new book silence in political discourse

[Melani Schroeter]

new book information

with apologies for self-promotion and cross-posting



JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY

www.benjamins.com<http://www.benjamins.com>

[DAPSAC 48]

Communication Studies / Discourse studies / Pragmatics



Silence and Concealment in Political Discourse



Melani Schröter

University of Reading



This book constitutes a significant contribution to political discourse analysis and to the study of silence, both from the point of view of discourse analysis as well as pragmatics, and it is also relevant for those interested in politics and media studies. It promotes the empirical study of silence by analysing metadiscourse about politicians' silence and by systematically conceptualising the communicativeness of silence in the interplay between intention (to be silent), expectation (of speech) and relevance (of the unsaid). Three cases of sustained metadiscourse about silent politicians from Germany are analysed to exemplify this approach, based on media texts and protocols of parliamentary inquiries. Ideals of political transparency and communicative openness are identified as a basis for (disappointed) expectations of speech which trigger and determine metadiscourse about politicians' silences. Finally, the book deals critically with the role of those who act as advocates of 'the public's' demand to speak out.



[Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture, 48] 2013. ix, 202 pp.

Hb 978 90 272 0639 8 EUR 90.00

E-book 978 90 272 7210 2 EUR 90.00



Table of contents

List of abbreviations

Acknowledgements



Chapter 1. Introduction: Silence and concealment in (the study of) political discourse

Chapter 2. Intention, expectation and relevance: Determinants of meaningful silence

Chapter 3. Empirical study of silence: A methodological proposal

Chapter 4. Remaining silent and waiting until the dust settles: Helmut Kohl and the CDU party donation scandal

Chapter 5. Dangerous intelligence: The SPD's silence in the Barschel and drawer scandals

Chapter 6. Hiding or highlighting: 'Dr Merkel's collected silences'

Chapter 7. What needs to be said: And who cares



References

Appendix. German originals of translated quotations from primary sources Author index Subject index



"Melani Schröter has provided us with a much needed and incisive investigation of discursive absences and the metadiscourse about such absences. The silence of politicians is something that should concern us as much as, if not more than, their noisy media messages. This is a timely book."

Paul Chilton, University of Lancaster



"Based on detailed analyses of three cases of high-profile "silences" in German political discourse over the past decades, Schröter's book [...] makes an important contribution to the communicative ethics of political discourse."

Professor Andreas Musolff, University of East Anglia



"Melani Schröter gives a thorough account of the context for politicians' silences, and an exhaustive discussion of the metadiscourse of silence."

Prof. Dennis Kurzon, University of Haifa


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