Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Master's Theses Graduate School 11-15-2017 Allende, Castro, and Pinochet: An Analysis of Forms of Address in Political Speeches Sophie Green Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses Recommended Citation Green, Sophie, "Allende, Castro, and Pinochet: An Analysis of Forms of Address in Political Speeches" (2017). LSU Master's Theses. 4358. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/4358 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Master's Theses by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ALLENDE, CASTRO, AND PINOCHET: AN ANALYSIS OF FORMS OF ADDRESS IN POLITICAL SPEECHES A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Hispanic Studies in The College of Humanities And Social Sciences by Sophie M. Green B.A., Louisiana State University, 2012 December 2017 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are many people that came alongside me in this journey and helped me to achieve my goals. I am deeply grateful for those who labored with me throughout the thesis writing process. The journey to obtaining a Master’s degree has been richer because of the relationship I have with the Lord and the wonderful people that He has placed in my life. First and foremost, I am truly thankful for the constant guidance and sound advice of my Committee Chair, Dr. King. He meticulously read my thesis numerous times and challenged me in the areas in which I needed to improve. He was always available to answer my questions and help me when I needed guidance. Not only has he made me a better writer and researcher, but he did so with the utmost patience, respect and kindness. I am forever grateful for Dr. King and for all that he has taught me. My thesis committee as a whole has worked diligently to make sure my thesis is the best it can be. I am so thankful for Dr. King, Dr. Morris and Dr. Brody and for the time and energy they have put into polishing this thesis and for their cheerful and positive attitudes. They are all truly excellent teachers, mentors and scholars. I am so honored to have had the opportunity to work with them and learn from them. I am deeply grateful for my amazing husband, Vick, and for his love and support not only in this academic achievement but in every aspect of my life. He is my rock and has loved me and encouraged me every step of the way. He has led us as a family so well and has worked tirelessly to provide for us while I have been in school. Also, I thank my parents, Kelly and Carrol Martin, and my father and mother in law, Bob and Sarah Green, for their constant encouragement and moral and financial support that made it possible for me to pursue a Master’s degree. More importantly, I could not have accomplished ii this task without the unceasing prayers of my husband and family. They have prayed for me and have been there for me when I needed them most. I am so blessed to call them my family. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………………….ii ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………........................v CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………1 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW………………………………………………………….3 CHAPTER 3. HISTORY………..……………………………………………………………….25 CHAPTER 4. METHODOLOGY……………………………………………………………….38 CHAPTER 5. ANALYSIS ……………………………………………………………………...44 CHAPTER 6. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………..82 REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………..................88 APPENDIX………………………………………………………………………………………93 VITA……………………………………………………………………………………………180 iv ABSTRACT The central discussion of this thesis concentrates on the uses of ‘we’ and ‘they’ within the corpus of six speeches given by Latin American political leaders in the mid-to-late 20th century. Existing research explains that one’s definition of self as well as a country’s national identity is largely based on the perception of ‘other’ (Costelloe 2014: 322). In other words, the manner in which political speakers discuss the collective ‘we’ and refer to foreign adversaries with the use of ‘they’ can greatly influence national identity. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze the importance of address forms and references in influencing public opinion. The analysis of these speeches will serve as an example of how address forms and references are of great importance in political discourse, and I will discuss how their use can serve to influence national identity as well as manipulate public opinion. v CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION The idea of influencing public opinion through political discourse is not a foreign concept and is understood as a fairly normal occurrence. Political figures exercise political discourse throughout their time in office. Their motives or agenda behind speaking to the public can range from the purpose of informing the public, defending personal integrity, or arguing in favor of or against a cause or movement, etc. In any of these situations, the speaker may frame his/her words in a certain manner in hopes of swaying the audience to agree with their stance. As the topic of political discourse is currently of particular interest, I will analyze and discuss in this thesis the ways in which address forms and reference can influence the audience’s thoughts and opinions within political discourse. Due to the nature of political discourse and its potentiality to sway the audience’s opinion, this thesis analyzes how address forms and references play an important role in affecting the listener’s perception of themselves, their own political ideals as well as their perception of other countries. Further, political discourse is used to not only to sway the public’s opinion but it can also call the audience to action or to vote in one way or another, etc. Thus, political discourse has the ability to have a great impact on a society’s political environment. In addition, it could be argued that it is beneficial to examine the motives behind the speaker’s use of certain address forms and references given their potential for effecting change in a society’s perspective of domestic and foreign affairs. One way in which political discourse affects the public is through proximization (Cap 2015) in which the speaker attempts to close the gap between themselves and the audience. This notion can be seen today through the use of social 1 media by political figures in that it is highly accessible to the public, thus decreasing the distance between the speaker and the audience. This thesis will take into account the political ideologies of the three speakers Salvador Allende, Fidel Castro and Augusto Pinochet as well as the political environment at the time of these speeches to discuss the possible motives behind the use of certain address forms and references and the political ramifications thereof. 2 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Interactants in Discourse There are always at least two participants in discourse. Within each discourse, there will always be a speaker and at least one listener. Bakhtin (1999) explains the dynamics of the participants in discourse as the following: Courses in general linguistics (even serious ones like Saussure’s) frequently present graphic-schematic depictions of the two partners in speech communication—the speaker and the listener (who perceives the speech)—and provide diagrams of the active speech processes of the speaker and the corresponding passive processes of the listener’s perception and understanding of the speech (Bakhtin, 1999, p. 75). In other words, the listener has a more passive position. It is important to note that in a conversation, the listener role can fluctuate between the two conversational participants. In the context of the political speeches I will analyze, the listeners have a passive role throughout the course of the speech. They can choose to take or not to take action depending on their opinion following the speech. On the other hand, the speaker has a more active position. He has the ability to influence the opinions of the listeners, and throughout the analysis, I will discuss a variety of factors which influence the listeners. Another position the listener takes in discourse is that of the receiver. Furthermore, the speaker functions as the “encoder” and the listener, or the receiver, functions as the “decoder” (Rauh 1983, Booker 2012). In Booker’s study, she refers to Levinson (2006) and explains the concept of distal language through the term ‘deixis’, as follows: “Deixis refers to the interrelation between lexical items and the context in which those items are expressed” (Booker, 2012:146). Booker continues to elaborate and explains, “That is, distal language is determined by a context, and that context minimally involves someone who communicates a message and 3 someone who receives that communication” (2012: 12-13). Moreover, the communicator is the center of the message. The message is oriented around the communicator and depends on this specific individual. Johnstone (2002) explains the three purposes of evaluation, which she describes as “the expression of the speaker or writer’s attitude or stance towards, viewpoints on, or feelings about the entities or propositions that he or she is talking about” (Johnstone, 2002: 137). According to Johnstone: …Evaluation has three functions: expressing the opinion of the speaker/writer vis-á-vis these propositions (in part by constructing and maintaining relationships between speaker/writer and hearer/reader), and organizing the discourse, for example, by marking boundaries or highlighting significant parts (2002, 137). In other words, the speaker or writer must be able to express the ideas in his head in a way that the reader(s) or listener(s) can comprehend.