Pronominal Choice, Identity and Solidarity in Political Discourse

Abstract

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the pragmatic role that pronouns expressing person deixis have in the Speeches of two Mexican participants in a Conference on the Chiapas revolt of January 1994 in Mexico. The author argues that pronominal choice in political discourse reflects differences in the way in which Speakers present themselves with respect to other individuals and groups in the political arena and in relation to the Situation that is being discussed. The author analyzes the concept of Speaker involvement in order to distinguish between involvement of a Speaker with the topic, commitment to his own words and identification with other groups or individuals. The author shows how these different dimensions can be related to Goffman's notion of 'production format' and how the concept of 'principal' can be used to define solidarity in political discourse. Finally, the author stresses that understanding of the pragmatic implications of pronominal choice depends on a detailed analysis of the presence of all pronouns in a given text, and that the speaker's identity emerges through consistent use of certain pronouns with a stähle referent and through the oppositions and connections established in the text between these referents and the referents of other pronominal and non pronominal forms.