References to national identity, history and cultural heritage in political discourse

Abstract

The extent to which political discourse can be deemed successful is measurable by the positive response of its recipients not only to the issuer himself/herself but also to the political ideology that they embrace, to the cause that they defend, or to the aim that they envisage. Political discourse is commonly permeated with contextualized or recontextualized references (see Linell, 1998) to various facets of national identity (i.e. history, cultural heritage, ethnicity, etc.) in such a way as to secure a more subtle and profound connection with the audience. More often than not, addressees resonate with a type of discourse that is global and local, international and national at the same time. This paper aims to conduct an analysis of several instances of political discourse (i.e. political speeches delivered by Romanian MPs and MEPs) from the perspective of the pragmatic and functional role of references to national identity made within them.