new book information

[DAPSAC38]

Communication Studies / Linguistics

European Parliaments under Scrutiny

Discourse strategies and interaction practices
Edited by Cornelia Ilie
Malm University

Parliaments are or should be the locus

of the daily management of democratic
life. As such, their modus operandi deserves
more attention than they usually receive.
This book has the merit of approaching
this task from a novel perspective, by
focusing on the parliamentary discursive
practices both those ritualized and
regulated and the more spontaneous ones.
This sheds new light on the role of discourse
in the collective exercise of power in the
process of social choice, in the formation
of political identity, and in the nature of
public representation among other
things. What emerges, surprisingly, from the
wealth of information and analyses the book
contains, is the diversity of parliamentary
discourse in countries as close to each
other in a continent that strives for unity.
For me this reflects the fact that the core of
democracy retains, above all, its plurality.
Marcelo Dascal, Professor of
Philosophy, Tel Aviv University
Parliaments are by definition places
where elected representatives talk. This
panoramic survey of national, EU and
post-communist styles of parliamentary
discourse demonstrates in depth its
continually changing complexities
and is an important contribution to
European self-understanding.
Paul Chilton, Professor of Linguistics,
Lancaster University, UK

In the European tradition, parliaments are central political institutions that play a
crucial role in the development of democratic societies. No other institution regularly
offers a public arena for open deliberation and dissent, for discussing opposite
points of view and for reaching compromise solutions between political adversaries.
However, in spite of the growing visibility of modern parliaments, the study of
parliamentary language use, interaction practices and discourse strategies has long
been under-researched. Based on extensive parliamentary data, this book integrates
a rich variety of innovative analytical approaches that explore the far-reaching
impacts of parliamentary practices and linguistic strategies on current political action
and interaction. Individual chapters problematise and re-evaluate the discourseshaped identities and roles of Members of Parliament, the structure and functions of
parliamentary discourse genres, interpersonal behaviour and intertextual meaning
co-construction in post-Communist parliaments. They offer broad cross-cultural
perspectives on parliamentary discursive psychology and argumentation. The book
provides essential reading for scholars and students of language and linguistics, rhetoric,
political and social sciences, as well as for anyone interested in language and politics.
[Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture, 38] 2010. vi, 378 pp.
Hb 978 90 272 0629 9 EUR 99.00
Eb 978 90 272 8806 6 EUR 99.00

Table of contents
Introduction
Cornelia Ilie

Part I. Parliamentary roles and identities

Political identities in parliamentary debates

Teun A. van Dijk
Identity co-construction inparliamentarydiscourse practices
Cornelia Ilie
The public and private sphere inparliamentary debate: The
construction of the addresser inthePortugueseParliament
Maria Aldina Marques

Part II. Ritualised strategies

ofparliamentaryconfrontation

The presentation of a new Government toParliament

from ritual to personalisation: A case study from Italy
Donella Antelmi and Francesca Santulli
Patterns of interaction inAustrianparliamentary debates: On
the pragmasemantics ofunauthorizedinterruptive comments
Elisabeth Zima, Geert Brne and Kurt Feyaerts
The Government control function of the French
National Assembly in Questions au gouvernement
Clara-Ubaldina Lorda Mur

Part III. Procedural, discursive and rhetorical

particularities of post-Communist parliaments

Managing dissent and interpersonal relations

in the Romanian parliamentary discourse
Cornelia Ilie
Parliamentary discourse andpoliticaltransition:
Polish Parliament after 1989
Cezar M. Ornatowski
Czech parliamentary discourse: Parliamentary
interactions andtheconstructionofthe addressee
Yordanka Madzharova Bruteig

Part IV. Contrastive studies of parliamentary

rhetoricand argumentation

Ad-hominem arguments in the Dutch

andtheEuropean Parliaments: Strategic
manoeuvring in an institutional context
H. Jos Plug
Rhetorical Strategies in the British
andSpanish parliaments
Isabel igo-Mora
Index of names
Index of subjects

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