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Doing Politics: Discursivity, performativity and mediation in political discourse
Edited by Michael Kranert and Geraldine Horan
[Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture 80] 2018
► pp. 153–177

Chapter 7
A cross-linguistic study of new populist language

This paper presents an analysis of the rhetorical strategies of some European and American politicians associated with the inherently ambiguous concept of populism. The theoretical framework adopted combines text linguistics and critical discourse analysis and has an interdisciplinary character. The data analysed demonstrate that populist rhetorical strategies do not differ markedly from those typically employed in political rhetoric. While each populist politician evokes a specific identity narrative to create common ground with the electorate, they all emphasise a profound dualism in society between “us and them” through metaphors, hyperboles, and personifications. This dichotomous view of society is sometimes exploited to send ambivalent messages of potential discrimination.

Keywords: political discourse, populism, critical discourse analysis, framing, metaphor, contrastive analysis
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Language and politics
  • 3.What is populism?
  • 4.Data and methodology
  • 5.Rhetorical strategies in new populist discourse
    • 5.1When populism meets laissez-faire: The Tea Party movement and Silvio Berlusconi
    • 5.2The people vs. the EU: The narrative of UKIP and Lega Nord
    • 5.3Populism 2.0: Podemos and M5S
  • Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 December 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.80.07lor
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