LANGUAGE AND POWER

WHAT TYPES OF POWER ARE THERE?

LANGUISTIC FEATURES WHICH EXERT POWER
POLITICAL PERSONAL
SOCIAL GROUP
That held by
POLITICIANS, the
POLICE, and those
working in LAW
COURTS
Power held as a
result of their
OCCUPATION or
ROLE
Power held as a
result of SOCIAL
VARIABLES such
as CLASS, GENDER
AND AGE
INSTRUMENTAL INFLUENTIAL
Power used to
INFLUENCE or
PERSUADE
Power used to
MAINTAIN and
ENFORCE authority
SYNTAX
DECLARATIVE SENTENCES
signal authority and a lack of
ambiguity
IMPERATIVE SENTENCES
generally detail what the reader
needs to do to get the full
benefits
MODAL AUXILARY VERB
EPISTEMIC MODALITY such
as shall and will which strongly
clarify any elements of possibility,
probability or certainty.
DEONTIC MODALITY such as
must which express degrees of
necessity and obligation
FAIRCLOUGHS MODEL (2001)
POWER IN SPOKEN DISCOURSE
Other language features
checklist:

Discourse structure: How

is the text organised to
exert its power?

Lexis and Semantics:

What connotations of
lexical choises exist?
E.g property and
excluded which has strong
connotations of control and
prohibition

Formality
According to Fairclough, advertising exits as a
prime example of ideology at work through building
a relationship between the text producer and
receiver. This is done by constructing a product
image that, in turn, helps to position the reader as
a potential consumer.
synthetic personalisation
Synthetic personalisation is the constructed
relationship between the producer and the receiver.
This is maintained through lexical choices such as the
second person pronoun you as it directly address the reader. The effect of this is that despite
the fact that advertisement is being received en masse, the readers feel as though they are being
directly addressed.
creating an image of a text
Creating an image of a text is the use of a visual image and verbal cues to evoke knowledge,
behaviour and lifestyle frames. It concerns itself with how advertising works in conjunction with
a readers ideological background knowledge to create an image of the text. For example using
a famous pop star to evoke a mental picture of the young and image-conscious individual whose
dynamic lifestyle demands the best in new technology.
building the consumer
Building the consumer involves positioning the receiver as an ideal reader and therefore the
consumer of this text and the product, in line with the texts ideological viewpoint.
POWER ASSYMETRY
UNEQUAL ENCOUNTER
POWERFUL
PARTCIPANT
A marked difference in the power status of individuals
involved in the discourse e.g. one speaker has a higher
status or role
Another term for a power relationship where one
participant is more powerful than the other
A speaker with a higher status in a given context, who
is therefore able to impose a degree of power
LESS POWERFUL
PARTCIPANT
CONSTRAINTS
Those with less status in a given context, who are
subject to the constraints imposed by more powerful
participants
Ways in which powerful participants may block or
control the contributions of less powerful participants,
for example through controlling content or interruption
in a classroom situation
FORMULATION
AGENDA SETTING
TOPIC MANAGEMENT
The re-wording of anothers contribution by a
powerful participant to impose a certain meaning or
understanding
The set of things that need to be covered by the
powerful participant
When the powerful participant brings the topic back to
what needs to be covered
Teacher
Pupil
Pupil
The teacher is the powerful participant in this
unequal encounter as they encompass personal
power because of their occupation. Also they
have social power because they are older. In the
encounter it is likely that the teacher is exerting
instrumental power as to enforce and maintain
authority over the pupils.
The pupils are the less powerful participants in
the encounter. Additionally there is shown to
be a power asymmetry as seen as the pupils call
their teacher Sir or Miss (not by their first
names) because they are talking to someone who
has a higher status then them, whereas the
teacher calls them back by their first names.
During the course of the lesson the teacher
will be agenda setting because they have a set
things which they want to cover in the space
of time. This means that they will also exert
topic management in order to make sure that
they stick to what need to be covered. The
teacher may control this through constraints by
blocking the contributions of the less powerful
participants in order to stay on track.
A common discourse in a classroom is the initiation-response-feedback (IRF) model for example:
Initiation:[teacher] Can anyone summarise what we discussed from our reading
Response:[pupil] that Richard doesnt like peace
Feedback:[teacher] Good
The teacher may also formulate a pupils response to provide a more acceptable and developed answer,
which may also serve to check and clarify others understanding
POLITENESS IN CONVERSATION
SMALL TALK
INTERACTIONAL
SPEECH
TRANSACTIONAL
SPEECH
REPRESSIVE
DISCOURSE STRATEGY
OPPRESSIVE
DISCOURSE STRATEGY
Talk that is primarily interactional in orientation and is
geared towards establishing relationships
Speech which primarily has the purpose of
communicating with someone to maintain social relations
Conversational speech with the aim of getting
something done
A more indirect method of maintaining power relations,
which although it serves to strengthen social tides and
avoid face threatening acts by using small talk as a
positive politeness strategy, it still exercises control
through conversational constraints
Linguistic behaviour that is open in its exercising of
power and control
FACE
The image of ourselves
which we represent to
others (Goffman)
POSITIVE FACE
The need to feel wanted,
liked and appreciated
NEGATIVE FACE
The need to not feel
imposed on
FACE THREATENING ACT: a communative act that threatens someones
positive or negative face needs
SAVING FACE
SHOWING YOUR IDEAL SELF
TO OTHERS
LOSING FACE
SHOWING A LESSER
VERSION OF YOUR IDEAL
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE POLITENESS STRATEGIES: redressive
strategies that a speaker might use to avoid face-threatening acts
ACCOMODATION
UPWARD
CONVERGENCE:
When someone elevates their
register or language in order to
impress
DOWNWARD
CONVERGENCE:
When someone tones down their
RP accent to fit in with the
speech of more working class
people
COVERT PRESTIGE: Street cred status
Occupational power and status :OVERT PRESTIGE