The pragmatics of flattery: The strategic use of solidarity-oriented actions

The democratic king: The role of ritualized flattery in political discourse

“…Flattery represents the dark side of sociability because it brings forward the strategic side of positive language use that speakers can exploit for their benefit. Flattery is commonly considered manipulative (Kapust, 2018) and its use comes with a social warning against its negative consequences (Danziger, 2020). Everyday interpersonal flattery strategically exploits conventional positive actions, such as positive evaluation speech acts (e.g.…”

“…Without the explicit judgement made by a participant in the interaction, the instrumental intention remains covert. Consequently, it is only through meta-pragmatic labelling that flattery can be discursively analysed (Danziger, 2020). This previous study has further shown that there are six reasons why certain actions would be interpreted as flattery: (a) the addressee is deemed underserving of the positive action, (b) there is a recognized benefit to the speaker, (c) there is a pattern of ingratiating behaviour, (d) the message is exaggerated or hyperbolic, (e) unequal power-relations exist between the flatterer and the addressee, and lastly, (f) there is a public context.…”

“…The flatterer is burdened with performing a marked positive communicative action that does not cross acceptability within the context it is carried out. Namely, performance of ritualized flattery events should be marked in order to achieve its pleasing effect, without crossing into face harm (Danziger, 2020). In political discourse, flatterers are additionally burdened with finding a balance between expectedness and unexpectedness: The powerful actor expects the performance of the flattery ritual in principle, but the actual performance must be marked in order to achieve the addressor's goal.…”

“…Pence also used positive affective language ('It is just the greatest privilege of my life') and indirect approbation of Trump's trustworthiness ('keeping his word') and competence ('assembling a team'). 6 Since flattery is intended to be face-pleasing to the addressee (Danziger, 2020), the instrumental appeal of flattery can be outlined by applying Spencer-Oatey's (2007) framework for analysing face needs. Both Regev and Pence appeal to all three faces of their superiors: their quality face (the fundamental desire to be valued for personal qualities) by presenting a positive evaluation of their competence and abilities (Regev: 'You deserve this [to be told]', Pence: 'assembling a team that's bringing real change); their social identity face (the fundamental desire for our social role to be valued by the group) as leaders, Regev focusing on Netanyahu's public worth (e.g.…”

“…In order to achieve a positive effect that will please the addressee, flattery has to be non-conventionalized so it will remain marked, that is, noticed and unexpected in context. The pleasing effect flattery intends to achieve mediates one of three interactional goals: transactional – offered in exchange for what the flatterer desires; self-promotional – used for image management; or relational – used to establish, strengthen, or maintain relations (Danziger, 2020). These functions are applicable to political discourse, where actors deploy communicative strategies in order to gain and maintain power and influence and promote self-interest by cultivating relationships with other members of the political community (Kampf and Danziger, 2019; Thompson, 2000).…”