ENGLISH

Silence and Concealment in Political Discourse

By Melani Schröter

Book information

Publisher
John Benjamins
Year
2013
ISBN
9027206392, 9789027206398
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
1 MB (1145527 bytes)
Series
Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture 48
Pages
212\213
Time added
2015-07-14 15:36:53
Языки и языкознание;Лингвистика;Политическая лингв

Description

This book constitutes a significant contribution to political discourse analysis and to the study of silence, both from the point of view of discourse analysis as well as pragmatics, and it is also relevant for those interested in politics and media studies. It promotes the empirical study of silence by analysing metadiscourse about politicians’ silence and by systematically conceptualising the communicativeness of silence in the interplay between intention (to be silent), expectation (of speech) and relevance (of the unsaid). Three cases of sustained metadiscourse about silent politicians from Germany are analysed to exemplify this approach, based on media texts and protocols of parliamentary inquiries. Ideals of political transparency and communicative openness are identified as a basis for (disappointed) expectations of speech which trigger and determine metadiscourse about politicians’ silences. Finally, the book deals critically with the role of those who act as advocates of ‘the public’s’ demand to speak out.

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