Blair speeches in a polyphonic perspective

Abstract

In this article we examine some linguistic characteristics of two speeches made by Tony Blair, in the British (2004) and the European (2005) parliaments. These speeches can be characterised as visionary speeches on Europe and European integration. By introducing a polyphonic perspective, we will point to specific linguistic features, such as polemic negation by ‘not’ and contrastive-concessive constructions by ‘but’, revealing different types of hidden interaction in which explicit and implicit voices are interwoven. Combined with the identification of pronominal references (to self and others), this perspective helps to spell out the complex relationship between text and context, in particular how to define a relevant context in a text analysis, and how the text itself constitutes its context. The theoretical framework used for analysing the speeches will be linguistic polyphony, as developed in the ScaPoLine theory.

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