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- Volume 12, Issue, 2013
Journal of Language and Politics - Volume 12, Issue 1, 2013
Volume 12, Issue 1, 2013
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“Grab a pen and paper”: Interaction v. interactivity in a political radio phone-in
Author(s): Joanna Thornborrow and Richard Fitzgeraldpp.: 1–28 (28)More LessIn this paper we analyse the discursive frameworks for interaction in a UK political radio phone-in between 2001 and 2010, and the implications of those frameworks for public engagement with politicians. The BBC Radio 4 phone-in program Election Call, broadcast in the run-up to a general election, has experimented with ‘new’ interactive technology (TV simulcast, web broadcasting and e-mail) in its attempt to provide listeners with the opportunity to engage with politicians and political parties live on air. By 2010 however, the program had returned to the original ‘old’ media format of telephone interaction only. Building on previous research in the discourse of radio phone-in broadcasts (Hutchby 1996; Thornborrow 2001a, 2001b, 2002; Hester & Fitzgerald 1999; Fitzgerald & Housley 2002; Thornborrow & Fitzgerald 2002), our analysis focuses on the empirical implementation of the 2010 shift in editorial policy which explicitly invited callers to engage with issues rather than just giving opinions. We will argue that while interactivity may broaden access to democratic debate, it is through live interaction that callers are best able to challenge politicians and hold them to account. Keywords: Election Call; interaction; interactivity; media discourse; e-mail; political discourse; public engagement; radio phone-in
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Evidencing international threat: Examining Iraq Survey Group’s post-invasion verification of Iraq’s WMD threat
Author(s): Gordon C. Chang, Kerstin Lueck and Hugh B. Mehanpp.: 29–58 (30)More LessBy studying the discourse utilized by the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) and its chief officers during 2003–2004, we show the methods by which U.S. government-appointed experts helped to affirm the existence of an Iraqi threat even in the absence of physical evidence for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) stockpiles or active weapons programs found in Iraq during U.S. ground search. Their data collection and interpretation work illuminates the principle that the claims and calculations of international threat can be primarily constructed by language and discourse processes rather than by direct/concrete material referents. It also points to the need for institutions and a lay audience to apply a higher evidentiary threshold to ascertain the existence of an international threat. Keywords: cognition and knowledge; risk and threat assessment; argumentation; Iraq war
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Rebranding the Scottish Executive: A discourse-historical analysis
Author(s): Johann Wolfgang Ungerpp.: 59–79 (21)More LessThis article examines the change in name of the devolved governing body of Scotland from the Scottish Executive (1999–2007) to the Scottish Government (2007-present) following the majority result for the Scottish National Party in the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections. In the wider European political landscape this is unusual: while ministries, departments and even political parties change their names relatively frequently, the same cannot be said for top-level political institutions. This paper investigates this discursive act of “rebranding” from a discourse-historical perspective (see Reisigl & Wodak 2009). In addition to critical analysis of various texts about the act of rebranding itself (media reports, political speeches and parliamentary debates, policy documents), the historical, cultural and political contexts are examined in relation to the wider significance of this move for top-down Scottish national identity construction. Keywords: discourse-historical approach; national identity; political branding; Scottish Government; Scottish National Party; Scottish Parliament
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A political-semiotic introduction to the Estonian “bronze-night” discourse
Author(s): Peeter Selgpp.: 80–100 (21)More LessOn April 26–27, 2007 Estonia witnessed its largest civil unrest since the country’s regaining of independence in 1991. The mass riots related to government’s displacement of a memorial (containing a bronze statue) from the centre of Estonia’s capital to a military cemetery a couple of kilometers away came to be referred to as “bronze-night” in Estonian public discourse. Using a framework based on Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory, Jakobson’s model of communication and concepts from semiotics and political analysis it provides an initial chart of the discourse unified around this empty signifier “bronze-night” Keywords: Estonia; “bronze-night”; discourse; communication; democracy; populism
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The visual construction of language hierarchy: The case of banknotes, coins and stamps
Author(s): Mark Sebbapp.: 101–125 (25)More LessThis paper analyses the way in which the text displayed on bilingual and multilingual currency (banknotes and coins) and stamps constructs and reproduces linguistic hierarchies, reflecting the relative status of the languages within the issuing country. The paper briefly discusses the selection of languages which appear on stamps and money, which is nearly always in accordance with the dominant language ideologies. It then goes on to show how the choice of language and the relative positioning and size of texts in those languages constructs the languages involved as of equal or unequal status. Two case studies are considered: the construction of equality between English and Afrikaans in South Africa on stamps and banknotes of the period 1910 to 1994, reflecting the constitutional requirement that those languages be treated ‘on a footing of equality’; and the construction of linguistic inequality in the stamps of Palestine and Israel, where first English (under the British Mandate) was displayed as dominant over Arabic and Hebrew, and later Hebrew (in Israel) was shown to dominate over the other two. The paper argues for a dual analysis of text in public texts like stamps and banknotes: on the one hand text is language, and is subject to a (socio)linguistic analysis, while on the other, text has a physical form and dimensions which means that texts are interpreted in terms of their visual features and spatial relationships to other texts. The language hierarchies which are reproduced and transported by stamps and money are thus discursively constructed through a combination of text as language and text as image. Keywords: language hierarchies; multilingualism; bilingualism; stamps; banknotes; coins
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Strategies of reframing language policy in the liberal state: A recursive model
Author(s): John E. Petrovic and Aaron M. Kuntzpp.: 126–146 (21)More LessPolitical liberalism is frequently invoked in policy debates in the Western world even as Interpretation and application of the individual tenets vary. Drawing upon recent invocations of liberalism among policy leaders and groups, this article seeks to tease out some of the interpretational differences of liberalism, noting how liberalism is invoked to support radically different language policy agendas. The authors discuss the importance of understanding liberalism as a cognitive frame that shapes relations of meaning with both productive and reductive consequences especially vis-a-vis what they term “language-positive liberalism.” The authors argue that three specific strategies of political engagement emerge from such understanding. Building on the work of Stroud (2010), the authors offer a model that highlights the recursive nature of political and sociolinguistic discourses. Keywords: Political liberalism; sociolinguistics; cognitive framing; language rights; language planning; discourse; multilingualism; folk linguistics; language variety
Volumes & issues
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Volume 24 (2025)
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Volume 23 (2024)
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Volume 22 (2023)
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Volume 21 (2022)
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Volume 20 (2021)
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Volume 19 (2020)
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Volume 18 (2019)
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Volume 17 (2018)
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Volume (2018)
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Volume 16 (2017)
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Volume 15 (2016)
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Volume 14 (2015)
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Volume 13 (2014)
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Volume 12 (2013)
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Volume 11 (2012)
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Volume 10 (2011)
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Volume 9 (2010)
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Volume 8 (2009)
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Volume 7 (2008)
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Volume 6 (2007)
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Volume 5 (2006)
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Volume 4 (2005)
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Volume 3 (2004)
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Volume 2 (2003)
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Volume 1 (2002)
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Author(s): Jens Rydgren
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Right-wing populism in Europe & USA
Author(s): Ruth Wodak and Michał Krzyżanowski
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Uncivility on the web
Author(s): Michał Krzyżanowski and Per Ledin
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