Construction and negotiation of voter-friendly identities in electoral debates

Abstract

Resumen.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.

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