
weapons.
agents.
] sic
warfare agents.
20–45 minutes.
6
7
5.3 Summary
We have also seen how a speaker can communicate his or her level
express his or her own stance regarding the claims being made.
There are
Essential reading
Coates, J. (1983). The Semantics of the Modal Auxiliaries (London:
Croom Helm).
Chapter 4.
Chapter 6
6.1 Introduction
basis. Since power relations have a historical origin, they can also be
challenged, because there is a dynamic interaction between social
relationships and discursive practice. Just as existing power relations
influence how talking is currently done, so changes in our
understanding of the relationship between language, social relations
and power can influence how talking
133
able to explain the so-called context. (Wodak and Meyer, 2001, p. 65)
may feel they lack the relevant ‘background knowledge’ to fully under-
isation’, which is when a text is taken out of one context and placed in
turn, influence social relations, and so on. The solid lines represent
interdependencies between particular epistemologies and
methodologies. The
Understanding
Understanding
political context
historical context
relations of power
Diachronic change
Discursive practices in
fields of action
Identification of
Identification of
discursive strategies
arguments – ‘topoi’
(discourse analysis)
(rhetorical analysis)
guistic analysis.
theory
Exercise 6.1
Reisigl (2008a, pp. 98–9) provides the following list of fields of action:
1 Law-making procedure
6 Political advertising
7 Political administration
8 Political control
also found from Chapter 4 that the term ‘context’ is very broad and
includes
Discussion point
mothers.
As we can see from the lower left-hand box in Figure 6.1, at the core
of DHA is the identification of a range of linguistic features that
characterise how relationships of dominance and subordination arise.
These ‘discursive strategies’ are analysed subsequently in terms of
‘topoi’ or arguments (which are treated as one of the discursive
strategies). A ‘strategy’ is a plan of practice consciously adopted to
achieve a certain political, social or psychological aim. The term
‘strategy’ has a military origin, from the Greek
which it is realised.
the notion of ‘strategy’ – along with related notions such as ‘plan’ and
tion. For example, it was unlikely that Diane Abbot (Tweet, 6 January
2012) was being intentionally racist when she said ‘White people love
playing divide and rule’ – since much of her political position is based
dinary statement for someone who has built her entire political career
‘Black Caribbean’, ‘Black other’, ‘Black British’ and ‘Black Somali’ (in
that order); the form indicated that this would assist the Council ‘to
ensure that the facilities are accessible to everybody’ (without any
indication of how
areas, but not in Britain as a whole; this also needs the consideration
of
links it with all the other social issues that are categorised in this way.
them? (Predication)
expressed? (Perspective)
4 Are the respective discriminatory utterances articulated overtly or
are
and language – and the desire for things ‘ethnic’ may reflect a
nostalgia
for a time when history, culture and language converged, creating
less
The naming practices for ethnicity are often compound adjectives that
these may be combined with religion as, for example, in white Anglo-
that this term creates). The name that is used to refer to a particular
social group often does not correspond with the ideological outlook
held by the
group to which the name is applied. In line with other critical
approaches, DHA seeks to raise awareness of what the use of a
name may imply for the
named group and how it contributes to ‘us and them’ relations. For
exam-
irony. Groups that experience pejorative naming can turn this around
by
identity.
For example, the racially based term ‘nigger’ was used in the United
naming practices, and examine who uses them and with what
intention.
cheaper? Ah you, you can’t. Bloody lucky, though. You pikey! Typical!
Pikey? Pikey! What’s pikey? What does pikey mean? I dunno. Crusty.
I’ve heard of crusty, but not … Don’t you know what pikey means?
Pikey? You don’t know what pikey means. I’ll get us there, there for
half past.
in the same way as other fans use ‘Red Army’ and ‘Blue Army’. As an
interdiscursive strategy, this reframes, or recontextualises, the name
as a marker of in-group solidarity.
The key issue to establish is who controls the process and whose
perspective a name reflects: when the majority group imposes a
name this
for example, in legal and official documents. Think again of the Equal
Ethnicity
Social Class
Sexuality
Other
Pickaninny
Pleb
Tranny
Lame (disability)
Yid
Toff
male genitalia)
Paki
Pikey
Nancy boy
Nerd (obsession)
Polack
Towel head
(religion)
Gringo
Kaafir (religion)
Saxon Protestant)
girlfriends of high
profile sportsmen)
Exercise 6.2
➢ Look at Table 6.1 and add any further names from your own
discourse commu-
form of identity marker. Try to identify the stages through which this
process has occurred, and discuss in terms of the interdiscursive
strategies of framing and reframing.
The term ‘topos’ (plural ‘topoi’) literally means ‘place’ or ‘location’ (as
in topography); however, it is used rather differently in DHA from how
it is
ing definition:
We can see from the quotation that ‘topoi’ are treated as being
equiva-
warrant should also answer the question ‘How do you get there?’ It
may
being limited.
144
-tweets)
knees.
on its
Example
Let’s just stick with the facts, migrants contribute
(363 re-tweets)
Explanation/Definition
Indicating an advantage
perform/accept it.
performed.
Table 6.2
Content-related
Topoi
Usefulness
Uselessness
Definition/naming
Humanitarianism
Justice
Responsibility
Burdening,
weighting
145
It’s NOT free when you pay £10bn, give up your legal
My brothers playing
Brexit.
need #VoteLeave
should be performed.
Finances
Reality
Numbers
History
Culture
Exploitation
People
Saviour
2016 before the UK referendum: ‘No good father can sit quietly while
a
basis: it takes a long time to get anywhere in a city; there are traffic
jams and it is difficult to find parking.
basis: it takes a long time to get anywhere by car, there are traffic
jams
(underlined) that allows the move from the evidence to the claim,
which might be referred to as ‘causation’ because it is the volume of
traffic that causes congestion. The reference to quantity (so many) is
an argument that
between the causes of traffic congestion and the number of cars can
be
DATA
CLAIM
SO
Traffic congestion is
a problem
Warrant:
SINCE
Warrant: ‘Causation’
DHA topos :
of something a problem
1. Uselessness
will arise
Saddam Hussein.
nearly six months after President Bush made his speech to the UN
Resolution 1441; and even now today we are offering Saddam the
pros-
pect of voluntary disarmament through the UN.
I detest his regime. But even now he can save it by complying with
the UN’s demand. Even now, we are prepared to go the extra step to
I do not want war. I do not believe anyone in this House wants war.
what then? Saddam in charge of Iraq, his WMDs intact, the will of the
that will mean peace? And when we turn to deal with other threats,
where will our authority be? And when we make a demand next time,
what will our credibility be? This is not a road to peace, but folly
and weakness that will only mean the conflict when it comes is more
as ‘just consequences’.
We might notice from these examples that actual words in the text
may
the word ‘threat’ is actually used) but need not necessarily do so – for
word itself does not occur. The topos of responsibility arises from a
series of rhetorical questions about hypothetical future scenarios from
which we
DATA
CLAIM
Evidence in numbers
SO
refused UN orders to
military force to disarm
disarm
him
Warrant:
SINCE
Warrant
Just consequence
If someone continues to
Topos:
do something wrong
1. Numbers
3. Uselessness of disarmament
should be prevented
4. Responsibility
from continuing to do so
can infer that action is necessary. Similarly, Blair does not state that
disarmament is ineffective, but implies this. So words may correspond
with a
stated explicitly. The overlaps noted in Table 6.2 between topoi, such
as
such as climate change (Wodak and Meyer, 2009), there has been a
strong focus on immigration, and with good reason, because it
and populism across Europe. For this reason, I illustrate DHA in the
Brexit.
Speech circumstances
and globalisation between 1997 and 2007, these views were very
much on
the political margins. The widely accepted beliefs in the ‘New Labour’
period were that more trade, the lowering of tariffic barriers, combined
with open-minded policies towards multiculturalism and immigration
would benefit all
the opposite effect: the Conservative Party suffered losses and could
only
Gove, who wanted a strong form of Brexit. The former group – while
accepting the need for political sovereignty – were happy to pay the
price
for maintaining tariff-free access to the EU, whereas the strong
Brexiteers were prepared for Britain to leave the Customs Union and
the Single
dignitaries take part in a ceremony for the War Dead at the Cenotaph
in
in its modern form began during the Napoleonic wars and resistance
to
but also to the rest of the world, who would benefit from a new, more
lation at the basis of the claim that Britain would benefit £350 million
per week only included its payments to the European Union and not
the
payments it received in the form of grants from the EU: it was
therefore
Speech
Analysis of topoi
2 Uselessness: disadvantages
we currently have.
is understood).
economy by protecting EU
UK consumers.
analysed as ‘Uselessness’,
as it profiles negative
consequences of remaining
analysed as ‘Burdening’.
imports.
➜
154 Critical Approaches to Discourse
be analysed as ‘Finance’,
as it is an argument based
on tariff rates.
as an argument based on
shifts to ‘Responsibility’,
7 Uselessness: the EU
economy is inefficient.
‘Burden’ as it represents
EU membership as anti-
Charteris-Black, 2017b,
for a discussion).
innovation.
position to capture.
becomes ‘Burdening’, as
from innovation.
bright future.
It is all very well for UK Ministers to extol the 10 Reality: the reality is
that virtues of artificial intelligence and high tech as
innovation seriously if we
Davos. But no one will take them seriously if
‘Responsibility’ of UK
technology.
11 Definition/naming: the EU
is defined as ‘analogue’.
Threat’.
For the United Kingdom, dependent as she is
to ‘Responsibility’: as we
is irresponsible to remain
topos of ‘Responsibility’
‘Irresponsibility’?
advantages to competition
‘Finance’.
15 Humanitarianism: all
Britain demonstrating a
our example.
The British people did not vote for that. They did not vote for the
17
We have our future and our destiny in our hands. To embrace the
world
18
boldly with this new policy is not a foolish leap into the unknown.
As Sir Walter Raleigh said: “Fain would I climb, yet fear I to fall.” For
19
too long our negotiators seemed to have been cowed by the EU.
Their
We must also not confuse the EU’s opening bid with its bottom line; it
is
20
21
22
rest of the world to advocate policies that will release its energy.
There
has been no concluded WTO [World Trade Organization] round for
23
We are coming to a fork in the road. We can take the familiar path
that
24
25
unfamiliar one. In which case our best days lie before us.
26
birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, to being co-architect of the
post-
war system, the UK has led the way. Britain has been called on to be
a
shaper not only of our destiny but that of the whole world.
27
The EU has too many pen-pushers to dare; the US is too big to care.
28
Only a medium-sized, flexible economy can lead the way, and the
next
29
world.
Exercise 6.3
DHA needs to respond to some of the criticisms that have been made
in
with the readers for whom texts are designed. Their understanding
events seem more valid than others. (Wodak and Meyer, 2009, p. 88)
This means that authors should be frank about their own perception
of
A further problem is that use of the phrase ‘topos or fallacy’ does not
in
itself differentiate between an argument that is reasonable and
another that is fallacious. This is an admission made by the authors
of the approach:
falling into different fields of action; for example, the inaugural speech
is listed under four different fields of action: formation of public
attitudes, formation of inter-party attitudes, formation of international
relations, and political and executive administration. The State of the
Union speech is also listed under four different fields of action:
lawmaking procedure, formation of public attitudes, political
advertising, and political and executive administration. A multiple
classification occurs with other types of speech, leading to the
question of whether there is any limit to the number of ‘fields of
action’.
that did not occur in the first edition of this work (see Exercise 6.4).
This raises a question regarding the limit to the number of field-
dependent topoi.
Exercise 6.4
➢ Compare the lists of topoi used in the first, second and third
editions of Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis (Wodak and Meyer,
2001, 2009, 2015) and in
The Politics of Fear (Wodak, 2015) . What differences do you note?
6.7 Summary
◇ The primary concepts are discursive strategies (see Table 6.4) and
the
identification of ‘topoi’ that constitute the basis for how arguments are
constructed.
Strategy
Objectives
Devices
1 NOMINATION
Discursive
➢ Membership categorization
construction
of social
nyms, etc.
actors, objects,
phenomena,
events processes
and actions
2 PREDICATION
Discursive
qualification
butions of negative or posi-
of social
tive traits
actors, objects,
phenomena,
events,
pronouns
processes
➢ Collocations
and actions
(positively or
negatively)
figures
3 ARGUMENTATION
Justification
and questioning
related)
of claims of
➢ Fallacies
truth and
normative
rightness
4 ‘PERSPECTIVIZATION’, Positioning
➢ Deictics
FRAMING AND
the speaker’s
REPRESENTATION
or writer’s
point of view
markers/ particles
distance
5 INTENSIFICATION OR Modifying
➢ Dimunitives or augmentatives
MITIGATION
(intensifying or
mitigating) the
illocutionary
➢ Hyperboles or litotes
epistemic or
deontic status
of utterances
➢ Verbs of saying, feeling or
thinking, etc.
Essential reading
Chapter 7.
Chapter 7
Corpus Methods
7.1 Introduction – impoliteness in politics
There is no doubt that since the first edition of this book there has
been
express views without concern for the ‘face’ of their addressee; face
may
be defined as follows:
The positive social value (that) a person effectively claims for himself.
(Goffman, 1967, p. 5)
Face-threatening language also occurs as part of institutional ritual:
for
of political identity and forms part of a ritual in which normal face con-
close friend. Social identity face is concerned with the value that we
2002, p. 540)
162
notice), saying to her that ‘Boris asked me to give you this’. This was
a
face and that of her foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, for his implied
dis-
loyalty. Although she managed the retort that the only P45 she
wanted to
give out was to Jeremy Corbyn (the leader of the opposition), the
stunt was sufficiently successful for a former Conservative Party
chairman to appeal
language and insults. This does not mean that impolite language will
not
occur, but that there will be rules over how others respond to it and
rules over the consequences for the offending party that may affect
future speaking rights.
by using corpus methods and illustrate this with reference to the 2016
duced; since the first edition of this book, these have increased spec-
What both share is that they provide effective vehicles for engaging
an audience’s interest and arousing some form of emotional
response
the personal insult into a propaganda tool. Just as when two boxers
(‘hate speech’) enforce our attention, even if our role is only that of a
passive onlooker in a supposedly entertaining spectacle.
Impoliteness
quences for at least one participant, that is, they cause or are
presumed
allies believe that the means justify the ends that it has the
appearance
entertainment
One view on ad hominem attacks is that when the recipients of insult-
ing and impolite language are candidates for high office with estab-
ticians associated with the centre and far right; for example Boris
Johnson caused a scandal by referring to the French President
Hollande’s proposal
that Britain should pay for leaving the European Union as a form of
‘pun-
(MEPs) had been called to order at the start of his speech because
they
were booing, their faces look bemused when told by Nigel Farage
that ‘I
know that virtually none of you have ever done a proper job in your
lives
and Democracy.
without having much idea about the career records of MEPs, and the
fact
that his speech is readily accessible on the Web suggests that he
achieved
not therefore within the argument itself, as for example with the
appeals to reason described in section 1.3.2, but within the situational
and cognitive circumstances that were described in Chapter 4 (4.2.1).
Many people across Europe, and probably beyond, view politicians
as lacking
to create them with the broad purpose of uniting his supporters. So,
for
‘proper jobs’, he would be partially missing the point: this was a form
of
response would imply that the MEP was arrogant and/or out of touch.
Trump coined the term ‘fake news’. They argue that his ad hominem
argu-
formal and constraining, they are scenarios where the normal rules of
behaviour no longer apply, characterised by either a specialist
register or 1 Statement to the European Parliament, 28 June 2016.
an elevated style – during the Obama era this was a Ciceronian style.
For
some the comic style of Donald Trump is a more homely and familiar
style,
ing table manners, he is rude, he might even start flirting the wives of
other guests. But he might also be blurting out the truth about a
liberal
competence is delivery: the words flow from him, and although they
and his ability to perform displays a new role that can be described as
gestures like a young man who is eager to entertain his friends, and
a frank, fresh and energetic appeal. His boyishness has the effect of
entertained through laughter or joy, they can relax with each other,
make
friends and form new social relationships that will continue long after
2 Chris Graham, You’re fired!: Who Donald Trump has sacked and
who has resigned during his time as president’, The Telegraph, 28
March 2018, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/fired-
donald-trump-has-sacked-has-resigned-time-president/.
actions expect that their behaviour will either harm the target or lead
don’t even wait’ and ‘grab ’em by the pussy’. Forcing a woman to
comply
comes from. You know, for the past year many people made the
mistake
all the horrible things he says. Like when he called women pigs,3 or
said
oners of war, like John McCain, a hero and a patriot who deserves
our
he meant it either. It was just too hard to fathom that someone who
wants to lead our nation could say those things, could be like that.
But
here’s the sad truth: There is no other Donald Trump, this is it. And in
the end, it comes down to what Donald Trump doesn’t get: America is
3 Trump is alleged to have referred to the comedian and talk-show
host Rosie O’Donnell as a ‘fat pig’.
‘an American judge’, ‘a reporter’ and ‘John McCain’. She then allies
herself with the audience who thought that he could not really mean
what he says,
that there must be another Donald Trump behind the façade, perhaps
a
But let’s consider in more detail the ad hominem attacks that Clinton
attributes to her rival, and let’s look at the context in terms of what
was said and the contextual circumstances for two of the insults to
which
ing in like style. Although this has the advantage of apparently restor-
ing the scales of justice, employing ‘an eye for an eye’ moral code
has
170
Process Circumstances
from arthrogryposis,
a condition which
of joints and is
particularly noticeable
and hand.
woman is smiling.
Unscripted
Spontaneous reaction
interviewer that
Evokes extended
response
Cognitive Circumstances
(including Trump).
Situational
Circumstances
Campaign rally in
South Carolina on
24 November 2015
Leadership Summit:
a gathering of 3,000
socially conservative
potential supporters of
his candidacy.
Trump’s Comment
‘…
class in Indianapolis.’
Table 7.1
Subject of
ad hominem
Argument
Reporter:
Serge
Kovaleski
Rival
Republican
candidate
and Vietnam
war veteran
John
McCain
I suggest that this does not exhaust all possible ways of dealing with
attacks, since there are also the options of denying emotional hurt or
admitting hurt to gain sympathy. The first option follows the old
saying:
‘Sticks and stones may break my bones, though words will never hurt
me’
she had ‘broken through a glass ceiling’ by becoming the first black
first
lady, Michelle Obama then elaborated the glass ceiling metaphor with
a
question about which of the falling glass shards had cut her the
deepest.
by her critics, she extended the metaphor further: ‘The shards that cut
does nothing to redress the offence that has been caused. Strategies
(3)
and (4) also differ from explaining how and why an ad hominem
attack is hurtful. This is what Michelle Obama does when she
develops the
metaphor: ‘Women, we endure those cuts in so many ways that we
don’t
even notice we’re cut . . .We are living with small tiny cuts, and we
are
bleeding every single day. And we’re still getting up.’ Her eloquent
testi-
more general sense of social injustice felt by some women. The value
of
Exercise 7.1
Funny, isn’t it? When I came here 17 years ago and I said that I
wanted to
lead a campaign to get Britain to leave the EU, you all laughed at me.
Well, I have to say, you’re not laughing now, are you? And the reason
you’re so
upset, the reason you’re so angry has been perfectly clear from all
the angry exchanges this morning – you as a political project are in
denial. You’re in denial that your currency is failing – just look at the
Mediterranean – as a policy to impose poverty on Greece and the
rest of the Mediterranean you’ve done very well, and you’re in denial
over Mrs Merkel’s call last year, for
Exercise 7.2
Text 8.
The Leader of the Opposition says that people who hold sexist views
and who are misogynists are not appropriate for high office. Well, I
hope the Leader of the Opposition has got a piece of paper and he is
the ironing …’ Thank you for that painting of women’s roles in modern
Australia.
at me as I sit here as Prime Minister, ‘If the Prime Minister wants to,
that would never have been said to any man sitting in this chair. I was
offended when the Leader of the Opposition went outside in the front
of
Parliament and stood next to a sign that said ‘Ditch the witch.’ … And
ently he’s woken up after this track record and all of these
statements,
and he’s woken up and he’s gone, ‘Oh dear, there’s this thing called
sex-
ism; oh my lords, there’s this thing called misogyny. Now who’s one of
He could change his behaviour, he could apologise for all his past
will see none of that from the Leader of the Opposition because on
but incapable of change. His double standards should not rule this
Parliament. … I’ve had him yell at me to shut up in the past, but I will
for his public statements; on his close personal connection with Peter
dices of women’.
Trump
used the expression ‘locker room talk’ – here a place is used to refer
to
men denied that they talked about women in the dehumanising way
‘in the public domain’, and although they often diverge from the
delivered
that show all the words in a corpus; concordances that show search
words
software.html.
The method compares any two sets of data to establish which words
occur
with a statistically higher frequency in one set (A) as compared with
the other set (B) to identify ‘keywords’. Here (A) is the Trump Corpus
and (B) is the Presidential Corpus. The method proceeds by using
the AntConc software to
Keyword
Trump Corpus
Presidential Corpus
(481,919 words)
(502,294 words)
people
3,269
2,191
country
1,909
758
great
1,771
1,218
jobs
1,266
332
believe
648
452
folks
608
23
money
596
185
audience
551
14
trade
537
240
care
511
454
wall
465
105
of keywords for other examples, and we would find ‘family’, ‘veterans’
and ‘Americans’. Together this group provides support for the claim
that
Populists claim that they, and they alone, represent the people … the
Harry Potter or sci-fi movies and other dramatic genres where the plot
the good and bad guys is never ambiguous in Trump’s style, and
Weaver
effective policies and avoiding blame for ineffective ones. Trump does
this by blaming opponents, rivals, foreigners or any other readily
recognisable
Exercise 7.3
amazing
bill
dishonest
incredible
people
America
build
family
jobs
right
American
business
fight
love
safe
audience
China
folks
massive
special
beautiful
choice
good
Mexico
states
better
companies
great
money
tax
big
countries
history
nation
taxes
billion
deals
illegal
pay
tremendous
Positive Emotion
Trump Corpus
Presidential Corpus
Keywords
(481,919 words)
(502,280 words)
special
293
162
incredible
262
amazing
255
16
tremendous
249
32
beautiful
216
47
smart
134
22
happy
123
37
TOTAL
1,532
321
48
(7 November 2016)
amazing people
28
the group of people to whom they refer; for example, Trump uses
‘incredi-
Negative Emotion
Keywords
(481,919 words)
(502,280 words)
disaster
330
36
rigged
162
bad
526
68
worse worst
298
60
illegal
260
27
horrible
185
dishonest
165
corrupt
156
20
crooked
139
3
terrible
135
50
stupid
99
incompetent
45
sad
100
46
TOTAL
2,600
318
Key Phrase
Trump Corpus
Example
dishonest people
52
(7 November 2016)
stupid people
33
2016)
‘stupid people’, and he asks the rhetorical question: ‘How stupid are
we?’
The Border Patrol Agents want to do their job. It’s a much tougher
job,
probably a much more dangerous job when you stop people and say,
Sorry folks – boom – go back. But that’s more dangerous than saying
we can’t do anything. It’s called stand back – stand back and leave
them
alone. Let them walk right in. How stupid are we? How stupid are we?
Okay?
for his proposed solution of building a wall between Mexico and the
playground talk, and there is only a single instance of the word in the
Presidential Corpus, and this is in relation to the hypothetical actions
of an enemy:
Even if there were no British Navy, it is not probable that any enemy
attack; for example ‘dishonest’, ‘corrupt’ and ‘crooked’ all imply a form
of ethical attack on an individual – typically of Hillary Clinton:
But think of how disloyal Hillary Clinton was to Debbie. Think of it.
This was her – crooked person. This was a dishonest person. This
was a person that was rigging the system for her. She rigged the
system –
Carson never had a chance. (Pennsylvania, 27 July 2016)
It’s just so unfair, it’s so unfair, we’re running against a rigged press.
York home while she was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.
The other candidate in this race – you know, her name – crooked
Hillary Clinton – and believe me, folks, she is crooked – has a much
different view.
most commentators, the FBI enquiries into the use of her home
server
and evil, light and darkness: a relentless struggle for survival. The
only
ley shall be exalted, and every hill shall be made low; the crooked
places
shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.’ It is not a word
that
is deemed appropriate by presidents for naming individuals.
Accusations
as ‘loser’ and ‘clown’ – that are not found at all in the Presidential
Corpus.
Unstable Hillary lacks the judgment, now; Bernie Sanders said she
lacks judgment, right? And nobody said anything about it, no prob-
lem. He said, ‘You lack judgment.’ And – during one of the debates,
When I say it, they say that’s terrible the way you talk.
[LAUGHTER]
She does – she lacks judgment, she lacks temperament and I’m the
one that used ‘unfit’ many, many months ago. And now they’ve
turned it around, use it on me. Unfit? I’m unfit? That’s – that’s a first.
But she lacks the temperament and the moral character to lead this
She really does. She’s a dangerous person who doesn’t tell the truth,
which has been proven very loudly.
I’ve never seen a – I don’t think we’ve ever had greater proof of that,
of anybody.
[APPLAUSE]
And she has disregarded the lives of Americans – you see what’s
happening – with what she has done with her server? And you know
why she did that.
So, I just look at this, and I said that if she gets elected, she will
Remember that.
[APPLAUSE] …
Hey, you know, it’s one thing to make bad decisions. It’s another
[LAUGHTER]
[APPLAUSE]
She is disdainful of the rules set for everyone else, and she hasn’t
changed a bit. … Nobody would believe because it’s so terrible, so
terrible. And
she comes across like this woman – nice, easy – but she’s not. And –
and
she’s – listen – she’s not a leader, not a leader. And she is a liar.
[APPLAUSE]
Hey, hey – 33,000 emails are gone. Okay? 33,000 emails are gone.
They’re gone. How do you get rid of 33,000 emails? Who sends
I think it’s a tremendous blot on our country. I really mean that. I think
what happened over the last two weeks with respect to her, especially
in light of the fact that General Petraeus and many others have
suffered
laughter and then with applause. In this way, Trump connects with his
that’ – as if his audiences could ever forget something that has been
so
with his audience is in the high frequency of booing that occurs in his
with the Democrats, many of these are highly personalised and are
the chant ‘Lock her up’. This direct threat to the legitimacy of an
oppo-
nent has no precursor in American political campaign rhetoric and
serves
guilt without the need for judge, jury or evidence. Hillary Clinton is
rep-
that occurs 52 times, or her ‘bad instincts’ (24 times); nearly all of
these make more or less direct reference to criticisms that are
attributed to her rival for the Democrat nomination, Bernie Sanders.
Once Trump spots
infinitum in the belief that each time he says it, it becomes a bit more
political language?
Size-Related Keywords
Trump Corpus
Presidential Corpus
(481,919 words)
(502,280 words)
big/bigger/biggest
812
145
little
273
161
massive
240
40
small/smaller/smallest
187
213
TOTAL
1,512
559
Phrase
Frequency
Example
big league
38
big/biggest problem
36
problem.
big, big
33
19
big deal
19
accuracy. Repetition also occurs at the level of phrase: notice the ‘big
story’
big tax cuts is also a way of avoiding indicating specifically how much
they will be. Then expressions such as ‘big league’ and ‘big deal’
echo the familiar register of ordinary working people to whom he is
intending to appeal.
Phrase
Frequency
Example
Little bit
72
a little bit.
small business/es
36
small donors
15
object position after the pattern ‘we will’, including adverbials, for
example ‘we also will…’. The number of times each object occurs is
indicated
Frequency
Object Position
(20+)
make … again
229
America great/wealthy/safe/strong/
prosperous again
end
76
build
71
a wall (21)
stop
70
tell
61
fix
55
rebuild
42
military (13), inner cities (9),
roads (8)
put
42
cancel
35
keep
35
uphold
29
(29)
secure
29
protect
27
(4)
become
28
repeal
25
(13)
Obamacare (7)
suspend
20
‘attack and eliminate’ phrases and ‘protect and defend’ phrases that
interpret the primary function of government as protecting the nation
or valued
groups within the nation. ‘Attack and eliminate’ phrases include ‘end’,
‘stop’, ‘fix’, ‘cancel’, ‘repeal’, ‘suspend’ and ‘keep terrorists out’. These
refer to the policies of the present government or rival candidates
against the ‘Them’ group. ‘Protect and defend’ phrases refer to the
‘Us’ group and
205 times in the Trump Corpus as compared with only five times in
the
group who are the beneficiaries of Trump’s care; these are: ‘veterans,
or
will ‘make America great again’. The lexis in both groups are short
words
(8 are one syllable and 8 are two syllable) reflecting a disdain for
more
they characterise the rhetoric of the elite. The use of ‘protect and
defend’
it occurs 317 times in the Trump Corpus but only occurs only 7 times
in
the Presidential Corpus; this is perhaps his most typical style marker
of
and the safety of our police. When I take the oath of office next year,
I will restore law and order to our country. Believe me, believe me… .
By ending catch and release on the border, we will end the cycle of
[APPLAUSE]
We’re going to take care of our veterans like they’ve never been
taken
care of before. The other candidate in this race – you know, her name
–
crooked Hillary Clinton – and believe me, folks, she is crooked – has
a much different view.
She is a disaster. I said before, if crooked Hillary Clinton becomes
pres-
ident, terrorism will destroy the inner workings of our country. Believe
me, they are loving it.
task that lies ahead’. The verb occurs 71 times in Trump Corpus, of
which
all have the former sense; conversely, in the Presidential Corpus only
5 of
of lying: ‘Aren’t you tired of the same old lies and the same old broken
promises? And Hillary Clinton has proven to be one of the greatest
liars
Obama lied about the $400 million dollars in cash that was flown to
Iran’
was none of these things already, and implied that for some time
govern-
ment had lost control of its true duties and that a vote for Trump
would
struggles ‘to take back control’ over a land area once it has been
occu-
Exercise 7.4
speeches.
that you have undertaken for Donald Trump in Exercise 7.2. Were
there any
semantic field?
affordable
debt
insults
paying
wealthy
audience
disabilities
job
people
women
casinos
excited
jobs
person
wonderful
childcare
family
kids
right
young
corporations
folks
millionaires
student
country
friends
mother
trillions
dad
grandkids
opponent
trusted
daughter
guys
paid
veterans
7.5 Summary
ods provide evidence of just how far these ad hominems diverge from
described and illustrated here. Ideally, both set A and set B are
‘representative’ – that is the speeches should control for genre – in
this case, while both sets of speeches were higher stakes speeches,
the Trump Corpus
Essential reading
PART III
Chapter 8
Communication
Dijk’s notion of social cognition (van Dijk, 2008b) with the concept of
and come into power for the first time since 1979. It was a time of
hope and expectation, as established Conservative politicians had
been defeated by
generally younger, largely unknown, and in many cases female
politicians.
197
Nearly 2,000 words further into the speech, he repeated this image:
We will lift the cap on student numbers and set a target for an extra
state built for the very different world of 1945. Our tax system should
Help us make Britain that beacon shining throughout the world. Unite
25 March 2017)
You can make this election about how we plan to leave our children
and all children a planet that’s safer and a world that still sees
America
the same way my father saw it from across the ocean – as a beacon
of
all that is good and all that is possible for all mankind. (22 April 2008)
And to all those who have wondered if America’s beacon still burns
as bright – tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our
nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our
wealth,
But why did these politicians choose the metaphor of a valued entity
as
we can account for how ‘beacon’ works as a metaphor for both hope
Keeping
us warm
Seeing
Passion
Cooking
FIRE
& desires
Divine
LIGHT
Knowing
Purifying
Hoping
Health
Happiness
UP
Control
Virtue
such as hope and enthusiasm (e.g. ‘to be fired up’), desire (‘to burn
with
classical myths will know that Prometheus was punished for stealing
it
‘on top of the situation’), and health (e.g. ‘feeling on top of the world’).
Johnson, 1980) that I discuss in more detail in the next chapter is that
it offers a set of mid-level conceptual categories that are broad
then allows us to explain why the image of the beacon has the
potential
to symbolise hope and aspiration, by evoking any or all of the
concepts
listed below that arise from the cognitive schema activated by these
source domains:
HEALTHY IS UP
CONTROL IS UP
GOOD IS UP
HAPPINESS IS UP
SUCCESS IS UP
VIRTUE IS UP
GOD IS LIGHT
EMOTION IS LIGHT
KNOWLEDGE IS LIGHT
ENTHUSIASM IS FIRE
HOPE IS FIRE
PASSION IS FIRE
DESTRUCTION IS FIRE
PURIFICATION IS FIRE
ethical beliefs, the divine and knowledge (the emotional and the
ethical
were passionate about them in a way that was captured by the image
of
rhetoric.
that are rooted in cultural and historical knowledge. For this reason, it
term memory.
frame ways of thinking about the social world that actually construct
Second World War period, the relationship between the Soviet Union
and
War’, ‘the Iron Curtain’ and ‘the Evil Empire’ were metaphors that
high-
into a game, and the notion of an ‘arms race’ implied that there would
be
a winner and a loser if each ‘side’ did not expand their stock of
nuclear
change that swept across many Arabic nations from 2011. It offered a
posi-
world view.
literary canon that includes the Bible and Shakespeare – and in doing
so
makes a speaker sound like an orator. Take away the metaphors from
and they would lose the unique appeal that defined them as
passionate,
like orators.
that of male politicians who were familiar with the genre. Female pol-
iticians either accommodated to the rhetorical norms of the House of
at the Labour Party Conference in 1976, and at the end of the chapter
the methods for analysis of metaphor correspond with the aims of the
Exercise 8.1
Read the following extracts from various political contexts. Identify the
metaphors.
3 Let them take the opportunity of this debate to tell the Labour Party
that that policy option is closed, not only for now, but for the future,
and to say clearly that they will not tolerate attempts to black private
21 November 1975)
4 You see there are two flames burning in the human heart all the
time. The flame of anger against injustice, and the flame of hope you
can build a better world. And my job at 83 is going round and fanning
both flames … because
an overview
research into political metaphor, and which ones are used will depend
on
identifying metaphor and how decisions are made when there is lack
used in a very general sense for anything not explicitly literal. This is
less of a problem in qualitative approaches to metaphor than it is in
quantitative ones. When the researcher is actually counting
metaphors, it is
necessary to define, as well as to illustrate, what counts as a
metaphor.
until the time of writing. Other studies look for more generally
historical
which concerns the setting for metaphor use; for example, van Hulst
the origins in Western thought of the ‘body politic’ metaphor that was
used
sport (e.g. Jansen and Sabo, 1994; Semino and Masci, 1996;
Dumitriu and Negrea-Busuoic, 2017). In such studies, research has
been motivated by
discourse and its possible role in framing policy; and tracking it back
in
time helps in the understanding of how ideologies are formed. Such
studies
rhetorical traditions.
American politicians.
candidate countries.
Obama.
(and therefore familiar with the genre) and that the major parties are
rep-
they foreground and what they play down, and the ideology that they
developed since the first edition of this book concerns the framing
effects of metaphor on political reasoning, as indicated by Question 9.
Much of this
work takes its origin from Schön (1993), who explored how housing
pol-
such as avian flu, swine flu or SARS, than there have been around
large
210
2016
6(1), 103–33.
Bakhtiar (
discourse’.
World
2010–2015
Iran
Khamenei
2. ex-president Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad
1. Speeches
Incongruity/semantic tension as
21(4): 355–76
2010
L’Hôte (
Unspecified
Labour
Three manifestos
49 speeches
(234,387 words)
concepts
Discourse &
n = 4)
2008
19(3): 383–408
Lu and Ahrens (
‘Ideological Influences on
Presidential Speeches’,
Society
New Year’s days and ‘Double Tenth’
days, 1954–2006
Taiwan
Presidents of China (
characters)
literal meanings
Table 8.1
Authors
Title and
journal
When
Where
Who
Genre and
topic
METAPHOR IDENTIFICATION
Identification
211
1979.
By conceptual metaphors:
Israel is an animal/tumour/bastard.
By conceptual metaphors:
Globalisation is an independent
reconstruction
A COUNTRY IS A BUILDING;
FORERUNNERS ARE
DESTROYERS.
METAPHOR INTEPRETATION
Classification:
linguistic
Classification:
conceptual
METAPHOR EXPLANATION
Topic of
findings
that CDA studies typically report a stronger and more negative effect
of
metaphors, which is perhaps not surprising given that (i) they are
often
aphor has been valuable and will produce much further research.
Lan and Zuo (2016) explore Chinese editorial cartoons on food safety
depicted as Satan along with two children: Israel and the Muslim
Brothers.
Usually, visual metaphor forms offer a more indirect and subtle form
of critique, but they can cause even greater offence than verbal
metaphors, as was illustrated so drastically by the Charlie Hebdo
massacre in 2015.
Researching Metaphor in Public Communication 213
Exercise 8.2
basic meaning than the meaning that it has in the context where it is
used.
one that is more concrete, one that is related to bodily action, one
that is more precise, or one that is historically earlier (Pragglejaz
Group, 2007).
They explain that the more basic meanings are not necessarily the
most
are used. The Oxford English Dictionary is the most reliable source
for identifying historically earlier meanings (which are usually also
those that are more concrete and more related to bodily action).
However, it is also
Counting metaphors
The first point relates to whether to count all the words in a phrase
con-
for example, is the phrase ‘the Iron Curtain’ two metaphors, because
‘iron’
and ‘curtain’ are distinct lexical units, or one metaphor because they
have been used together so frequently that they have produced a
fixed phrase?
analysis.
example, it may be that 50 years from now, when all memories of the
potato blight that caused the famine in Ireland have passed, the
original
meaning of ‘blight’ may have faded away (there were only three literal
(Gentner and Bowdle, 2001; Bowdle and Gentner, 2005). In the case
of
‘cigarettes are time bombs’: as both cigarettes and time bombs are
deadly,
Exercise 8.3
2 Any tax rises will fall most heavily on those with the broadest
shoulders and will be a something-for-something deal.
Tories have done. We will not sow division by fanning the flames of
fear.
8.5 Summary
will determine the time periods, settings and other factors relating to
the sources of metaphors, such as whether they are about a
particular topic
considering the possibility of using more than a single data source for
Essential reading
Chapter 9
and Method
9.1 Introduction
Decisions will be taken regarding the speaker(s), the time period, the
be examined.
217
2. Metaphor
identification
(verbal context and
identifying types:
novel, etc.)
1. Contextual
3. Metaphor
analysis leading to
interpretation
research questions
(identifying &
& selection of
classifying concepts
speeches
& representations)
4. Metaphor
explanation
(agency, rhetorical
This involves going back to the broader social and political context to
about how it is used by other politicians and may spark off a new
phase of
All of the issues discussed above will at some point require a theory
of
phor and what methods are employed for measuring its impact. The
more
clearly these issues are defined, the more robust the methodology for
critical research of metaphor. Building on the discussion of general
considerations in metaphor identification and classification in the last
chapter, in this chapter I consider the identifying and categorising of
metaphor from two theoretical perspectives: conceptual metaphor
theory and blending theory.
Counting metaphors
Metaphors in political rhetoric typically occur in phrases, or
collocations, rather than as separate words, and for this reason the
unit of measurement
should be the phrase rather than the word. For example, in the
speech by
(2007), who analysed the phrase ‘wear the mantle’ in the context
‘Sonia
Gandhi has struggled to convince Indians that she is fit to wear the
mantle of the political dynasty into which she married’ as two
separate metaphors, because both ‘wear’ and ‘mantle’ occur as
separate headwords in a dictionary source. When applied to political
rhetoric, this procedure would, in my view, lead to a considerable
overcount of metaphor, because ideologically
But I’ll tell you what. We’re going to win the election, and we’re going
to clean out the swamp. You know, I’m using the expression, we’re
going to drain … the swamp of Washington, DC. It is a swamp of
absolute corruption! It’s absolutely corrupt! And we’re going to drain
the swamp.
We’ll see what happens. We’re going to drain it. But we’re going to
win.
I have indicated what for me are the five metaphors in this excerpt,
whereas if the verb ‘swamp’ (or ‘swamp’ + noun phrase) were
counted separately,
After selecting the fixed phrase as the unit to count, we then need to
decide which of these phrases counts as a metaphor. Because
metaphors arise from transferred meanings, whatever sense a word
or phrase originally had, a
got back into power, diehard supporters of Donald Trump may again
refer
to Washington simply as ‘the swamp’, in which case their sense of it
as a
metaphor might be lost. This is one reason why people vary in their
estimates of metaphors in texts. Metaphor originates in an awareness
of a resemblance relationship (usually known as the ‘grounds’)
between the two entities it
arise from how words are used and understood, especially in the
extent to which their contexts are understood as familiar or novel.
Corpus shows that in the first 100 examples of ‘blight’, only three
refer to the disease of a plant – ‘a plant disease, typically one caused
by fungi such as mildews, rusts, and smut’ – whereas the remainder
refer to ‘a thing that spoils or damages something’, so this second,
metaphoric sense of ‘blight’
This is not to say that ‘beacon’ is any more persuasive than ‘blight’ or
that it is an especially novel metaphor, but it is helpful in establishing
a relationship between a corpus approach and the psycholinguistic
approach discussed in
the period of time over which a corpus has been collected, because
the more recent the sample of language, the more potential there is
for metaphors to become established and fall into either the
conventional or entrenched categories. In political speeches, the
majority of metaphors are conventional and entrenched, with only a
few likely to be novel – the opposite of the situation in literature or
other more creative genres. As metaphor is a source of language
change; its inherent instability leads to a situation where most
metaphors are not processed by comparison because they are
conventional or entrenched.
3 From the list in stage 2, identify novel ‘metaphors’ – that is, words
audience response.
1. Identify all
potential
metaphors
5. Identify
2. Confirm or
entrenched
reject initial
metaphors
classifications
4. Identify
3. Identify
conventional
novel metaphors
metaphors
ible in the first phase because they have become naturalised. They
will
is to read a sample of the data set to identify words that are often
used
2004) and then to search through the whole data set for these (see
Semino,
2008, Chapter 6, for an overview of corpus methods). As Deignan
(2005) explains, collocates around metaphorical expressions – as
evident from a
A related but slightly different approach that has more potential for
Jansen and Sabo, 1994) show that war is often discussed in terms of
sport (and vice versa: Charteris-Black, 2004) so it would be possible
to draw up a set of words from sports (‘team’, ‘race’, ‘tactics’ etc.) and
search for these in a corpus of speeches relating to war. In the case
of Blair’s use of ‘beacon’, we could draw up a list of words such as
‘light’, ‘dark’, ‘torch’, ‘flame’,
‘shadow’ and so on from the semantic field of light and dark, and then
use
devices
27
bombs
23
device
22
4
rhetoric
19
remarks
bomb
material
language
comments
10
fires
5
English (COCA).
At the start of Obama’s speech (the text of the speech can be found
at
the end of Chapter 1), there is a very evident metaphor in (2.3): ‘Yet,
every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging
storms’. Why
values, their beliefs and their political orientations. But to the majority,
Conventional
Entrenched
ancestors (1.1)
(2.2)
office (2.4)
on (2.4)
strengthen our
a new age (3.3)
collective failure to
economy is badly
weakened (3.3)
a sapping of confidence
(4.2)
politics (6.2)
fear (6.1)
measure of happiness
(7.2)
on from generation to
generation (7.2)
(7.2)
freedom (9.5)
Exercise 9.1
Identify metaphors in the following extracts, and classify them into the
following categories: novel, conventional and entrenched. Use the
British National Corpus to assist with identifying these metaphor
types.
ticular speech.
eulogies.
political grouping (e.g. the far right). However, global systems are
impor-
in the blend that may include material that is not present in either of
the input spaces. The two approaches complement each other with
conceptual
just mentioned (light etc.) could be subsumed under the more general
The next stage is to identify the metaphor target (i.e. topic or tenor) –
what it is that the metaphors are used to talk and think about; for
example, Martin Luther King, Jr’s major political concern was racial
segregation,
domain onto the target domain. So, for example, the knowledge of
illnesses
the focus will be on the range of topics they are used to describe –
the metaphor targets. ‘Slippery slope’ metaphors are typically used by
those who
as follows:
words with the topic to which they typically refer and accounts for
the same semantic field – for example, SPORT. Then, when a group
of
that discourse.
it is formed (e.g. ‘war’ and ‘sport’) are not necessarily present in the
Blending theory (Fauconnier and Turner, 2002) does not use the
termi-
get’ domains, there are ‘input spaces’. This has important implications
apply blending theory, the first input space typically corresponds with
the source domain of conceptual metaphor theory, and the second
input
space with the target domain. What is novel about the theory is that it
of the metaphor.
I describe the differences between the two approaches by comparing
such as ‘He always wants to be in the spotlight’; ‘We each have our
role to play’; ‘He stole the show’; ‘That’s not in the script’; ‘You missed
your cue’;
‘Clean up your act!’; ‘He always plays the fool’; ‘You deserve a
standing
TARGET DOMAIN –
THEATRE/ACTING LIFE
MAPPINGS/ALIGNMENTS
An actor
Fellow actors
→ the people with whom he or she interacts
→ death
(1989, pp. 20–1) propose LIFE IS A PLAY. Let’s compare how these
same expressions might be analysed using blending theory; this is
summarised
EVENTS
1. Beginning
2. Agents/actors
3. Events in sequence
4. End
INPUT SPACE
1 – THEATRE
1. Birth
1. Start of play
2. Social norms
2. Roles in a play
3. Behaving in life
3. Acting
4. Dying
4. End of play
BLENDED SPACE
play
in a play
4. Dying = End of a play
and this could be part of the emergent structure. This gives blending
theory
referred to earlier, from his 2016 election campaign: the promise that
he
would ‘drain the swamp’, by which he meant that he would end
govern-
CAUSE–EFFECT/
PROBLEM–SOLUTION
1. Cause of a problem
2. Action to address
this cause
3. Beneficial result
INPUT SPACE 2 –
INPUT SPACE 1 –
POLITICS
DISEASE MANAGEMENT
cause disease
corruption
BLENDED SPACE
Government corruption
Trump had strong support – is blended with the dangers arising from
gov-
corruption.
which Palin believed the Republican Party should ‘target’; these were
Here I suggest that what drives the blend is a schema for cause–
effect
plan; the shooting of the gun with the act of voting; and the resulting
blame-sarah-palin.
GENERIC SPACE:
CAUSE–EFFECT
a. Plan
b. Action
c. Result
INPUT SPACE 2 –
INPUT SPACE 1 –
POLITICS
WAR
a. Taking aim
a. Planning a strategy
b. Shooting an opponent
b. Voting
c. Winning a seat
BLENDED SPACE
aim
b. Voting – Shooting an
opponent
opponent
metaphor theory
given at a time when the speaker was just becoming aware of the
extent
was in relation to a financial one that started in the United States but
which came to have global implications. Analysis of the speech
circumstances
will later assist us in explaining the metaphor choices, and more
detailed
Chapter 11).
evident in the surface level of the text, whereas targets are present in
the understanding of the speaker and audience. Where metaphors
from the
the group of weather and sea metaphors in the first and final parts of
the
Source Domain
Examples
Various
Human
freedom (9.5)
Sight
Weather/Sea
the first ten sections recur in the final part (weather/sea, human,
journeys and motion, religion and ethics). Identifying a distribution like
this implies that there was an underlying rhetorical purpose in the use
of metaphors
may also wish to classify them by their target domains; this can help
Examples
Various conventional
Human
birth (26.2)
generations (27.3)
Weather/Sea
Target domain
Metaphors
actions)
Qualities of character
required to contend
history
(27.3)
Target domain
Metaphors
Qualities of character
required to contend
determination and
endurance
Values
Exercise 9.2
Look at the metaphors in Tables 9.4 and 9.5, and attempt to formulate
the wording of some conceptual metaphors (remember to put the
target domain first and then the source domain). Are there any that
could be analysed using blending theory? If so, attempt to draw a
diagram like those shown in Figures 9.4–9.6.
theory
that language would evolve and change in line with discourse shift
over
ing the more abstract generic spaces that are shared by the input
spaces.
of the repeated systematic use of the same source domain for the
same
9.7 Summary
tual meaning (evident from considering its use in a speech and the
speech
out’, whereas others will not – to the extent that this questions
whether we classify them as a metaphor or not.
and assist with attributing intention and purpose – which we shall see
is
What type of metaphor is it? Why was this type of metaphor chosen
(e.g. familiar or novel)? What social impact does this choice have?
Where
are novel, or visual, blending theory can provide a richer and more
insightful analytical framework.
Essential reading
Chapter 9.
Semino, E. (2008). Metaphor in Discourse (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press), Chapter 6.
Chapter 10
Cognition
10.1 Introduction
offers a theory for why orators use metaphors. When Aristotle defined
met-
243
Notice how metaphors offer whole storylines with dramatic roles that
establish their interconnectedness. In fact, ‘image schemas’,
‘scenarios’,
more detail towards the end of this chapter, when analysing reasons
for
It is not the social or political situation itself that influences text or talk,
but rather the way individual participants represent, understand or
otherwise construct the now – for them – relevant properties of a
situation.
is the only thing that distinguishes them from ‘mental models’: van
Dijk,
2008b, p. 71). Why should contexts be purely verbal, and if they are
not, how are context models different from mental models?
Metaphors and
and ‘mental models’ becomes hard to maintain. The drift away from
an
audience.
theory.
van Dijk’s mental models by taking further the analysis of Tony Blair’s
and
socialist courage’. The image of a beacon and a red flame were both
intended to inspire positive representations of feelings of courage and
hope associated with the political context of the time (courage was
needed when the Labour
Party was declining, and hope was needed when it was being
transformed in
different directions by Blair and Corbyn). Each of these speakers and
at least some of their audience shared these beliefs, and the
audience would have
embodied experience (we know that when our emotions are aroused,
we
Fire is used to burn debris and other unwanted things, and in social
revo-
heat to purify base metals and turn these into gold, giving rise to a
concept that PURIFICATION IS FIRE. The expression ‘the sacred fire
of human
Black, 2004, pp. 100ff; 2017a, pp. 184–5). As well as strong emotions
and idealism, Foot’s ‘red’ fire, brings in another far-left symbol – red
as the colour of Communism – a beacon only warns against danger,
whereas
You see there are two flames burning in the human heart all the time.
The flame of anger against injustice, and the flame of hope you can
build a better world. And my job at 83 is going round and fanning
ism of ‘red’, so here Benn uses fire imagery to contrast negative and
pos-
phors at all, and, if they are used, which metaphors to use, as such
choices communicate ideology. No matter how entrenched
metaphors become, the
fact that they have been chosen presupposes that at their time of
inception they were ideological. So an assumption of CMA is that
much language use
constitute, ideologies.
domains associated with danger (e.g. van Dijk, 1987; Hart, 2011,
2017; Chilton, 2004; Charteris-Black, 2006). But this is less the case
with more covert metaphors – words such as pressure or burden
when applied to immigration – and CMA aims to provide insight into
the possible motivation of metaphors such as these that may be
processed by categorisation
may help to compare Figure 10.1 with Figure 1.1 (p. 7), which shows
the rhetorical means of persuasion in political speeches.
2. Heuristic:
Simplifying issues,
3. Predicative:
issues
1. Gaining
Implying positive or
attention and
negative evaluations
establishing trust
an argument
Purposes of
7. Mythic: Framing
metaphor
4. Empathetic:
participant roles so
or create, apolitical
speaker
myth
6. Ideological:
5. Aesthetic:
Representing political
Creating textual
to respected orators
or constitutes,
and/or history
a world view
Notice how Michael Foot does this: ‘No one is less surprised than me
that
referendum result and the decision to leave the European Union. But
a
ters – notice how quickly the metaphor ‘credit crunch’ took off to refer
in the United States. One reason for this was that very few people
knew
debt became known as the ‘sovereign debt crisis’ – a term which, like
CMA seeks to identify what is implied and the other point of view
detail how Blair and Clinton used verbs such as ‘create’, ‘craft’, ‘forge’
trade the technology and capability for such weapons. It is time this
trade was exposed, disrupted, and stamped out. (Blair, 14 September
2001) To capture this, I also proposed the conceptual metaphor
POLITICAL
heart of the Arab world (e.g. Bakhtiar, 2016). The switch to fatal
illnesses argued for much more radical cures. As Sontag (1991, p.
73) summarises:
like herself who are actually suffering from one of these diseases.
She illustrates how, when a disease is conceptualised as an invasion,
it also entails a powerful moral argument, so that in the same way as
it is right to end
tic ones require intrusive surgery with the aim of restoring balance.
For
Labour’s real prescription for Britain is the disease half the world is
struggling to cure. (October 1989)
A Britain that was known as the sick man of Europe – And which
spoke the language of compassion but which suffered the winter of
discontent.
tion they asked was not “Will the medicine work?” but “Will it taste all
right?” (October 1985)
example:
But the deluge of immigrants which the British encouraged, and the
peninsula.
ment here is one often used by extremists of the left or the right: the
ends justify the means. The predicative purpose of metaphor has the
same cognitive objects as the heuristic purpose: to frame political
actors and issues in line with an underlying rhetorical purpose of
‘being right’. But it does so more explicitly with reference to positive
and negative scales that draw on lexical semantics for good and bad
embodied experience of life: health
and life are inherently positive, and disease and death inherently
negative.
Exercise 10.1
type. Make a table with two columns to show the entities, actors or
issues
speaker
know that America is a friend of each nation every man, woman, and
child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to
lead
people creates the potential for the full range of emotions that we
associ-
Obama
Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for
expediency’s sake (3) [APPLAUSE]. And so to all other peoples and
governments
who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small
village
where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each
nation …
John F. Kennedy
To those peoples in the huts and villages across the globe struggling
to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help
Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but
because
it is right. (8.1)
the sake of historical curiosity. But last week at Brighton the dinosaurs
had broken out of their glass cases, their political DNA apparently
past using the language of the past all over again. A sort of political
I suspect that I will prove no more adept at pulling rabbits from hats
the speech – typically the prologue and the epilogue; this contributes
to
Dear friends, on 9 October 2012, the Taliban shot me on the left side
of my forehead. They shot my friends, too. They thought that the
bullets would
silence us, but they failed. And out of that silence came thousands of
voices.
I want education for the sons and daughters of the Taliban and all the
terrorists and extremists. I do not even hate the Talib who shot me.
for education:
ised the importance of pens and books when we saw the guns. The
wise saying, ‘The pen is mightier than the sword’ – it is true. The
extremists
are afraid of books and pens. The power of education frightens them.
‘Pens and books’ are from the same domain as education and
represent
it – and so are metonymic. In the speech coda she returns to the idea
of
knowledge as weaponry:
with the weapon of knowledge and let us shield ourselves with unity
and togetherness. … So let us wage, so let us wage a glorious
struggle against illiteracy, poverty and terrorism, let us pick up our
books and our pens, they are the most powerful weapons. One child,
one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world. Education
is the only
Exercise 10.2
Analyse the conceptual blend that Malala creates between ‘pens and
books’ and
‘weapons’ by drawing a diagram that shows the two input spaces, the
generic space and the blended space (see Figures 9.4, 9.5 and 9.6).
What is its emergent structure?
tion of the world’ about which the holders of the ideology could agree
of social beliefs about what is the case, good or bad, right or wrong,
for
and the associated idea of Britain as a contained space all form part
of a
p. 130) puts it: ‘They [metaphors] are also effective because of their
ability to resonate with latent symbolic representations residing at the
unconscious level.’ In the conclusion of a detailed analysis of the
metaphors used by American and British politicians, I claimed:
It is not possible to list all research, but I indicate a few sources in the
footnotes. I use the term ‘in-group’ to refer to those allied to the
speaker –
singer Lady Gaga (Core Text 10). The purpose of the speech was to
oppose
homophobia in the armed forces at a rally protesting against the
policy
[CHEERING]
But because I’m gay, I don’t get to enjoy the greatest cut of meat my
[CHEERING]
But I’m talking about soldiers. Should the military be allowed to treat
[CHEERING]
value meals, for certain civil rights, I have to pay extra because I’m
gay.
[BOOING]
I’m allowed to stand in line next to other men and women. I’m allowed
But when it’s time to order my meal, when it’s time to benefit from the
freedoms of the constitution that I protect and I fight for, I have to pay
extra. I shouldn’t have to pay extra. I should have the ability, the
opportunity, the right, to enjoy the same rights, the same piece of
meat, that my fellow soldiers, fellow straight soldiers, already have
included
[CHEERING]
It’s prime rib, it’s the same size, it’s the same grade, the same cut and
wholesale cost, and it’s in the constitution.
[CHEERING]
[CHEERING]
[CHEERING]
260
Negative
DIVORCE
STRICT FATHER
FAILURE IS LOSING
LIFE IS A RACE
FAILURE IS DEFEAT
Positive
RELATIONSHIPS
RELATIONSHIPS
NURTURANT PARENT
SUCCESS IS SPEED
SUCCESS IS WINNING
SPEED IS SUCCESS
POLITICS IS SPORT
POLITICS IS A GAME
POLITICS IS FOOTBALL
WAR IS SPORT
POLITICS IS WAR
SUCCESS IS VICTORY
10.1
Table
Source domain
Human/Machine
Family
Motion/Journeys
261
BEHAVIOUR
OPPONENTS ARE DESTROYERS
, Chapter
1996
2011
2017
2011
2008
2006
2015
See Musolff (
See Charteris-Black (
See Charteris-Black (
See Gibbs (
See Charteris-Black (
Disease and
health
Myth
Creation and
Destruction
Light
Religion
Animals
Building
Notes
567
Exercise 10.3
such as grief, fear, happiness and joy. Myths are purposeful, but their
origin is in the unconscious. I illustrate this duality in an account of
journey metaphors: ‘Analysis of metaphors can add to our
understanding of how spe-
cific rhetorical goals are achieved through the use of metaphors that
match the speaker’s intentions with the audience’s mental schemata
and scripts
Look back to the findings of the analysis shown in section 9.6, and
you
will see that the majority of metaphors are from the source domain of
how these also correlate with the use of first-person plural pronouns.
with the power of ‘seeing’ the future, and this implies one of the
attributes of a charismatic leader.
We saw from Table 1.1 that Aristotle claimed that the epilogue has a
high impact, as the last words the audience hears before taking a
decision
that the artistic appeal that is the most persuasive for the epilogue is
pathos because it is crucial to arouse the emotions when concluding
a speech.
appropriate to the main theme of his speech, which is the need for a
heroic narrative of nation.
The epilogue has the purpose of arousing emotions that are
appropriate
(see Charteris-Black, 2011, Chapter 4); and Obama had done this
earlier, in his election campaign:
And if you will join me in this improbable quest, if you feel destiny
calling, and see as I see, a future of endless possibility stretching
before us; if you sense, as I sense, that the time is now to shake off
our slumber, and slough off our fear, and make good on the debt we
owe past and future generations, then I’m ready to take up the cause,
and march with you, and work with you. Together, starting today, let
us finish the work that
Here metaphors are drawn from the domains of war, sleep and
journeys,
Response to
Present crises,
past crises,
dangers and
dangers and
threats
threats
Delivers
A model for
followers from
response to
economic
present crises
oppression
A charismatic
leader
Figure 10.2 Myth and argument structure.
The diagram shows how, at the level of metaphor, the model for rhe-
Intentions’
Metaphor Target:
Values
‘Thinking Right’
‘Sounding Right’
Metaphor Target:
Metaphor Target:
Qualities of character
required to contend
actions)
PERSUASION
‘Being right’
‘Telling the
Right Story’
‘Looking Right’
Metaphor Target:
Symbolic Target:
Qualities of character
required to contend
and confident
American history
Exercise 10.4
Essential reading
Comments on Exercises
Rhetoric is
I shall leave you to work out most of these. The most debatable are
(c) and (f); I would say that (c) is deliberative because decisions are
likely to be taken on choice of strategies, and the orientation is
towards the future, whereas (f) is more likely to be forensic, with the
coach passing a verdict on the performance of particular players.
When working out the major premise, you need to identify the major
claim that an argument is making – this is similar to identifying the
main topic in a narrative. Here, it is the view that 267
Syllogism
It is unwise for young people to take on large debt. (Major premise)
Enthymeme
Here the minor premise is omitted but will be inferred by the audience
because of their everyday experience of debt repayment.
Refutation
Present a counterposition
The prologue of Core Text 1 is very short – only the first paragraph –
and satisfies the need to establish Obama’s ethos by showing
respect to his predecessor. A short narrative is effective because it
arouses interest by rapidly introducing a narrative of threat and
danger in (2). In (3–5) he continues to frame a narrative of crisis, and
at the end of (5) he introduces his main argument – that the
challenges America faces will be met. In (9), he introduces the proof
of his argument: at previous periods of American history when
challenges have been just as great as today, they have still been met.
This is an argument by historical analogy, and it is this that sustains
the momentum of the speech. In (13), the claim that ‘there are some
who question the scale of our ambitions’ signals the prologue of a
counterargument that is then refuted. The refutation is based again
on historical analogy, in (16) and (17) by referring back to America’s
heroic ancestors, whose ambitions enabled them to overcome the
challenges of their time. He continues in (18–25) with the main
argument of overcoming present challenges by positive future actions
but occasionally switches back to past achievement. The epilogue is
paragraphs (26–28).
The style of the former Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, is one that
creates a tension from both the visual and verbal aspects of his style.
A hallmark of his appearance is the traditional dark suit and tie of a
businessman, yet this conflicts with his dishevelled hair, which evokes
a naughty schoolboy or public school rebel. In his verbal style, there
is a tension between his directness and his accent: Oxford English is
quite typical of this social class, whereas directness and honesty are
not stereotypical qualities of the English upper classes.
The effect of this clash between the expected and the unexpected is
to give the impression of honesty and intimacy – there is a mixture
between socially conventional elements – the accent and the suit,
with those more individual, eccentric features of the outspoken rebel.
echo of an earlier public persona. I am not sure that Blair was ever
fully trusted by the public, though he was much admired.
(3.3. and 3.4); there is a triple repetition (tricolon) in (4.2). In 8.1 there
is ‘wish to fight’, and
Tropes
Core Texts 2 and 3 both allude to myth by using place names; Collins
alludes to biblical locations and personal names in (3), while the
Henry V speech alludes to the festival of St.
Schemes
Time viewpoint
In both speeches, the orator takes the perspective of someone in an
idealised future reflecting on an imminent battle; this rhetorical
method presupposes that there will be victory because without
survivors there would be no perspective for this point of view. It is
also worth noting how the schemes and tropes contribute to the time
orientation of both speeches: prior to combat, the focus is on a future
after the victory. The use of a compressed time scale is present in
both speeches, so actions taken in the very near future will have very
long-term consequences: Collins does this very explicitly in (9), where
he emphasises the shame that will attach to dishonourable conduct,
whereas Henry V focuses more on the duration of honour that will
accrue from victory.
From this we can assume that Collins was rather more convinced of
victory than was Henry V, so needed to give more emphasis to the
ethical rather than the military outcome of combat.
You will note that pronouns are usually anaphoric references because
they refer back to a noun. You will also note that the majority of
cohesive ties are references – these usually account for as many as
90 per cent of all ties.
‘world’ in (19.1) is a repetition of the same word in (2.1, 3.2 and 10.1).
As regards reiteration:
Overall there are probably more examples of repetition than there are
of reiteration (synonyms and antonyms).
Paragraphs 1–13
REPETITION
60
COLLOCATION
22
19
101
From this we see that repetition is the most frequently used tie; and
collocation, synonymy/
‘key’ here would mean that one paragraph has multiple cohesive ties
to preceding or following paragraphs. For example, paragraph (9) is
linked especially closely with preceding sentences, with many
lexically cohesive ties (more than a quarter of all those identified in
the first half of the speech). It is particularly dense in collocations –
with nearly half of all the collocations identified in this part. The
following sentences refer back to it: there are 7 ties between
paragraph (10) and paragraph (9), and a further 3 between
paragraphs (11 and 9).
Paragraph (9) could be taken to predict the Cuban missile crisis that
occurred in October 1962
It has become the norm for celebrities to use their symbolic capital as
a means for expressing political viewpoints and ideologies.
There are, of course, many changes and modifications made from the
Joint Intelligence Committee assessment that was prepared for a
specialist audience and that produced by political advisers for the
general public and Members of Parliament. I summarise the main
ones in the following table.
Published dossier
Commentary
Title:
Destruction
Commons)
weapons programmes, in
know.
Resolution 687.
including incriminating
inspections.
weapons.
perception of threat.
possibility to certainty.
continues in his efforts to develop
Your list might have included anything from the Del Hymes’ (1972)
model for the context of situation to that proposed by Normal
Fairclough (2003). Wodak and Meyer (2009, p. 93) identify four
‘levels’ of context for a particular discursive practice:
1 The other language in the text, or co-text of the practice.
… arrested six of them all they found all bits and bobs off hundreds
and hundreds and thousands of pounds worth of cars, and four wheel
drives they specialise in and off to the Continent with it. Yeah, it’s all
organised, it’s not like the gypos will be doing like this, Oh yes! Yeah,
this is all organised bloody down to! Oh yes, all yeah! They handled
something like a thousand pounds worth of cars that they did. (BNC)
The table below shows a possible analysis of the second part of the
speech using Wodak’s categories.
Analysis of topoi
17
People: the people voted for Brexit, so the politicians are obliged to
leave the Customs Union and Single Market.
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
History: Britain has lead the way in improving the global economy in
the past.
27
Saviour: Britain can save the world by taking the lead in free trade.
28
29
Other topoi in the second edition are similar to topoi from the first
edition; for example,
There are further changes to the topoi in The Politics of Fear (Wodak
2015) –‘people’ and
‘saviour’ have been added. It is worth noting that preexisting topoi are
selected on the basis that they are specifically relevant to right-wing
populist rhetoric about immigration, which raises the question of
whether the content of topoi are dependent on the topic of political
discourse – and if so, how specific that topic has to be. For example I
have included ‘people’ and
1 People who hold sexist views and who are misogynists are not
appropriate for high office.
2 ‘If the Prime Minister wants to, politically speaking, make an honest
woman of herself …’
3 ‘Ditch the witch.’ Gillard responds to these with the following advice:
‘He could change his behaviour, he could apologise for all his past
statements.’ This is a version of strategy 4:
Good Attributes
Ethos
The Nation
Money & Finance
people
beautiful
dishonest
nation
billion
folks
better
illegal
America
bill
audience
good
right
China
business
family
great
safe
Mexico
companies
tremendous
choice
countries
deals
incredible
build
American
jobs
amazing
fight
states
money
special
history
pay
love
tax
big
taxes
massive
Good Attributes
Ethos
The Nation
audience
excited
childcare
country
affordable
dad
disabilities
casinos
daughter
right
corporations
family
trusted
debt
folks
job
friends
jobs
grandkids
millionaires
People Terms
Good Attributes
Ethos
The Nation
guys
paid
kids
paying
mother
trillions
people
person
student
veterans
3 to black private hospital building. how brightly burns the red flame 4
two flames burning. The flame of anger. the flame of hope
1 Negative
2 Positive
3 Negative
4 Positive
The main purpose for using these metaphors is to refer to the force of
emotion. In (1) and (3) emotional intensity is negatively evaluated,
whereas in (2) and (4) it is positively evaluated. In each case, they do
this effectively – especially in (4). That has poetic merit.
The following are hypotheses about the types of processing that may
occur:
history is a journey.
Enoch Powell – ‘I seem to see the River Tiber foaming with much
blood’ (1968) Michael Foot – ‘The red flame of socialist courage’
(1976)
283
Edwards, P. (2009). How to Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip-Hop
MC (Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press), p. 88.
org/10.1177/0957926517734663.
Mio, J.S. and Lovrich, N.P. (1998). ‘Men of zeal: Memory for
metaphors in the Iran-Contra hearings’, Metaphor and Symbol, 13(1),
49–68.
Chapter 6.
ledge), Chapter 1.
van Dijk, T. (1990). ‘Discourse and society: A new journal for a new
research focus’, Discourse & Society, 1(1), 5–16.
Glossary
289
290 Glossary
circumlocution (or periphrasis) The use of more words than is
necessary to express a meaning (see example of autonomasia
above).
direct speech The use of the actual words that were used, without
grammatical modification.
ellipsis A sentence where part of the structure has been omitted, for
reasons of economy, emphasis or style. Typically, the omitted
element can be recovered on close scrutiny of the context: ‘On
November 4th, we must stand up and say: “Eight is enough”
(Obama). The word ‘years’ is omitted.
Glossary 291
‘genre’ has taken on a wider meaning that has lost its literary
connotations and refers to a body of texts (literary or non-literary) that
share a communicative purpose.
292 Glossary
It’s very, very dishonest. … It’s just so unfair, it’s so unfair, we’re
running against a rigged press (Trump).
‘When the enemy struck on that June day of 1950, what did America
do? It did what it always has done in all its times of peril. It appealed
to the heroism of its youth’ (Eisenhower).
‘to lose the thread of an argument’. Novel metaphors are those that
have not been extensively adopted in a language community.
Conceptual metaphor is the shared implied meaning that organises
a family of metaphors; for example, ARGUMENT IS WAR underlies
metaphors such as ‘I attacked his views’; ‘he retorted with a salvo’
(Lakoff and Johnson, 1980).
Glossary 293
(George Orwell).
parataxis The placing of clauses next to each other, but giving equal
emphasis to each clause.
parison A figure of speech where two entities are compared; ‘In your
statement you assert that our actions, even though peaceful, must be
condemned because they precipitate violence. But is this a logical
assertion? Isn’t this like condemning a robbed man because his
possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery?’ (Martin
Luther King); here the rhetorical question is followed by parison.
‘remainer’ + ‘moaner’.
proof The part of a speech where the speaker works out which of the
artistic proofs (ethos, pathos and logos) to employ for a particular
argument.
294 Glossary
Believe me. Believe me. I’m a messenger. It’s what I am. That’s what
I am’ (Donald Trump).
rhetoric The study of all the means that could be used for effective
persuasion.
‘wash’, ‘simmer’, ‘boil’ and ‘herbs’ are all connected with the semantic
field of cookery.
trope A figure of speech where words are used with senses other
than their normal ones (e.g. metaphor).
Index
circumlocution, 289
ad populum, 174
Clinton, Hillary, 11, 14, 37, 38, 165, 168, aesthetics, 255ff
and schema)
anastrophe, 289
grammatical, 62
antimetabole, 289
lexical, 70ff
colligation, 220
antonymy, 289, 72ff, 78ff, 187
, 167
fallacious, 159
conjunction, 69ff
162ff
asyndeton, 289
Brown, Gordon, 9
233
place, 65ff
time, 66
delivery, xvii, 34ff, 48, 93, 95ff, 116, 129, categorization, 214ff, 222,
246ff
167, 290
causation, 147ff
dialectic, 4, 290
295
296 Index
hypotaxis, 292
263, 290
250, 257
implicature, 163
coercive
intentionality, 138,
isocolon, 45, 54
Isocrates, 41–2
Johnson, Boris, xiii, 9, 17, 151, 163, 165, euphemism, 14, 291
166, 255
Justice, (topos of), 144, 146, 171, 184, 246, exploitation, (topos of),
145-6
257
face, 162ff
face-threat, 162ff
figurative, 291
legitimacy and illegitimacy xv, 113, 185, frames, framing, 56, 59, 61,
92, 98, 100,
251
Gästarbeiters, 140
Index 297
metaphor, 11, 37ff, 49, 51ff, 149, 171, 193, pathos, 16ff, 49, 100, 106,
254, 263, 293
197ff, 292
‘beacon’, 197ff
‘crime’, 257
Perry, Rick, 48
‘pikey’, 141ff
Plato, 4ff, 16
keywords, 224
power, 87ff, 111ff, 133ff, 158, 203, 256, source domains, 200, 206,
211, 218,
294
Pragglejaz, 220
target domains, 211, 218, 229, 230, 232, predication, 139, 160, 251
237ff
metonym/ metonymy, 14, 43, 51, 54ff, 65, process/ processes 93,
110, 160
proplesis, 293
levels of 119ff
public communication, 64, 90, 104, 111, myth, xv, 52, 57, 100, 116,
178, 191, 193,
197ff
names/naming 111ff, 139ff, 144, 152, reality, (topos of), 3ff, 89, 145ff,
154, 159
158ff, 182
258, 262ff
Nixon, Richard, 59
religious discourse, 41
254ff, 262ff
294
98, 100, 110, 118, 152, 202, 212, deliberative 38, 48ff, 208, 290
225, 230
paradox of metaphor, 222
Responsibility, (topos of), 144, 149, 150, parallelism, 41ff, 45, 55ff,
293
154–5
298 Index
systematicity, 228
149, 294
satire, 166
situation, 90ff
158
sociolinguistics, 135
153ff, 277
Sorenson, Ted, 61
soundbite, 249
244ff
variation, 71ff
forensic, 6ff
political, xiiiff
voice,
strategy, 137ff
populist, 185
warrant, 143, 146ff, 150, 159ff, 169, 180,
190
zeugma, 294
Document Outline
Cover
Contents
List of Core Speeches
List of Figures
List of Tables
Introduction
Political speech
Success and failure in political speaking
Overview
Acknowledgements
Part I Traditional Approaches to Rhetoric, Oratory and Discourse
Chapter 1 Classical Rhetoric: Artistic Proofs and
Arrangement
1.1 Introduction: rhetoric, oratory and persuasion
1.2 Branches of oratory
1.3 The proofs
1.4 Arrangement in classical rhetoric
1.5 Summary
Essential reading
Chapter 2 Classical Rhetoric: Style and Figures
2.1 Introduction: what is style?
2.2 Style in classical rhetoric
2.3 Figures of speech
2.4 Summary
Essential reading
Chapter 3 Coherence and Cohesion in Discourse
3.1 Introduction – what is coherence?
3.2 What is cohesion?
3.3 Grammatical cohesion
3.4 Lexical cohesion
3.5 Summary
Essential reading
Part II Critical Approaches to Discourse
Chapter 4 Critical Analysis: Context and Persuasion
4.1 What is power?
4.2 CDA, context and circumstances
4.3 Persuasion
4.4 Summary
Essential reading
Chapter 5 Social Agency and Modality
5.1 Agency
5.2 Modality
5.3 Summary
Essential reading
Chapter 6 The Discourse-Historical Approach
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Discursive strategies and intention
6.3 Discursive strategies and discrimination
6.4 Topoi, warrants and arguments
6.5 Sample text analysis using DHA
6.6 A critique of DHA
6.7 Summary
Essential reading
Chapter 7 Ad Hominem Arguments and Corpus Methods
7.1 Introduction – impoliteness in politics
7.2 Ad hominem arguments and impoliteness as
entertainment
7.3 Ad hominem arguments and impoliteness as
coercion
7.4 Corpus methods for exploring the rhetoric of Donald
Trump
7.5 Summary
Essential reading
Part III Critical Metaphor Analysis
Chapter 8 Researching Metaphor in Public Communication
8.1 Introduction: Blair and the ‘beacon’ metaphor
8.2 Metaphor: definition and appeal
8.3 Research design for metaphor in political discourse:
an overview
8.4 Metaphor identification and classification
8.5 Summary
Essential reading
Chapter 9 Critical Metaphor Analysis: Theory and Method
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Metaphor identification in critical metaphor analysis
9.3 Case Study 1: identification of metaphor in Obama’s
first inaugural address
9.4 Theoretical approaches to metaphor
9.5 Case Study 2: interpretation of metaphor in
Obama’s first inaugural address using conceptual
metaphor theory
9.6 Evaluating conceptual metaphor and blending
theory
9.7 Summary
Essential reading
Chapter 10 Purposeful Metaphor and Social Cognition
10.1 Introduction
10.2 The purposes of metaphor
10.3 Case Study 3: explanation of metaphor in Obama’s
first inaugural address
Essential reading
Comments on Exercises
Further Reading and References
Glossary
Index