Speech Acts in Securitization (Regina Holze)

While processes of securitization have been widely examined, the speech acts that realise securitizing moves remain underexplored. Regina Holze analyses the speech act repertoire of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson during the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing on a pragmatically annotated corpus of official press statements. Using CADS methods, her study identifies a prototypical pattern in which assertive, declarative, expressive and directive acts interact to structure the progression of crisis communication. The findings provide a foundation for a systematic, pragmatic account of the securitizing act.

Regina Holze, geb. 1992, arbeitet an der Europa-Universität Flensburg. Zuvor promovierte und lehrte sie an der Universität Passau im Bereich Politolinguistik. Ihre Forschungsschwerpunkte sind neben politischer Sprache und pandemischer Krisenkommunikation auch innovative Ansätze und digitale Elemente in der Hochschuldidaktik.