The Pragmatics of Political Discourse

“ The Pragmatics of Political Discourse is not just another addition to the growing literature on language and politics. It breaks away from a tradition that tends to limit the topic to the language of politicians. Taking an explicitly pragmatic perspective, the volume zooms in on interaction between different agents who co-construct the political world from different angles, with different means, in different contexts, and through different channels. This kaleidoscopic and dynamic picture is further enriched by an intercultural comparative dimension that distinguishes this book even more from its predecessors.”

“With this new edited book, Anita Fetzer adds to her already long list of publications on political discourse, making her one of the world-leaders in this multidisciplinary area between discourse analysis, pragmatics, linguistics, media studies, psychology, political science and the other social sciences. Already in her own introduction, Anita Fetzer shows that she herself dominates theories, concepts, methods and empirical research in several of these disciplines, and is able to devise a complex theoretical framework in which the respective chapters of the book can be inserted. She thus articulates the vast domain of political discourse studies in several useful ways, such as official and instititional discourse from above, specifically so in parliament, on the one hand, and grass roots political discourse, from below, on the other hand. Within a broad, pragmatically inspired approach defined in terms of various context structures, she examines politically relevant settings, participants, goals, political actions and cognitions, with special attention to the hybrid media interface where politics and mass communication meet, for instance in the form of political interviews. [...] All studies bear witness of the vast, diverse and multidisciplinary field of contemporary political discourse studies, and make significant contributions to international scholarship. The book is recommended for students and scholars in all of the humanities and social sciences, especially for those interested in discourse and media analysis - and especially should be able to finally inspire more scholars in political science to join the international research effort that explicitly recognizes that politics is largely 'done' by text and talk.”

“Language is essential for politics, be it for producing, disseminating, engaging with, and reacting to political discourse. Various social actors are involved in a multitude of discursive practices: politicians debate political topics and take decisions, journalists interview politicians and comment on decisions in the mass media, and members of the public make increasing use of social media to express their (dis)agreement with politics. The chapters in this volume investigate several discursive practices, addressing political discourse produced in national parliaments (political discourse from above), the interaction between politicians and journalists in the form of interviews (as mediated political discourse), and phone-ins and motions of support as examples of public engagement (political discourse from below). All contributors approach their topics from the perspective of pragmatics and explore actual forms of language in use in diverse contexts of politics. The focus in each case is on revealing how socio-cultural constraints affect the various types of political discourse both at the macro level of interaction (e.g. constraints on topic selection) and at the micro level of communication (e.g. discursive styles, speech acts, turn taking). The significant value of this volume is that the contributors explore political discourse across cultures, covering discursive practices in countries such as the United Kingdom, Italy, Russia, Israel, and Cameroon. They illustrate culture-specific aspects of conventionalised forms of interaction as well as differences in the social significance of institutions in various cultures. It is this cross cultural perspective of the pragmatic analysis which significantly enriches our understanding of how politics is being done.”

“This volume takes an important step in employing pragmatics in political discourse analysis, which gives readers much inspirations and references for this emerging domain.”

“The current volume greatly facilitates the understanding of political discourse from a pragmatic perspective. It will be of great value to scholars and research students who are working in pragmatics and discourse analysis, and to professionals who are dealing with political discourse. It will also be an important asset, of value to a wider audience interested in political discourse.”