Open AccessConstruction and negotiation of voter-friendly identities in electoral debates
Author(s) -
Mercedes Díez Prados,
Ana Belén Cabrejas-Peñuelas
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
círculo de lingüística aplicada a la comunicación
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.298
H-Index - 6
ISSN - 1576-4737
DOI - 10.5209/clac.68967
Subject(s) - identity (music) , negotiation , identity negotiation , ethos , sympathy , sociology , social psychology , political science , epistemology , psychology , law , aesthetics , social science , philosophy
In this article we examine the identity construction of two politicians in the 2011 Spanish pre-electoral debate, following four of Bucholtz & Hall’s (2005) linguistic means: evaluation, implicatures, interactional negotiation, and complementary identity relations. For the analysis, Martin & White’s (2005) evaluation model and Corpus Linguistics are adopted. The Socialist candidate’s positive identity positions him as a defendant of laymen’s interests (i.e. Nurturant Parent identity), while he contributes to Rajoy’s emergent identity as a dishonest politician. However, the Conservative politician plays down the other candidate’s identity inferences, casts his identity as a Nurturant Parent to attract the audience’s sympathy and embodies an identity of change. This positive identity contributed to his ethos in the debate and resulted in an overwhelming win.