Lecture on logometry and modals

Visiting scholar Marion Bendinelli will give a lecture on Tuesday June 12 at 10:15 in SH:G. This research focuses on the use of the modal and semi-modal auxiliaries in the American presidential debates, from 1960 (J.F. Kennedy vs. R. Nixon) to 2008 (B. Obama vs. J. McCain). The intent is to uncover the discourse strategies that the candidates use to establish and manage power relationships. The analyses are couched both in qualitative and quantitative theories, with an enunciative and pragmatic approach of speech turns and with a computer-based discourse analysis, namely Logometry and the software Hyperbase.