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PEDAGOGICAL SCIENCES
УДК: 811.111
Тенева Екатерина Веселиновна Санкт-Петербургский Государственный Университет DOI: 10.24411/2520-6990-2019-10426 ЭМОЦИОНАЛЬНАЯ ИДЕНТИФИКАЦИЯ В ПОЛИТИЧЕСКОЙ КОММУНИКАЦИИ (НА ПРИМЕРЕ ДИСКУРСА СОВРЕМЕННЫХ БРИТАНСКИХ СМИ)
Teneva Ekaterina Veselinovna
Saint-Petersburg State University
EMOTIONAL IDENTIFICATION IN THE POLITICAL COMMUNICATION (BASED ON THE MODERN BRITISH MASS MEDIA DISCOURSE)
Аннотация
Статья посвящена вопросам эмоционально-оценочного воздействия в политической коммуникации, при этом особое внимание уделяется исследованию приема эмоциональной идентификации, который является одним их способов манипулятивного воздействия политиков на аудиторию. Автор статьи рассматривает прием эмоциональной идентификации как намеренное использование политиками эмоционально-оценочных средств с целью отождествления их мнения с мнением аудитории, а также манипуляции ее мнением. В статье приведены конкретные случаи использования данного приема в дискурсе современных британских "качественных " СМИ.
Abstract
The article is devoted to the issues of emotional impact in the political communication, with special attention paid to the study of emotional identification, which is one of the methods of manipulative influence ofpoliticians on the audience. The author of the article considers emotional identification as the intentional use of emotional tools by politicians in order to identify their opinion with the opinion of the audience as well as to manipulate their opinion. The article presents specific cases of using this rhetorical device in the modern British "quality" media.
Ключевые слова: эмоции, идентификация, политическая коммуникация, дискурс СМИ, риторика, воздействие
Key words: emotions, identification, political communication, mass media discourse, rhetoric, impact
It is difficult to underestimate the role of emotions in our life as they have always been one of the essential "tools" of any communication process whether it is conversation on a daily basis or media communication. Furthermore, emotions have a very complex nature which encompasses not only different kinds of feelings, but also some kind of valuable information which they transmit. Considering emotions from a rhetorical point of view, it is essential to turn to Aristotle whose approach based on the notion that "emotions contain and rely on evaluative thoughts" [1, P. 14]. If you know how to use these "tools" and the information they provide, you can make meaningful decisions in a variety of different situations, deal with other people's feelings as well as influence their decisions. Hence, the study of emotions is of interest to the scientists of various fields: from psychology and sociology to linguistics and politics.
As regards to the political communication, where there is a struggle for power and the political support of the audience, emotions play the key role and serve as a tool for polarizing social groups, helping to aggregate interests and shaping public opinion. With the recent tendency to "emotionalisation", by which we mean the intentional use of emotional and attitudinal means and rhetorical devices with the aim of manipulating the audience's opinion [2, P. 20], it is of high importance to find out the specific means of expressing emotions as
well as their role in the political communication communication. It is emotions that distance the public sphere from the private matters and at the same time make the discussions in the politics more appealing to the audience.
Today we lack the knowledge on how individual emotions influence shaping public opinion. When using the rhetorical device of identification, politicians make the audience rely on their opinion. According to K. Burke, identification is the key principle of rhetoric [3, P. 22]. He states that our society is divided into groups according to their interests. In this case, the aim of any rhetorician is to identify with the interests of the audience in order to overcome this division and conflicts. Thus, we tend to think that identification is not only a rhetorical device, but also a general principle of rhetoric used by the speaker in order to make his point of view acceptable to the addressee and, thereby, reach an understanding with him, as well as to convince and incline him to take his side [4, P. 76].
One of the means of influencing the audience in the political communication is the use of emotional tools together with identification. In this case, identification markers include the pronouns "we", "most of us", "all of us". It should be noted that the pronoun "we" implies not only the speaker, but also the addressee. This is the so-called "inclusive" meaning of "we" - "me and you" [5, P. 202]. R. Fowler and G.
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PEDAGOGICAL SCIENCES / <<Ш1Ш(ШШМ~ЛШ®Ма1>#Я1Ш,2©]]9
Kress note that the "inclusive we" creates the impression of "intimacy" of communication, and — more importantly —assumes the solidarity of the views of the speaker and the addressee, thereby contributing to the effective impact on the latter" [Ibid., P. 203]. Let us consider some examples:
(1) The United States' job is not to lecture, but to encourage, to lift up what we consider to be the values that ultimately will work not just for our country, but for the - the aspirations of a lot ofpeople. <...> I think the thing that we can do most importantly is serve as a good role model [6].
Speaking about the political role of the USA, Barack Obama identifies himself with the audience by using the collective pronoun "we". He also uses "we" together with the noun phrase "our country" in order to emphasize that he and his audience are a single whole and, thereby, show that his position is the position of the whole country. Using the future tense form of the verb in combination with the pronoun "we" creates a feeling of unity of the opinion between the President and the audience ("we consider to be the values that ultimately will work"). Moreover, he uses emotionally marked vocabulary with positive meaning ("to encourage", "to lift up", "aspirations") in order to incline the audience to take his view of the USA as a country of "a good role model".
Another means which politicians use to identify with their audience is the use of the emotive language alongside with the generalized "you" which means "any" or "everyone" and includes both the speaker and the addressee [5, P. 203]. In fact, the pronoun "you" is synonymous with the pronoun "we" in the meaning of generalization:
(2) When you start playing around with constitutions just to prohibit somebody who cares about another person, it just seems to me that's not what America is about. <...> Usually, our constitutions expand liberties, they don't contract them [7].
In this case, the American President uses "you" which indicates his agreement with the position of the audience in terms of legalizing single sex-marriages. Using the verbs with the negative meaning ("play around", "prohibit", "contract"), he justifies the right of these people as well as inclines the audience to take his side - "expand liberties".
Apologies have always had a strong emotional affect on the audience. In this case, the individual feelings of the politician are transferred to the audience, creating the sense of involvement and, thus, making these feelings collective:
(3) I've committed grave mistakes by offering incorrect analysis during the election ... I apologize to the dear Iranian nation because of my incorrect analyses that was the basis for many wrong actions [8].
(4) It's an act of reckless indifference to human life and I apologize on behalf of the Australian people to the Indonesian embassy and to the Indonesian government [9].
In the given examples the politicians express their apologies using the personal pronoun "I" and verbs that
have the meaning of apology ("I apologize"). Identifying themselves with the audience ("the dear Iranian nation", "the Indonesian embassy and to the Indonesian government "), they acknowledge their guilt through the use of emotionally marked words - negative adjectives and nouns ("grave mistakes", "incorrect analysis", "wrong actions", "reckless indifference"). Emotional identification and expression of personal feelings help to create a positive image of a politician capable of pity and compassion in the eyes of the audience as well as to influence it.
To conclude, emotional identification is one of the means of implementing the strategy of emotionaliza-tion in the political communication. It is important to underline that these device can be used by politicians with the purpose of emotional manipulation of the audience making it adopt their opinion. By using emotional identification, politicians show themselves as emotional people who openly express their feelings, which undoubtedly arouses confidence in the audience, enhances the image of politicians and increases the impact of the information they provide.
References:
1. Huppes-Cluysenaer, Liesbeth / Coelho, Nuno M. M. S. Aristotle on Emotions in Law and Politics. / Huppes-Cluysenaer, Liesbeth / Coelho, M. M. S. Nuno. - Switzerland: Springer, 2018. - 423 p.
2. Teneva E. V. Emotionalisation strategy as a means of manipulation in the British media discourse. Russian Linguistic Bulletin, 3(15). Yekaterinburg, Poligrafist, 2018 - P. 19-22.
3. Burke К. A Rhetoric of Motives. - Berkeley; Los Angeles; London, 1969. -pp. 20 - 60.
4. Тенева Е. В. Приемы идентификации и самопрезентации в политико-публицистическом дискурсе (на материале британских газетных статей): Дисс. на соискание ученой степени канд. филолог. наук по специальности 10.02.04 - Германские языки. — СПб, СПбГУ, 2011 - 188 с.
5. Fowler R., Hodge B., Kress G., Trew T. Language and Control. London, Boston and Henley: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979. - pp. 200-212.
6. The Telegraph. June 2, 2009. URL: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/barackobama/5426465/Barack-Obama-says-US-must-lead-by-example.html (дата обращения 25.06.2019)
7. The Telegraph. February 3, 2008. URL: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/barackobama/3375059/Barack-0bama-mar-riage-is-between-a-man-and-a-woman. html (дата обращения 25.06.2019)
8. The Times. August 26, 2009. URL: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/iran-calls-for-death-penalty-on-reformists-in-dock-cg502ldgx9z (дата обращения 25.06.2019)
9. The Times. June 1, 2005. URL: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bacteria-attack-on-indonesian-embassy-in-canberra-6682hwwxdtj (дата обращения 25.06.2019)
