Go home (6 Jan 2021): Communicating different messages to different groups of addressees
What is it about?
Linguistic dog whistles have been described as communicating an additional hidden, inflammatory message to a subgroup of addressees. This means that different messages can be communicated to different groups of addressees at the same time. Focusing on a Twitter video message from Donald Trump on 6 January 2021, this article aims to discuss how plausible interpretations can be identified for the imperative "Go home" in this utterance context. To approach these questions, the paper focuses on the general communicative setting, prior communication between Trump and his supporters, and on linguistic features of the message. The paper argues that the simultaneous orientation to multiple addressee groups represents a key feature of Trump’s message, which is reflected by a coexistence of different speaker instances. Comparing the example to classical examples of dog whistles, it will be classified as an accomplice whistle.
Why is it important?
The case study highlights the importance of multiple addressing in media-based communication, and the potential of linking ambiguity research and multiple addressing, considering different addressee groups with potentially strongly diverging backgrounds, interests, and modalities of interpretation.