CC BY
8Лингвистические особенности построения политических текстов: аспекты воздействия на позицию адресата
Безземельная Олеся Алексеевна,
старший преподаватель; кафедра иностранных и русского языков, Уфимский юридический институт Министерства внутренних дел Российской Федерации E-mail: olesik_2009@mail.ru
В статье рассматриваются лингвистические особенности построения политических текстов, а именно, стратегии и тактики, позволяющие влиять на политическую позицию адресата. Зачастую, адресант играет роль манипулятора в диалоге, так как именно он направляет свою речь к адресату, преследуя какую-либо цель. То есть, управляет направлением развития диалога. Хотя, существует и мнение, что и сам получатель речи играет немаловажную роль в управлении коммуникацией. Цель статьи - исследовать различные способы воздействия на адресата (аудиторию) при помощи различных видов стратегий и тактик. Актуальность статьи обусловлена возрастающим интересом лингвистики к изучению разновидностей дискурса и выявлению коммуникативных моделей с позиции адресата. Как правило, политик желает побудить адресата проголосовать за него на выборах, завоевать авторитет или укрепить свой имидж, информировать адресата о своей позиции по какому-либо вопросу и т.д. С точки зрения речевого воздействия стратегию можно рассматривать только с помощью анализа тактик. Стратегии в политическом дискурсе определяются целями, которые вызывает к жизни политическое общение.
Ключевые слова: дискурс, адресат, стратегии, тактики, оппонент, политик.
Introduction
To begin with, the topic under discussion is the political discourse which is understood by the majority of scholars as a kind of persuasive discourse marked by manipulative specifics. Which is expressed in the provision of speech influence on the addressee in order to change the picture of the world of the listener, which entails the regulation of the addressee's activities in favor of the addressee [8, P. 58].
To go on, the impact of the author of an oral or written message on his addressee is understood as to convince somebody of something; to call for the commission or non-performance of certain actions by an addressee. Indeed, with persistent communication, a person consciously forms statements that are aimed at causing a certain reaction of the recipient [8, P. 61 ].
The relevance of the topic is determined by the fact that speech influence is carried out through the communicative strategies and tactics, the essence of which is to operate on the addressee's knowledge, on his value categories, emotions, wills. A communicative strategy is said to be a plan for the optimal implementation of communicative intentions, taking into account objective and subjective factors and conditions in which the act of communication takes place [7, P. 160].
The novelty of research is caused by the fact that since the addressee's communication intention is a general strategy of self-defense, self-justification as a category that is in opposition to the intentions of some opponent, hence the semantics of self-defense, we consider self-justification as a basic semantic category in the aspect of self-presentation. This general strategy of communication in political discourse is divided into a number of other strategies that implement the main strategies of self-presentation. Each strategy of political discourse is implemented through the use of a certain set of tactics, i.e. a set of techniques bearing a manipulative aspect [7, P. 161].
The task of our work is to analyze different approaches to classifying strategies and tactics of the political discourse. Therefore, we follow the classification by O.L. Mikhaleva, who reveals the main strategies used by politicians to construct speeches and, as a result, to maximize the achievement of their goals [5, P. 134].
Thus, the following three main strategies of the political discourse are usually distinguished:
1) a downgrade strategy;
2) a strategy to increase;
3) a strategy of theatricality [5, P. 139].
The analysis of the empirical material has shown a multifaceted understanding of this linguistic phenom-
C3
о
CO "O
1=1 А
—I
о
C3
о m О от
З
ы о со
enon. We now turn to examples illustrating the above strategies.
The downgrade strategy is aimed at discrediting the opponent, which is a political opponent. This strategy involves the use of tactics that implicitly and explicitly express a negative attitude to the subject of communication. The desire to weaken the enemy's position or express a negative attitude to the situation is carried out through several tactics [5, P. 214]:
1. The tactics of analysis - "minus" is based on the facts and consideration of a situation involving the expression of a negative attitude to the described, but the author does not directly declare his dissatisfaction. An important role is played by the use of lexical means implicitly expressing the speaker's attitude.
Barack Obama: "For the last six years we've been told that our mounting debts don' matter, we've been told that the anxiety Americans feel about rising health care costs and stagnant wages are an illusion, we've been told that climate change is a hoax, and that tough talk and an ill-conceived war can replace diplomacy, and strategy, and foresight. And when all else fails, when Katrina happens, or the death toll in Iraq mounts, we've been told that our crises are somebody else's fault. We're distracted from our real failures, and told to blame the other party, or gay people, or immigrants" [9].
Addressing American voters, Barack Obama talks about the problems that the country has had to face over the past six years. It can be seen from the excerpt that this discourse is aimed at discrediting the policy of the current government and the disclosure of the truth from his point of view and a personal negative attitude to it.
2. The tactics of the accusation consists in attributing any guilt to someone, as well as revealing someone's unseemly actions, intentions and qualities. Identifying the weaknesses and shortcomings of an opponent can make him less attractive to voters. It means that the accusation is able to increase the preference of the attacking candidate by reducing the attractiveness of the opponent. The tactics of the accusation as part of the downgrade strategy can be seen in the example given from B. Obama's speech.
B. Obama: "And what the/re now counting is that the American people will be so worn down by all the squabbling, so tired of all the dysfunction, that you'll actually reward obstruction, either by voting for folks claiming to bring about change, or not voting at all, but either way, putting people back in charge who advocate the very same policies that got us into this mess.
In other words, their bet is on cynicism. The/re counting on you not voting. That's their entire strategy. But, Colorado, my bet is on you. My bet is on you. My bet is on the decency and good sense of the American people" [9].
To implement the tactics of accusation, politicians use such a stylistic device as comparison. The use of ° this stylistic technique attracts the attention of listens' ers and enhances the effect of influence on consciously ness.
^ 3. The tactics of denunciation, which is part of I the main part of a downgrade strategy, can be illustrat-
ed in the speech of the candidate for the presidency from the Republican Party, J. McCain, when he tries to expose his opponent Barack Obama in violation of the promise he made earlier.
John McCain: "When he ran for the United States Senate from Illinois, he said he would have a middle-income tax cut. You know he came to the Senate and never once proposed legislation to do that?" [11 ]
In this example, J. McCain tries to cite incriminating facts and arguments, expressing the guilt of Barack Obama, his passivity. The result of the analysis of tactics representing a strategy for lowering demonstrates that their common feature is the expression of the speaker's negative attitude not only to the addressee, but also to the subject of speech. The choice of a downgrade strategy reflects the presence of a negative attitude of the speaker, since the addressee is most often a political rival, an opponent.
To our mind, the downgrade strategy implements the setting, which consists in debunking the claims to the role. As a result of the action of this setting, it is clearly visible the speaker's desire to discredit the opponent.
The strategy to increase is characterized by the speake''s desire to present himself in a favorable light, to increase his importance in the eyes of the addressee. This strategy is implemented through the following tactics:
1. The tactics of analysis - "plus" implies such a description of the situation that contributes to the creation of a positive attitude of the recipient to the situation under consideration.
D. Trump: "Today's ceremony, however, has very special meaning because today we are not merely transferring power from one Administration to another, or from one party to another, but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the people" [10].
Or another example: D. Trump: "That all changes starting right here and right now - because this moment is your moment. It belongs to you. It belongs to everyone gathered here today and everyone watching all across America. This is your day. 36 This is your celebration. And this, the United States of America, is your country" [10].
During the use of the analysis-"plus" tactic, the speaker positively describes the situation using various methods. In the statement above, one can notice such a stylistic device as anaphora - the repetition of words in the statement (belongs, this is ...). This technique is used to express the emotionality of the significance of what is happening, which corresponds to the tactics used.
2. The tactics of presentation is to present someone in a positive light. The candidate's speeches should praise him or, in other words, tell the voters about his positive sides. Emphasizing the desired qualities or views of a candidate can present him in the best light against the background of opponents, in particular for those voters who highly value these qualities and views to present someone in a positive light.
D. Trump: "I have built an amazing business that I love and I get to work side-by-side with my children every day. I love what I do, and I am grateful beyond words to the nation that has allowed me to do it. So when people ask me why I am running, I quickly answer: I am running to give back to this country which has been so good to me" [10].
D. Trump: "I am optimistic. I am successful. I'm going to win, because the American people know I know how to lead. My ideas are better for the future. Our coalition is strong. It will remain strong, so long as I'm the president' [10].
The analysis shows that in order to strengthen the impact on the audience, the politician uses strong stylistic means such as repetition (the use of the personal pronoun I), short parallel constructions, lexemes, the semantics of which allows you to characterize a politician as a person with a certain set of positive qualities (the adjectives optimistic, successful, strong, verbs to win, to lead, adjectives to a comparative degree better).
3. Rejection of criticism. Politicians use this tactic in order to justify themselves in the eyes of the audience during the debate, which may affect the speaker's image, giving arguments and facts in defense.
D. Trump: "Well, first of all, those stories have been largely debunked. Those people - I don't know those people. I have a feeling how they came. I believe it was her campaign that did it.... I would say the only way - because those stories are all totally false, I have to say that. And I didn't even apologize to my wife, who's sitting right here, because I didn't do anything. I didn't know any of these -1 didn't see these women. These women - the woman on the plane, the - I think they want either fame or her campaign did it. And I think ifs her campaign. Because what I saw what they did, which is a criminal act, by the way, where the/re telling people to go out and start fist-fights and start violence" [10].
In the given example, the tactics of rejection of criticism is implemented by such linguistic means as repetitions (people, women).
It's worth stressing that political texts are characterized by a strategy of theatricality, especially during election speeches. The presence of an addressee-observer (audience) in the political discourse, i.e. a potential voter, makes political communication especially spectacular. This applies primarily to pre-election debates, in which a politician has a direct opponent, but it is obvious that the speaker is trying to influence not the worldview of his opponent in the political race, but the listener. The impact on the addressee in this type of strategy is marked by high emotionality.
The strategy of theatricality is implemented through a number of tactics:
1. Motivation tactics - t he speaker seeks to encourage the audience to commit an action, trying to convince them of the correctness of his point of view, calls to vote for his candidacy, focusing on that it will be beneficial to the voters.
D. Trump: "I am running for President to end the unfairness and to put you, the American worker, first.
We are going to put America first, and we are going to Make America Great again" [10].
This tactic can be combined with the tactics of self-presentation, in which a politician puts himself and his party in the most favorable light, trying to attract the maximum number of voters to his side.
The use of the pronoun we in this case indicates that it is important for the speaker to emphasize the idea of cohesion. Without the efforts of society, his program will not be valid. The candidate for the post of president focuses the listener's attention on the fact that right now it is the time for change, for new opportunities.
2. Tactics of cooperation is such a way of addressing, with the help of which the speaker constructs the image of the addressee, appealing to the ideas and values of which he is the bearer (according to the speaker).
D. Trump: "We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones and unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate from the face of the Earth.
At the bedrock of our politics will be a total allegiance to the United States of America, and through our loyalty to our country, we will rediscover our loyalty to each other. When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice. We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements honestly, but always pursue solidarity. When America is united, America is totally unstoppable" [10].
It's quite clear that in his speech D. Trump addresses Americans as courageous, patriotic people who will be able to cope with any difficulties. He creates an image of a person with the same values, that is, he sees cooperation between him and the voters.
A distinctive feature of the strategy of theatricality in American political discourse is the large proportion of the use of terms such as democracy, independence, interest, future, love, destiny and others that can create an atmosphere of unity of value between a candidate for high office and voters. For example:
H. Clinton: "President Obama asked me to serve and I accepted. You know why? We both love our country. That is how our democracy is supposed to work. We just celebrated 240 years of our independence. In America we put common interest before self-interest. We stand together because we know we are stronger together [9].
B. Obama: "Hillary is not somebody who fears the future. She believes that it is ours to shape, the same way ifs always been. Hillary understands that we make our own destiny as long as we're together, as long as we think of ourselves not as just a collection of individuals or a collection of interest groups or a collection of states, but as a United States of America" [9].
Being "sacred formulas" for the average American, these concepts, expressing the values and ideologies of American voters, have an agitation orientation, which helps the speaker to create an image of a patriot and a fighter for the prosperity of American society.
3. The tactic of informing is the provision of facts and data, not accompanied by an expression of the
C3
o
CO "O
1=1 A
—I
o
C3 t; o m o
OT
3
u o
CO
speaker's attitude. Possession of figures and statistics affects the audience with the authority of objectivity and accuracy.
D. Trump: "According to federal data, there are at least 2 million, 2 million, think of it, criminal aliens now inside of our country, 2 million people criminal aliens' [10].
This example, based on the tactics of informing, creates the illusion of objectivity of everything that the candidate for the presidency says. The President can say anything, but the existence of tactics of informing and its real accuracy causes a positive attitude of the audience.
4. The tactic of promise is also the leading one in the means of persuading the listener. An insincere promise, which has a special personal meaning inherent in insincerity as a strategy, is in most cases used by candidates to achieve his goals, without taking into account the interests of the addressee. This tactic is very frequent in modern political discourse, especially in the candidate's election promises. The tactics of the promise are explicated by a set of lexical and grammatical means, the leading of which is the form of the verb of the future tense.
D. Trump: "If I am elected President, I will end the special interest monopoly in Washington, D.C." [10].
A distinctive feature of H. Clinton's promise tactics has a clear value hierarchy of tasks to be solved by the future president. To do this, the politician uses numerals that determine the order of tasks: first, second, third, etc. The lexical representatives of H. Clinton's promise tactics are illustrate by the following verbs: to increase, to make, to build on.
H. Clinton: "First, we're going to increase the federal minimum wage. Second, we're going to make college debt-free for all. And we're going to build on the presidents idea to make community college free. Third, we're going to rewrite the rules and crack down on companies that ship jobs overseas and profits to go with them" [9].
5. Forecasting tactics are predicting, predicting the further development, the flow of something based on the interpretation of different data. The presidential candidate, referring to his political plans and ideas, can provide a rather comforting forecast of the subsequent development of the situation in the country, which will allow him to increase his rating among voters:
H. Clinton: "Under President Obama and Vice President Bridel, we've had 75 straight months of job growth. We will see 75 more. We'll make the biggest investment in new good paying jobs since World War II' [9].
The above given example allows deduce an inference that forecasting tactics are also the tactics of influence. H. Clinton's speech is represented by possible achievements and concrete figures. The tactics of forecasting, as well as the tactics of informing, are based on the factor of objectivity, which can convince ° the voter of the attractiveness of the candidate. At the " same time, the tactics of a positive forecast are used. g In our opinion, the list of tactics by which certain ^ strategies are implemented requires further investiga-I tion.
Conclusion
To sum it up. In the result of our researchers, we reached the following conclusions:
1. The syntactic stylistic means help to focus attention on specific points of the utterance that are important for the speaker. E.g.: repetitions, parallel syntactic constructions, colloquial constructions, etc. serve as a way to maintain public interest. All these features affect the creation of feedback with the listener, appeal to their consciousness, create a certain emotional mood. This is one of the components of the success of a political campaign.
2. Many political texts contain statements of facts and opinions, but such information should serve as another argument to convince the addressee and ultimately influence his political position. The need to convince the audience determines the use of certain strategies and tactics that make the impact most effective.
3. However, very often the impact is directed not so much at the direct addressee, who is actually the "opponent of communication", as at the indirect addressee - the audience watching the struggle of rivals. The main goal of each of the communicants is to influence the audience, using the weaknesses and mistakes of the opponent as much as possible.
Литература
1. Иванова Ю.М. Стратегии речевого воздействия в жанре предвыборных теледебатов: дисс. ... канд. филол. наук: 10.02.19 / Ю.М. Иванова. Волгоград, 2003. 138с.
2. Иссерс О.С. Речевое воздействие. М.: Флинта: Наука, 2011. 224 с.
3. Иссерс О.С. Тактики выведывания информации // Прямая и непрямая коммуникация: Сб. науч. тр. Саратов, Изд-во ГосУНЦ «Колледж», 2003. С.231-239.
4. Кауфова И.Б. Лингво-коммуникативные стратегии в предвыборных речах Хиллари Клинтон. Тамбов: Грамота, 2016. № 9 (63). Ч. 2. С. 100103.
5. Михалева О.Л. Политический дискурс. Специфика манипулятивного воздействия. М.: Ли-броком, 2009. 256 с.
6. Скулимовская Д.А. Стратегии и тактики в политическом дискурсе (на материале выступления Б. Обамы) / Д.А. Скулимовская // Политическая лингвистика, 2017.
7. Халатян А.Б. Коммуникативные стратегии и тактики современного предвыборного дискурса в России и США. Вестник ПГЛУ. 2010. № 1. С.159-164.
8. Чернявская В.Е. Дискурс власти и власть дискурса: проблемы речевого воздействия. М.: Флинта: Наука, 2006. 134 с.
9. Hillary Clinton President Obama and Hillary Clinton's Remarks From Their First Joint Rally [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.hillaryclin-ton. com/briefing/updates/2016/07/05/president-
obama-and-hillary-clinton's-reinarks-from-their-first-joint-rally/ (дата обращения: 05.07.2016)
10. https://www.donaldtrump.com/briefing/up-dates/2016/06/22 donald-trump-nyc-speech-on-stakes-of-the-election/ (дата обращения: 22.06.2016).
11. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/nov/05/ john-mccain-concession-speech (дата обращения: 05.11.2008).
LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF POLITICAL TEXTS: ASPECTS OF THE IMPACT ON THE POSITION OF THE ADDRESSEE
Bezzemelnaya O.A.
Ufa Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia
The article discusses the linguistic features of the construction of political texts, namely, strategies and tactics that allow influencing the political position of the addressee. Often, the addressee plays the role of a manipulator in the dialogue, since it is he who directs his speech to the addressee, pursuing some goal. That is, it manages the direction of the development of the dialogue. Although, there is also an opinion that the recipient of speech himself plays an important role in communication management. The purpose of the article is to study different ways of influencing the addressee (audience) using different types of strategies and tactics. The relevance of the article is caused by the increasing interest of linguists in the study of varieties of discourse and the identification of communicative models from the position of the addressee. As a rule, a politician wants to encourage the addressee to vote for him in the elections, gain credibility or strengthen his/her image, inform the addressee about his/her position on any issue, etc. From the point of view of speech impact, the strategy can be considered only with the help of tactics analysis. Strategies in political discourse are determined by the goals that political communication brings to life.
Keywords: discourse, addressee, strategies, tactics, opponent,
politician.
References
1. Ivanova Yu.M. Strategies of speech influence in the genre of pre-election television debates: diss. ... cand. philol. Sciences: 10.02.19 / Yu.M. Ivanova. Volgograd, 2003. 138s.
2. Issers O.S. Speech impact. M.: Flinta: Nauka, 2011. 224 p.
3. Issers O.S. Tactics of finding out information // Direct and indirect communication: Sat. scientific tr. Saratov, Publishing House of the State University Center "College", 2003. S. 231-239.
4. Kaufova I.B. Linguo-communicative strategies in Hillary Clinton's election speeches. Tambov: Diploma, 2016. No. 9 (63). Part 2. S. 100-103.
5. Mikhaleva O. L. Political discourse. The specifics of manipulative influence. M.: Librokom, 2009. 256 p.
6. Skulimovskaya D.A. Strategies and tactics in political discourse (based on B. Obama's speech) / D.A. Skulimovskaya // Political Linguistics, 2017.
7. Khalatyan A.B. Communication strategies and tactics of modern pre-election discourse in Russia and the USA. Bulletin of PSLU. 2010. No. 1. S. 159-164.
8. Chernyavskaya V.E. The discourse of power and the power of discourse: problems of speech influence. M.: Flinta: Nauka, 2006. 134 p.
9. Hillary Clinton President Obama and Hillary Clinton's Remarks From Their First Joint Rally [Electronic resource]. URL: https:// www.hillaryclinton. com/briefing/updates/2016/07/05/president-obama-and-hillary-clinton's-reinarks-from-their-first-joint-rally/ (accessed 07/05/2016)
10. https://www.donaldtrump.com/briefing/updates/2016/06/22 donald-trump-nyc-speech-on-stakes-of-the-election/ (accessed 22.06.2016).
11. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/nov/05/john-mccain-concession-speech (accessed 05.11.2008).
