Use of vague quantifiers as an involvement face-saving strategy in political discourse: a case of presidential speeches

Abstract

The main focus of this article is to show how vague language categories can function as an involvement face-saving strategy in political discourse. The observations made in this article are based on the analysis of one category of vague language, that is vague quantifiers. The data used for the present investigation have been obtained from the website of the Romanian presidency and consist of 19 randomly selected political speeches delivered between December 2014 and November 2016 by Klaus Werner Iohannis, the President of Romania. The analysis of the data suggests that vague quantifiers as a face-saving strategy are used when involvement is expressed.