Words Must Be Our Force: Exploring Modality Markers in Political Speeches
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2009 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Topics in Linguistics |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Linguistics |
| Keywords | deontic modality - subjectivity - discourse coherence - political discourse - persuasion - interpersonal meanings |
| Description | In political discourse, participants rely on the force of language to (re-)construct and negotiate their identities, social roles and views, and to (re-)define their interpersonal and institutional relations. Therefore, politicians try to impose on the audience an interpretative perception of the semantic unity and purposefulness of their discourse which reflects their communicative intentions with regard to the situational, socio-cultural and pragmatic context in which the interaction takes place. This paper explores the resources available for building a coherent subjective representation of a discourse world by investigating some markers of modality in speeches delivered by three Directors-General of UNESCO at the opening of international conferences and meetings. |
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