The Brexit saga: stancetaking, control and identity in political discourse

Resumen

Stance resources indicate the epistemic, evaluative or attitudinal position-ings of speakers or writers, and may also be said to index the interactional construction of identities in the discourse (Biber and Finegan 1989; Bucholtz and Hall 2005; Du Bois 2007; Englebretson 2007; Johnstone 2007, inter alia). This chapter focuses on the speaker’s or conceptualiser’s positioning in striving for epistemic control in the discourse, through the expression of justificatory support for their claims, ‘epistemic support’ and ‘epistemic justification’ (Boye 2012). The paper also examines subject positioning in striving for effective control in the discourse, as persuasive and coercive intent regarding action plans and the realisation of events, thereby expand-ing the notion of stance (see Marín-Arrese 2011, 2021). It will be argued that the joint deployment of epistemic and effective resources in the discourse results in those complementary legitimisation strategies whereby the politi-cian presents some situation as true or likely and urges for some justifiable action.