Parliamentary Language

Honourific Language Rules

• address ‘the house’ collectively

• 3rd party discourse address: ‘Mr Speaker’

• Using the second person ‘you’ is prohibited

Parliamentary language rules

• ‘Honourable’ is used to make criticism less direct

Erskine May

‘good temper and moderation are the characteristics of parliamentary language’

Unparliamentary language

abusive language

misrepresentations of words

nouns objected are ‘coward’ ‘swine’ ‘rat’

Goffman’s Face Theory 1

• Reputation is an element of face.

• Face needs = positive status people have to have in front of others/being liked.

• Face-threatening acts: making someone feel less equal or unliked

Goffman’s face theory 2

Face-work: others feeling comfortable

Negative face-work: politeness theory (not imposing on others).

Positive face-work: Compliments/raising esteem

Brown and Levinson face threatening acts

• challenging image/self esteem of the addressee

• argue face-threatening acts are crucial in maintaining power in spoken interactions

Fairclough - Unequal Encounters 1

• normal rules of turn taking do not apply

• D = initiate conversation, set agenda, control the topics

• D = reinforce required behaviour with positive feedback, interrupt, and overlap

Fairclough Unequal Encounters - Submissive

• respond, not initiate

• say very less/be silent

• follow set agenda of conversation

Fairclough Unequal Encounters - Submissive 2

• use terms of address, unfamiliarity

• avoid assertions by not interrupting

• use fillers/vague language

Boris Johnson ‘nasty piece of work’ interview

• ‘why did you make up a quote?’ = interviewer controlling the topic, initiating conversation

• Political interviews are unique, only place where their face is challenged by a submissive participant

• Boris: ‘these are’, ‘these are’’er’ = fillers, repetition. Show submission

Interview 2

‘are you sure our viewers wouldn’t want to hear more about’ = trying to change the topic, goes against Fairclough

‘our viewers’ = trying to persuade by using pathos/including interviewer

unintelligible overlapping - against Fairclough

• ‘mildly sandpapered’ = formal use of language to try to maintain face after interviewers accusation of ‘he made something up’

Boris 3

‘bare-faced lie’ = offensive language. Face threatening acts. (Brown and Levinson)

Repetition also face-threatening.

‘Why don’t we talk about something else?’ = another attempt at instigating a topic shift

Boris is trying to maintain face by using formal language, expected of him ‘I don’t opropose’, meant to elevate against ‘bare-faced lie’

Boris 4

• ‘nasty piece of work’ = face-threatening acts

• ‘all three things I would dispute’ = still trying to save face.