There are many different ways to approach the connections between language and politics, all of them to some extent involving different contexts and all of them in some ways connected. One way is to look at political language as a form of rhetoric, to see how politicians seek to persuade their audiences. Another way is to apply aspects of discourse analysis to political data; this involves looking at typical structures within political language and seeing how politicians show ideological stances through their language choices, whether these choices are conscious or unconscious.

This short account of the language of politics gives examples from each of these methods, to provide some of the flavor of a broad and important topic. It will begin, though, by looking at some ...