Ideology and the Language of Human RightsPublished online by Cambridge University Press: 02 July 2026
Chapter 5 investigates the dynamics of meaning generation pertaining to social structures, processes, and relations; to grammatical and semantic roles, particularly problems created by choice of grammatical voice in identifying agents and experiencers of violative actions and the ideological positioning of those individuals relative to human rights evaluations of those actions. It compares the appeals with philanthropic fundraising letters: both are problem/solutions texts attempting to persuade their addresses to act to solve their respective problems. It examines the appeal topics and the language of the rhetorical moves and steps that enact them and compares these with Amnesty’s letter writing guidelines. It identifies patterns of grammatical mood, polarity, and evidentiality that represent rights and the legal instruments from which they derive; and patterns of linguistic choices expressing concern and exigency, norms of evaluation, violation and redress, concession and rebuttal, engagement and gratitude, and that construct the cohesion exhibited by the documents and their relationships.
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