RT Journal Article
T1 Political persuasion in a Spanish electoral debate : intonation and affectivity in openings and closings
A1 Hidalgo Downing, Raquel Ángela
A1 Nieto y Otero, María Jesús
AB In this paper, we study the elements of political discourse where persuasion is present as communicative strategy. In particular, we focus on the analysis of intonation and affectivity in a two-candidate Spanish electoral debate (Hidalgo Downing and Nieto y Otero 2014; Ponsonnet 2014; Reber 2012).The methodology consisted in selecting the openings and closings of each turn, taking the act as analysis unit (Briz 2003); for the acoustic analysis we have examined three parameters – fundamental frequency, intensity and vowel durations –, and four strategies for the positive affective bonds: assertiveness, inclusion, specificity and naturalization, in order to pursue the initial hypothesis on whether it is possible to find relations between intonation and affectivity. The analysis shows that both candidates use affective bonds and intonation to enhance persuasion, although there are interesting differences between candidates and between openings and closings. While openings show greater number and variety of strategies, both verbal and intonational, closings show lower intonational contours and less variation, therefore openings showing higher use of positive persuasive strategies, whereas in closings, there are no strategies addressed to the hearer, the most frequent being assertiveness. As for intonational contours, there is a general lowering in all values.
PB John Benjamins Publishing Company
SN 1571-0718
YR 2021
FD 2021-10
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/114809
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/114809
LA eng
NO Hidalgo Downing, Raquel, y María Jesús Nieto y Otero. «Political Persuasion in a Spanish Electoral Debate: Intonation and Affectivity in Openings and Closings». Spanish in Context, vol. 18, n.º 2, octubre de 2021, pp. 192-217. www.jbe-platform.com, https://doi.org/10.1075/sic.18012.hid.
DS Docta Complutense
RD 6 abr 2025