Scribd
Upload
214 views

Language and Power (Politeness)

The document discusses the relationship between language and power, highlighting three main types of political power: personal, social group, and instrumental. It outlines features of language used in both instrumental and influential power, emphasizing the role of rhetoric in politics. Key theories by Fairclough, Goffman, Brown, Levinson, Coulthard, Sinclair, and Grice are presented to analyze how language is used to assert power in various contexts.

Uploaded by

Jerichi Capalis
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
214 views

Language and Power (Politeness)

The document discusses the relationship between language and power, highlighting three main types of political power: personal, social group, and instrumental. It outlines features of language used in both instrumental and influential power, emphasizing the role of rhetoric in politics. Key theories by Fairclough, Goffman, Brown, Levinson, Coulthard, Sinclair, and Grice are presented to analyze how language is used to assert power in various contexts.

Uploaded by

Jerichi Capalis
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 24

LANGUAGE AND

POWER
(POLITENESS)
3 MAIN TYPES OF
Political
Power
POWER
Personal
Power
Social Group
Power
• Power held by • Power based on an • power held by a
power with individual's group of people
authority, such occupation or role due to certain
as politicians and in society. social factors,
police • For example, a such as class,
headteacher would ethnicity,
likely hold more gender, or age.
power than a
teaching assistant.
Instrumental Power
• Instrumental power is seen as
authoritative power. Typically
speaking, someone who has
instrumental power has power
simply because of who they are.
These people do not have to
convince anyone of their power or
persuade anyone to listen to them;
others must listen to them simply
because of the authority they have.
Features of Language in
Instrumental Power
• Formal register
• Imperative sentences - giving requests, demands, or
advice
• Modal verbs - e.g., 'you should'; 'you must'
• Mitigation - using language to reduce the seriousness of
what is being said
• Conditional sentences - e.g., ‘if you don’t respond
soon, further action will be taken.'
• Declarative statements - e.g., 'in today's class we will
look at declarative statements.'
• Latinate words - words derived from or imitating Latin
Influential Power
• Influential power refers to when a
person (or group of people) does not
have any authority but is trying to
gain power and influence over
others. Those who wish to gain
influential power may use language
to persuade others to believe in
them or support them. This type of
power is often found in politics, the
media, and marketing.
Features of Language in
Influential Power
• Assertions - presenting opinions as facts, e.g., ‘we
all know that England is the greatest country in the
world’
• Metaphors - the use of established metaphors can
reassure the audience and evoke the power of
memory, establishing a bond between the speaker
and the listener.
• Loaded language - language that can evoke
strong emotions and/or exploit feelings
• Embedded assumptions - e.g., assuming the
listener is really interested in what the speaker has
Language and
Power in Politics
Politics and power (both
instrumental and influential
power) go hand in hand.
Politicians use political rhetoric in
their speeches to persuade
others to give them power.
Strategies Used in Political Rhetoric
• Repetition don’t want your country to be
• Rule of three - e.g., Tony run by a clown, do you?'
Blaire’s ‘Education, • Changes in tone and
Education, Education’ policy intonation
• Use of 1st person plural • Using imperative verbs -
pronouns - 'we', 'us'; e.g., the verbs used to create
Queen’s use of the royal ‘we’ imperative sentences, e.g.,
• Hyperbole - exaggeration ‘act now’ or ‘speak up’
• Rhetorical questions • Use of humor
Features of
Language and
Power
Lexical choice
• Emotive language - e.g., emotive
adjectives used in the House of Commons
include 'depraved', 'sickening', and
'unimaginable’

• Figurative language - e.g., metaphors,


similes, and personification

• Forms of address - someone with power


may refer to others by their first names but
expect to be addressed more formally, i.e.,
'miss', 'sir', 'ma'am' etc.
Lexical choice
• Synthetic personalization - Fairclough
(1989) coined the term ‘synthetic
personalization’ to describe how powerful
institutes address the mass as individuals to
create a feeling of friendliness and reinforce
their power
EXAMPLE
• “And you have changed the face of
Congress, the Presidency, and the
political process itself. Yes, you, my fellow
Americans, have forced the spring. Now
we must do the work the season
demands.” (Bill Clinton, January 20, 1993)
Grammar

• Interrogatives - asking the


listener/reader questions
• Modal verbs - e.g., 'you should';
'you must'
• Imperative sentences - commands
or requests, e.g., 'vote now!
What grammatical
feature is used?
Phonology
• Alliteration - the repetition of
letters or sounds
• Assonance - the repetition of
vowel sounds
• Rising and falling intonation
Spoken Conversational Features
The Dominant Participant The Submissive Participant
Sets the subject and tone of Responds to the dominant
the conversation participant
Changes the direction of the Follows the directional
conversation change
Talks the most Listens the most

Interrupts and overlaps


Avoids interrupting others
others

May be unresponsive when Uses more formal forms of


they have had enough of the address ('sir', 'ma'am' etc.)
conversation
Language and power theories
and research
• Fairclough's Language and Power
(1984)
• Goffman's Face Work Theory (1967)
and Brown and Levinson's Politeness
Theory (1987)
• Coulthard and Sinclair's Initiation-
Response-Feedback Model (1975)
• Grice's Conversational Maxims (1975)
Fairclough’s Language and Power

Fairclough states that we should


analyze language to recognize when
it is being used by the powerful to
persuade or influence us. Fairclough
named this analytical practice
'critical discourse analysis'.
Fairclough’s Language and Power
A key part of critical discourse analysis
can be split into two disciplines:

• Power in discourse - the lexicon,


strategies, and language structures
used to create power

• Power behind discourse - The


sociological and ideological reasons
behind who is asserting power over
others and why.
Goffman's Face Work Theory (1967) and
Brown and Levinson's Politeness Theory
Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson created
their Politeness Theory (1987) based on Erving
Goffman’s Face Work theory (1967).

• Face Work refers to the act of preserving one’s


‘face’ and appealing to or preserving another's
‘face
• Brown and Levinson stated that the levels of
politeness we use with others are often
dependent on power relations - THE MORE
POWERFUL THEY ARE, THE MORE POLITE
WE ARE
Coulthard and Sinclair's Initiation-
Response-Feedback Model
Initiation-Response-Feedback (IRF) model.
• The model can be used to describe and highlight
power relations between the teacher and the
student in a classroom. Sinclair and Coulthard
state that the teacher (the one with the power)
initiates the discourse by asking a question, the
student (the one without the power) gives a
response, and the teacher then provides some
sort of feedback.
Grice's Conversational Maxims
• Also known as 'The Gricean Maxims’
• Based on Grice’s Cooperative Principle, which
aims to explain how people achieve effective
communication in everyday situations.
• In Logic and Conversation (1975), Grice
introduced his four conversational maxims. They
are:
 Maxim of Quality – being truthful
 Maxim of Quantity - giving enough info
 Maxim of Relevance - sticking to the topic
 Maxim of Manner - being clear and not
IN CLOSING...
• We can see language being used to assert power in
the media, the news, advertising, politics,
speeches, education, the law, and religion.

• Some language features used to convey power


include rhetorical questions, imperative sentences,
alliteration, the rule of three, emotive language,
modal verbs, and synthetic personalisation.

• Key theorists include Fairclough, Goffman, Brown,


Levinson, Coulthard and Sinclair, and Grice.
THANK
YOU! Jericho Capalis
Mega Ross Sumbise
BSED – English 1

You might also like