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Constructing social meaning in political discourse: Phonetic variation and verb processes in Ed Miliband's speeches

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 November 2015

Sam Kirkham  and
Emma Moore
Sam Kirkham
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics and English Language, County South, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YL, [email protected]
Emma Moore
Affiliation:
School of English, Jessop West, University of Sheffield 1 Upper Hanover Street, Sheffield S3 7RA, [email protected]
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Abstract

This article investigates how variation across different levels of linguistic structure indexes ideological alignments in political talk. We analyse two political speeches by Ed Miliband, the former leader of the UK Labour Party, with a focus on the use of /t/-glottalling and the types of verb processes that co-occur with the pronouns we and you. We find substantial differences in the production of /t/ between the two speeches in words such as Britain and government, which have been argued to take on particular salience in British political discourse. We contextualise these findings in terms of metalinguistic discourse surrounding Miliband's language use, as well as how he positions himself in relation to different audiences via verb process types. We show that phonetic variation, subject types, and verb processes work synergistically in allowing Miliband to establish a political persona that is sensitive to ideological differences between different audiences. (Social meaning, indexicality, political discourse, verb processes, phonetic variation, /t/-glottalling)*

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 45 , Issue 1 , February 2016 , pp. 87 - 111
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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