Political Discourse in Transition in Europe 1989-1991

✍ Scribed by Paul Chilton (ed.), Mikhail V. Ilyin (ed.), Jacob L. Mey (ed.)

• Publisher: John Benjamins
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 285
• Series: Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 36
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The year 1989 brought political upheavals in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe, the effects of which have not yet ended. The political discourse of the Cold War period disintegrated and gave way to competing alternatives. The contributors to this volume - linguists discourse analysts and social scientists - shed light on the two years of transition (1989-1991) during which political concepts and political interaction changed in dramatic and sometimes violent ways.

✦ Table of Contents

Editorial page......Page 3
Title page......Page 4
Copyright page......Page 5
Table of Contents......Page 6
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 8
PREFACE......Page 10
Note on contributors......Page 12
INTRODUCTION POLITICAL DISCOURSE AND THE EUROPEAN TRANSFORMATION......Page 14
1. A Chronology of Change......Page 16
References......Page 27
2. Making Sense of the Cold War's Collapse......Page 28
Notes......Page 36
References......Page 37
3. The Pragmatics of Transition......Page 38
References......Page 47
PART ONE THE COLLAPSE OF SOVIET DISCOURSE......Page 48
1. Introduction......Page 50
2. The cultural choice paradigm......Page 52
3. Cultural choice and the character of political discourse......Page 55
4. Cultural choice and geopolitical perspectives......Page 60
Notes......Page 61
References.......Page 62
1. Introduction......Page 64
2. Semiotic aspects of propaganda......Page 66
3. Transformation of the channels of political communication......Page 75
References......Page 80
1. Introduction......Page 82
2. Gorbachev's new discourse......Page 83
3. The redefinition of Left and Right......Page 84
4. The redefinition of the 'normal'......Page 87
5. The meaning of 'perestroika'......Page 90
6. Discourses of democracy......Page 91
7. The putsch of August 1991......Page 93
8. Conclusion......Page 96
Notes......Page 97
PART TWO POLITICAL VOCABULARY IN TRANSITION......Page 98
1. Introduction......Page 100
2. Language and socieconomic change......Page 101
2.1 gospodin......Page 102
3. The characteristics of sociolinguistic change......Page 103
3.1 Role of the media......Page 104
3.2 Political discourses......Page 105
4. Conclusion: Social Change and Terms of Address......Page 106
References......Page 107
1. Introduction......Page 108
2.1 Perestroika......Page 109
2.2 Proryv (breakthrough)......Page 111
2.3 Konsensus......Page 112
3. Political metaphor and post-communist transformations......Page 114
3.1 Perestroika as metaphor......Page 115
3.2 tupik (blind alley)......Page 116
3.3 Èksperiment......Page 118
3.4 Bor'ba (struggle, fight)......Page 119
4. Conclusion......Page 120
Notes......Page 121
References......Page 122
1. Introduction......Page 124
2.1 Expressivity......Page 125
2.2 Flexibility......Page 127
2.3 Manifestivity......Page 128
2.4 Political clichés......Page 129
3. Political pamphlets 1989-91......Page 130
3.1 Expressivity......Page 131
3.2 Flexibility......Page 134
3.3 Manifestivity......Page 136
4. Conclusion: the characteristics of pamphlet discourse......Page 141
References......Page 142
1. Introduction: cognitive consequences of socio-political revolutions......Page 144
2. Values we live by: justice and freedom......Page 145
2.1 The argumentation potential of justice and freedom......Page 146
2.2 The semantic worlds of justice and freedom......Page 150
3.1 The myth of the enemy......Page 154
3.2 The myth of order......Page 155
4. Conclusion......Page 156
References......Page 157
1. Introduction: Language in the GDR......Page 160
2. Discursive strategies in public political speech of the GDR......Page 162
3. Discourse in a transitional period......Page 165
4. Specific and universal discourse strategies: the Regierungserklärung......Page 168
4.1 Macro- and super-structures: PROBLEM-SOLUTION SCHEMATA......Page 170
4.2 The construction metaphor in the SOLUTION block......Page 172
4.3 Legitimisation by means of propositional reduction......Page 174
4.4 Concrete vs. abstract agents......Page 177
4.5 Fight and path metaphors......Page 179
5. Conclusion......Page 181
REFERENCES......Page 184
1. Introduction......Page 186
2.1 Word meaning......Page 188
2.2. The word perestroika as a contested sign......Page 191
3. The Rhetoric of glasnost......Page 193
4. The Rise and Fall of Perestroika......Page 195
5. Conclusion......Page 198
Notes......Page 200
References......Page 201
PART THREE DISCOURSE, IDENTITY AND CONFLICT......Page 202
2. We and others: a discourse theory of social space......Page 204
3.1 Defining the state in Britain and France......Page 208
3.2 We and the nation: France......Page 211
3.3 We and nation: the Baltic states in 1989......Page 219
4. Conclusion......Page 224
References......Page 226
2. What is a stereotype?......Page 228
2.1 Sociocultural and psychodynamic approaches......Page 229
2.3 Function and change of stereotypes......Page 230
2.4 The formation of stereotypes......Page 231
2.5 Stereotypes and prototypes......Page 232
3. Stereotypes in Poland......Page 233
3.1 The semantic differential......Page 234
3.2 Distance (evaluative) aspects of ethnic stereotypes......Page 235
3.3 Descriptive aspects of ethnic stereotypes......Page 238
4. Conclusion......Page 242
References......Page 243
1. Introduction......Page 246
2. The political situation between October 1990 and October 1991......Page 247
3. The instability of political discourse......Page 249
3.1 The concept of democracy in the discourse of the Georgian president......Page 250
3.2 The discourse of opposition......Page 252
4. The linguistic construction of events in Georgia, September 1991......Page 255
5. Conclusion......Page 261
Notes......Page 262
References......Page 263
1. The war in Bosnia-Herzegovina......Page 264
2. Linguistic pluralism......Page 266
3. Language and political Identity......Page 269
4. Language and violence......Page 273
References......Page 277
INDEX......Page 280