 Simpson and Mayr p2: power comes from the privileged access to social resources such as education, knowledge and wealth. Access to these resources provides authority, status and influence, which is an enabling mechanism for the domination, coercion and control of subordinate groups.

 Simpson and Mayr p2: However, power can also be seen as something more than simply dominance from above; in many situations, for example, power is ‘jointly produced’ because people are led to believe that dominance is legitimate in some way or other. This second, more consensual, understanding of power suggests a two- way distinction: power through dominance and power by consent.

 Gramsci’s (1971) concept of hegemony: the mechanisms through which dominant groups in society succeed in persuading subordinate groups to accept the former’s own moral, political and cultural values and institutions. Within this framework, discourse constructs hegemonic attitudes, opinions and beliefs and (…) does so in such a way as to make these beliefs appear ‘natural’ and ‘common sense’.

 Power in discourse: what influence a linguistic event may have on recipients. e.g. a political speech; an advertisement  Power behind discourse: what the relationships are in general terms between producer and recipient. e.g. the dominance of the media; ubiquity

 Classical rhetoric: a consciously acquired skill intended to help writers persuade and influence their audience  Ideology: › a universal fact of human language. The accepted ideas of a group of people who (usually) share a language. Not always harmful or manipulative. › in the hands of the powerful, though, can be influential – particularly if hidden.

 Ideologies that are common/universal: may be seen as ‘true’ or ‘common sense’ e.g. killing people is wrong sending children out to work is wrong  The process by which new or different ideas gain this status is ‘naturalisation’  It can be affected by discourses repeating it

 Producer has power over recipient: always, by the nature of language? sometimes more than others?  What kind of power does the recipient have? critical reading resistance to ideology response/feedback

LINGUISTIC IDEATIONALINTERPERSONAL CONCEPTUAL MEANINGPRAGMATIC MEANING Co-textual meaningCon-textual meaning

LINGUISTIC IDEATIONALINTERPERSONAL CONCEPTUAL MEANINGPRAGMATIC MEANING Co-textual meaningCon-textual meaning

 At one extreme, ideology is just the views that people you disagree with hold!  At the other extreme, ideology is everywhere.  Don’t take the second view too far! It is not the same as the meaning of the sentences.  Some sentences have pretty low levels of ideological interest.

 No gay couples welcome here.  Those children ought to be told to behave properly.  I had fish and chips for dinner last night.  Do you like my new coat?

 Notice on a B&B door? › Easy to link to anti-homosexual ideology › Probably held in tandem with a range of other ideologies such as the need for children to be raised by heterosexual couple – ideally their biological parents etc.  Not legal in the UK › Ideologies are not linked to legality/illegality – they are linked to opinions, not actions.

 A little less clearly ideological  Seems to imply that › Adults in charge of children have a duty to other adults to control them so that they are not a nuisance › Could be that there is an underlying ideology about children being naturally anarchic › The alternative ideology (of the parents?) might be that children should be allowed to express themselves…

 At first sight seems not to be ideological  However, there are assumptions being made › Eating fish is acceptable › Resources of the world are for human beings to consume  The speaker is not consciously trying to influence the listener – s/he is simply stating a fact  But the repetition of assumptions is a naturalising force.

 This sentence is hard to link to ideology at all.  At a push you could say that it demonstrates the ideology that one’s looks are an important part of valuing human beings.  Notice that the ideology of this sentence is NOT ‘whether the speaker’s new coat is nice’!

 Ideation is the creation of a text world along a number of dimensions.  It shows what the world looks like and who inhabits it and how they behave.  This works for fictional and non-fictional texts because our views of the ‘real’ world differ.  It is in the difference between our world views that ideological values may become important.

 I was in the café at the community centre last week and the place was heaving with young mothers (but only a few fathers!) with small babies and toddlers. The children were all crawling around on the floor, spreading their food under the chairs and leaving toys in the doorway where other customers were entering and leaving. It was the nursery from hell, not a civilised place to have a coffee.

 A place – the café  People – mothers, fathers, babies, toddlers  Actions – crawling, spreading, leaving  Position of items – under the chairs, in the doorway  So far, ideational and not (particularly) ideological.

 Implicit: › But only a few fathers! › Spreading their food under the chairs and leaving toys in the doorway where other customers were entering and leaving  Explicit: › It was the nursery from hell, not a civilised place to have a coffee.

 Can be linked to the linguistic level of meaning – the systematic meaning of texts. › I think animals should have the same rights as human beings. › I think evolution should not be taught as fact in schools. › I believe that only men (/land-owners / white people / indigenous citizens) should have a democratic vote.

 Is constructed in the ideational strand of meaning, where the text producer decides: › How to name things › How to describe processes, actions etc › Whether the text world is certain, desirable etc › Whether two things/people are opposites › How to represent others’ speech and thought › What to assume or imply

They answer the question: ‘What is the text doing? – in relation to the text world › Naming and Describing › Representing Actions/Events/States › Equating and Contrasting › Exemplifying and Enumerating › Prioritising › Implying and Assuming › Negating › Hypothesising › Presenting others’ speech and thoughts › Representing time, space and society

They answer the question: ‘What is the text doing? – in relation to the text world › Naming and Describing › Representing Actions/Events/States › Equating and Contrasting › Exemplifying and Enumerating › Prioritising › Implying and Assuming › Negating › Hypothesising › Presenting others’ speech and thoughts › Representing time, space and society

Is it for now or for always, The world hangs on a stalk? Is it a trick or a trysting-place, The woods we have found to walk? Is it a mirage or miracle, Your lips that lift at mine: And the suns like a juggler's juggling-balls, Are they a sham or a sign?  Philip Larkin The North Ship (Faber 1943):

LABOUR SAYS HE’S BLACK. TORIES SAY HE’S BRITISH. X says he’s Y X = Labour vs. Tories (conventional opposites in Britain) Y thus expected to be opposite This produces textual opposite: BLACK  BRITISH

 Context-free opposites are essential  Conventional agreement as to what they are  Not set in stone (otherwise texts couldn’t produce new ones)  But new ones are dependent for their meaning on the idea of opposition, if not on actual opposites  A prime example of the phenomenon of textual-conceptual functions (TCFs)

 Big Bang Theory (U.S. sitcom): › A bit like but with nerdy scientists…  I’m a physicist, not a hippy:  e=player_detailpage&v=b5V0QY1d904 e=player_detailpage&v=b5V0QY1d904 e=player_detailpage&v=b5V0QY1d904

Locution“I feel awful” IllocutionI am sorry / I apologise PerlocutionApology enacted and accepted – or not accepted.

Interpersonal Speech Act (denial/refusal) Ideational Construction of opposites Locution “I’m a physicist, not a hippy” Form/meaning (code) “I’m a physicist, not a hippy” Illocution Denial: I have not spoken to Amy about how I feel – and don’t intend to Textual/conceptual function Physicists are opposite of hippies PerlocutionLeonard either accepts or opposes Sheldon’s refusal to speak to Amy. Conceptual EffectLeonard either agrees or contests Sheldon’s view that these are opposites.

 Despite reader variation in response to texts, there might actually be some consensus around this strand of textual meaning  We might notice the oppositional construction – or not – and we might accept it – or not.  But we’d acknowledge that it’s there in the text.

LINGUISTIC IDEATIONALINTERPERSONAL CONCEPTUAL MEANING PRAGMATIC MEANING world consensual meaning people people individual meaning world

LINGUISTIC IDEATIONALINTERPERSONAL CONCEPTUAL MEANING PRAGMATIC MEANING world interpretation people people reading world

 These are textually-based meanings which construct a particular (set of) mental image(s) of the text world  Such images may be – and often are – ideological.  Author-intention is not implied because it is often subconscious (particularly if naturalised ideology)  reader acceptance not implied either, though the reader does have to engage with it (if only to reject)

› Naming and Describing › Representing Actions/Events/States › Equating and Contrasting › Exemplifying and Enumerating › Prioritising › Implying and Assuming › Negating › Hypothesising › Presenting others’ speech and thoughts › Representing time, space and society

 Rise in race hate since vote ‘must be stamped out’.

Iain Duncan-Smith:  “…we’d stand by commitments that have been made to things like agriculture. The rest were all just a series of possibilities of what you then could do beyond those main commitments and that was a commitment made at the time.” Let that sink in. One of the central promises of the Leave Campaign was actually just a series of possibilities.

 Who’s strong enough to lead us to success?

 Naming: ‘Brexit’  Contrasting: Leave vs. Remain

 Fairclough, Norman ( nd edn) Language and Power. Routledge.  Jeffries, Lesley (2010) Critical stylistics: the power of English. Palgrave.  Simpson, Paul and Mayr, Andrea(2010) Language and Power: A Resource Book for Students. Routledge.