This course explores the interaction between language and politics.
It examines how text and context influence political actors and
political commentators use of language.  Also examined is how
knowledge about mental models, about the world, as well as about
cognitive, linguistic, discursive, and situational factors affect
language in political interaction.  Discursive and semantic features
like argumentation (including fallacies), synonymy, paraphrase,
implications and presuppositions, repetition, self-glorification,
metaphor, lexicalization,irony, hyperbole, implication, and
generalization will also be examined. Other features examined
include generalization, evidentiality, intertextuality, disclaimers,
counterfactuals, comparison and contrast, topicalization and
downgrading, hedging, vagueness and modality. We will examine the
speeches of politicians.  Also to be synthesized and analyzed are
party propaganda, slogans, and other discourse features aimed at
influencing the political process as well as the language used in
communicative events like congressional or parliamentary sessions,
cabinet meetings, and state of the union address. Political
correctness, the politics about censorship and free speech, the
language of labeling, and  language policy issues will be examined.
Political actors whose speeches will be analyzed include presidents
and vice-presidents, members of Congress, parliamentarians,
senators,governors, and politically affiliated action group members.
Besides sociolinguistics, the course will cross disciplines like
critical discourse analysis, linguistic anthropology, political
science, journalism, and political communication. Political
discourse data to be studied shall be from both developed and
undeveloped countries.