‘Tobože’ is in Croatian-English dictionaries glossed as ‘ostensibly, pretendedly, allegedly, professedly, as a pretext, under the pretence, on pretence, seemingly, as if it were’ (Drvodelić, 1989). All these glosses cannot convey the attitudinal conotations of denial that this particle contributes to the text.

In his State of the Nation Addresses, the late Croatian President Franjo Tudjman used this particle with unusual frequency. The questions that this paper seeks to answer are:

- What pragmatic meanings does the particle ‘tobože’ contribute to such a political text?

- How is it used in relation to the information management and sentence/utterance structure?

- What are political aims and goals attributed to this particular use of the particle ‘tobože’?

- How does this strategy preserve the charismatic, controlling, or coercive identity of a ruler, head of state, or preeminent political leader?

This paper analyzes the former Croatian President’s State of the Nation Addresses with particular attention to Tudjman’s last year in office prior to his death at the end of 1999. In critical discourse analysis, ongoing transformations in the discourse of political speeches are interpreted using an approach that combines discourse-historical theory and methodology and a critical theory of context.

Reference

Drvodelić, M. (Edited by Ž. Bujas) 1989. Hrvatsko-engleski rječnik. (Croatian-English Dictionary). Zagreb, Croatia: Školska knjiga.