Gelabert Presents at the XIII Coloquio Internacional de Lingüística Iberorrománica

By Purnell T. Cropper | February 8, 2011

Dr. Jaume Gelabert, Academic Director of Arcadia University Programs in Spain, attended the XIII Coloquio Internacional de Lingüística Iberorrománica (XII International Conference in Ibero roman linguistics) in Leuven, Belgium, in February 2011.

Gelabert presented his paper ‘¿Crisis, qué crisis? Análisis de los procesos de responsabilidad, mitigación y acusación en el parlamento español en referencia a la crisis financiera’ (Crisis, what crisis? Analyses of the processes of responsibility, mitigation and accusation in reference to the financial crisis.)

Gelabert’s work investigates the discursive strategies employed (through pronouns, and indirect noun phrases) by the Government to highlight the lines of action to remedy the employment and financial crisis. The opposition party, on the other hand, attempts to accentuate the Government’s role in the crisis by virtue of iteration of certain noun phrases (this Government, your Government) as well as permanent personalization of the responsibility (President Zapatero, Mr. Zapatero, etc.). The implications of such opposing strategies (conservation of power / aspiration to get elected in the upcoming elections) were discussed in depth.