Our contribution examines the campaign speech by Silvio Berlusconi on April 26, 2014 during the European elections, in particular the passages in which he returns to the offense against Schulz, whom he had referred to in 2003 as “kapo,” and the accusation of German revisionism that drew sharp reactions from the political world and the media. Based on Benoit’s theory (1995, 2000), we will show that Berlusconi’s speech, while adopting certain strategies anticipated by Benoit, tends less to rework and repair a prior ethos than to positively reinforce it. In this regard, we will examine the discursive construction of the two types of ethos Berlusconi displayed on this occasion (the ethosof affability and the ethos of the victim) and will suggest that these attitudes, which are consistent with his ethotic profile, enable him to avoid taking responsibility for any offensive behavior and offer only a minor apology. In the conclusion, we will present a few considerations concerning the heuristic validity of Benoit’s model.
Berlusconi, l'Allemagne et la mémoire de la Shoah: l'"ethos de bonhomie" pour une réparation impossible
Rigat F;
2018-01-01
Abstract
Our contribution examines the campaign speech by Silvio Berlusconi on April 26, 2014 during the European elections, in particular the passages in which he returns to the offense against Schulz, whom he had referred to in 2003 as “kapo,” and the accusation of German revisionism that drew sharp reactions from the political world and the media. Based on Benoit’s theory (1995, 2000), we will show that Berlusconi’s speech, while adopting certain strategies anticipated by Benoit, tends less to rework and repair a prior ethos than to positively reinforce it. In this regard, we will examine the discursive construction of the two types of ethos Berlusconi displayed on this occasion (the ethosof affability and the ethos of the victim) and will suggest that these attitudes, which are consistent with his ethotic profile, enable him to avoid taking responsibility for any offensive behavior and offer only a minor apology. In the conclusion, we will present a few considerations concerning the heuristic validity of Benoit’s model.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
