Pronouns of politics: the use of pronouns in the construction of self and other in political interviews. Nicolette Ruth Bramley December 2001 A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the Australian National University
ii DECLARATION Except where otherwise acknowledged, this thesis is my own work. Nicolette Bramley
iii List of figures Figure 1 Embedded group membership (1) Figure 2 Embedded group membership (2)
iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is a great pleasure to thank my supervisor Dr. Tony Liddicoat. Without his invaluable advice, his helpful comments on every draft as the thesis evolved, and his gentle, patient and expert guidance, I could not have written this thesis. Despite the various pressures of juggling work and life, Tony had the ability to inspire me every time I saw him. I would like to thank my advisor Dr Ursula Nixon (Nik) who also spent a lot of time on successive drafts, and who guided me through the early and final stages of the thesis with careful comments, encouragement and good cheer. I would also like to thank Dr Johanna Rendle-Short who supervised me during the process of writing the amendments to the thesis. Johanna was a fantastic support to me in more ways than just the writing of the thesis. I couldn t have done it without you Jo. Thank you. I am indebted to Annie Bartlett at the Australian National University Studies Skills Centre, who read drafts of different parts of my thesis and whose advice and support gave me inspiration and courage. I am very grateful to Dianne Williams and Sarah Hollis-Bennetts for so generously giving me their time and comments in proof-reading the thesis. They have been tirelessly supportive all the way through. Finally, I would especially like to thank the Discourse Analysis Group (DAG) Belinda Collins, Marian May, Johanna Rendle-Short, Maurice Nevile, Chantal Crozet and Gabi Schmidt for their support and encouragement all the way through. You have all been great and I look forward to the day when all our PhD theses are lined up on the shelf together.
v Abstract Pronouns play a key role in the construction of self and other. They are not merely a way of expressing person, number and gender as is suggested by traditional grammarians nor do they only do referential and deictic work. Rather, they must be thought of in the context of interaction and in terms of the identity work that they accomplish. In this thesis, it is argued that pronouns are used to construct favourable images of themselves, and others. The context of this study is the Australian political media interview. In this study, the pronouns I you we and they are examined individually, then, as they occur in sequence. This investigation reveals that pronouns are used to construct politicians multiple selves and others and that as they occur in sequence, the changing selves of politicians and different others are created. The construction of these multiple selves and others is a version of reality that politicians construct discursively and is not an objective representation of facts. This analysis of pronouns in political interviews also reveals striking and hitherto unresearched uses of pronouns, which can be used to show affiliation or create distance between people where it would not traditionally be expected. Politicians actively exploit the flexibility of pronominal reference to construct the different identities of themselves and other and use them to create different alignments to, and boundaries between, their multiple selves and others. Thus, pronouns are pivotal in the construction of reality a reality that is created and understood in the discourse of the moment.
vi Pronouns of politics: the use of pronouns in the construction of self and other in political interviews. TABLE OF CONTENTS Statement of originality List of figures Acknowledgements Abstract Table of contents ii iii iv v vi 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2. The political interview 2 1.2.1 The political interview as institutional talk 2 1.2.2 Avoidance of questions by interviewees 6 1.2.3 Other approaches to analysing the political interview 8 1.2.4 Conclusion 10 1.3. The representation of self and other in political interviews. 11 1.4 Pronouns 13 1.5 Significance of research 16 1.6 Method 17 1.6.1 Data collection 17 1.6.2 Conversation Analysis and Goffman 19 1.6.3 Context 21 1.7 Chapter overview 23 2. Who is I? : an analysis 27 2.1 Introduction 27 2.2 A-events 32
vii 2.2.1 Being a good politician: describing personal qualities 34 2.2.2 Being a good politician: being responsible 38 2.2.3 Being a good politician: being in touch with the electorate 41 2.2.4 Being a good politician: talking about accomplishments 42 2.2.5 Being a good politician: 45 talking about self as a politician of power 2.2.6 Being a good politician: being a person of principles 48 2.2.7 Claiming lack of knowledge 52 2.2.8 Talking about problematic personal issues 57 2.3 I think in combination with A-events and D-events 61 2.3.1 When the proposition is a D-event 62 2.3.2 When the proposition is an A-event 68 2.4 Taking control of the interview topic 72 2.5 Conclusion 73 3. Who are we? : an analysis 76 3.1 Introduction 76 3.2 We institutional identity 77 3.3 Us and them dichotomy 86 3.4 Not just me/not just someone else 92 3.5 We, co-implicating the people 98 3.6 We collective response 103 3.7 Modified and upgraded we and us 110 3.8 We have 120 3.9 Conclusion 125 4. Who is you? : an analysis 128 4.1 Introduction 128 4.2 You-singular 131 4.2.1 You singular associated with problems 131
viii 4.2.2 You singular used to avoid answering the question. 140 4.2.3 You singular used to show co-involvement of IR 141 4.2.4 You singular used to make a link to a prior interaction 142 4.2.5 Personal reassurance and characterisation of listeners 145 4.2.6 Summary of you singular 146 4.3 Generic you 146 4.3.1 Generic you : everyone 148 4.3.2 Generic you : specific 159 4.4 You embedded in different footings 167 4.4.1 Animation of self as part of a group 167 4.4.2 Animation of oppositional other 171 4.5 Conclusion 179 5. Who are they? : an analysis 182 5.1 Introduction 182 5.2 Distinguishing self and other 184 5.2.1 They in an oppositional context. 184 5.2.2 They in an affiliative context 190 5.2.3 They in a neutral context. 195 5.2.4 I and they : self and other 199 5.2.5 Summary of distinguishing between self and other 204 5.3 Generic they 207 5.4 Unspecified categorical they 212 5.5 Conclusion 213 6. I, we, you, they : Shifting identities 217 6.1 Introduction 217 6.2 Multiple selves: we and I 218 6.3 Multiple selves: I, we and generic 'you' 225 6.4 Multiple selves and others 234
ix 6.5 Shifting footings to achieve multiples selves and others 246 6.6 Conclusion 256 7. Conclusion 259 Appendices 267 Appendix 1 Table of participants and details of interview transcripts 267 Appendix 2 Transcription conventions 269 Appendix 3 Transcriptions of data 270 References 349