Article published in:
Journal of Language and Politics
Vol. 20:4 (2021) ► pp. 563–584

Narratives of dialogue in parliamentary discourse

Constructing the ethos of the receptive politician

| University of Leipzig University of Leipzig
This paper puts forward an argument about the relation between narratives and constructed dialogue in political discourse. Narratives of dialogue are special cases of constructed dialogue that emphasize the embeddedness of the speaker, displayed as a discourse participant engaging in a conversation with an ordinary citizen or a public figure. Close analysis of British, German, and French parliamentary debates reveals how narratives of dialogue shape an image of the speaker involved in a dialogue. While being engaged in the activity of debating, parliamentarians simultaneously perform the act of debating. I argue that the main point of narratives of dialogue is not so much to report on a prior or hypothetical situation, but to create the ethos of a Member of Parliament receptive to their interlocutors.
Keywords: constructed dialogue, narrative, identity construction, parliamentary discourse, public image, ethos
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Bringing constructed dialogue and narratives together
  • 3.Collecting and annotating quotes from a corpus of parliamentary debates
  • 4.Indeterminate voices: Establishing a dialogue with the opponents
  • 5.Well-known voices: Displaying the professional politician
  • 6.Singular anonymous voices: Talking to the ordinary voter
  • 7.Conclusion: Narratives of dialogue in the service of ethos of familiarity and authenticity
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 01 December 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.20018.tru
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