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Systematic Stylistic Analysis

The Use of a Linguistic Checklist

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Attention to style in political discourse with a focus not on what political actors say, but on how they say it, can be found within the research traditions of ‘rhetorical criticism’ (RC) or ‘rhetorical stylistics’ (RS) on the one hand, and ‘critical discourse analysis’ (CDA) on the other hand. The tradition of CDA has been criticized for being ‘ad hoc’: analyses often fail to clarify why on the linguistic level some linguistic means are analysed, and others not. Within both frameworks of RC/RS and CDA, it has been suggested to use a checklist as a methodological tool in stylistic analysis but this has barely been put into practice. In this chapter I discuss what the use of a checklist can yield for stylistic analysis of political discourse and illustrate this with a detailed stylistic analysis of a speech held by the Dutch controversial politician, Geert Wilders.

References

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  14. Leech, G.N. and M.H. Short
    2007 Style in Fiction, A Linguistic Introduction to English Fictional Prose, 2nd ed. London: Longman.
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  15. Oversteegen, E. and O. Missioura
    2009 Taal en gender in de advocatuur. Een stilistische analyse van pleidooien van vrouwelijke en mannelijke advocaten. Neerlandstiek.nl. [www.neerlandistiek.nl/09.05/]
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    2005 Critical Discourse Analysis en retorische analyse. Tijdschrift voor Taalbeheersing25 (1), pp. 87–97.
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    2005 Constructions of Intersubjectivity, Discourse, Syntax and Cognition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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  23. Vis, K. , J. Sanders and W. Spooren
    2009 Subjectiviteit door de jaren heen: Conversationalisatie in journalistieke teksten. In W. Spooren , M. Onrust and J. Sanders (eds.), Studies in Taalbeheersing 3. Van Gorcum, pp. 405–418.
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  24. Vogelaar, E. and O. Bosma
    2009 Twintig Maanden Knettergek: Dagboek van een Ministerschap. Uitgeverij Balans.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Wodak, R
    2006 Critical linguistics and critical discourse analysis. In J.-O. Östman and J. Verschueren­ (eds.), Handbook of Pragmatics. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.10.1075/hop.10.cri1
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References

  1. Burger, P. and J. de Jong
    2009 Handboek Stijl: Adviezen voor Aantrekkelijk Schrijven. Groningen: Noordhoff Uitgevers.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Corbett, E.P.J
    1990 Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Fairclough, N
    1992 Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. 2001 Language and Power. London and New York: Longman.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Fahnestock, J
    2009 Quid pro nobis, Rhetorical stylistics for argument analysis. In F.H.V. Eemeren­ (ed.), Examining Argumentation in Context: Fifteen Studies on Strategic Maneuvering. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, pp. 191–220. doi: 10.1075/aic.1.12fah
     https://doi.org/10.1075/aic.1.12fah [Google Scholar]
  6. Foss, S K
    2004 Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration and Practice. 4th ed.Long Grove, Illinois: Waveland Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Fowler, R
    1991 Language in the News: Discourse and Ideology in the Press. London: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Fowler, R. and G. Kress
    1979 Critical linguistics. In R. Fowler , B. Hodge , G. Kress & T. Trew (eds.), Language and Control. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Halliday, M.A.K. and C. M. I. M. Matthiessen
    2004 An Introduction to Functional Grammar. 3rded. London: Arnold.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Heerma van Voss, S
    2008 Nu gaf Vogelaar wél antwoord; Minister krijgt forse kritiek van kamer om wijkenaanpak. Nrc.next, April24.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Jeffries, L
    2000 Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater: in defense of theoretical eclecticism in stylistics. PALA Occasional Papers12.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Lakoff, G. and M. Johnson
    1980 Metaphors we Live By. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Lammerts, A. and A. Verhagen
    1994 De oorlog in de krant. Perspectieven in Taalbeheersingsonderzoek, Dordrecht: ICG Publications. pp. 375–384.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Leech, G.N. and M.H. Short
    2007 Style in Fiction, A Linguistic Introduction to English Fictional Prose, 2nd ed. London: Longman.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Oversteegen, E. and O. Missioura
    2009 Taal en gender in de advocatuur. Een stilistische analyse van pleidooien van vrouwelijke en mannelijke advocaten. Neerlandstiek.nl. [www.neerlandistiek.nl/09.05/]
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Pander Maat, H
    2007 How promotional language in press releases Is dealt with by journalists: Genre Mixing of Genre Conflict?Journal of Business Communication44, pp. 59–95. doi: 10.1177/0021943606295780
     https://doi.org/10.1177/0021943606295780 [Google Scholar]
  17. Poole, B
    2010 Commitment and criticality: Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis. Journal of Applied Linguistics20 (2), pp. 137–155. doi: 10.1111/j.1473‑4192.2009.00234.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1473-4192.2009.00234.x [Google Scholar]
  18. Sanders, T. and W. Spooren
    2007 Discourse and text structure. In D. Geeraerts and H. Cuyckens (eds.)The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 916–941.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Schellens, P.J
    2006 ‘Bij vlagen loepzuiver’, Over argumentatie en stijl in betogende teksten. ­Oration, Radboud University. Nijmegen.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Van Leeuwen, M
    2009 Het hoofdzinnenbeleid van Wilders, Over de stijl van Geert Wilders en Ella Vogelaar. Tekstblad15 (2), pp. 6–11.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Van Rees, M.A
    2005 Critical Discourse Analysis en retorische analyse. Tijdschrift voor Taalbeheersing25 (1), pp. 87–97.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Verhagen, A
    2005 Constructions of Intersubjectivity, Discourse, Syntax and Cognition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Vis, K. , J. Sanders and W. Spooren
    2009 Subjectiviteit door de jaren heen: Conversationalisatie in journalistieke teksten. In W. Spooren , M. Onrust and J. Sanders (eds.), Studies in Taalbeheersing 3. Van Gorcum, pp. 405–418.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Vogelaar, E. and O. Bosma
    2009 Twintig Maanden Knettergek: Dagboek van een Ministerschap. Uitgeverij Balans.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Wodak, R
    2006 Critical linguistics and critical discourse analysis. In J.-O. Östman and J. Verschueren­ (eds.), Handbook of Pragmatics. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.10.1075/hop.10.cri1
     https://doi.org/10.1075/hop.10.cri1 [Google Scholar]
  26. Wodak, R. and R. de Cillia
    2006 Politics and language: Overview. In K. Brown (ed.), Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics. Oxford: Elsevier, pp. 707–719.
     [Google Scholar]

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