- Docente: Paul Bayley
- Credits: 8
- SSD: L-LIN/12
- Language: English
- Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
- Campus: Forli
- Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Mass media and politics (cod. 8051)
Learning outcomes
The course, which is taught in English, deals with quantitative and qualitative methods for the analysis of political language. At the end of the course, the student: - is able to identify various genres of political discourse and political reporting with particular reference to Great Britain and the USA; - can analyze the contextual features which determine the lexical and grammatical characteristics of different varieties of political language; - is able to make a semantic and lexical analysis of a individual political discourse and of a corpus of political discourse - has an English language competence not inferior to B2 (CEFR)
Course contents
During the course, quantitative and quantitative methods of analysing political discourse will be illustrated, with particular reference to The USA and Great Britain. Specifically, the following questions will be presented:
Definition of political Language, broad and narrow definitions
Relationships between language and context.
The concept of linguistic register.
Basic grammatical categories for a functional analysis of a text.
Political lexis
The creation of a specialized corpus of political language
Electronic analysis of a corpus: collocations, keywords, clusters
Typology of political language
Written texts
- Solemn declarations;
- constitutional texts;
- Electoral platforms
Spoken texts: a) presidential monologues:
-Electoral speeches
- inaugural speeches
- addresses on the state of the Union
Spoken texts: b) dialogical
- Televised debates;
- Discourse of deliberative assemblies
- Press briefings
Readings/Bibliography
Bayley P. & Miller D. R. 1993, Texts and Contexts of the American Dream: A socio semiotic study of Political Language. Bologna: Pitagora
Bayley P. 2005, 'Analysing Language and Politics', MediAzioni, 1. http://mediazioni.sitlec.unibo.it/images/stories/PDF_folder/document-pdf/2005/articoli2005/4%20bayley.pdf
Morley J. & Bayley P. (eds), 2009, Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies on the Iraqi Conflict: Wording the war. London and New York: Routledge.
Bayley P & Williams G. 2012, European Identity: What the Media say. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Other resources
Heywood A. 2000, Key Concepts in Politics, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Thompson G. 2004, Introducing Functional Grammar, London: Arnold.
Each student will be given a one-year license for the software WordSmith Tools 6.0
For the detailed programme of the oral exam, see the section on assessment
A dossier of documents will be available at the Student Registry office.
Teaching methods
The course consists of (1) traditional lectures, in English, and (2) laboratory sessions to learn and practice how to conduct an electronic analysis of a corpus, and illustrations of the results od such analysis.
Assessment methods
Students will have to prepare a paper and take an oral exam. The choice of argument for the paper shall be agreed upon with the teacher, and can be either a qualitative analysis of a single text or a quantitative analysis of a specialized corpus. The paper is to be handed in via email 10 days before the exam date.
During the first four weeks of the course, the analytical instruments necessary for preparing the paper will be presented and explained; regular attendance during this phase is required
The evaluation of the oral exam will take into consideration various aspects such as the students' knowledge of the basic concepts dealt with during the course, their capacity for critical reasoning and their capacity to organize discursively an argument. The paper and the oral exam will each count for 50% of the final grade.
For the oral exam:
Basic reading
1. Bayley, P. 2005, Analysing Language and Politics, MediAzioni, 1. http://mediazioni.sitlec.unibo.it/images/stories/PDF_folder/document-pdf/2005/articoli2005/4%20bayley.pdf
2. Bayley, P and Miller D. R. (1993) Texts and Contexts of the American Dream: A socio semiotic study of Political Language. Bologna: Pitagora (in the library) Chapter 1 and Chapter 2)
Teaching tools
Projector, PC, internet, Wordsmith Tools 6.0
Office hours
See the website of Paul Bayley