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Тенева Екатерина Веселиновна Санкт-Петербургский Государственный Университет DOI: 10.24411/2520-6990-2019-10384 РОЛЬ ЭМОЦИЙ В ПОЛИТИЧЕСКОЙ КОММУНИКАЦИИ НА ПРИМЕРЕ ДИСКУРСА БРИТАНСКИХ И АМЕРИКАНСКИХ СМИ
Teneva Ekaterina Veselinovna
Saint-Petersburg State University
THE ROLE OF EMOTIONS IN POLITICAL COMMUNICATION BASED ON THE BRITISH AND
AMERICAN MASS MEDIA DISCOURSE
Аннотация
В статье рассматривается одна из наиболее актуальных проблем дискурса СМИ - роль эмоций в политической коммуникации. Автор рассматривает основные функции эмоций, а также различные риторические приемы, которые используют политики, чтобы убедить или эмоционально манипулировать мнением адресата. В статье анализируются конкретные случаи использования этих приемов, а также их языковые маркеры на основе примеров, взятых из современных британских и американских СМИ.
Abstract
The article deals with one of the most urgent issues of mass media discourse studies, i.e. the role of emotions in political communication. The author considers the main functions of emotions as well as different rhetorical devices which are used by politicians in order to persuade or emotionally manipulate the addressee's opinion. The article analyzes particular cases of using these devices, as well as their language markers, based on the examples taken from the modern British and American media.
Ключевые слова: эмоции, политическая коммуникация, дискурс СМИ, риторика, воздействие
Key words: emotions, political communication, mass media discourse, rhetoric, impact
Emotions are an integral and essential part of human life. The communication process involves an emotional component, no matter whether it is communication in media, politics or everyday life. However, emotions have a very subtle nature and multiple meanings, which makes them difficult to thorough analysis. In Aristotle's view, "emotions are cognitively relevant and imply different forms of knowledge" [1, P. 54]. Furthermore, when "the rhetorician arouses the emotions in the audience, he will do so in order to make it more likely that the audience will accept the conclusion he suggests" [Ibid., P. 47]. Thus, they are an interesting object of study of various sciences, including philosophy, psychology, sociology, rhetoric and linguistics.
Emotions play a key role, especially in terms of mass communication. As N. S. Dankova notes, "the media product is the subject of the information experienced by the recipients emotionally and causing a sense of involvement" [2]. There is no doubt that the study of emotions, particularly from the perspective of rhetoric and linguistics, can be relevant in an increasingly media-saturated knowledge society that is continuously in transition and that is becoming ever more complex by political, economic and cultural differences on a global scale.
A special attention is paid to the role of emotions in politics, especially lately, when the media coverage of political events is filled with the expression of emotions. It is obvious that emotions are a very important component of political communication as language resources are used as a means of struggle for political power and manipulation of public consciousness in this type of discourse. T. A. van Dijk argues that "facts are better described and remembered if they contain strong
emotions" [3, P. 5]. G. Lebon claims that "crowds cannot be guided through rules, but it is necessary to look for something that can impress them" [4, P. 5].
According to E. I. Sheigal, one of the functions of emotions in the political communication is the function of social solidarity or group identification [5, P. 65]. In this case, the emotiveness of the political speeches serves as a factor of political integration with an audience. Thus, for instance, a political apology can be used for the purpose of identification with an audience in order to enhance the emotiveness of the given information. It is important to note that the situation of an apology consists of three components: a speaker who identifies himself with the guilty person in the situation, an addressee who is identified with the victim, and a damage itself [6, P. 20]. Let us consider some examples:
(1) Anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes. My intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole [7].
(2) I'm here today to again apologize_for the personal mistakes I have made and the embarrassment I have caused. I make this apology to my neighbors and constituents, but I make it particularly to my wife Huma. I had hoped to be able to continue the work that the citizens of my district had elected me to do, to fight for the middle class and those struggling to make it. Unfortunately, the distraction I have created has made that impossible [8].
Both politicians make apologies to their audience in the given examples. In example № 1 the Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar apologized for her comments that were denounced as antisemitic. Identifying
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herself with the audience ("Jewish allies", " colleagues", "my constituents", "Jewish Americans"), she speaks about her wrongfulness as well as about her desire to remedy the situation by being educated "on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes", thus, establishing trust with the offended Jewish audience. This way not only does she create a positive image of herself of not being an anti-semitic politician, but also exerts influence on the audience, persuading it to justify her mistake and trust her words.
Public repentance of mistakes, especially to family members or specific loved ones, undoubtedly serves to intimidate communication with the audience, identify with it and increase the emotional impact on it. By doing it, politicians try to regain their lost confidence and seek to restore their reputation, as we can see in example № 2. In fact, the politician invites the audience to take his place and feel the full force of his repentance. The transition from a personal apology to a public one is used for an "emotional" infection of an addressee with a speaker's emotional state, forcing the former to feel his emotions and feelings, which is one of the common means of influencing the latter.
Another function of emotions in political communication is to guide and orientate a mass media addressee in politics in order to shape a picture of political reality in the minds of society, which can contribute to further political polarization as well as polarization of public opinion. For this purpose politicians can use testimonials or references to the credible opinion leaders: either of well-known personalities or professionals in a certain field. It is a very common means of manipulation of public opinion in case of political debates. Here the degree of the emotional influence on the audience plays a crucial role. The purpose of these testimonials is to create either a positive or, more likely, negative image of an opponent and to persuade the audience in the rightness of a speaker's opinion. One of the finest examples of this is the verbal exchange of critical remarks made by B. Obama and D. Trump about each other:
(3) Barack Obama re-entered the national political debate, assailing his successor as a "threat to our democracy" and a demagogue practicing the "politics of fear and resentment". [Mr. Obama]: "I don't mean to pretend I'm channeling Abraham Lincoln now, but that's not what he had in mind, I think, when he helped form the Republican Party. It's not conservative. It sure isn 't normal. It's radical" [9].
(4) Mr. Trump wasted no time in responding. He dismissed Mr. Obama's speech. "I'm sorry, I watched it, but I fell asleep, " he said. "I found he[B. Obama] 's very good, very good for sleeping. " [Ibid.]
In the given examples both politicians give negative opinion about each other. To enhance the emotionality of the arguments presented and to identify with the audience, politicians tend to use the emotive language. Such words as "threat", "demagogue", "fear" and "resentment" have negative meaning, thus contributing to the emotional impact of his speech. The answer of D. Trump also implies emotional manipulation by calling B. Obamas speech senseless - "good for sleeping". In this case, the main aim of these words is to "infect" the audience with their emotional attitude as well as to manipulate the opinion of the audience. For instance, Barack Obama labels his opponent, Donald Trump, by
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calling him a "threat to our democracy" and a demagogue practicing the "politics of fear and resentment". Furthermore, B. Obama mentions the name of Abraham Lincoln, saying that he "channels" him. This is the so-called "halo effect", when a speaker refers to the authority of a reputable person so that the attitude towards the latter is automatically projected onto the former. It is a kind of the emotional manipulation when the author actually presents the opinion of another person, hiding his opinion under the reference to the credible person.
Apart from it, the language of politicians can be used in order to cause strong emotional reactions that combine patriotic pride or the memory of past glory in order to strengthen the adherence to this political party as well as unite people. In the given example the reference to A. Lincoln and the Republican party is used for this purpose.
In some cases emotions can serve as a motivational and inspiring impulse to commit an action which is beneficial for politicians:
(5) That is one of my messages in terms of the issue of the referendum, actually we shouldn't be voting to try to recreate the past, we should be voting for what is right for the future. <...>There are definitely things we can do as members of the European Union that I think keep us more safe [10].
Speaking about whether she wanted to be the prime minister, Theresa May focused on explaining why Britain should stay in the EU. In the given example the politician uses the rhetorical device of identification. With the help of the collective pronoun "we" she identifies with the audience in order to motivate the British people to stay in the EU and, thus, to influence them.
In conclusion, it should be noted that the first and foremost function of emotions is to have an impact on the audience. When voicing their emotions, politicians infect the audience, thus achieving their aim - both to find the support of their voters and persuade them as well as to change and manipulate their opinion.
The study of the emotional impact in political communication is of interest not only for the scientists who study rhetoric and linguistic, but also for the scientists engaged in the multiple fields of study since the complex nature of emotions and their impact on the audience is not sufficiently studied. It is important to note that the present study explores only some particular linguistic and rhetoric means used by politicians for the purpose of emotional manipulation, which gives rise to areas of future exploration of emotions from the perspective of different fields of study.
References:
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