Journal of Language and Politics - Volume 19, Issue 5, 2020

Abstract

Much commentary on the discourse of Donald Trump’s populist appeal has tended to focus on his use of Twitter, to the relative neglect of his campaign rallies. Yet his campaign rallies during the presidential election were arguably crucial for delivering the votes which secured his victory. Members of his own team, and Trump himself, certainly thought so.

Since the election Trump has continued to campaign in rallies in key states with increasing vigour, attracting large audiences as the second term elections in 2020 approach.

These large-scale public events confirm the bond between Trump and his base. But they also require us to re-focus attention beyond Trump as an individual figure to the process of mutual engagement between him and his highly active and vocal audience.

This article, by examining the overall communicative behaviour of participants at his rallies asks: “Is the audience Trump’s creation or is Trump the audience’s creation?”

Abstract

Since the outbreak of the war in Syria, some Western women and girls have travelled to the warzone to join the group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and marry some of the group’s fighters. However, since the collapse of the ‘caliphate’ some of the women and girls have been stranded amid reluctance to accept them back to countries of origin. The women and girls have been the subject of various descriptions and labels. This is a conceptual and theoretical study which examines the ideological construction of females who travelled from Europe and West to join ISIS. The paper uses discourse analysis to examine the use of particular labels in the Western media, drawing primarily from the British press, on the ISIS-associated females seeking return to the West. The paper finds that a naturalized and dominant discourse has developed in the ideological construction of the females.

Abstract

In 2013, Richmond city council was presented with a petition calling for the regulation of all language signs, drawing national attention to the amount of Chinese-only signage. The signage debate has become well-known in Canada as a result of the media, which has provided a platform for debate through online reader commentary. By applying concepts from linguistic landscapes, language ideologies and nationalism in addition to analytical tools from SFL, we employ critical discourse studies to examine how representations of and responses to language signage in online news commentary contribute to the construction of in-groups and out-groups in the Canadian context. Findings show that stereotypical representations of ethnicity and culture are represented as a threat to the Canadian status quo. Also, contradictory ideologies of Canadian official bilingualism are employed to justify discrimination against Chinese language speakers. Findings suggest that language ideologies remain deeply tied to understandings of Canadian nationhood and belonging.

Abstract

In recent years, there has been much discussion about the role of social media platforms in the reproduction of exclusionary rhetoric leveled against social “others” in far-right contexts across the globe. While scholars have examined the ideologies underpinning exclusionary discourses, few have analyzed the discursive mechanisms through which such ideologies and “othered” social types become meaningful to ordinary citizens. In this article, we extend this conversation by analyzing digital discourses on Facebook and YouTube that pertain to Philippine “drug users” and racialized remarks against migrants in Italy through a chronotopic lens. We demonstrate that despite the historical, economic, and social differences, far-right ideologies are ordered through chronotopes of national crisis in both cases. Through these chronotopic worlds, despicable, “othered” social types such as “extracomunitari” in Italy and drug users in the Philippines, acquire coherence.

Abstract

The construction of a wall along the US/Mexico border was one of the main political platforms upon which the 2016 US presidential election campaign was fought. Ahead of the upcoming 2020 US presidential election, and with the border wall still not yet built or funded, this article uses the authorisation component of Van Leeuwen’s (2007) framework for the discourse of legitimation to show how President Donald J. Trump has sought legitimacy for the construction of the border wall. Data is taken from Trump’s @realDonaldTrump Twitter postings between October 18th, 2018 and February 3rd, 2019, a period inclusive of the longest federal government shutdown in US history. We show how Trump’s Twitter language is frequently accompanied by evidence-less attacks on sources of rival opinion or information, while the president tends to reaffirm himself as the exclusive source of credible and truthful information.

This article reviews Defining ‘Eastern Europe’: A Semantic Inquiry into Political Terminology978-3-319-77373-5978-3-319-77374-2

This article reviews Political Discourse in Central, Eastern and Balkan Europe

This article reviews War and its ideologies: A social-semiotic theory and description978-981-13-0996-0