1A - Political Spoken Language (Basic)

The role of the interviewer


*If you get a question about political language, it is likely to be between an interviewer and a politician/aspiring politician.

*The first thing you should do is to determine whether or not the interviewer has any bias. If there is any indication that the interviewer is 'on the same side' as the politician, then you should focus on how this is shown throughout the interview.

*However, this is unlikely to be the case. Most respected political interviewers have reached their position because they are able to remain relatively impartial.

*The main reason politicians are interviewed is to 'hold them to account'. Essentially, this means that politicians should always be made to explain themselves and their actions, as they are the ones who are running the country. Due to their public role and privilege, they are not afforded the same levels of privacy that other public figures are.

*So, if a politician has implemented a new law, they will be quizzed about it.

*If a politician has done or said something controversial, they will be quizzed about it.

*Even if the politician has done nothing 'wrong', interviewers will still try to find questions which put them on the spot and make them feel that they have to explain themselves in depth.

*Interviewers will often ask questions which are sharp, or even insulting. They do this because, as press, they have the right to do so, and they want informative and honest answers. Provided they are not being slanderous or libellous, they have a lot of freedom to ask what they want.


The role of the politician

*You have seen this VERY clearly over the last few weeks and months. Politicians are the absolute Kings and Queens of a technique known as AVOIDANCE. This is where they flout Grice's Maxim of relation, and sidestep awkward questions by changing the subject, interrupting, or answering an interrogative with another interrogative.

*The reason they do this is quite simple. Politicians often do not have the answers to the questions they are asked OR they are aware of the fact that if they were to answer truthfully, it would make them look bad.

*Even the kindest-hearted politicians will have things they would rather not talk about on TV or Radio because, by its very nature, politics involves pleasing some people and upsetting others. There is no way to please everybody.

*In terms of their purpose and roles, politicians primarily care about one thing - gaining votes and staying in their job. Most politicians will do whatever it takes to stay in their position.

*So, expect to see lots of avoidance. Lots of focus on the things they have done well, even if it is not relevant to the question. Lots of euphemism and minimisers when discussing things they have done wrong. Lots of dysphemism and hyperbole when discussing the failings of their competitors.

*In terms of structure, expect to see them interrupting a lot if they feel the conversation is becoming uncomfortable. Expect them to attempt to appear happy/laughing, even if things are decidedly uncomfortable. Expect them to show non-fluency features such as false starts or stutters if they are trying to buy time after a particularly awkward question.

*In terms of grammar, expect them to use formality in large parts of their discourse to appear educated. Expect them to use low-frequency catchphrases or statements from the semantic field of politics to make them sound constant, reliable etc. They may us excerpts of Latin or French to make themselves sound 'elite' and educated. HOWEVER, do also expect them to drop their formality (convergence) when they are specifically appealing to the votes of the public - particularly the working classes. This is to make them appear more human.

*Lexis - Expect lots of emotive language. Expect them to make references to emotive issues such as health, education, disasters etc as these are the things which the public primarily feel most emotion towards. Expect them to be increasingly vague when asked about money, timescales etc as they will often not want to commit to things that they know are untrue.

Overall

*Look for interviewers asking questions on behalf of the public.

*If the politician avoids, sidetracks etc - ask yourself WHY and turn it into a point.

*If the politician seems to make more honest references, ask WHY and turn it into a point.

*Look at the structure of the conversation and ask why things like interruptions and latches on are happening.

*And ALWAYS remember. A politician's speech is not just THEM speaking. They have whole teams of advisers who will tell them what they can and cannot talk about. They will have been briefed AT LENGTH before agreeing to any political interview. They will be hugely ON THEIR GUARD.


Practice Task

Go on YouTube and find a couple of political interviews and see if you can make a quick plan about the purpose, attitudes and roles of the speakers, also commenting on the relationship between them.