Article published In: Certainty and Uncertainty in Dialogue
Edited by Andrzej Zuczkowski
[Language and Dialogue 4:1] 2014
► pp. 149–162
Strategic uses of certainty and uncertainty in a political debate
Published online: 20 May 2014
https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.4.1.09rux
https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.4.1.09rux
The paper analyses the contribution of modal forms expressing certainty and uncertainty to the construal of a politician’s ethos. Deontic modals are considered implicit evidentials. The theoretical and methodological background of the analysis is provided by pragmatics and discourse analysis, as discourse is the main place where ethos is construed. The illustrative data are selected from a TV debate which took place in the last presidential election campaign in Romania (2009). The confrontation involved Traian Bǎsescu (TB), the President in office, running for a second term, and Crin Antonescu (CA), the president of the National Liberal Party. The differences in their strategic use of certainty and uncertainty marks define two types of ethos for the audience: an ethos of power (TB) vs. an ethos of a man of character (CA).
Keywords: explicit / implicit evidentials, ethos, epistemic asymmetry., modals, identity
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Polymeneas, George
2017. “Today I know, we know, that these sacrifices are heavy, but necessary”. In Greece in Crisis [Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture, 70], ► pp. 83 ff.
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