Communicating climate change : a qualitative discourse analysis of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Lectures by Al Gore and Rajendra K. Pachauri

Abstract

Abstract The primary objective of this study is to analyse how two speakers communicate their message(s) in light of their communicative goals. An interrelated secondary objective is how the two speakers communicate the complex issue of climate change. The data for the analysis are the two Nobel Peace Prize Lectures from 2007, by Al Gore and Rajendra K. Pachauri. To address these aims, this study uses a combination of theoretical approaches to consider modality, evidence, fear appeals, and metaphors in the lectures. Through analytical approaches that focus on speaker involvement, speaker commitment, and interpersonal communicative strategies, this study sets out to identify and explain some of the differences and similarities between these two speakers. The first part of the analysis considers modality in order to investigate the speakers’ attitudes towards their message(s). This part of the analysis focuses on the clause as exchange between speaker and hearer. The second part of the analysis focuses on the message factors to consider some of the communicative strategies the speakers have adopted. In this part of the analysis, the focus turns from the clause to the message, and a consideration of language use in the exchange between speaker and hearer. The study found that Al Gore presents a text which shows a high degree of speaker involvement, speaker commitment and interacting with the audience, whereas Rajendra K. Pachauri has adopted a mainly impersonal communicative style, which is a result of such features as modal metaphors and explicit objective expressions of modality