Vincent Benet, Power Kate, Crosthwaite Peter, Gardner Sheena
Coventry University.
University of Queensland.
Appl Corpus Linguistics. 2023 Jun 22:100063. doi: 10.1016/j.acorp.2023.100063.
The importance of language to changing public behaviours is acknowledged in crisis situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic. A key means of achieving these changes is through the use of directive speech acts, yet this area is currently under-researched. This study investigates the use of directives in the 2020 COVID-19 briefings of four leaders of English-speaking nations, Jacinda Adern, Boris Johnson, Scott Morrison, and Nicola Sturgeon. We developed a classification system including 13 directive types and used this to compare directive use across these four leaders, examining directness and forcefulness of directive use. The analysis finds Sturgeon to be the most prolific directive user and also to have the highest reliance on imperatives. Johnson, meanwhile, has a preference for directives involving modal verbs, particularly with first- and second-person pronouns. In contrast, Ardern and Morrison show a higher use of indirect directives, normally thought to be a less effective strategy. While Ardern often combines this strategy with judicious use of imperatives, this is not seen in Morrison's COVID-19 briefings. These findings tend to confirm earlier, more impressionistic evaluations of the communication styles of these leaders but also suggest other avenues for research on directive use. We conclude with implications for political crisis communication and analysis of directives in crisis communication.
在新冠疫情等危机情况下，语言对于改变公众行为的重要性已得到认可。实现这些改变的一个关键手段是使用指令性言语行为，但目前这一领域的研究还不够充分。本研究调查了2020年四个英语国家领导人——杰辛达·阿德恩、鲍里斯·约翰逊、斯科特·莫里森和尼古拉·斯特金——在新冠疫情简报中的指令性言语行为的使用情况。我们开发了一个包含13种指令类型的分类系统，并以此比较这四位领导人的指令性言语行为的使用情况，考察指令性言语行为使用的直接性和力度。分析发现，斯特金是使用指令性言语行为最多的人，而且对祈使句的依赖程度也最高。与此同时，约翰逊则偏好使用包含情态动词的指令，尤其是与第一和第二人称代词搭配时。相比之下，阿德恩和莫里森更多地使用间接指令，而间接指令通常被认为是一种效果较差的策略。虽然阿德恩经常将这种策略与明智地使用祈使句相结合，但在莫里森的新冠疫情简报中却没有这种情况。这些发现倾向于证实此前对这些领导人沟通风格的更具印象主义色彩的评价，但也为指令性言语行为使用的研究提出了其他途径。我们最后探讨了这些发现对政治危机沟通以及危机沟通中指令性言语行为分析的启示。
