commercial and political discourse

[Waleed Al-Amri]

Dear colleagues,

Through my research in ideology and the media I have noticed a kind of
"sub-language" employed by political discourse. Herbert Marcuse (which
is the only reference I know of) calls it, in his The One Dimensional
Man, the 'language of world police' in which the receivers are not
supposed to develop a clear mental construct of the reality that lies
behind the language which represents it: there is an abridgement of
conception. For instance the appalling monstrosities of crimes of
hatred are euphemistically called 'ethic cleansing'.

Another type of language in the service of purpose is the kind of
language found on packages of commercial products, or, more generally,
commercial language. Trivial products are often glamorised and in a
way wrapped up in a language appealing to customers. A small candy bar
in not called 'small size' but rather a 'snack size', a small
cappuccino is called 'regular' rather than small, the huge bed is
called a 'king size', are the ones that I can think of momentarily,
but hopefully they make my point clear.

I cognisant of the presence of many a study that deals with the
language employed to service political agendas, especially within the
domain of metaphor. However what I am looking for is different. Are
there any writings that are written from the point of view of the
sign-maker, i.e. the politicians, spin doctors, or journalists, rather
than that of linguists, and that tell them how to construct such
language, or are they only picked up and formulated according to the
rule of common sense and practice.

As for commercial language all suggestions are very welcome. I think
there is a shortage of such writings, don't you?

Also if you are aware of other types of sub-languages (a language that
is functionally used) please do share them with me.

Thanking you in anticipation,

Waleed Bleyhesh



P.S. what is the technical term for this type of 'su-language'.

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