Power and politeness in political discourse. Analysing humorous and ironic comments in a Romanian parliamentary debate

Abstract

The article analyses the use of humorous and ironic comments in relation to enacting power relations and politeness strategies in a Romanian parliamentary debate preceding the vote of investiture for a new Government after the 2004 general elections. Without aiming at making clear cut distinctions between humour and irony, the chapter discusses the overlapping nature of both concepts and includes humorous ironies (Dynel 2014, Gibbs et al. 2014, Yus 2013) in the analysed examples. A similar overlap is noticed at a functional level. Using the taxonomy of the functions of humour proposed by Hay (2000), the demonstration examines power games in parliamentary speeches along with the uses of humour as manifestations of politeness and group solidarity. When irony is seen as “a miscommunication design” (Anolli, Infantino, and Ciceri 2001), an ironic comment can be recognised either as a manifestation of power or strategically dismissed for the sake of preserving face.