Journal of Language and Politics - Volume 17, Issue 4, 2018

Abstract

Based on the idea that the quality of a democracy may be measured against the quality of its public communication, this paper deploys Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to investigate a Nigerian gubernatorial concession speech in discursive terms. It argues that as an uncommon genre in political discourse in an emerging democracy this hybridised speech both indexes a growing culture of ‘fair competition’ in Nigeria’s eighteen-year-old civilian rule and presents the incumbent as a deft political actor who strategically claims political capital. The paper examines the text’s generic structure, the political and other actors mentioned or implied in it, its manipulation of pronominal references for rhetorical effect, as well as the epistemic uncertainty implied by a query-concession sequence noticed in it. Drawing on the concession speech literature, the paper charts a course for studying the concession speech as an emerging genre in a neonatal democracy like Nigeria.

Abstract

This study examines patterns of demand statement distribution in newspaper editorials during the 2013 Japanese House of Councillors (i.e., Upper House) election in anticipation that their ideological slant will become salient in the skewed patterns of certain linguistic forms. Distribution patterns in this study contradict the predictions inferable from the ideological slant of newspapers. In particular, this study finds that a conservative newspaper distributes its demands equally at both sides of the political spectrum. However, this study finds that this newspaper frequently – and exclusively – employs partisan follow-ups (wherein a demand statement directed at all parties or candidates is followed by an example of concrete action/inaction by a certain party) in an implicit attempt to express its view in favor of the ruling coalition of conservative parties.

Abstract

Media research problematizes processes of mediation and the media-audience relationship. The study explores a second-order but equally important type of mediation process, that of press translation. It examines a set of pairs of English original and Greek translated headlines culled from various Greek newspapers (2005–2015). It highlights translation shifts which have the potential to drive the interest and values of some locations and political action or players, with a view to modifying perception of political landscapes and the demographics of inclusion and exclusion. The study shows that this is achieved by translation strategies managing proximity/ distance implications, agency representation, de/aestheticizing suffering or shifting perceptions of audience identity. Remediation-as-translation practice needs rigorous theorizing as it assumes an important yet rather neglected area of media tactics, which can de/mobilize moralizing ethics and affect ethical sensibility in public sphere.

Abstract

This article focuses on how Hindu nationalists interpret the term ‘secularism’ in Hindi. I will refer to two Hindi translations of ‘secularism’: dharmnirpekṣtā and panthnirpekṣtā. The first one means indifference towards religion and the second indifference towards communities. My main point is that the Hindu nationalists’ strategy of referring to old, Sanskrit meanings of dharm (which means ‘law’ and ‘order’ aside ‘religion’ and other concepts) make it possible for them to criticise dharmnirpekṣtā and choose panthnirpekṣtā instead. Their position is that the state can only be indifferent to communities and not to dharm, as the latter would also mean being indifferent to ‘law’ and ‘order’. Such an approach helps the Hindu nationalists to claim to be in agreement with the idea of secular Indian state on one hand and promote their religion-linked ideology on the other.

Abstract

This article explores how narratives create connections between the micro-context and the macro-context, focusing on the narratives produced by a neo-Nazi group within ‘Blood and Honour’, a neo-Nazi gathering in Italy. The analysis presents a series of thematic narratives that describe how the neo-Nazi members see themselves in daily life, with their private and family sphere and how they aim to impact the political and cultural world. From these narratives, it is possible to understand how the neo-Nazi group sees society and justify the marginal role that they occupy in modern society. From this perspective, narratives operate as symbolic practice of identity creation in which members of the group negotiate new images of themselves and of their political and cultural movement. As we show, the neo-Nazi members aim to obtain legitimation and recognition in order to express a greater symbolic and social power.

This article reviews Metaphor and Discourse

This article reviews Language, Immigration and Naturalization: Legal and Linguistic Issues

This article reviews Sustaining the nation. The making and moving of language and nation

This article reviews Confronting the death penalty: How language influences jurors in capital cases