Political discourse during the European economic crisis: epistemic stance and legitimizing strategies in Greek political discourse (2010-2012)

Abstract

This study presents a multidisciplinary framework for the analysis of evidential meaning in the Greek political discourse during the period of the current European debt crisis, and moving beyond a mere content analysis it sheds light on how political elites position themselves towards the knowledge they communicate, taking also into consideration the several ideological and political aims related with the legitimization of austerity. Our main point is that the construction of evidential meaning is a form of a social act, therefore an approach is developed that enhances the discursive approaches to the Epistemic Stance with a detailed theory of context. Emphasizing the context sensitivity of the expression of evidential meaning, we spell out the various Epistemic Stance types adopted by the political actors across several institutional genres, as well as their legitimizing function, since they enhance the speakers’ evidential standing and authority during the struggle for exercising epistemic control over the audience.