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Part of
Constructing Collectivity: 'We' across languages and contexts
Edited by Theodossia-Soula Pavlidou
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 239] 2014
► pp. 247–264

“Nail polish – We’ve chosen the nicest shades for you!”

Editorial voice and ‘we’ in a Flemish women’s magazine

| Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

This chapter analyses the discursive strategies text producers of a Flemish women’s magazine adopt by using the first person plural pronoun. The analysis shows that in some instances, exclusive ‘we’ is used to create a distance between the editorial voice and the readers. The editorial voice gets an advisory or even compelling overtone in these cases. In other cases, inclusive ‘we’ is used to create a sisterly ‘we’-collectivity. However, in the inclusive category, some instances of a pragmatically equivocal use can be found. This use seems to attribute the status of a role model to the editorial voice. On the whole, exclusive as well as inclusive uses of ‘we’ most often contribute to the persuasive and directive style this magazine adopts.

Published online: 27 February 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.239.17tem
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