We the Balkanians: A Critical Analysis of the Political Discourse

Transcription

1 We the Balkanians: A Critical Analysis of the Political Discourse Elsa Skënderi Thesis for the degree of Master of Philosophy in General Linguistics Department of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies University of Bergen, Norway Term, Spring 2014 UNIVERSITETET I BERGEN

2 We the Balkanians: A Critical Analysis of the Political Discourse Elsa Skënderi Thesis presented in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master in General Linguistics Institutt for lingvistiske, litterære og estetiske studier Universitetet i Bergen

3 ABSTRACT The Critical Discourse Analysis is a growing discipline which is being applied to various fields and subjects and the political discourse is one of the most prominent of those. This thesis based on Critical Discourse Analysis analyzes the political discourse of the Balkan politicians. The context of the discourse fragments analyzed is related to political or economical summits or forums, where the high-profile Balkan politicians give their speeches. The aim of this dissertation is to understand how the European Integration agenda, which resembles an ideological project, influences the way the political discourse in the Balkans is shaped. The way a common Balkan identity is indexed and the linguistic strategies, such as Syntactic Transformations or Spatial and Temporal deictics are employed to refer to the common problematic past of the Balkans, or to metaphorically map the European Integration Process are the focus points of this research. This inquiry is based on an analysis of the related literature and of the speeches of the political leaders which comprised the empirical data. The findings and conclusions underline the fact that the European Integration agenda has eased the ethnic tones and the conflicts in the Balkans region. The politicians tend to shape a different political reality in the region, through their speeches by indexing a common Balkan Identity, by employing syntactic transformations for the sake of a politically correct discourse and by expressing solidarity through the use of the same metaphoric scenarios in their discourse fragments. This dissertation recommends that similar discourse analysis could be performed on larger corpora. Another recommendation formulated is related to conducting comparative researches rather within the Balkans context, or beyond that by comparing two different contexts such as the Balkans and the Scandinavian one. Such researches could help understanding the way identities are constructed or indexed, under the influence of European ideology or under the influence of the problematic past. Keywords: CDA, PDA, the Balkans, Political discourse, European Union Integration agenda 2

4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To my little baby, who spent the very first days of his life doing Critical Discourse Analysis with me. Special thanks go to my supervisor, Professor Øivin Andersen and to my co-supervisor professor Shezai Rrokaj for their insights and good advice. I am immensely thankful to my father, to my family and to my amazing husband for their support and love. I am forever grateful! 3

5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract...2 Acknowledgements..3 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Introduction Overall research aim and research objectives Thesis Outline Background knowledge on the Balkans 10 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Introduction Language and Politics Critical Linguistics Critical Discourse Analysis What is CDA? Discourse Analysis and the CDA of Political Discourse Why PDA? Reproaches (Critiques) to CDA Neither theoretical nor methodical orthodoxy in CDA A single plausible interpretation and the issue of bias On the Importance of this Research.. 21 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS Introduction Research Strategy Data Collection and Sampling Technique Data Selection Criteria Framework for Data Analysis

6 3.5.1 Data Description Data Analysis The Grammar of Modality Transformations Metaphors Limitations and Potential Problems Reliability and Validity.. 35 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND FINDINGS Introduction on Main Findings Findings on the Grammar of Modality Personal Deixes Temporal and Spatial Deixes Findings on Transformations Findings on Metaphoric Scenarios.55 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSIONS Introduction Summary of Findings and Conclusions Recommendations for Further Research.67 REFERENCES APPENDIXES Appendix 1: The deictic map of the speech of Ahtifete Jahjaga. 71 Appendix 2: The deictic map of the speech of Boţidar Delič.73 Appendix 3: The deictic map of the speech of Bujar Nishani.75 Appendix 4: The deictic map of the speech of Igor Lukčšţic.77 Appendix 5: The deictic map of the speech of Nikola Gruevski.79 Appendix 6: The Speech of the President of Kosovo Ahtifete Jahjaga..81 Appendix 7: The speech of the Minister of Economy and European Integration of Serbia, Boţidar Delič 83 5

7 Appendix 8: The Speech of the President of Albania Bujar Nishani..85 Appendix 9: The speech of Igor Lukčšţic..87 Appendix 10: The speech of Nikola Gruevski

8 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction This thesis focuses on a Critical Discourse Analysis of the Political discourse in the region of the Balkans. The Balkan Peninsula is widely known as a region prone to ethnic diversity and conflict. This phenomenon is strongly related to the history of disputes and war within the nations of the Balkans. Notwithstanding the past politics of conflict and war, the present day political reality in the Balkans is changing. The Balkan countries tend to be more open to cooperation and the Balkan foreign politics is much more amicable from what it used to be. This new political reality is mainly related to the policies that the Balkan countries are applying in terms of their European Union Integration processes. This new European agenda is a sort of new ideology which makes the Balkans overcome the nationalistic and ethnic feelings or conflicts. The alterations of the foreign policy of the Balkan countries are reflected, and it is possible to trace the political discourse of the high profile politicians. Such a claim supports the principle of Critical Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis that: Discourses are ideological and that there is no arbitrariness of signs. (Wodak, Cillia 2006:713) 7

9 1.2 Overall research aim and research objectives The integration process to the European Union resembles an ideological project which can potentially restructure the political discourse in the Balkans. One of the key claims of the Critical Discourse Analysis is that: Major social and political processes and movements have a partly linguistic-discursive character (Fairclough, Wodak 1993:271). The Critical Discourse Analysis, which is one of the most salient branches of the Discourse Analysis, is the discipline on which this research relies to draw the theoretical approach and the methodological procedures. This kind of discourse analysis goes beyond the linguistic level, to cover even the grounds of the sociopolitical context. Overall the research aim of this thesis is to perform a Critical Discourse Analysis on the political discourse in the Balkan context. First of all we examine the way Balkan politicians index their identity when they talk to eachother or for each-other in political or economic summits or forums. One of the research objectives of this inquiry is to shed light on the question: Have Balkan politicians begun to index a common Balkan identity in their discourses? Another objective is to interpret how is the construction of this Balkan identity overcoming the ethnic pathos of the past, and how it can be interpreted in terms of the European Integration process of the Balkan countries. Critical Discourse Analysis asserts the lack of arbitrariness of the linguistic signs in the discourse. Based on this the next objective is to examine how the linguistic discourse strategies are employed in the Balkan political discourse. First of all we consider some aspects of the Grammar of Modality, next we find and interpret the Transformations and finally we take into account the conceptual metaphors used when talking about the European Integration. Finding and interpreting the main linguistic strategies the Balkan politicians use in their discourse are helpful to examine how the ethnic diversity is eased, how the politicians refer to their problematic past, how they present their future goals and objectives and overall how their discourse help their new common ideological project, which is that of the European Union Integration. 8

10 This inquiry analyzes and interprets how the current ideology shapes the political discourse in the Balkans. The term ideology here and throughout this thesis is used in the sense of worldviews or schematically organized complexes of representations and attitudes with regard to certain aspects of the social world. (van Dijk (1993) cited in van Leeuwen 2006) This research is relevant not only to Critical Discourse Analysis, but also to linguistics studies in the Balkans. More broadly it can be pertinent even to Balkan Studies. 1.3 Thesis Outline The first chapter states the research objectives and the research aims. At the same time it offers brief background knowledge on the Balkans history, covering the grounds which are relevant to this thesis. Chapter two puts forward the Theoretical Framework on which this thesis is built and makes a brief summary of the main issues of Critical Discourse Analysis. In addition the chapter offers the main Critiques to Critical Discourse Analysis. Chapter three presents the research methods of this thesis stating each of the related topics such as the Research Strategy, Data Collection and Sampling Technique, the Criteria followed for the data selection, the Framework for Data Analysis, The Data Description and Data Analysis. Two important subjects this chapter treats are Limitations and Potential Problems of this thesis and the subject of Reliability ad Validity. Chapter four presents the results and findings reached after the empirical work and data analysis. One by one we present the findings on the Grammar of Modality, on Transformations and on Metaphoric Scenarios. Chapter five summarizes the findings and conclusion, discusses these findings and offers Recommendations for further research. 9

11 1.4 Background Knowledge on the Balkans The Balkans is the geographical and historic name which refers to the Southeastern Europe. The etymology of the word is related to the mountains Balkan, which lay through Bulgaria and reach up to the eastern Serbia. The region of the Balkans has always been in the boarders of great emperies, thus his history has been dominated by wars, riots, invasions and clashes between emperies, from the times of the Roman Empire, up to the recent wars in former Yugoslavia. The region has been a battle field for the interests of Great Powers, in different epochs of history, but at the same time it has experienced civil wars between some of the countries of the Peninsula. The Balkans was not only the place of great clashes from the times of Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Habsburgs, and Ottomans, but also the place of the cultures amalgamation. The expansion of the Habsburg Empire toward the Southeast up to the beginning of the 20 th century and the extension of Ottoman Empire toward North induced the ethnic, linguistic and religious division in the Balkan region. Another reason that induced the nationalism in the Balkans, was the injustice of Great Powers for solving territorial and geopolitical issues through treaties and agreements such as Treaty of San Stefano (1878) and the Treaty of Berlin (1878) etc. These treaties were considered as unjust because they did not offer a solution to the Balkan s conflicts, but aggravated more the situation. The Eastern Question did indeed turn the Balkans into the "powder keg of Europe," but the responsibility for this situation lay as much with the great powers and the principle of the balance of power as with the Balkan states. (Jelavich 1983: 440) The national wars and revolutions that had started in the beginning of the 19th century, continued through the 20th century, which started and ended with ethnic wars in the Balkans, making the regions known in the whole world as The powder keg of Europe. The whole 20th century has been a tragic period in the history of the Balkans starting by the crisis of Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1908 and the Balkan Wars in 1912 to end with the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina during and in Kosovo in

12 Sir Winston Churchill s quote that The Balkans produce more history than they can consume seems to have been relevant to those times. During the 20th century in the Balkans 7 wars took place and these wars made the territories of the Balkan countries change continuously, reconfiguring the identity of the region. The ethnic issues of the Balkans during the whole history of its wars never served to the good neighborly relations. Notwithstanding, to the past the actual developments in the Balkans are showing a tendency to improve the neighborly relations. There is a political will to end the democratization processes and the European Union integration processes. These positive developments in the region are leaving behind the philosophy of division, and the Balkan countries are trying to reach reconciliation. 11

13 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 2.1 Introduction The aim of this dissertation is to shed light to the way Balkan Politicians perform a common Balkan Identity when they are in the presence of each-other. Next it is aimed to investigate and analyze the language constructions of this political discussion, when referring to the problematic past of the Balkans and to the common future. Yet another important objective of the inquiry is to find out how the process of European Integration is marked through conceptual metaphors in the Balkan political discourse. These research objectives cover topics such as Politics and Language, Critical Discourse Analysis, Political Discourse Analysis, Metaphor and Politics. Based on this, this chapter outlines the theoretical framework of this thesis. First we consider the theoretical issues of Language and Politics; secondly the discipline of Critical Linguistics is shortly presented and then its relevance to this study is laid forward. Thirdly a concise overview of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and its object of study is give. From the broad domain of CDA we move to a more specific one that is directly linked to our research, which is that of Political Discourse Analysis (PDA). The reasons for choosing a PDA are given and then the main subjects studied by PDA are presented. 2.2 Language and Politics The study of Politics intertwined to Language has started from the rhetorical studies of Ancient Greece and Rome and is of a growing interest in scholar practices. Ancient Rhetoric as the art to persuade others through language was as well concerned with aspects of political communication. Classical rhetoric, apart from its uses in the courtroom, was primarily developed as an art to persuade people in a political assembly. Thus, special arguments, special forms and figures of style were traditionally associated with political text and talk. (van Dijk 1997: 34) 12

14 Indeed, the concepts of style and figures were essential to Rhetoric, but only as means to ornament the language. The main interest of Rhetoric was not the study of how language is used to express a certain standing or ideology, but how language should be used (inter alia in political texts) to make the speech more persuasive. A brief historical overview of the research in the domain of Language and Politics can be found in the works of Wodak and Cillia (2006:707-09) and Chilton (2004:3-48). Conditioned by this dissertation aims we will focus on some of most important developments of the history of this research such as that of Critical Linguistics, Critical Discourse Analysis and political discourse analysis. 2.3 Critical Linguistics Critical Linguistics (CL) arouse in the mid-1970 s a necessity for an academic branch which would examine the connections between language and ideology, social structure. CL was theoretically affected by the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt school and by the Marxist philosophy. Roger Fowler, Tony Trew and Gunther Kress were the pioneers of CL and their explicit argument was that: the world-view comes to language-users from their relation to institutions and the socio -economic structure of their society. It is facilitated and confirmed for them by a language use which has society s ideological impress. Similarly, ideology is linguistically mediated [ ] (Fowler, Kress 1979: 185) This argument presented the need for a linguistic analysis which would not only be formal or neutral, as Fowler and Kress put it, but also critical. The need then is for a linguistics which is critical, which is aware of the assumptions on which it is based and prepared to reflect critically about the underlying cause of the phenomena it studies, and the nature of the society whose language it is. (1979: 186) The systemic functionalist linguistics was where CL relied for an analytical framework. M. A. K. Halliday s books Language as Social Semiotic (1978) and Introduction to Functional Grammar (1985) were central to Critical Linguistic Analyses. The concepts of these books 13

15 became important for understanding grammar and interpreting texts, keeping in mind that: grammar has to interface with what goes on outside language: with the happenings and conditions of the world, and with the social processes we engage in (Halliday 2004: 24) Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics became the groundwork to establish three basic assumptions for CL: 1 that language serves a number of specific functions, and that all linguistic forms and processes express one or all these functions; 2 that the selections which speakers make from among the total inventory of forms and processes are principled and systematic; and 3 that the relation between form and content is not arbitrary or conventional, but that form signifies content. (Fowler, Kress 1979: 185) Moreover Halliday s Functionalist Grammar was the foreground of an analytic method, or the linguistic toolkit to CL, but not only to them. It still seems to be very important even to do and understand CL descendant: Critical Discourse Analysis. In most studies there is reference to Hallidayan systemic functional grammar. This indicates that an understanding of the basic claims of Halliday's grammar and his approach to linguistic analysis is essential for a proper understanding of CDA. (Wodak and Meyer 2002: 8) 2.4 Critical Discourse Analysis CL apart from being the forerunner of CDA, is still being used interchangeably with the term CDA especially when referring to the Analysis of Political Discourses. (See Wodak, Cellia 2006) Indeed Teun A. van Dijk, one of the pioneers of Discourse Studies, states that CL and CDA are at most a shared perspective on doing linguistic, semiotic or discourse analysis (van Dijk, 1993:131) What is CDA? The notion of discourse seems to be a fuzzy one. According to van Dijk, discourse has three main domains: (a) language use, (b) the communication of beliefs (cognition), and (c) 14

16 interaction in the social situation. (van Dijk 1997a:2) The coexistence of these domains urges the necessity to analyze discourse from a multidisciplinary perspective. In the beginning of 90s a new school of thought arose, aiming to analyze the discourse through a multidisciplinary approach. This school established a new paradigm in Discourse Analysis, that of Critical Discourse Analysis. As Wodak and Meyer point out, the term critical here stands not for a negative connotation, but in the sense of Critical Theory proclaimed by Max Horkheimer, one of the members of the Frankfurt School. (Wodak, Meyer 2009:6) Even why CDA has various orientations, mainly the analyses are based on concurrent phenomena of discourse, ideology, and power. The political discourse is one of the most salient discourses, where power and ideology are omnipresent. CDA broadened the scope of CL from textual analysis to intertextual analysis. But at the same time even the subject to which CDA was applied were extended. There are studies regarding News and Media, (e.g. Fairclough 1995b; van Dijk 1998, van Dijk 1988). Racism (van Dijk 1991, Wodak and Matouschek 1993), Immigration (van Leeuwen and Wodak 1999), Gender Issues, Education, Business etc. There is also a wide variety of methodological approaches to the discourse fragments analyzed. There is not a uniquely accurate methodology to do CDA, and this has been one of many debated aspects of CDA (See Widdowson 1995). 2.5 Discourse Analysis and the CDA of Political Discourse As T v. Dijk (1997) notes PDA contributes not only to discourse studies, but also to political sciences and the social sciences in general. In his paper What is political discourse? T. v. Dijk (1997) offers some preliminary criteria that discourse has to fulfill to be considered a Political Discourse. Based on this assumption the political discourse analyzed in this thesis is almost a prototypical one for the following 15

17 reasons. 1. In the analyzed speeches politicians such as ministers, prime ministers, or presidents are the actors or authors (v. Dijk 1997:13) of the political discourse. The discourse of all the other individuals, institutions or organizations which are participants in the political process (ibid.) is excluded. 2. The context of the analyzed speeches is a political one as the talk is contextualized in a communicative event such as Balkan Summits or media interview on the Balkans politics. 3. The main political process to which the Balkan politicians refer to is the European Union Integration. Thus when together they set common agendas and policies or at least they talk politically regarding their progress in the European Union integration process. 4. The Balkan politicians refer in their speeches to shared political values which are equality among Balkan States, justice, and freedom (which is crucial especially for countries like Kosovo) Why PDA? There is a broad corpus of research on PDA, which is very helpful when it comes to the methodological approach. As it was mentioned, PDA is one of the most representative subbranches of CDA, which consecutively employs its techniques of analysis. The most crucial point why CDA was chosen is its linguistic affinity. However, the linguistic character of CDA becomes evident in this section, because in contrast to other approaches to text and discourse analysis (for example, content analysis, grounded theory, conversation analysis; see Titscher et al., 2000) CDA strongly relies on linguistic categories. This does not mean that topics and contents play no role at all, but that the core operationalizations depend on linguistic concepts such as actors, mode, time, tense, argumentation, and so on. (Meyer 2002: 25) Beyond this, the previous research in the field of CDA and PDA offers many theoretical and practical models, which are relevant to the objectives of this inquiry. For instance, in some of the research conducted by political discourse analysts have continuously paid attention to the 16

18 issues of identity and have already established even a theoretical link between discourse and identity performance. Discourse not only shapes reality, but it also serves as a medium where people perform identities. The performative character of the discourse has changed the way sociolinguistics and studies of language focus on their object of inquiry. Sociolinguistics traditionally assumes that people talk the way they do because of who they already are, whereas a performative approach to identity suggests that people are who they are because of (among other things) the way they talk (Cameron, 1997 cited by Pennycook 2006: 288) As our study aims to see whether the common Balkan identity is performed or indexed. The politicians can position themselves with respect to a Balkan identity implicitly through pronoun use, through which they create or make their identities specific. For this reason we take a closer look at person deixis in the political speeches to understand how group identity is conceptualized. In addition to person deixis, spatial and temporal deixis are also examined because according to Chilton and Schäffner (2002) these deixes have a political significance too. (see Chilton, Schäffner 2002: ff) Temporal deixis is specifically important for the understanding of how Balkan Politicians refer to the past or how they make the historical periodisation. Critical analysts consider of a great importance the syntactic transformations which take place in the political discourse. Fowler and Kress in their seminal work Critical Linguistics (1979) give strong arguments to show that linguistics structures such as nominalizations and passivizations are not arbitrary in the discourse, but serve specific aims to the speakers. These theoretical assumptions play an important role in our inquiry. Analysts such as Musolff and Zinken (2009), Chilton (2004, 2006), Chilton and Lakoff (1995) etc. under the light of the Metaphors we live by (Lakoff, Johnson 1980) have brought to CDA the mechanism of the conceptual metaphor. The cognitive metaphor in the Lakoffian sense is beyond the borders of rhetorical metaphor. Its importance is in the mapping of one concrete and familiar domain of experience to another abstract unfamiliar domain. In the political discourse metaphors conceptualize political actions or processes by offering a certain ideological view of the reality. Thus specific metaphoric scenarios can be identified. 17

19 Metaphoric scenarios which are idealized cognitive models Lakoff (1987:185) serve to build conceptual mapping and can be considered as as a set of standard assumptions made by competent members of a discourse community about the prototypical content aspects (participants, roles, dramatic story-lines) and social/ethical evaluations concerning elements of conceptual domains. (Musolff 2004: 17) The metaphors also express distance or solidarity in the speeches of the politicians. In our view metaphors are central to the PDA, (see Meadows 2007) because, as Paul Chilton argues, Metaphors can contribute to a situation where they privilege one understanding of reality over others. (1996: 74) 2.6 Reproaches (Critiques) to CDA CDA has continuously been criticized for having theoretical shaky grounds, for the lack of scientific methods and for the way analyses are undertaken. Edward Haig makes a remarkable statement regarding the large number of the critics of CDA, whose activity threatens to develop into a whole new academic cottage industry of its own (2014: 5). Here we are presenting some of the most peculiar assumptions of the critique of CDA Neither theoretical nor methodological orthodoxy in CDA. In some Balkan countries like Albania, Kosovo and Serbia if somebody is referred to as having Marxist ideologies, it is almost like being referred to as a traitor. This can be explained with reference to the bitter Communist past of these countries. Not surprisingly, one of the most renowned scholars of CDA, Norman Fairclough is often criticized for following a Marxist theoretical background in his analyses. Being influenced by Marx is somehow acceptable for Fairclough, as the Marxist approach was also the theoretical foundation of the Critical Theory (See Breezer 2011: ). However Theo van Leeuwen makes a statement that may calm down even fanatics from Albania, Kosovo or Serbia. According to him: But, again, there is no theoretical orthodoxy in critical discourse analysis (van Leeuwen 2006: 291). 18

20 Beyond the positive lack of theoretical or methodology orthodoxy there exists in fact a wide range of approaches. Wodak and Meyer (2001) emphasize that CDA cannot be considered merely as a theory or method applied to social problems. Actually the essence of CDA is that it can be conducted in, and combined with any approach and subdiscipline in the humanities and the social sciences (Wodak, Meyer 2001: 96). Notwithstanding the homogenous approaches are considered as a vulnerable feature of CDA. CDA is a broad church, it seems, and can contain multitudes. [ ]The consequences of operating in such an eclectic framework are obvious: Lack of coherence, indiscriminate mixing of incompatible concepts, unsystematic application of methods, and so on. Moreover, intellectual rigour aside, there are issues of disciplinary self-definition or selfunderstanding which clearly have yet to be resolved (Breezer 2011: 502) A single plausible interpretation and the issue of bias Furthermore, the work of Critical Discourse Analysts is criticized for offering a single plausible interpretation and for claiming that the more detailed the analysis, the more convincing the interpretation will be. Henry Widdowson (1998), one of the faultfinders of CDA argues that the principles of analysis are unclear. To add Widdowson claims that the analyses is biased and to some extent arbitrary, as it does not take into account the standpoints of the writers or the readers of the texts. The producers and consumers of texts are never consulted. Thus, no attempt is ever made to establish empirically what writers might have intended by their texts. Their intentions are vicariously inferred from the analysis itself, by reference to what the analyst assumes in advance to be the writer's ideological position. Nor is there any consultation with the readers for whom texts are designed. Their understanding is assigned to them by proxy, which in effect means that the analysts use the linguistic features of the text selectively to confirm their own prejudice (Widdowson 1998: 143). The matter of a single plausible interpretation is also related to the levels of adequacy of CDA. While its faultfinders argue that the discourse analysis can at its best reach an interpretative adequacy, the critical discourse analysts and theorists disagree. According to them the range 19

21 of possible interpretations can be narrowed down by deconstructing the text and discovering the ideologies and power relations embedded in it. Fairclough and Wodak (1997) emphasize the fact that CDA can reach an explanatory adequacy: This marks the point where critical readings differ from reading by an uncritical audience: they differ in their systematic approach to inherent meanings, they rely on scientific procedures and they naturally and necessarily require self-reflection of the researchers themselves. In this point, they differ clearly from pure hermeneutics. We might say they are explanatory in intent, not just interpretative. We also have to state that interpretations are never finished and authoritative; they are dynamic and open, open to new contexts and new information (Fairclough, Wodak 1997: 279). Besides these objections toward CDA, another central critique is that of analysts having partial or political stances, which effect their interpretations. Although this claim accuses CDA researchers for being biased and subjective, they do not oppose it. Having such a stance does not make CDA less scientific. Unlike much other scholarship, CDA does not deny but explicitly defines and defends its own sociopolitical position. That is, CDA is biased and proud of it (Wodak, Meyer 2001: 96). In conclusion the critique towards CDA has been addressed by Critical Discourse analysts themselves. In this study the PDA aims to consider what is more trustworthy from the discipline of CDA, to understand the way politicians talk. As we are convinced that the linguistic features of the political discourse cannot be considered simply stylistic expressions or preferences. Wodak and Meyer (2001) emphasize that CDA analysts do discourse analysis with an attitude, and they are in solidarity with the oppressed ones. (96). In contrast to these, our study is not in solidarity with anyone, nor is there any certain attitude kept. The analysis conducted here does not belong to someone politically or socially engaged, nor does it deal with detecting and interpreting ideology, social inequality or power abuses. We want to use some of the techniques of CDA, mainly concentrating on language as a toolkit. Our work is based on similar research on PDA. 20

22 2. 7 On the Importance of this Research The theoretical framework presented in this chapter gives a clearer view of the central developments in the field of CDA. Moreover it addresses the individual objectives of this research. As to the importance of this research it may be argued that there is a clear need for PDA in the context and reality of the Balkans. We humbly think that it adds value to the current research of CDA, as to our knowledge there is no similar research regarding the Balkan Political Discourse. This study has a twofold purpose: to examine the identity as it is performed by the politicians, and to see what language strategies are used to refer to the problematic past and to the EU integration. This research work will contribute to discover how past the ethnic conflict in the Balkans is eased by the EU integration aspirations of the Balkans countries. 21

23 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS 3.1 Introduction This chapter lays forward the methodological framework that was used to execute the analysis, aiming to comply with the research objectives of this thesis. As it was mentioned in the previous chapter, the methodology of PDA is not a preset collection of rules which the analyst has to follow. It actually seems to be of a learning by doing sort. Peculiarly Discourse Analysis is considered to have a difficult-to-define method. (Berg 2009) Much of the work of discourse analysis is a craft skill, something like bicycle riding or chicken sexing, that is not easy to render or describe in an explicit or codified manner (Wetherell, Potter (1992) cited in Berg 2009: 218). Despite such claims this chapter does its best to describe the elicitation of data and the procedures that were followed to analyze the collected data. As it was presented in previous chapters, the focus of this inquiry is the political discourse of the Balkan leaders. The aim is to discover whether, through their speeches, a common Balkan identity is constructed, and to find out how Balkan politicians perform identity when they are gathered in formal forums or summits. The speeches may also be considered as discourse fragments as far as they have the same thematic concerns Each discourse strand comprises a multitude of elements which are traditionally called texts. I prefer the term discourse fragment to `text' since texts (can) address several themes and thus contain several discourse fragments. What I call a discourse fragment is therefore a text or part of a text which deals with a certain theme, for example, foreigners/foreigners' affairs (in the broadest sense) (Jäger 2002: 46). Another point of interest is the way politicians refer to their problematic common past and how they talk to refer to the common EU integration process. To shed light on the raised research questions, the empirical material which must be analyzed are the speeches of the main Balkan leaders, given in Balkan Summits or Forums. In the chapter of theoretical framework we mentioned some of the topics that the CDA inquiry has covered. There is ample evidence as to the need to conduct such a PDA in the Balkan context. This research makes one step further as it has a twofold scope: to intertwine the issue 22

24 of identity to the issue of the EU integration process. All in all we expect to discover a mutual correlation between these issues. The outline of this chapter consists of the Research Strategy of the thesis, where the strategy intended to complete the empirical study is described. Next it presents the Data Collection and the technique used to gather the relevant data. Besides, another subtopic of this chapter is the Framework of the Data Analysis, where the collected data is described and then analyzed. Finally the chapter poses any possible Limitation and potential problems of this research and it also addresses the questions of reliability and validity. 3.2 Research Strategy The research strategy that we have decided to implement is hermeneutic CDA methodology combined with that of a case study. A case study stands for a detailed in depth study, which observes how a certain group or population behaves in a certain context. The case study strategy is an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon in depth, within its real-life context (Yin 2003: 13). The case study strategy includes various topics, and it is a strategy chosen when other research strategies such as survey, ethnographic research, historical research or experimental research, are excluded as relevant strategies that comply with the research objectives. For example, case studies of programs, events, persons, processes, institutions, social groups, and other contemporary phenomena have been completed. Sometimes people use the term case study as a catchall category for research that is not a survey, an observational study, or an experiment and is not statistical in nature (Hancock, Algozzine 2006:15 ). The strategy of inquiry usually is conditioned by the nature of the research. Thus for quantitative research mainly the experiment or survey strategies are used. These strategies are also conditioned by the quantifiable data the quantitative research deals with. Patricia Duff (2008: 44) defines the quantitative research as follows: theory-driven (positivist) research, where an existing theory or model is tested and the standard quantitative (experimental, quasi- 23

25 experimental) procedures of random sampling, pretesting, assigning groups randomly to treatments, posttesting, and so on, may be employed. As to the qualitative research, the researcher is not interested in quantifiable data, and typically does not belong to the field of natural sciences. Instead he/she studies things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them (Denzin, Lincoln 1994: 2). A typical research strategy related to qualitative research is the case study. Nevertheless one has to keep in mind that this strategy does not exclusively belong to qualitative research and it can possibly be used in quantitative research too. Case studies represent another type of qualitative research. They are different from other types in that they are intensive analyses and descriptions of a single unit or system bounded by space and time. Topics often examined in case studies include individuals, events, or groups. Through case studies, researchers hope to gain in-depth understanding of situations and meaning for those involved (Hancock, Algozzine 2006:10-11). The case study strategy is best suited to perform an in-depth analysis of the chosen political speeches, and helps to gain a richer understanding of how political discourse shapes reality through identity performances. Another reason why this strategy is chosen is that the speeches that are going to be analyzed belong to a small group of politicians, specifically those who belong to the context of the Balkans. Lastly the collected data does not come from an ethnographic research, where the data is interpreted under the bias of culture, nor does it come from an experiment or survey. The data is collected to give answers to the specific research questions that we have raised. The linguistic categories that are going to be analyzed are not very broad, as the aim is to accomplish a qualitative research, but also not to depart from the distinctive CDA methodological approach which is small corpora which are usually regarded as being typical of certain discourses (Meyer 2002: 25). 24

26 3.3 Data Collection and Sampling Technique The data that constitutes this corpus was collected by the technique of convenient sampling. That is because we are interested in scrutinizing the speeches of the high profile politicians from Balkan. Thus the convenient sampling technique is quite relevant, as far as our aim is not to make generalizations regarding a large population, as the random or stratified sampling tends to do. The speeches which comprise our corpus or data were either found on the official websites of the politicians or on YouTube. The speeches gathered from YouTube were transposed into writing. In the cases when the speeches were in languages different from English, which the author of this dissertation does not speak, the speeches were translated into English. 3.4 Data Selection Criteria The main criterion for the speech selection was the context. Hence a certain political speech would be selected as appropriate if it was given to a political gathering, forum, summit, where the speakers talked about the Balkans (political/ economical situation). Another criterion for data selection was that of representativeness. A speech can be assumed to be representative of its genre, if it is given by a high profile politician. The politicians are presidents, prime ministers or ministers. As we already pointed out, the research is predisposed to be a qualitative one. In addition to this fact the typical way of building a corpus in CDA is also taken into account. The corpora of CDA are not too broad, and the texts analyzed are among the prototypical ones of the selected discourse. Although there are no explicit statements about this issue, one might assume that many CDA studies (perhaps with the exception of Teun van Dijk and Ruth Wodak) mostly deal with only small corpora which are usually regarded as being typical of certain discourses (Meyer 2002: 25). 25

27 3.5 Framework for Data Analysis We are going to develop the framework of the data analysis by first describing the data. Then we are going to explain step by step the data analysis process Data Description The speeches that consitute our corpus are: The speech of the Kosovo President Ahtifete Jahjaga at Western Balkans Leaders Meeting of the Brdo Process Source Official website of the President; Date and Place: Slovenia 25/07/2013 The speech of the Serbian Minister Božidar Delič of Economy and European Integration on Serbia and Western Balkans- The Economic Challenges and European Perspectives. Source- YouTube; Date and Place: Ireland 10/ 2011 The speech of Albanian President Bujar Nishani, at Western Balkans Leaders Meeting of the Brdo Process Source Official website of the President; Date and Place: Slovenia 25/07/2013 The speech of the Montenegro Prime Minister Igor Lukčšžic, at the Balkan Leader Summit Source: YouTube ; Date and Place: Turkey 22/09/ 2011 The speech of the prime minister of the Republic of Macedonia Nikola Gruevski at the Balkan Leader Summit Source: YouTube; Date and Place: Turkey 22/09/ 2011 All these speeches transposed into writing are included in the section of the Appendixes. Ideally all the speeches would belong to a single political gathering. But this was not possible as the Balkan Leaders were not present at all summits or forums organized. For example Serbia did not attend the Balkan Leader Summit of On the other hand even when the Serbian Leaders attended such Balkan Summits, their speeches could not be found published on the internet or on the official websites of the politicians. A typical example of this is the case of the Serbian President Tomislav Nicolić, who actually attended the Western Balkans Leaders Meeting of the Brdo Process, but whose speech was not published on his official website. The only material that could be found elsewhere on the 26

28 online newspapers, were some sentences elicited from his press interview, held on the occasion, but those would be insufficient to our corpus Data analysis Several aspects of the data will be analyzed to achieve a proper Political Discourse Analysis. The linguistic categories that are going to be analyzed are not too broad, as the aim is to accomplish a qualitative research, but also not to depart from the distinctive CDA methodological approach which is that of considering a restricted number of linguistic categories. (Meyer 2002) Once more we want to accentuate our point of view that the linguistic forms used in the politicians speeches are not arbitrary and that they serve specific functions. The selections which speakers make from among the total inventory of forms and processes are principled and systematic. [ ] The selection of one form over other points to the speaker s articulation of one kind of meaning rather than another. (Fowler, Kress 1979: 188-f) In their seminal article Critical Linguistics Fowler and Kress (1979) provide the critical analysts with a useful checklist of linguistic features with five headings (198 ff) which are relevant to pursue a critical analysis. The linguistic features we are going to analyze using the headings of Fowler and Kress checklist is: The grammar of Modality and Transitivity The Grammar of Modality Fowler and Kress define the grammar of modality this way: This covers linguistic constructions which may be called pragmatic and interpersonal. They express speakers and writers attitudes towards themselves, towards their interlocutors and towards their subject-matter; their social and economic relationships with the people they address; (1979: 200) In other words the grammar of modality deals with deictic categories. Likewise Chilton and Schäffner (2002: 30) claim that the linguistic resources used to perform deixes are indexical expressions. Thus interpreters or listeners generate meaning by relating the indexical expressions to the deixes. The deixes we are going to analyze from the speeches of Balkan politicians are the person deixes, spatial deixes, and temporal deixes. 27

29 Michael Meyer (2002) asserts that the categories like deixis and pronouns can be the object of the analysis in any linguistic method, but he proclaims that they are crucial for CDA. Explicitly or implicitly CDA makes use of a concept of the so-called linguistic surface (Meyer 2002: 16, my italics). Many critical discourse analysts claim that the use of pronouns in political discourse is significant and manipulative, since it generates political stands. (Fowler and Kress: 1979, Fairclough: 1989, Wilson: 1990, Chilton and Schäffner: 2002, van Dijk: 2002, etc.) Pronouns, especially the first person plural (we, us, our) can be used to induce interpreters to conceptualize group identity, coalitions and parties and the like, either as insiders or as outsiders. Social indexicals arise from social structure and power relations, and not just from personal distance (Chilton and Schäffner 2002: 30, my italics). We are going to examine each of these pronouns of our discourse fragments to see the prevailing forms and to interpret them. The pronouns that is going to be searched for are all the personal pronouns, possessives and reflexives. Although the main focus will be on the first person, plural pronoun we, because the aim is to examine closely the relation between pronoun deictics and the identity performance. Accordingly we can conclude whether a common Balkan Identity has started to be performed by the politicians or not and whether the national identity is overcome by the construction of a Balkan Identity. The technique of Diectic Mapping which was developed by Santon Wortham (1996) is a good one to shed light to the participants in a conversation and to their interaction. The shifts of the pronouns change the roles of participants and their interactional positions. Deictic mapping is as a framework to analyze the use of pronouns. [ ] a methodological technique- which I call deictic mapping - that can help analysts uncover interactional patterns established through deictics (Wortham 1996: 4). Deictic mapping technique makes use of charts that map systematically the deictics. In our case we are not dealing with transcribed texts, but with texts which are transposed into writing. That is why we are going to build the charts of the map, presenting all the deictics in each line of each text. Through the following mapping tables we can analyze the relationship 28

30 of the speakers with hearers, and how these relations are transformed through indexical expressions such as personal pronouns. The technique is also helpful because it gives us the opportunity to look at the person deixis, spatial deixis and temporal deixis at the same time. The spatial deixis could be defined as follows: that aspect of deixis which involves referring to the locations in space of the communication act participants; it is that part of spatial semantics which takes the bodies of the communication act participants as significant reference objects for spatial specification (Fillmore 1982: 37). PDA sees the spatial deixis through the light of a political connotation. They do not refer merely to the conventional physical location, but spatial indexicals relate to political or geopolitical space (Chilton, Schäffner 2002: 30). Figure 1 Wesn (2003) Scheme showing three kinds of deixis (person deixis, space deixis, time deixis), as well as the relation of proximity and distance of the deictic center. Wikipedia Retrieved 08/02/2014 Temporal deixes bear the same political purport, they do not simply indicate a temporal point (see figure 1). Temporal deixis can have a political significance. It can require one to assume historical periodization - for example nowadays, today or just now could require to be understood as after the revolution, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, after the election of New Labour, or some such. (Chilton, Schäffner 2002: 30) The temporal deixes used in the Balkan political discourse fragments are particularly important to this inquiry. As it is aimed to analyze the way politicians make a historical periodization and how they refer to the Balkan s problematic past. 29