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Sprinkled Metonymies in the Analysis of Political Discourse with Corpus Linguistics Techniques: A Case Study

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Multimodal Communication in Political Speech. Shaping Minds and Social Action (PS 2010)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 7688))

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Abstract

This paper argues that a traditional corpus linguistics approach to the analysis of the political discourse of Barack Obama may fail to detect some of his discourse strategies. To better describe this phenomenon, the concept of sprinkled metonymies – considered a typology of extended semantic networks – is introduced and the adaptation of specific software to enhance data mining techniques to identify them is discussed. The realization of these networks is accounted for by introducing in the working model the Discourse Space-Time [1], [2] and Proximization Theories [3]. The model is designed to detect and cognitively map gradual shifts in strategic discourse, even when considering a time span of 6 years, as in the case study considered, that could otherwise go unnoticed if other corpus linguistics approaches were used.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cultures, Politics and Society, University of Turin, Italy

    Michelangelo Conoscenti

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  1. Michelangelo Conoscenti
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Filosofia, Comunicazione e Spettacolo, Università Roma Tre, 00146, Rome, Italy

    Isabella Poggi

  2. Faculty of Psychology, Uninettuno International Telematic University (Utiu), 00186, Rome, Italy

    Francesca D’Errico

  3. Department of Education, Università Roma Tre, 00146, Rome, Italy

    Laura Vincze

  4. Computer Science, University of Glasgow, G12 8QQ, Glasgow, UK

    Alessandro Vinciarelli

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Conoscenti, M. (2013). Sprinkled Metonymies in the Analysis of Political Discourse with Corpus Linguistics Techniques: A Case Study. In: Poggi, I., D’Errico, F., Vincze, L., Vinciarelli, A. (eds) Multimodal Communication in Political Speech. Shaping Minds and Social Action. PS 2010. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 7688. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41545-6_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41545-6_19

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-41544-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-41545-6

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