Marta Degani

Cultural Conceptualisations in Stories of Māori-English Bilinguals: The Cultural Schema of marae

This chapter is informed by ideas that have developed in the field of Cultural Linguistics and have recently been applied to the study of World Englishes. In particular, it adopts the analytical framework of cultural conceptualizations to investigate a set of stories narrated by Māori-English bilingual speakers in the context of Aotearoa New Zealand. In view of the close relation between language contact phenomena and cultural conceptualizations, the paper focuses on the analysis of marae. The meaning of the Māori word marae can be rendered as ‘meeting ground’ and a marae represents the centre of Māori tribal life and activities. The term has also entered New Zealand English as a borrowing, which is why its investigation bears important cultural implications for New Zealand as a whole. The study illustrates the richness of marae as a cultural concept that expresses tribal identity and sheds light on crucial aspects of its cultural conceptualization. Findings show that the analysed stories contain revealing instantiations of the cultural schema of marae. In addition, the results demonstrate that marae is closely connected to a range of other cultural categories (e.g. iwi, ‘tribe’; tikanga, ‘correct procedure, custom, habit’) and cultural schemas (e.g. tangihanga, ‘funeral ceremony’), which contribute to build up the superordinate cultural schema of marae.

Re-analysing the semi-modal ought to: an investigation of its use in the LOB, FLOB, Brown and Frown corpora

Most of the research on modality in English has been devoted to the study of core modals (Bybee et al 1994; Kemenade 1993; Palmer 1979, 1986; Plank 1984; Roberts 1985; Traugott 1989; Warner 1990). As a consequence, semi-modals have been kept in a state of relative marginality. This holds particularly true in the case of ought to, as confirmed by the lack of substantial work concerning this semi-modal. The present paper addresses the need to fill this gap by providing a description of ought to in British and American English from a short-term diachronic perspective. The study takes a top-down approach since it starts from the working hypothesis that ought to, like other modal verbs, has been gradually undergoing a process of “subjectification” (Traugott 1989, 1995). The hypothesis will be tested on the four corpora constituting the so-called ‘Brown family’ (LOB, FLOB, Brown and Frown), so as to identify any possible short-term diachronic changes in the British and American varieties under scrutiny. In order to measure how and to what extent the phenomenon of “subjectification” has affected ought to, the analysis will be carried out along semantic and syntactic lines.

Cognition and Politics

While the previous chapter focused on some important aspects of scholarly research on American political discourse that are relevant for the type of linguistic investigation carried out in the book, this chapter concentrates on the relation between political language and cognition, and provides the theoretical foundation for the analysis presented in the following chapters.

Methodology and Introduction to the Analysis

This chapter prepares the ground for the actual linguistic analysis that will be discussed in Chapters 5, 6 and 7. It combines an explanation of the methodology adopted for the study with an introduction to the analysis. Accordingly, the chapter provides details of a range of methodological concerns that include: (a) the rationale for selecting the corpus, (b) the main features characterizing the corpus, (c) the identification of values in the corpus, (d) the textual units of the analysis and their coding and (e) the procedure for analyzing the data. In addition to this, the chapter also suggests looking at Obama’s speeches in terms of a narrative space whose structure and internal organization are dependent on the objectives of the campaign and the strategies adopted.

The Expression of Values in Obama’s Speeches

This chapter introduces the reader to the semantic analysis of Obama’s speeches and focuses on the values with which Obama framed his electoral message during the 2008 campaign. The chapter starts with an overview of the results in the whole corpus of speeches. In particular, information will be provided on the different types of paragraphs that have been coded for their values. This introductory part is followed by the analysis of each of the identified paragraph types, as outlined in the previous chapter. Neutral paragraphs are described primarily in relation to the different functions that they perform. The discussion of NP paragraphs shows the range of NP values expressed in Obama’s speeches and it sheds light on the rhetorical strategies employed by Obama to communicate these values to his electorate. Contra SF paragraphs are commented upon for the SF values that Obama criticizes and also for the rhetorical devices that he uses for that aim. Finally, the analysis of contra SF + NP paragraphs provides insights into the ideological contrasts between Republicans and Democrats that are at the core of Obama’s speeches.

Values and Metaphors in Obama’s Speeches

This chapter discusses the presence of metaphorical expressions in Obama’s 2008 electoral speeches. Since moral values are at the core of the investigation carried out in this book, the chapter explores in particular the relation between metaphors and values. The analysis revolves around the identification of values that are communicated using metaphorical language. More precisely, the discussion sheds light on the values that are evoked by metaphors as well as on the type and range of metaphors that are associated with specific values.

Values and Lexical Preferences in Obama’s Speeches

The analysis presented in this chapter focuses on the lexicon of Obama’s speeches in his 2008 election campaign with the aim of shedding light on: (a) the role of highly frequent lexical items that Obama uses to express his political message to the American electorate, and (b) the relation between lexemes and Obama’s political moral framing according to either a NP or a SF worldview.

Political Discourse in the US

All life therefore comes back to the question of our speech, the medium through which we communicate with each other; for all life comes back to the question of our relations with one another. These relations […] are verily constituted, by our speech. […] The more it suggests and expresses the more we live by it […]. (Henry James, The Question of Our Speech, 1998: 44) While the primary objective of this book remains the presentation of a new way for testing the applicability of Lakoff’s models to the analysis of Obama’s election campaign speeches, it is important, first of all, to explore the larger context of previous research on American political discourse. Accordingly, this chapter offers a comprehensive overview of the major concerns and areas of research that have attracted American scholars with an interest in political discourse. In particular, the chapter highlights the significance of speech-making, drawing on major approaches in the field of rhetoric, the role of speechwriters and the function of speeches as a form of communication that is characteristic of election campaigns.