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RESEARCH PRODUCT

A conversational, morpho-syntactic and intonation analysis of discourse markers in political discourse : A case study of presidential debates and televised talkshows.

subject

description

This thesis proposes a morphosyntactic, prosodic and conversational analysis of discourse markers in presidential debates and televised political talkshows in the United States of America. The main object of the study is the role of discourse markers in the sequential structuring and in the enunciative organisation of presidential debates in the United States of America. Discourse markers, in correlation with gestures and intonation, contribute significantly to the construction of the verbal exchange between the various participants in mediated political discourse. To achieve its goals, this thesis draws on several theoretical frameworks dealing with spontaneous speech (Benveniste and Berrendonner’s Macro and micro-grammar,Dik’s Functional Grammar; Kaltenbock et al. Thethical Grammar, Morel and Danon-Boileau’s Oral Paragraph theory) and lays a particular emphasis on Alexander Haselow's Emergent Grammar or Cognitive Syntax. For the analysis, the approach proposed by Haselow (2017) was adopted because it considers all the other approaches mentioned above and takes into account cognitive theories.Concerning the organisation of interaction during presidential debates or talkshows, discourse markers, accompanied by gestures and intonation, play an important role in the management of turn takings and in the sequential organization of actions. On the enunciative level, in correlation with manual gestures and gaze, they participate in expressing emphasis, reformulation and opposition. They also help candidates to draw the attention of their interlocutors in order to introduce a justification, a change of point of view, a reported speech, or with the aim of interrupting them. Discourse markers in presidential debates, also allow speakers to anticipate or consider the point of view of their interlocutors (passive or active) by positioning themselves in a logic of acceptance or opposition with them.