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#DALLAPARTEDEGLISTUDENTI DICHIARAZIONE DI PRINCIPIO: «AVENDO PRIMARIAMENTE A CUORE UNA FORMAZIONE QUANTO MIGLIORE POSSIBILE PER LA COMUNITÀ DEGLI STUDENTI DELL’ATENEO FEDERICIANO, L’ ASSOCIAZIONE STUDENTI UNIVERSITARI A.S.U. SCIENZE POLITICHE , PER L’ATTIVITÀ DI STUDIO, CONSIGLIA SEMPRE L’UTILIZZO DEI MANUALI E DEI TESTI UFFICIALI, SICCOME ESSI HANNO L’ESCLUSIVO VANTAGGIO DI ESSERE DI PRECISA QUALITÀ ACCADEMICA E DI FORNIRE, PERTANTO, IL NECESSARIO APPORTO CONTENUTISTICO E LINGUISTICO RISPETTO ALLA MATERIA TRATTATA; QUALITÀ, QUESTA, CHE NON PUÒ ESSERE COMPLETAMENTE SODDISFATTA CON LE COSIDDETTE ‘DISPENSE’ O CON I ‘RIASSUNTI’. TUTTAVIA, AVENDO COSCIENZA DELLE DIVERSE ESIGENZE DIDATTICHE, EVENTUALMENTE SCATURENTI DA ALCUNI STUDENTI, SOVENTE PER MOTIVI “DI TEMPO” O SEMPLICEMENTE “PER SCELTA”, LA STESSA ASSOCIAZIONE CI TIENE A METTERE A DISPOSIZIONE DI COSTORO DEL ‘MATERIALE DIDATTICO INFORMALE’, MA COMUNQUE DI UNA CERTA RELATIVA CURA. ASU CI TIENE A RENDERE NOTO A COLORO I QUALI SI SERVONO DELLE SUE DISPENSE, RIASSUNTI E MATERIALE DIDATTICO INFORMALE, MESSI A DISPOSIZIONE, CHE IL LORO UTILIZZO NON È E NON PUÒ ESSERE ASSOLUTAMENTE SOSTITUTIVO DEI MANUALI E TESTI UFFICIALI. L’ASSOCIAZIONE STUDENTESCA, PERTANTO, SI SPOGLIA DI OGNI RESPONSABILITÀ DIDATTICA, SIA NEI CONFRONTI DEGLI STUDENTI CHE NEI CONFRONTI DEI DOCENTI. IL DIRITTO ALLO STUDIO UNIVERSITARIO CI STA A CUORE».
#DALLAPARTEDEGLISTUDENTI
SLIDE PARTE 1
Power in Interpersonal Communication
It is more personal, referring to the power of individuals to influence interactions with others. Part of the power of an individual is personal , stemming from their mastery of linguistic skills : knowing when to speak (and when not to speak), and how to speak. Another part of power stems from the social roles that the individual fills. Ex: A doctor talking to a patient inherits the power of his role from the institutional practices we are socialized into
Power in Public Discourse
The power of dominant institutions within our society, and how these Institutions maintain their dominance through the use of language: media (newspapers, television), advertising, etc. One important power is to control the flow of information. If one can shape public opinion, one can change (or strengthen) the power structures that exist. Powerful institutions and individuals often interact to support each other, building power structures. Power structures use public discourse to strengthen their own control, and to weaken the power of other groups. The production of news is controlled at several levels by ideology :
#DALLAPARTEDEGLISTUDENTI There are two currents of thought to retain power :
- MAINSTREAM TRADITION (SCOTT 2001)
- SECOND-STREAM TRADITION (GRAMSCI 1971) MAINSTREAM TRADITION (SCOTT 2001) The mainstream tradition refers to corrective power of the State and judicial and penal institutions (in the state, the church, business and other sovereign organizations). Authority (institutions: police, the courts and the legal system, prisons and the military). ➔ **In democratic societies:
- Power is legitimate by the people;
- Legitimation is expressed by means of language and other forms of communication, not by forces;**
- Legitimated : opposing groups into extreme social categories which are ultimately excluded from society. SECOND-STREAM TRADITION (GRAMSCI 1971) For second stream tradition democratic power is accepted but not legitimated. ➔ Dominants groups persuade subordinate groups to accept their moral, political values and institution, but it is: **- This Power is not coercively, in fact it doesn’t restrict the freedom to act in a given situation.
- Different discourse constructs hegemonic attitudes, opinions, credence in a natural and common sense way.**
Foucault and Power
In 1975 (one thousand nine hundred seventy-five) he published a book in which he underlines a distinction between the ways of acting of the current system and those of the past system. Foucault defines the power of today as a barbaric system because it seems friendly, but in reality it is more insidious than the past. In fact, today, power is everywhere and for this we can talk about of Omnipresence of power , which is reproduced in every area of society thanks to the means of communication. It is negotiated, never fixed or stable, constructed by a web of social discourses. Ideology influences language. “The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas. “ (Marx) IDEOLOGICAL VS REPRESSIVE STATE APPARATUS (ISA VS RSA)
- ISA: there are ideological state apparatuses (such as the church, the family , the legal system, a particular political party), which work by ideology or by symbolic violence (for example, being expelled by school). In this case the citizens are seen as consumers.
- RSA : on the other hand we have the repressive state apparatuses (formed by police, army and government) which work by force, imprisonment, threat or punishment. ➔ DOMANDE D’ESAME => DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LANGUAGE AND DISCOURSE **- Language: is a rule and patterns operating simultaneously in a system.
- Discourse: is the use of language in a real context of use.**
#DALLAPARTEDEGLISTUDENTI Discourse is different from “speech” (for example during elections, politicians present themselves through speech.
Objects Of Discourse
' Discourse' refers to any utterance(speech) which is meaningful. These texts can be:
- written texts
- oral texts ('speech' /'talk')
- mixed written/oral texts (e.g. Internet chat) Discourse is spoken or written communication between people. It doesn’t depend on the size of a text. The scope of discourse analysis Discourse analysis is a discipline that is influenced by other disciplines and influences them as well. It is a two-way process. For this reason discourse analysis examines spoken and written texts from different areas (medical, legal, advertising) and different perspectives (race, gender, power). They are interested in different social contexts of conversation, especially its organization and the processes involved in encoding and decoding of its meaning. Discourse analysis is characterized by practical applications, for example in analyzing communication problems in medicine, psychotherapy, education, in analyzing written style etc. It studies the ways with sentences and utterances (speech) make texts and interactions and how those interact with our social world. Discourse is no longer studied for its own sake. Discourse is viewed as a social practice. (N. Fairclough) Discourse is characterized as:
- produced/consumed/monitored social actors (producers/receivers of social practices);
- shaped by social structures–with social implications;
- socially valued and regulated (production, reception and circulation). In traditional studies, discourses were analyzed in relation to social processes, but thanks to new researchers, we can talk about bidirectional and complex relations between discourses and social practice ( pratiche sociali ): ex: Discourses of food = Healthy food Social Practice = Healthy lifestyle Discourse analysis => the analysis of texts in context. Discourse is spoken or written communication between people, especially serious discussion of a particular subject. Discourse is language in use Discourse is necessarily situated in a context. No practice detached from a social context, and no social context is totally neutral. Ex: Constituted = costituito Constitutive = costitutivo "language reflects reality ('the way things are') and constructs (construes) it, in a particular way"
#DALLAPARTEDEGLISTUDENTI >CDA is focused on:
- Norman Fairclough: Three dimensions of a communicative event
- Ruth Wodak: Discourse-historical approach
- Ten van Dijk: Sociocognitive approach Language both shapes and is shaped by society. Discourse analysts conduct research in solidarity and cooperation with dominated groups.
CDA's main principles:
- CDA addresses social problems
- Power relations are discursive
- Discourse constitutes society and culture
- Discourse does ideological work
- Discourse is intertextual/historical
- The link between text and society is indirect or 'mediated'
- Discourse analysis is interpretative and explanatory (description, interpretation and explanation) Per sviluppare senso critico bisogna interpretare il testo e spiegarlo.
- Discourse is a form of social action or social practice
Typical vocabulary:
➔ Power ➔ Dominance ➔ Hegemony ➔ Ideology ➔ Class ➔ Gender ➔ Race ➔ Discrimination ➔ Interests ➔ Reproduction ➔ Institutions ➔ Social structure ➔ Social order
Power as control
Groups have power if they are able to control the acts and minds of other groups. There are different types of power and it is rarely absolute. Power can be integrated in rules, laws, habits. ex: Gramsci's hegemony (Racism, sexism, class domination). If we are able to influence people's minds , we indirectly may control their actions ( persuasion and manipulation ).
#DALLAPARTEDEGLISTUDENTI This is possible thanks to the ability of one or groups to control public discourse and consequently have more chances to control the minds and actions of others. This process has social consequences. CDA's fields of investigation
- Gender inequality
- Media discourse
- Political discourse
- Ethnocentrism, antisemitism, nationalism and racism Norman Fairclough He coined the concept of post-structuralism to contrast the conventional concept of power and knowledge based on a dominant institutionalized sovereign system. His theory is based on the reproduction of regimes of power and knowledge and the creation of cultural norms. It is not a top-down system of power, but a system in which everyone participates and reproduces knowledge through their everyday actions and perceptions. He says that discourse or knowledge formed social realities, which influence people’s conduct. An individual governed by these realities then conducts him or herself in a manner consistent with that reality. This conduct is perceived and internalized by others and becomes normalized and embedded in cultural norms, which reproduces the new discourse of power and knowledge. The exercise of control power becomes realized as an institution. For Fairclough Critical Discourse Analysis is the analysis of relationships between concrete language use and the social cultural structures. ● He attributes three dimensions to every discursive event. There is Three Dimensions to analyze a text :
- TEXT
- DISCOURSE PRACTICE (which also includes the production and interpretation of text)
- SOCIAL PRACTICE
- Text analysis — description
- Processings analysis— interpretation
- Social analysis — explanation
#DALLAPARTEDEGLISTUDENTI The shaping of a text's meaning by another text, thanks to intertextual figures such as allusion, quotation, calque, plagiarism, translation and parody. An example of intertextuality is a writer's borrowing and transformation of a prior text, and incorporating an aspect of it in a new text. Julia Kristeva in fact disagrees with the concept of the text as an isolated entity and she says tha t “every text is the absorption and transformation of another". Every text (and we can insert any cultural object here: image, film, web content, music etc.) is a mosaic of references to other texts, genres, and discourses. The interpretation of these references is influenced by the audiences' prior knowledge of other texts. Almost every episode of The Simpsons contains at least one film reference to a famous film scene. The Simpsons also contains intertextual references to politics, religion - nearly every aspect of social, political and cultural life. Interdiscursivity Differently, interdiscursivity is a mix of diverse genres, discourses, or styles associated with institutional and social meanings in a single text. Hybridization/mixed genres infotainment, or advertorial. Mescolanza di generi registri stili Registro informale- formale.. 3) Discourse as Social Practice =>“ EXPLANATION “ Describing discourse as social practice implies that language and society have a kind of dialectical relationship. This means that discourse constitutes situations, objects of knowledge and the identities of people. The power relations and ideological struggles that discourses (re)produce, challenge or transform in some way. All social practices are connected to specific historical contexts and thanks to them social relations are reproduced according to different interests. **Conversationalization and the Commodification of Discourse
- conversationalization** (colonization of the Public Domain by the practices of the private domain) 2) democratization (aspects of private discourse enter in a public discourse ) 3) marketization or commodification (the reconstruction of social life on a market basis/Areas influenced by marketing discourses). Ambiti influenzati da discorsi di marketing= consumer
#DALLAPARTEDEGLISTUDENTI Conversationalization For Norman Fairclough (CDA) conversationalization can model public discourse on the discursive practices of ordinary life thanks to norms of 'casual' conversation, such as adverts, university brochures, news reports. Aspects of colloquial language that influenced public speeches whit:
**- Conversation vocabulary
- Graphic devices Commodification or marketization Commodification, consumerism and marketization influence discourses thanks to advertising,** marketing techniques and managerial discourse. Within this process, public, private and students become consumers' or 'customers'. These trends cause serious difficulties for producers and performers of texts who want to contain colonization. Marketization of the university discourse Education is a domain whose orders of discourse are invaded by advertising genre. The commodification of educational discourse is also a gender issue. **Therefore, a method of analysis to overcome the colonization and commodification of texts will include:
- a linguistic description of the text an interpretation of the relationship between the discourse processes and the text
- an explanation of the relationship between the discourse processes and the social processes. BROADSHEET VS TABLOID NEWS** There are two formats for national newspapers: Broadsheets and Tabloids. Broadsheets - quotidiani Is a newspaper printed (stampato)/ written in a large format. (The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Straits Times, The Washington Post) Main Features of a Broadsheet: It reports much higher news content written in a formal way often with a serious tone and higher level language. News is dominated by national/ and international events, politics, and business. It costs more and has lower circulation figures than the Tabloids. ● The Times is the oldest, founded in 1788. ● The Daily Telegraph sells the most and as a result charges high prices to its advertisers (inserzionista). ● The Independent is the newest and it has more color photos than the others. ● The Financial Times is the only national newspaper to be printed on pink paper. It deals with business and economic news but also includes a sports section.
#DALLAPARTEDEGLISTUDENTI Text Analysis Vocabulary
- Are there words which are ideologically contested (sexist, racist, politically incorrect...)?
- What type of cohesion does the text display? Check reiteration and repetition: synonyms/antonyms.
- Are there formal or informal words , or a mixture?
- What expressive values do the words have? How are evaluative words used?
- What metaphors/idioms are used? Grammar
- What types of verbs are used? (activity, states, emotions, ...)
- Is agency un/clear?
- Are nominalizations used? ( Uso di sostantivi senza verbi, viene molto utilizzata mettendo in secondo piano chi ha compiuto l’azione, scaricando di responsabilità).
- Are sentences active or passive?
- Are there important features of modality? ( Hedging, to Hedge => DEVIARE )
- Are the pronouns 'we' and 'you' used and if so, how? ANALISI DEL TESTO Broadsheet, Tabloid or middle market Daily? Hard news or Soft news? Compare the following headlines:
- How do the 2 headlines differ from one another?
- What can they tell you about the ideological values and attitudes of the 2 papers?
- Do you feel n.1 has an Ideological effect on the interpretation of the text? If so, how is it achieved? _ex text:
- EU enlargement 'brings HIV peril on to the doorstep of the UK' (Mail)
- Aids epidemic threatens West Europe, warns UN (Independent)._ **Lexicon
- Emotive word
- Negative connotation** ex text: -EU enlargement 'brings HIV peril on to the doorstep of the UK' A pragmatic strategy for encoding ideology Overlexicalization => refers to the repetitions of words in order to emphasize a certain concept or definition.
#DALLAPARTEDEGLISTUDENTI Metaphors/Idioms An extended metaphor can have ideological ends. Metaphors lower the tone into formal in order to provide solidarity. 'Disease metaphors' are used to enhance social problems. ex text: -Enlargement ..will bring the word's fastest growing are of HIV infection on the doorstep of the EU (1) -The virus don't need a visa and don't respect borders (4) -There are now 1.5 million people living with HIV on the doorstep of EU (6) -EU nationals taking their eye off the ball over the need for preventive measures (9) Pronouns
- Inclusive 'we' ( Inclusivo ) = when I include the audience in my use, I include myself and also others (emphatic strategy, strategic persuasion tactic used especially in public speeches). Quando nell’ uso includo anche l'audience, includo me stessa e anche gli altri (emphatic strategy, tattica strategica di persuasione usata soprattutto nei discorsi pubblici).
- Exclusive 'you' ( esclusivo ) = when in use I exclude the audience. Quando nell’uso escludo l'audience. ex text: -We have the fastest-growing HIV epidemic in the world at the doors of the new EU (6) -Then you have got at the borders Ukraine and Russia, where 1% of all adults are infected(6) ● Stative Verbs "To have" and "to be" representing reality. ex text: -Fighting AIDS is something that benefits not only the population (4) -We have the fastest-growing HIV epidemic in the world (6) -There are now 1.5 million people living with HIV on the doorstep of EU (6) ● Action Verbs (material process) ex text: -Enlargement of the European Union ... will bring the world's fastest growing area of HIV infection on the doorstep of the EU (1) -The UN's programme ... called on the EU government to do more to help the 10 accession nations to tackle the spread of the virus (2) ● Noun and Nominalization Theme/Rheme position. ex text: -Enlargement of the European Union in May will bring the world's fastest growing area of HIV (1) -The terrifying rate of increase in HIV infection in the former Communist countries (7) ● Modality Media generally report facts, truths and for this they prefer more objective modalizing statements (it is certain/clear, etc.) ex text:
#DALLAPARTEDEGLISTUDENTI METAPHOR
- A figure of speech in which a name or quality is attributed to something to which it is not literally applicable. => Ex. She has got a stone heart.
- A word or expression that is used to talk about an entity or quality other than that referred to by its core, or most-basic meaning.
- Used also to understand and communicate abstract concepts in a more concrete way. It's not neutral. Love is a battle Love is a fait = concetto astratto difficile da spiegare e si usa dunque una metafora, per renderlo più concreto. DEAD METAPHOR We use something that belongs to a different semantic field such as business for example and I use it to explain what time is. Utilizziamo qualcosa che appartiene ad un campo semantico diverso come quello del business ad esempio e lo utilizzo per spiegare che cos’è il tempo. ex:
- I've invested a lot of time in it;
- It's a waste of time;
- I saved a lot of time by planning properly;
- Is that worth your while? work of metaphor:
- Basis / Grounds : a certain quality usually belonging to an entity. qualità tipica di questa entità
- Source : the original entity for the grounds.
- Target : the different entity to which the quality (grounds) is applied. a chi viene attribuita questa qualità
- Metaphors always express evaluation. quando parliamo per esprimere il nostro punto di vista.
- Metaphor is so powerful in persuading people because it is an unconscious process.
- The presence/absence of metaphors affects how people evaluate (valutano) events. METAPHOR => INTERPRETATION Release of responsibility from a public figure who uses it, because you can change the interpretation of the metaphor in your favor. Scarico di responsabilità da parte di un personaggio pubblico che la utilizza.
#DALLAPARTEDEGLISTUDENTI Sport and war metaphors Sport and war often used for political metaphors.
- Sport: the gloves are off, to play ball, the election front-runner.
- War: election battle, bombarded with questions. Euphemistic metaphors Use of more delicate and sweet terms to talk about complicated topics such as the discussions about war Collateral damage, ethnic cleansing (pulizia etnica) , enhanced interrogation, military involvement, friendly-fire. Eufemismo= è una tecnica per addolcire con altri termini argomenti pesanti. __________________________________________________________________________________ SIMILES = > Similitudine (SIMILI pronuncia)
- Analogy of two different things ( target-source ).
- An explicit element of comparison ( like , as...as , looks like , the same as , is similar to , gives the impression of/that ). **- Accompanied by an explanation.
- They are evaluative.** Ex: Putin is like a shark. He has to keep moving in order to stay alive, meaning to legitimize his rule. La differenza tra similitudine e metafora è semplicemente il modo in cui essa viene espressa, la similitudine è più esplicita di norma. // L’India è come la Cina, un paese emergente => comparazione (due entità simili). Target e source che appartengo a due ambiti diversi che uniti servono a dare una spiegazione. Ex: -'India is like China, a growing economic Power'. -It's not a simile since it's a comparison between two similar entities. -Similes exploit readers' curiosity: we want to discover why. dangers of metaphor and similes Metaphors,similes, metonymies can be dangerous if the reader is not aware of how analogy can be used for persuasion and manipulation. •They are not supported by rational evidence.
- Metaphor and simile are always evaluative.
- They can have hidden meanings for different audiences. ('crusade' has a positive connotation for western audience, while for Muslim audience it has an extremely negative connotation).
- They can be used to obscure plain-speaking.
- Every comparison limps which parts of an analogy or comparison apply and which not.
