In:
Pragmatics and Society, John Benjamins Publishing Company, Vol. 13, No. 5 ( 2022-12-6), p. 747-768
Abstract:
This paper describes ways in which political speakers define and legitimize future policies by construing
different policy options in terms of ‘privileged’ and ‘oppositional’ futures. Privileged and oppositional futures are conceptual projections of alternative policy visions occurring in quasi-dialogic chunks of speech, revealing specific evidential, mood, and
modality patterns. Privileged future involves the speaker’s preferred, or at least acknowledged vision and is articulated through absolute modality and evidential markers which derive from factual evidence, history, and reason. Oppositional future involves an
antagonistic and plainly threatening vision, expressed by probabilistic modality and (usually) the interrogative mood. Following the principle of psychological consistency in belief, oppositional future is normally communicated first, allowing for a swift and
strong response from the privileged future expressed in the speaker-preferred vision.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
1878-9714
,
1878-9722
DOI:
10.1075/ps.21027.cap
Language:
English
Publisher:
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Publication Date:
2022
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2546800-5
SSG:
7,11
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