Construction and negotiation of voter-friendly identities in electoral debates

  1. Díez-Prados, Mercedes 2
  2. Cabrejas-Peñuelas, Ana Belén 1
  1. 1 Universitat de València
    info

    Universitat de València

    Valencia, España

    ROR https://ror.org/043nxc105

  2. 2 Universidad de Alcalá
    info

    Universidad de Alcalá

    Alcalá de Henares, España

    ROR https://ror.org/04pmn0e78

Journal:
Círculo de lingüística aplicada a la comunicación

ISSN: 1576-4737

Year of publication: 2020

Issue Title: Monográfico: Representación de la fraseología en herramientas digitales: problemas, avances, propuestas

Issue: 82

Pages: 93-106

Type: Article

DOI: 10.5209/CLAC.68967 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: Círculo de lingüística aplicada a la comunicación

Abstract

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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