Legitimizing through Language: Political Discourse Worlds in Northern Ireland after the 1998 Agreement

This paper employs the hypothesis that one of the functions of political discourse is to legitimise a perceived point of view by promoting certain representations of a socio-political reality. It could be argued that the 1998 Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement creates a paradoxical reality in Northern Ireland because its language is so vague that it can be interpreted in different ways. This paper analyses linguistic categories used in the text of the Agreement to reveal the type of peaceful reality promoted and the constructive ambiguity used to facilitate agreement. It argues that the success of the peace process depended to a large extent on the particular nuances of discourse in and around this crucial document

Tsunamis, waves, Quixotes, and KO-vid : metaphors about the pandemic as seen in cartoons

Several studies have shown evidence for the significant role that metaphors play in public health communication. The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered not only the use of common communication frameworks such as war metaphors, but also the creative use of metaphors, which is particularly relevant in the case of cartoonists. This article presents a review of the different metaphors used in cartoons (both in Spanish and in English), with the aim of compiling different metaphorical uses and reflecting upon the evaluative function of metaphors and how they contribute to expressing different visions of reality. The examples collected here show not only how certain social and political actions are legitimised or discredited, but also how these uses often appeal to particular contextual knowledge

From Ireland to the States. The Re-contextualisation of U2’s “Sunday, Bloody Sunday” in different political contexts

In this article I start from an understanding of songs as socio-cultural discourses which may also perform a political function. This political function can be reflected in the promotion of particular world-views about given socio-political events and/or in the attempt by the singer to make the audience perform given political actions. To prove this, I will look at the re-contextualization process undergone by a well-known song by U2: “Sunday, Bloody Sunday” (1983).This song was originally written to respond to the violence of the Northern Irish conflict, but it has been later used to react to other socio-political events. By relying on a cognitive approach to the study of songs, this paper tries to answer two questions: i) how can we explain the re-contextualization process undergone by the song and why is it possible? and ii) how is politics embedded with musical performances?MINECO- Proyecto CODISCO(Construcción discursiva del conflicto (FFI2017-85227-R))

Widening the North/South Divide? Representations of the role of the EU during the Covid-19 crisis in Spanish media A case study

Producción CientíficaIn this article we study the discursive construction of the EU managerial role in four Spanish newspapers: two published in mainland Spain - El Mundo and El País - and two published in Catalonia - La Vanguardia and ARA. By doing a qualitative study of newspapers, this article aims to identify which discourse strategies are used when informing about the actions and decisions taken in European political and economic fora. The analysis identifies the three main generic frames which are used in news pieces: the call for solidarity, the possibility of having negative economic consequences, and the existence of a conflict within (EU)rope. The activation of these frames in the news pieces contribute to an implicit legitimation of the existence of (EU)rope as based on two core values – solidarity and cooperation – together with a delegitimation of the actions performed by some European institutions.FFI2017-85227-R [CODISCO – : Construcción discursiva del conflicto], Ministerio de Economía y Competenci

The place of historical novel for young readers within the historical and literary canon

Many issues are raised when authors set their stories in the past. First and foremost there is the balance that must be kept between the responsibility owed to historical truth and the need to write a story which in its emotional and narrative truth engages the modem reader. (Collins 2001: v

Sobre la validez de los enfoques sistémicos funcionales como herramienta para la selección de materiales en contexto de AICLE: estudio de caso

The aim of this paper is to propose the validity of functional approaches within discourse analysis as a tool for selecting classroom material. By taking into account the linguistic realization of the three main contextual variables, namely field, tenor, and mode, and their impact on the function of language within each particular context of communication, we believe that the task of selecting and devising materials for CLIL setting shall be eased. This hypothesis becomes the point of departure for this article, where we present an analysis of six texts used for teaching Science using L2 English as the means of instruction. Conclusions are obtained about the importance of considering that any type of language used in a text has a function which depends on the context where it is used, an aspect which is frequently forgotten in L2 classrooms.En este artículo se pretende probar la utilidad que tienen los acercamientos funcionales al análisis del discurso para seleccionar material de aula. Al tener en cuenta la realización lingüística de las tres variables contextuales, el campo, el tenor, y el modo, y el impacto que éstas tienen en la función que tiene el lenguaje en determinados contextos de comunicación, se facilita la selección y creación de materiales para la docencia en un entorno CLIL. Esta es la hipótesis que se pretende comprobar en este artículo. Para ello se presenta el análisis de seis textos que se utilizan para enseñar conocimiento del medio en inglés como L2. A partir de ello, se extraen conclusiones sobre la importancia de la función que tiene el tipo de lenguaje que se utilice en cada texto, y cómo este varía en función del contexto en el que se utilice, un aspecto que con frecuencia se olvida en las clases de inglés como lengua extranjera

Llamamientos feministas en Twitter : ideología, identidad colectiva y reenmarcado de símbolos en la huelga del 8M y la manifestación contra la sentencia de 'La Manada'.

En este artículo pretendemos acercarnos al estudio de los movimientos sociales y en particular a las manifestaciones colectivas relacionadas con el género. Partiendo de un acercamiento constructivista (Pujante, 2017) a los estudios de discurso, utilizaremos como objeto de análisis un breve corpus de interacciones en la red social Twitter en los que se llama a la movilización colectiva por cuestiones de discriminación y violencia de género, así como ejemplos en los que se responde a dicha movilización tanto de manera positiva como negativa. En concreto nos centraremos en dos acontecimientos: el 8 de marzo y las manifestaciones y protestas populares que tuvieron lugar tras el llamado juicio a 'La Manada'. Siguiendo un acercamiento constructivista y fundamentalmente basado en los aspectos multimodales, en este estudio se pretende responder a tres preguntas: i) cómo se construye la identidad colectiva que protesta contra la discriminación de género, ii) qué procesos de re-contextualización discursiva se producen entre distintos tipos de manifestación discursiva y iii) qué categorías semióticas son analizables cuando el marco retórico-constructivista se aplica al estudio de las redes sociales

Gower's "Confessio" and the "Nova statuta Angliae": royal lessons in English law

This essay examines parallels between the discussion of kingship and law in the Confessio Amantis and the account of Edward II's deposition that opens the Nova statuta Angliae, a comparison that reveals how each text employs a hybrid discourse that creates multiple frames of reference for the reader. Manuscript copies of both texts appear to have been commissioned tar Richard II in the early 1390s, at a time when the king sought to defend against limitations of his power, and the Confessio has been depicted as a commentary on the king's fulfillment of his responsibilities. This essay shows how both texts interweave discourses of legal argument, romance narrative, advice to princes, and religious exemplum in ways that strengthen their representation of the king's sacred obligation to uphold the laws of the land, based on the English coronation oath that entered textual circulation in the fourteenth century

Conflict resolution in the "Wife of Bath's Tale" and in Gower's "Tale of Florent"

Defining the principles that apply to resolving conflicts between individuals in The Wife of Bath 's Tale and comparing them to parallel conflicts in Gower's "Tale of Florent," one discovers that The Wife of Bath 's Tale foregrounds appeals to political, social, religious, and ethical authority -all of which are questioned, discussed, and negotiated. In the "Tale of Florent," on the other hand, conflict tends to be internal rather than between individuals. Florent's conflicts are resolved by himself alone thinking about the obligations he has accepted in his various covenants, and then behaving in such a way that he does not lie or cheat or break his pledge. Conflict resolution in Gower depends upon absolute commitment to principle, the culturally sanctioned rules that govern human behavior. Conflicts in the "Tale of Florent" are not resolved through argument, debate, negotiation with an adversary as in Chaucer's text