Democratic Deference in a Republican Primary

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Author(s): Colene J. Lind (University of Texas – Austin, USA)
Copyright: 2014
Pages: 21
Source title: Communication and Language Analysis in the Public Sphere
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Roderick P. Hart (University of Texas - Austin, USA)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-5003-9.ch006

Keywords: Communications Theory / Information Science Reference / Literacy and Language Studies / Media & Communications

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Abstract

U.S. political culture holds everyday citizens to be efficacious and sovereign, while elected elites are to be their public servants. Politicians draw on this cultural truth by speaking in a deferential style. This chapter examines the various registers of the language of deference in the 2012 Republican presidential primary and argues that this lexicon produces a tone that rhetorically constructs hierarchical social roles between citizens and leaders. This chapter finds that the candidates were more likely to speak appreciatively when hailing the citizenry but with accommodation and obligation when calling upon political leaders. The chapter concludes by considering how further study of the language of deference could improve leader-citizen relations in the United States.

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