ORALIZATION AND POLYPHONY IN THE LANGUAGE OF TOURISM 2.0: THE CASE OF HOTEL RESERVATION PLATFORMS

Abstract

After some brief reflections on the concepts of oralisation and colloquialisation (Briz 2013), this study aims to focus on some of the main modalities of oralisation that characterise the current discourse on tourism, and to outline the features of an emerging genre, the hotel reservation platform (Booking, Atrápalo, Trivago, etc.), characterised by the systematic insertion of tourist comments into professional discourse. Within the framework of the theory of argumentation (Anscombre and Ducrot 1983; Fuentes Rodríguez and Alcaide Lara, 2002; Maingueneau, 2012) and the appraisal theory (Kaplan 2004; Martin and White, 2005; Thompson and Alba-Juez 2014), the analysis will focus on some discursive phenomena, with special attention to polyphony and attitude. In particular, it will be seen how the discursive construction of the figure of the locutor is based on the strategic integration between the voice of the expert with the voices of other enunciators who evaluate from their personal experience.