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Coding transparency and corruption in Malagasy political oratory

Bibliographic Data

ID2901112
AuthorsJennifer L Jackson, Jennifer Jackson (0000-0001-7331-7613, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume38
Issue1
Pages47-69
Publication date2009-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguage in Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-4045 • E-ISSN: 1469-8013
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0047404508090039
OpenAlexW2126858787
LanguageEN
Citations received16
References cited32

This article discusses stylistic and contextual variations in the political oratory (kabary politika) of urban Madagascar. New imported oratorical styles and older styles ofkabaryrepresent competing linguistic markets where political leaders field broader issues of political modernity, fighting government corruption through reforms toward transparency.Kabaryhas become the object of criticism in models for transparent government practice. This has affected the way leaders speak to and about the country, reifying a moral structure arguing what constitutes truth and how speakers understand language as conveying that truth. In this respect, this article describes linguistic and metalinguistic encodings of transparency versus corruption in the political communication styles of highland Malagasy political orators. It looks at how the rhetorical modes of an urban polity are reorganized in ways that reshape vernacular epistemologies of truth in language and shift the production of particular publics and their access to participation in political process. (Madagascar,kabary, oratory, democracy, linguistic variation, language ideology, truth and ethics, public opinion, public culture

Polity · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Multilingual Education and Policy

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