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Evaluations of appropriateness through impoliteness in political discourse reframed for entertainment purposes

  • Mariya Chankova

    Mariya Chankova holds a PhD in English Linguistics awarded from RWTH – Aachen. She is Senior Assistant Professor in English and French at the South-West University N. Rilski in Blagoevgrad (Bulgaria). Her research interests include speech act theory, discourse analysis, political discourse, frame analysis, plagiarism and academic integrity, communication in the multimedia environment.

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Published/Copyright: December 12, 2023

Abstract

This contribution takes a look at video-sharing platforms to highlight a popular entertainment format which consists in re-framing political discourse for the purposes of entertaining the audience and, at the same time, providing an evaluation of that discourse. Evaluations of political discourse uncover the role and importance imputed to it by those who are outside of the political system, but who are directly impacted by it, that is, the people. A sample of French-language data, collected from YouTube, is examined for the categories of evaluation which are used by the authors, which are conjectured to represent the ideas ordinary citizens have about political discourse. Reframing political discourse carries these evaluations through offensive language and humor. Teasing out the relevant parameters of evaluation can provide a basis for understanding how regular citizens gauge political discourse. Appropriateness appears to be an important evaluation criterion pertaining to the characteristics of political discourse, occurring in a particular context.

About the author

Mariya Chankova

Mariya Chankova holds a PhD in English Linguistics awarded from RWTH – Aachen. She is Senior Assistant Professor in English and French at the South-West University N. Rilski in Blagoevgrad (Bulgaria). Her research interests include speech act theory, discourse analysis, political discourse, frame analysis, plagiarism and academic integrity, communication in the multimedia environment.

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Published Online: 2023-12-12
Published in Print: 2023-12-15

© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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