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'We' and Identity in Political Discourse: a Case Study of Hilary Clinton

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'We' and Identity in Political Discourse: a Case Study of Hilary Clinton ‘We’ and Identity in Political Discourse: A Case Study of Hillary Clinton By Hanaa AlQahtani A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics, School of English, Drama, American & Canadian Studies College of Arts and Law, The University of Birmingham March, 2017 1 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. “And so we need—we need you to keep up these fights now and for the rest of your lives. And to all the women, and especially the young women, who put their faith in this campaign and in me: I want you to know that nothing has made me prouder than to be your champion. Now, I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling, but some day someone will—and hopefully sooner than we might think right now. And to all of the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams.” [Hillary Clinton, Concession Speech, 2016] 2 Abstract This study investigates the language use through which Hillary Clinton constructs her political identity by examining the extent to which the First-Person Plural Pronoun (FPPP) is important in the political discourse of this American woman politician. Drawing on Brown and Levinson’s (1987) notion of face and face-work, this study demonstrates how Hillary Clinton, as a woman in a position of power, actively exploits the referential flexibility of the FPPP in her campaign discourse to construct and negotiate her identities to strategically enhance her political power and/or protect her threatened negative face in different face-threatening situations. The study also demonstrates how Clinton actively exploits self-affiliation to acquire, neutralize or challenge power in her campaign discourse. The study also suggests a role of the power differential between the affiliator (candidate) and the affiliated group in determining the strategic function of the FPPP in the candidate’s discourse. The study also shows a key role of the macro-linguistic context in interpreting the meaning of the FPPP in the candidate’s discourse, and thus, a more profound understanding of the political identity of the candidate. The corpus collected for this study comprises five debates and three talks-shows in which Hillary Clinton participated during the period between 2000-2008. A mixed-methodological approach in which quantitative and qualitative methods are combined is used to answer the research questions. The analysis of Hillary Clinton’s discourse extracted from the corpus of Hillary Clinton’s Debates and Talk-shows (CHCDT) has led to three key conclusions. First, the meaning of the FPPP, in campaign discourse, is more nuanced than has been shown in previous literature. Secondly, in addition to the attested importance of the micro-linguistic context, the study has demonstrated a key role of the macro-linguistic context in understanding the meaning of the FPPP in political discourse. Thirdly, Hillary Clinton’s use of the FPPP in campaign discourse has revealed aspects of gendered identity. The implications of the findings and directions for future research are also provided. 3 Acknowledgments After praising Allah for granting me the capability to proceed successfully, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude and sincere appreciation to all people who have helped and inspired me during my doctoral study. This thesis would not have been possible without the help, support and inspiration of several people. I am always indebted to my supervisors for their continuous support, patience, motivation, and immense knowledge. Without their inspirational guidance and their encouragements, I could have never finished my doctoral work. My profound gratitude goes to my first Professor Susan Huston for the confidence she had in me when accepting me as her supervisee, and thus, giving me the opportunity to carry out my research as a member of the Birmingham academic society. Without her encouragement and enthusiasm, it would have never been possible for me to take this work to completion. My sincere and profound gratitude also goes to my second supervisor, Mel Evans, for her consistent interest, inspiring guidance, thoughtful advice and constructive criticism. She was very generous with her time and knowledge in every step of the way to complete the thesis. Her expertise in the field of language and gender added considerably to my work. On the personal level, Mel showed great support, particularly when I was going through the most difficult time in my life. She was the most understanding, patient and sympathetic person during that time, which enabled me to overcome the setbacks and proceed successfully; and for that I am always indented to her. I must express my very profound gratitude to my family for providing me with unwavering support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study. This thesis is dedicated to the soul of my father; may Allah grant him his highest paradise (Ameen). I also would like to express my profound heartfelt gratitude to my elder sister, Fatima, for her immense love and continuous prayers. I am also indebted to my eldest brother, Nasser, who put his trust in me all these years and stood up for me in difficult times. My deepest thanks also go to my younger brother, Saud, for his tolerance and support. 4 Contents Chapter 1 Introduction 14 1.1 General Aim of the Study 14 1.1.1 The Notion of Context in this Study 16 1.1.2 Self-Presentation in Mediated Political Discourse 17 1.2 Motivation for the Study 18 1.3 Brown & Levinson's (1987) Notion of Face and the FPPP 21 in Mediated Political Context 1.4 Grice’s Maxims and the Cooperative Principle 23 1.5 Rationale for Exploring and Classifying Power Relations in this Study 25 25 1.5.1 Power and Political Discourse 1.5.2 Power Relations in Political Discourse and Fetzer’s 27 (2013) Model 1.6 Remarks on the Gender Perspective of the Study 30 1.7 Importance of the Study for Research 31 1.8 Research Questions 32 1.9 Overview of the Thesis 33 Chapter 2 The First Person Plural Pronoun and Political Discourse: A 34 Pragmatic Perspective 2.1 Introduction 34 2.2 The First Person Plural Pronoun and Self-Presentation 34 2.3 Importance of the First Person Plural Pronoun in Political Discourse 41 2.4 Summary 47 Chapter 3 Discursive Identity of Women in Leadership: An Overview 49 3.1 Introduction 49 3.2 Gender and Discourse: An Introductory Overview 50 50 3.2.1 From Essentialism to Poststructuralism 3.2.2 Conversation Analysis and Gender 62 3.3 Discourse of Women in Positions of Power 66 3.3.1 In Institutional (Nonpolitical) Setting 66 3.3.2 Women’s Discursive Identity in the Political 75 Context 5 3.4 Summary 82 Chapter 4 Background to Hillary Clinton’s Life and Discourse Patterns 84 4.1 Introduction 84 4.2 Timeline of the Major Events in the Three Stages of 84 Hillary Clinton’s life 4.3 Hillary Clinton’s Identity as First Lady and Presidential Candidate 86 4.4 Summary 94 Chapter 5 Methodology 95 5.1 Introduction 95 5.2 Data Collection 96 5.2.1 Debate Data 98 5.2.2. Talk-Show Data 100 5.3 Process 102 55.3.1 Transcription & Codification 102 55.3.2 Interpreting the Meaning of the FPPP 104 5.4 Methods of Analysis 110 5.4.1 Halliday’s Model of Transitivity 112 Chapter 6 Quantitative Analysis 114 6.1 Introduction 114 6.2 Distribution of First Person Plural Pronoun in Clinton’s Debates and Talk- 115 shows 6.3 Power Group and Clinton’s Use of the First Person Plural Pronoun 125 6.4 Gender in Clinton’s Use of the First Person Plural Pronoun 126 6.5 Summary 129 Chapter 7 Strategic Goals of Self-Affiliation with the Higher- 130 Power Group (HPG) in Hillary Clinton’s Discourse 7.1 Introduction 130 7.2 Strategic Uses of the First Person Plural Pronoun When the Referent is an 132 HPG 7.2.1 HPG as Political Institutions in the CHCDT 132 7.2.1.1 Political Self-Augmentation and Expanding 133 Boundaries of Institutional Identity 7.2.1.2 Co-implicating Political Party to Minimize Responsibility for 154 6 Failure 7.2.1.3 Manifesting Institutional Loyalty to Distance Partisan 165 Opponents 7.2.2 HPG as Political Associates/Individuals in the CHCDT 171 7.2.2.1 In Political Contexts 171 7.2.2.2 Affiliating with Political Associates/Individuals in Non-Political 183 Contexts 7.3 Summary 194 Chapter 8 Strategic Goals of Self-Affiliation with the Equal-Power 195 Group (EPG) in Hillary Clinton’s Discourse 8.1 Introduction 195 8.2 Strategic Uses of the First Person Plural Pronoun When the Referent is an 197 EPG 8.2.1 Expressing Conditional Cooperation with Opposite 197 Party Opponents 8.2.2 Co-implicating Opponents in FTA to Redress Personal 204 Faults or Inadequacies 8.2.3 Establishing Democratic Alliance with Partisan 210 Opponents 8.2.3.1 Identifying with Partisan Opponents to Save 218 the Democrats’ Image 8.3 Summary 220 Chapter 9: Strategic Goals of Self-Affiliation with the Lower- 222 Power Group (LPG) in Hillary Clinton’s Discourse 9.1 Introduction 222 9.2 Strategic Uses of the First Person Plural Pronoun When the Referent is an 225 LPG 9.2.1 LPG as the American people/Audience 225 9.2.1.1 Evoking Nationalistic “Flags” for Electoral 226 Benefits 9.2.1.2.
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