Article published In: Towards Culture(s) of Dialogue: Communicating Unity and Diversity through Language and Discourse
Edited by Urszula Okulska, Grzegorz Kowalski and Urszula Topczewska
[Language and Dialogue 12:2] 2022
► pp. 245–267
Political dialogues in Argentina
Positioning in dissention fragments
Published online: 8 August 2022
https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.00124.gra
https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.00124.gra
Abstract
This study addresses positioning in dissention fragments in political interviews in the Argentine media. The aim is to
disclose how participants position themselves and others, and the consequences this has on meaning making in the interaction. From a
dialogic perspective and a discourse pragmatic approach, we use the tenets of Positioning Theory and the Appraisal framework in the analysis
of the data. We base our research on an exploratory-interpretive paradigm that provides qualitative results. To examine the position of the
interactants, our attention focuses on the interrelated components of positioning, and on the linguistic resources used by the participants.
The results reveal the implications of positioning for the communication of diversity, the relationship between participants, and the
building of tense or relaxed atmospheres.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.The construction of personae in dialogic interaction
- 2.1Positioning theory
- 2.2Appraisal theory
- 3.Data and methodology
- 4.Positioning in media dialogues – analysis
- 4.1The politician
- 4.2The candidate
- 5.Concluding remarks
- Note
References
References (58)
Baxter, Judith. 2017. “Positioning, Language and Identity: Poststructuralist Perspective.” In The Routledge Handbook of Language and Identity, ed. by Siân Preece, 34–49. London and New York: Routledge. Taylor and Francis Group.
Bednarek, Monika. 2009. “Language Patterns and Attitude.” Functions of Language 16 (2): 165–192.
Brand, Graham and Paddy Scannell. 1991. “Talk, Identity and Performance: The Tony Blackburn Show.” In Broadcast Talk, ed. by Paddy Scannell, 201–226. London: Sage Publications.
Cap, Piotr and Urszula Okulska (eds.). 2013. Analyzing Genres in Political Communication. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Clayman, Stephen and John Heritage. 2002. The News Interview. Journalists and Public Figures on the Air. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Coulthard, Malcolm. 1994. “On Analyzing and Evaluating Text.” In Advances in Written Text Analysis, ed. by Malcolm Coulthard, 1–11. London: Routledge.
De Fina, Anna, Deborah Schiffrin, and Michael Bamberg. 2006. “Introduction.” In Discourse and Identity, ed. by Anna De Fina, Deborah Schiffrin, and Michael Bamberg, 1–13. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Eggins, Suzanne and James Martin. 1997. “Genres and Registers of Discourse.” In Discourse as Structure and Process, ed. by Teun van Dijk, 230–257. London: Sage.
Goffman, Erving. 1969. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Anchor Books, Doubleday.
Granato, Luisa. 2005. “Aportes de la Entonación a los significados del discurso [Contributions of intonation to the meanings of discourse].” RASAL. Revista de la Sociedad Argentina de Lingüística 11: 85–109.
Granato, Luisa and María Leticia Móccero. 2019. “Afecto y emoción en la interacción entre políticos y audiencia: debate y entrevistas a candidatos presidenciales [Affect and emotion in the interaction between politicians and audience: debate and interviews with presidential candidates].” Paper presented at III Congreso de la Delegación Argentina dela Asociación de Lingüística y Filología de América Latina (ALFAL) y VII Jornadas Internacionales de investigaciónen Filología Hispánica, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina, April 24–27, 2019.
Granato, Luisa and Alejandro Parini. 2011. “Context and Talk in Confrontational Discourse.” In Context and Contexts, ed. by Anita Fetzer and Etsuko Oishi, 67–89. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
. 2018. “Stance and Casting the Identity of a New Political Leader: Interviews with the President of Argentina”. In Positioning and Stance in Political Discourse. The Individual, the Party and the Party Line, ed. by Lawrence Berlin, 109–139. Willmington, Delaware: Vernon Press.
. 2019. “The Discursive Construction of Morality in Political Interviews.” Paper presented at the 16th International Pragmatics Conference, University of Hong Kong, Popular Republic of China.
Halliday, Michael A. K. and Ruqaiya Hasan. 1989. Language, Context and Text: Aspects of Language in a Social-Semiotic Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Halliday, Michael A. K. and James Martin. 1993. Writing Science: Literacy and Discursive Power. London: Falmer Press.
Harré, Rom and Luk Van Langenhove (eds.). 1999. Positioning Theory: Moral Context of Intentional Action. Oxford: Blackwell.
Harré, Rom, Fathali M. Moghaddam, Tracey Pilkerton-Cairnie, Daniel Rothbar, and Steven R. Sabat. 2009. “Recent Advances in Positioning Theory.” Theory and Psychology 19 (1): 2–31.
Hood, Susan. 2004. “Managing Attitude in Undergraduate Academic Writing: A Focus on the Introduction to Research Report.” In Analysing Academic Writing: Contextualized Frameworks, ed. by Louise Ravelli and Robert Ellis, 34–44. London: Continuum.
Hunston, Susan. 1993. “Evaluation and Ideology in Scientific Writing.” In Register Analysis: Theory and Practice, ed. by Mohsen Ghadessy, 57–73. London: Pinter.
. 1994. “Evaluation and Organization in a Sample of Written Academic Discourse.” In Advances in Written Text Analysis, ed. by Malcolm Coulthard, 191–218. London: Routledge.
. 2000. “Evaluation and the Planes of Discourse: Status and Value in Persuasive Texts.” In Evaluation in Text: Authorial Stance and the Construction of Discourse, ed. by Susan Hunston, and Geoff Thompson, 1–27. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hunston, Susan and Geoff Thompson (eds.). 2000. Evaluation in Text: Authorial Stance and the Construction of Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hutchby, Ian. 1996. Confrontation Talk: Arguments, Asymmetries, and Power on Talk Radio. Mahawah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Irvine, Judith. 1990. “Registering Affect: Heteroglossia in the Linguistic Expression of Emotion.” In Language and the Politics of Emotion, ed. by Catherine Lutz and Lila Abu-Lughod, 126–161. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kayi-Aydar, Hayriye. 2019. Positioning Theory in Applied Linguistics. Research, Design and Application. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kfouri, Christianna. 2020. “Using the Positioning Theory Diamond to Examine the Social Literacy Domains across Domains, Space, and Time.” Paper presented at the 2020 Positioning Theory Symposium, University at Buffalo, Graduate School of Education, Buffalo, New York, USA.
Lemke, Jay. 1992. “Interpersonal Meaning in Discourse: Value Orientations”. In Advances in Systemic Linguistics: Recent Theory and Practice, ed. by Martin Davies and Louise Ravelli, 82–104. London: Pinter.
. 1998. “Resources in Attitudinal Meaning: Evaluative Orientation in Text Semantics.” Functions of Language 5 (1): 33–56.
Lutz, Catherine and Lila Abu-Lughod. 1990. Language and the Politics of Emotion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Macken-Horarik, Mary and Anne Isaak. 2014. “Appraising appraisal.” In Evaluation in Context, ed. by Geoff Thompson and Laura Alba-Juez, 67–92. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Macken-Horarik, Mary, and Jim Martin (eds). 2003. Negotiating Heteroglossia: Social Perspectives for Evaluation. Special issue of Text 23 (2).
Martin, James and David Rose. 2007. Working with Discourse: Meaning beyond the Clause. London: Continuum.
Martin, James and Peter White. 2005. The Language of Evaluation. Appraisal in English. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
McVee, Mary B., Katarina N. Silvestri, Nichole Barrett, and Katherine S. Haq. 2019. “Positioning Theory.” In Theoretical Models and Processes, ed. by Donna E. Alvermann, Norman J. Unrau, Misty Sailors, and Robert B. Ruddel, 382–400. New York and London: Routledge.
Miller, Donna R. 2004. “Truth, Judgement and the American Way.” In Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Parliamentary Discourse, ed. by Paul Bayley, 271–300. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Móccero, María Leticia. 2005. Tensión y Distensión en la Entrevista Periodística Televisiva [Tension and distension in the televisión journalistic interview]. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Unpublished MA Thesis.
. 2007. “Estrategias conversacionales, imagen social y tensión/distensión en entrevistas periodísticas televisivas [Conversational strategies, social image and tension/distension in television journalistic interviews].” In Actas del III coloquio nacional de investigadores en estudios del discurso, ed. by Elizabeth Rigatuso, 180–195. Bahía Blanca: Universidad Nacionaldel Sur.
Norton, Bonny. 2013. Identity and Language Learning: Extending the Conversation. Bristol, Buffalo, Toronto: Multilingual Matters.
Oteíza, Teresa. 2017. “The Appraisal Framework and Discourse Analysis.” In The Routledge Handbook of Systemic Functional Linguistics, ed. by Tom Barlett, and Gerard O’Grady, 457–472. London and New York: Routledge.
Oteíza, Teresa and Claudio Pinuer. 2013. “Valorative Prosody and the Symbolic Construction of Time in Historical Recent National Discourses.” Discourse Studies 15 (1): 43–64.
. 2019. “El sistema de valoración como herramienta teórico-metodológica para el estudio social e ideológico del discurso [The evaluation system as a theoretical-methodological tool for the social and ideological study of discourse].” Logos: Revista de Lingüística, Filosofía y Literatura 29 (2): 207–229.
Poynton, Caty. 1996. “Amplification as a Grammatical Prosody: Attitudinal Modification in the Nominal Group.” In Meaning and Form: Systemic Functional Interpretation, ed. by Margaret Berry, Christopher Butler, and Robin Fawcett, 211–227. Norwood, N.J: Ablex.
Quiroz, Beatriz. 2018. “Negotiating Interpersonal Meanings: Reasoning about MOOD.” Functions of Language 25 (1): 130–158.
Silverman, David. 2001. Interpreting Qualitative Data: Methods for Analysing Talk, Text and Interaction. London: Sage.
Slocum-Bradley, Nikki. 2009. “The Positioning Diamond: A Trans-Disciplinary Framework for Discourse Analysis.” Journal of the Theory of Social Behaviour 40 (1): 79–107.
Taboada, María Teresa. 2004. Building Coherence and Cohesion. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Thompson, Geoff and Laura Alba-Juez (eds.). 2014. Evaluation in Context. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Van Langenhove, Luk and Rom Harré. 1999. “Introducing Positioning Theory.” In Positioning Theory: Moral Context of Intentional Action, ed. by Rom Harré and Luk Van Langenhove, 14–31. Oxford: Blackwell.
Vasilyeva, Alena L. 2016. “Confrontation and Collaboration in the Course of the Election Debate.” Language and Dialogue 6 (3): 370–394.
Weizman, Elda. 2008. Positioning in Media Dialogue. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
