DISCUSSION SESSIONS
Time              Day      Venue
10:10-11:00    R          SY105    Juhasz, A.
12:20-1:10      R          BH235    Juhasz, A.
2:30-3:20        R           LI033    Juhasz, A.

Course Description
This course explores the interaction between language and politics.  In particular, it examines how political actors and political commentators use language to talk about politics and how politics also influences language.  We will examine the speeches of politicians, party propaganda, slogans, and other discourse types aimed at influencing the political process. Also examined is the language used in communicative events like congressional or parliamentary sessions, cabinet meetings, state of the union address, and so forth.  We will also examine political correctness, the politics about censorship and free speech, the language of labeling, and language policy issues.  The political actors whose language will be examined include presidents and vice-presidents, members of Congress, parliamentarians, senators, governors, and action group members.   Because the course involves investigating how language and politics influence each other, the course will cross disciplines like political science, journalism, and communication.  To help broaden students’ perspectives on language and politics the course will not focus exclusively on language and politics in the United States.  To this end, the course will cross cultural/national boundaries by observing data from the United Kingdom and non-Western cultures, especially Africa and Asia.

Course Textbooks
Beard,  Adrian (2000) The Language of Politics. Routledge.
Obeng, Samuel & Beverly Hartford (2002) Surviving Through Obliqueness: Language of Politics in Emerging Democracies. New York: Nova Science Publishers Inc.
 

Evaluation
1. Written Assignments  (WA) 40% of final grade
2.  Quizzes (QZ) 50% of final grade
3.  Attendance & Participation in Discussion Sections  (APDS) 10% of final grade
 

Grading
1. WA: 9-10 = A;  8-9 = B;  7-8 = C;  6-7 = D
2. QZ: 9-10 = A;  8-9 = B;  7-8 = C;  6-7 = D
3. APDS: 9-10 = A;  8-9 = B;  7-8 = C;  6-7 = D
Final Grade = WA+ QZ+ APD = 100

Course Policy
1. Assignments. All assignments must be neatly typed. No late assignments will be allowed for the semester.  A late assignment may be turned in for comments but it will not count toward the final grade.
2. Incompletes will be considered (by instructor) only on receipt of a written request from the student and only in compliance with university guidelines for use of Incompletes.
3. Exam retakes, extra credit:  NONE
4. Makeup Quiz:  Instructor must be notified in advance if a student cannot take a quiz at a scheduled time (emergencies excepted of course.)  If this is not done or if the student's reason for not being able to take the quiz at the scheduled time is not legitimate, the student will not be allowed to make up the exam.
5. Course changes:  Students shall be responsible for all announcements and changes in the course program which are given in class, whether they attend the class in which the announcement is made or not.
6. Attendance:  Attendance is mandatory.  However, if for some legitimate reason, you are unable to attend a class, it is your responsibility  to arrange in advance to have a classmate pick up handouts, assignments, for you.  You can however come to the instructor or Associate Instructor for further information or clarification WHEN NECESSARY.
7.  Tardiness Policy: Students who arrive late to class distract both the instructor and other students from the lesson.  As a courtesy to your fellow students and your instructor, please make every effort to arrive on time.
 

TENTATIVE COURSE CALENDAR

WEEK 1 [Introduction [Political Discourse Analysis].

WEEKS 2 & 3
Metaphor
Metaphor2
Analogy
Innuendo
Spin
Quiz 1

WEEKS 3& 4    [Answering Questions: Evasion & Circumlocution]
 

Week 5   [Imitation & Influence]
 

WEEK 6 [Pronoun Usage]
Quiz 2
 

WEEK 7  [Rhetoric & Name-Calling]
 
 

WEEKS 8 & 9 [MANIFESTOES & PROPAGANDA]
Quiz 3

WEEKS 10 & 11  [Political Correctness, Censorship and Free Speech
Harassment]
 

WEEK 12 [The Language of Labeling]
Quiz 4
 

WEEKS 13 & 14  [The Language Issue in the United States]
 [THANKSGIVING BREAK: Nov. 26 - December 1. Classes begin on December 2]

WEEKS 15
The Politics about Languages in Africa and Asia
Quiz 5
 

WEEK 16
Final Assignment Due December 16, 2002
 
 
 
 
 

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aristotle (1954). Rhetoric. (Translated by W.R. Roberts.) New York: Random House.
Aristotle (1982) (transl. Freese J.H.) Art of Rhetoric. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University  Press.
Billig, M. (1991). Ideology and opinions. London: Sage.
Brenneis, D.L. and Myers, F (1984). Dangerous words. Language and politics in the Pacific.   New York: New Your University Press.
Chilton, P. (1985). Language and the nuclear arms debate: Nukespeake today. London: Francis   Pinter.
Chilton, P. (1987). Cooperation and non cooperation: ethical and political aspects of pragmatics  Language and Communication, 7(3), 221-39.
Chilton, P (1990). Politeness, politics and diplomacy. Discourse and society, 1(2), 201-24.
Chilton, P. and llyin, M. (1993). Metaphor in political discourse: The case of the "Common   European House" Discourse and Society, 4(1), 7-32.
Crockcroft, N. (1992) Persuading People. Macmillan, London.
Cross, D.W. (1989). Politics: The art of bamboozling.  In G. Goshgarian (Ed.) Exploring   Language. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foreman and Co.
Dickerson, P. (1997) It's not just me who's saying this . . .  The deployment of cited others in   televised political discourse. British Journal of Social Psychology, 36:33-48.
Dillon, J.T. (1990). The practice of questioning. London: Routledge.
Goatly, A. (1997) The Language of Metaphors. Routledge, London.
Goshgarian, G. (1989) Exploring Language. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foreman and Co.
Lakoff, George and Johnson, M. (1980) Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University of Chicago   Press.
Nkrumah, Kwame (1970). A call to the workers of Ghana. The Struggle Continues. London:   Panaf Books Limited. 1-8.
Obeng, Samuel Gyasi (1997) Language and Politics: Indirectness in Political Discourse.í   Discourse and Society  8 (1): 49-83.
Obeng, S. G. (2000) Doing politics on walls and doors: A linguistic analysis of graffiti in Legon   (Ghana). Multilingua, (19) 4:
Orwell, George (1989). Politics and the English Language. In Gary Goshgarian (ed.) Exploring   Language. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foreman and Co. p. 77-89.
Rapley, Mark (1998). Just an ordinary Australian: Self-categorization and the discursive   construction of facticity in new racist political rhetoric.  British Journal of Social   Psychology, 37:325-344.
Richards, I.A. (1936) The Philosophy of Rhetoric. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Riggins Stephen Harold (1997). The language and politics of exclusion: others in discourse.   Thousand Oaks, Calif. : Sage Publications
Rojo, Luisa Martin and Van Dijk, Teun A. (1997) There was a problem and it was solved.  Legitimizing the expulsion of Illegal migrants in Spanish parliamentary discourse.   Discourse and Society, 8(4): 523-566.
Steinhart, E. and Kittay, E. F. (1998) Metaphor. In Jacob L. Mey & Asher, R.E. (Eds.) Concise   Encyclopedia of Pragmatics. Amsterdam, New York: Elsevier.756-781.
Van Dijk, Teun (1998) On the analysis of parliamentary debates on immigration.  Working  paper   for the project  Racism at the Top.  Unpublished Manuscript.
Van Dijk, Teun A. (1998a)  What is Political Discourse Analysis?  In Jan Blommaert & Chris   Bulcaen (Eds.) Political linguistics. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 11-52.
Wilson, John (1990) Politically Speaking: The Pragmatic Analysis of Political Language.  London:  Blackwell.
 
 

Politics About Languages
Abbas, S. (1993) The power of English in Pakistan. In World Englishes, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 147  56.
Adegbija, Efurosibina (1994) Language Attitudes in Sub-Saharan Africa: A  Sociolinguistic  Overview.  Clevedon, Avon: Multilingual Matters.
Bamgbose, Ayo (1991) Language and the Nation: The Language Question in Sub-Saharan Africa.   Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Brass, Paul (1991) Ethnicity and Nationalism. Newbury park, CA: Sage.
Obeng, S. G. & Adegbija, E. (1999) Language and ethnic identity in sub-Saharan Africa. In Joshua  Fishman ed. Handbook of language and ethnic identity. New York: Oxford University  Press.
Obeng, Samuel Gyasi (2001) Speaking the Unspeakable: Discursive Strategies to Express   Language Attitudes in Legon (Ghana) Graffiti.  Research on Language and Social   Interaction 33(3): 291-319.
Obeng, Samuel Gyasi & Beverly Hartford (in press) Political Independence with Linguistic Servitude: The Politics About Languages in the Developing World. New York: Nova Science Publishers Inc.
Safran, William (1999) Nationalism. In Joshua Fishman ed. Handbook of language and ethnic  identity. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 77-93.
Todd, L. (1983) Language options for education in a multilingual society: Cameroon. In Kennedy,  C. (ed.) Language Planning and Language Education. London: George Allen & Unwin. pp.  160-71.