Journal of Language and Politics - Current Issue

Abstract

This paper proposes a methodological framework that integrates poststructuralist Discourse Theory (DT), Critical Discourse Studies (CDS) and Corpus Linguistics (CL). While previous research has discussed potential compatibility between combinations of these approaches, there have been few attempts to bring them all together into a cohesive research programme. Fostering dialogue between diverse methodological perspectives can facilitate multi-level analysis to capture the complex dynamics of sociopolitical issues. In this vein, the article presents the methodological tree, an analogy used to illustrate how these traditions may come together to complement one another. This foundation lays the groundwork for practical application in discursive analysis, with a flexible analytical structure proposed and examples provided to illustrate its implementation. It is hoped that the article can stimulate further discussion around how DT, CDS and CL can be brought together to harness their strengths.

Abstract

This paper critically examines the recent presidential memorandum that replaced the Anglicized exonymic version “Turkey” with the endonym “Türkiye” as a conscious, performative and public relations campaign at both national and international levels. On the surface, this change addresses populist sociolinguistic hypersensitivities surrounding the connotations of the term “turkey” while simultaneously harnessing the commodification and marketization of the Turkey brand through selective references culled from collective memory (i.e., past) and branding aimed at economic gains (i.e., future). However, at the deeper level, this transformation serves as a discursive political instrument and a top-down nation branding effort powered by substantial resources from the state and its institutions with an ultimate motivation to consolidate President Erdoğan’s political power and authority, elevate his status to that of a national leader and institutionalize his populist/nationalist yerli ve millî rhetoric from a de facto to de jure within Yeni Türkiye as a competitive authoritarian regime.

Abstract

There have been limited studies comparing Chinese and American news media in their descriptions of vaccines, especially their use of metaphors in the context of COVID-19. Hence, this paper employs a corpus-assisted critical approach to examine the metaphors used in constructing crisis discourses relating to vaccines in Chinese and American newspapers. The study reveals four conceptual metaphors: WEAPON, MACHINE, TRAVELLER, and CONTEST. The usage of these metaphors is intertwined with wider discursive contexts, which are shaped by the two countries’ distinct journalistic and geopolitical/sociocultural contexts. These have resulted in the adoption of different strategies for handling the COVID-19 crisis, reflecting the ideologies of collectivism in China and capitalism in America. The study highlights the significance of metaphors in shaping the ideologies of governments and/or the public towards vaccines through news media. Additionally, this paper provides a useful framework for comparing metaphor usage in two large corpora using Wmatrix.

Abstract

Debates over the difference between populism and nationalism have been at the forefront of political research on the far right in recent years. This paper aims to provide an empirical support for the claim that nationalism and populism are two distinct phenomena by analysing the articulations of both discourses in Vlaams Belang gender politics. In this perspective, this paper starts by presenting Benjamin De Cleen and Yannis Stavrakakis’s discursive-theoretical distinction of populism and nationalism (De Cleen and Stavrakakis 2017, 2020), before to introduce the literature on far right gender politics. The contribution then analyses Vlaams Belang's gender discourses by mobilizing this theoretical framework in order to show how this distinction can help us identifying the different dimensions underlying contemporary far right gender discourses. The article concludes by suggesting new avenues for a better understanding of the various discursive strands composing far right politics.

Abstract

In this article, I look at linguistic studies of communist propaganda produced by oppositional scholars in the last two decades of state socialism in Poland. I argue that Polish discourse of linguistics in 1970–1989 was a vehicle for the promotion of liberalism in the People’s Republic of Poland and an important area of political contestation. I demonstrate that Polish linguistic studies of communist propaganda should not be assumed to be “objective” or politically disengaged. Ideas about language detectable in these studies, especially “referentialism”, promote liberal democracy by consistently implying values characteristic of liberalism as a political ideology. In this way, Polish linguists engaged in a form of anti-communist resistance and formulated language policy proposals for the language of liberal democracy. I argue that language ideologies are sometimes systematically related to political ideologies by promoting specific political values or points of view.

Abstract

The 23rd of January 2019 marked the beginning of the Venezuelan Presidential Crisis, a unique socio-political conflict that confronted Nicolás Maduro, president of Venezuela, to the self-proclaimed leader Juan Guaidó. This paper explores the divisive power of conceptual metaphors in this context through the analysis of polarising metaphors, namely, metaphors that conceptualise ‘Us’ positively and/or ‘Them’ negatively. More specifically, from a corpus-based critical socio-cognitive perspective (Musolff 2016; Soares da Silva 2020; Charteris-Black 2011), this study looks at the main polarising metaphors of Maduro and Guaidó’s political discourses and examines their role in the discursive construction of ideological polarisation, social identities, and legitimacy using a target-based approach (Stefanowitsch and Gries 2006). The results show that both leaders strategically use polarising metaphors, especially those of CONFRONTATION, HUMAN BEING and JOURNEY, to reproduce their ideologies, reinforce their social identities, and legitimise their political positions.

This article reviews A Translational Sociology: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Politics and Society978-1-032-11212-1

This article reviews Psychological Borders in Europe and the United States: Contemporary Nationalism, Nativism, and Populism9781793610614US$ 95.00

This article reviews Multilingualism in the Andes: Policies, Politics, Power9780367141226£ 120.00

This article reviews Metaphor and Argumentation in Climate Crisis Discourse978-1-00-334290-8$ 52.95