Understanding dogwhistles politics

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Published 08-06-2021
José Ramón Torices

Abstract

This paper aims to deepen our understanding of so-called covert dogwhistles.  I discuss whether a covert dogwhistle is a specific sort of mechanism of manipulation or whether, on the contrary, it draws on other already familiar linguistic mechanisms such as implicatures or presuppositions. I put forward a series of arguments aimed at illustrating that implicatures and presuppositions, on the one hand, and covert dogwhistles, on the other, differ in their linguistic behaviour concerning plausible deniability, cancellability, calculability and mutual acceptance. I concluded this paper by outlining a simple theory for covert dogwhistles according to which they are attitude-foregrounders.

How to Cite

Torices, J. R. (2021). Understanding dogwhistles politics. THEORIA. An International Journal for Theory, History and Foundations of Science, 36(3), 321–339. https://doi.org/10.1387/theoria.22510
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Keywords

dogwhistles, implicatures, presuppositions, political manipulation

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ARTICLES