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The Construction of ‘Ordinariness’ across Media Genres
Edited by Anita Fetzer and Elda Weizman
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 307] 2019
► pp. 103–129

“Well, Yair? When will you be prime minister?”

Different readings of ordinariness in a politician’s Facebook post as a case in point

| Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
The chapter examines readers’ comments on a Facebook post in which the Israeli politician Yair Lapid positions himself as an ordinary person. Based on Sacks (1984), it is argued that such positioning is characterized by themes, perspectives, and communicative patterns typical of ordinary people, rather than political-public authorities.
An examination of 141 relevant readers’ comments shows that, in Bakhtin’s terms, there are three main readings of such ordinary voice: A single-voiced reading, which views the ordinary voice as legitimate, authentic, and independent; a double-voiced reading, which views the ordinary voice as authentic and legitimate, but as partial; and a polyphonic reading, which views the ordinary voice as fictitious, illegitimate, and designated to promote a political agenda. The paper discusses the communicative patterns of each category in comparison to those of the original post, and examines the effect of these patterns on the positioning of both Lapid and his readers.
Keywords: ordinariness, positioning, reader’s-comments, Facebook posts, politicians, polyphony, Bakhtin
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Self-positioning as an ordinary person in politicians’ Facebook posts
  • 3.Three types of readings of a Politician’s self-positioning as an ordinary person
  • 4.The politician and post under discussion
  • 5.Single-voiced readings
  • 6.Double-voiced readings
  • 7.Polyphonic readings
  • 8.Conclusion – Different readings, different Positionings
  • AppendixThe post under discussion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 December 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.307.05shu
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