Professor Giglioni’s lecture introduced doctoral students to her research on U.S. Congressional Hearings, a highly codified genre and communicative event within political discourse. After presenting various types, aspects and stages of hearings, Professor Giglioni focused on the opening statements of selected congressional hearings. In particular, Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi testimony from 2013 was presented as a case study examining the use of apologetic discourse, which included detailed examples of “transcendence” (reframing the situation in question in a broader context), “indirect denial” (responding to charges in such a way that the charges are never explicitly acknowledged), “differentiation” (creating necessary distinctions that redefine the questionable situation), and “bolstering” (enhancing the image of a subject by linking it to abstract values). This research discussed by Professor Giglioni focused primarily on questions regarding the identification of apologetic discourse in Clinton’s testimony, namely how apologetic discourse was articulated in the hearing, and which lexical and morphological traits were used as apologetic strategies. The lecture concluded with a detailed review of the various macro-textual moves employed in investigative hearings, such as the opening, looking back, the apology, looking forward, and the closing.
26 gennaio 2023