1.The Politics of Language
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2. Political Language
What is meant by politics?
How would you rephrase the following in order to explain their meanings to someone from another culture?
They made careers for themselves in politics
Sexual politics
Dont get involved in office politics
The personal is political
Philosophy, Politics and Economics
Environmental politics
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3. Implicature
Political discourse relies on Sapirs idea that language can influence peoples perception of certain issues and concepts
One of the means to achieve this is through implicature.
We will save the NHS
Put country before party this election
Invest in a future we can all enjoy
Make the difference
The green alternative to a better life
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4. The tyranny of language
Korzybski
we may safely say that whatever we say something is, it is not.
Are words really things?
Language transmits the accumulated knowledge of generations. But if not properly verbalised language can twist or even arrest human development. (remember Whorf Bernstein ?)
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5. The tyranny of language
Barthes
Language is fascist
Compulsion tu or vous?
We must choose!
Literature is the way out of compulsion where language can be twisted and played with.
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6. Representation is interested
Language is not neutral. It is not merely a vehicle which carries ideas. It is itself a shaper of ideas, it is the programme for mental activity (Whorf, 1976). In this context it is nothing short of ludicrous to conceive of human beings as capable of grasping things as they really are, of being impartial recorders of their world. For they themselves, or some of them at least, have created or constructed the world and they have reflected themselves within it. (my emphasis)
Spender, D. (1980)
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7. Vocabulary and weapons (1)
What do the following expressions mean? What effect do they have on the reader?
To mount a strike
A surgical strike
A pre-emptive strike
Flexible response
Strategic nuclear weapon
Tactical nuclear weapon
Demographic targeting
Collateral damage
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8. Vocabulary and weapons (2)
Abbreviation
ICBM
SLBM
ABM
ERW
Acronyms
MIRV
SALT
START
MAD
But in talk about nuclear weapons the one word missing is .BOMB
It has been replaced with weapon
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9. Vocabulary and weapons (3)
What do the following terms refer to?
FAT MAN
LITTLE BOY
HONEST JOHN
TOMAHAWK
PERSHING
POSEIDON
POLARIS
TITAN
SKYBOLT
VULCAN
Poseidon was relied upon by sailors for a safe voyage on the sea. Many men drowned horses in sacrifice of his honor. He lived on the ocean floor in a palace made of coral and gems, and drove a chariot pulled by horses. However, Poseidon was a very moody divinity, and his temperament could sometimes result in violence. When he was in a good mood, Poseidon created new lands in the water and a calm sea. In contrast, when he was in a bad mood, Poseidon would strike the ground with a trident and cause unruly springs and earthquakes, ship wrecks, and drownings.
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/p/poseidon.html
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10. Vocabulary and weapons (4)
Blowback
Coalition of the willing
Combatants
Enhanced interrogation techniques
Extraordinary rendition
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11. Who (or what) does what to whom (or what)
Entities
protester policeman
Actions
arrest
Circumstances
yesterday
The policeman arrested the protesteryesterday.
Yesterday the policeman arrested the protester.
The policeman yesterday arrested the protester
agent circumstance process affected
The yesterday policeman arrested protester the arrested
The protester arrested the policeman yesterday
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12. Transitivity: The passive
The policeman yesterday arrested the protester
agent circumstance process affected
The protester was arrested by the police yesterday.
affectedprocessagentcircumstance
The protesterwas arrested yesterday.
affectedprocesscircumstance
Three protesters were injured yesterday.
affectedprocesscircumstance
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13. Ideological perspective
RIOTING BLACKS SHOT DEAD BY POLICE AS ANC LEADERS MEET Eleven Africans were shot dead and 15 wounded when Rhodesian police opened fire on a rioting crowd of about 2,000 in the African Highfield township of Salisbury this afternoon. The shooting was the climax of a day of some violence. (The Times)
POLICE SHOOT 11 DEAD IN SALISBURY RIOT Riot police shot and killed 11 African demonstrators and wounded 15 others here today in the Highfield African township on the outskirts of Salisbury. The number of casualties was confirmed by the police. Disturbances had broken out (The Guardian)
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14. Ideological perspective
RIOTING BLACKS| SHOT DEAD| BY POLICE
affected process agent
POLICE| SHOOT| 11 DEAD
affected agent process
Eleven Africans|were shot dead and|15 wounded
affectedprocess &affprocess
when |police | opened fire on | a rioting crowd
agent processaffected
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15. Ideological perspective
RIOTING BLACKS SHOT DEAD BY POLICE AS ANC LEADERS MEET [Eleven Africanswere shot dead and 15 wounded ] when Rhodesian policeopened fire on a rioting crowd of about 2,000 in the African Highfield township of Salisbury this afternoon. The shooting was the climax of a day of some violence.
SPLIT THREATENS ANC AFTER SALISBURY RIOTS After Sundays riots in which 13 Africans were killed and 28 injured, a serious rift in the ranks of the African National Council became apparent today
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16. Paris 2007
Identify the agents and affected in the following:
Altogether 130 policemen were injured, dozens by shotgun pellets that were fired from home-made bazookas.
Organised gangs of rioters used guns against police
Up to 30 officers were injured in clashes with youths.
Then rioters burned thousands of cars during two weeks of unrest following the accidental death of two youths who allegedly fled police
One of the officers was shot in the shoulder by a hunting rifle.
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17. London 2007
Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead by police on the Tube
because he acted in an aggressive and threatening manner just as a
suicide bomber would have done, the Old Bailey heard today.
The innocent Brazilian was killed when firearms officers mistook
him for a terrorist and fired seven hollow point dumdum bullets into his
head from close range.
Ronald Thwaites, QC, representing the Metropolitan Police, said that the
death of the 27-year-old was a terrible accident but not the fault of
officers who had reason to believe he was planning to murder commuters
on the London Underground.
He told the court: He was shot because when he was challenged by police
he did not comply with them but reacted precisely as they had been briefed
a suicide bomber might react at the point of detonating his bomb.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article2746051.ece
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18. Ideology
One question is representing factual accuracy
Another question is the role of ideology as patterns of linguistic choice.
Martin Montgomery argues that the choices that are made about how to representcivil disorder are not merely reflecting contrasting ideological positions. Those choices actually are the ideologies and the belief/value systems that constitute them. The hegemony of linguistic choice makes it more and more difficult to see and think differently about particular events.
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19. Representations of Race
BRITAIN INVADED BY AN ARMY OF ILLEGALS
Britain is being swamped by a tide of illegal immigrants so desperate
for a job that they will work for a pittance in our restaurants, cafes and
nightclubs.
Immigration officers are being overwhelmed with work. Last year 2,191
illegals were nabbed and sent back home. But there were tens of
thousands more, slaving behind bars, cleaning hotel rooms and working in
kitchens
illegalssneak in by:
DECEIVING immigration officers when they are quizzed at airports.
DISAPPEARING after their entry visas run out.
FORGING work permits and other documents.
RUNNING AWAY FROM immigrant detention centres
Source: Sun 2 February 1989
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20. Representations of Race
Immigration officials
Ended up taking away 13 Nigerians, all employed illegally.
Source: Sun 2 February 1989
The Dutch Critical Discourse analyst Teun Van Dijk has examined the representation of race in mainstream sources including press reports, speeches made in European legislative assemblies, schoolbooks, scientific and corporate discourse. He looks at linguistic patterns within texts and also between texts including references to the frames of interpretation texts make use of.
Van Dijk, T. (1991). Racism and the Press. London, Routledge.
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21. Conclusion
Choices of vocabulary or sentence structure give particular shape to experience, affecting how reality is depicted in deep and significant ways.
Reality is not out there, easily grasped in any simple way, rather, it is socially constructed with language playing a centrally important role.
The patterning of vocabulary and sentence structure shows us reality in a particular light and guides our apprehension of it.
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