Manipulative Speech: A Theoretical Overview

Abstract

Manipulation is one of the concepts that needs a more in-depth theoretical and practical examination. It is employed in many areas of life, including personal and social matters, intellectual and professional pursuits, and, of course, politics. This paper is an approach, the purpose of which is to study the concept of manipulation as a psychological and linguistic phenomenon where the central emphasis is on the manipulative techniques and tactics that are utilized for various reasons such as illegitimate domination and social abuse. At this level of investigation we find it essential to illustrate different approaches to the study of this phenomenon as well as certain dictionary definitions to be able to fully perceive and comprehend the properties of manipulation.

Media-Political Discourse From a Textological Viewpoint

“…It includes lying, excuse-making, being two-faced, blaming the victim for causing their own victimization, etc. (Ni, 2015, see about it also in Gasparyan & Harutyunyan, 2021).…”

“…Overwhelming the target with facts and statistics also known as "intellectual bullying" happens in many areas of life. By imposing alleged facts, statistics, and other data manipulators try to presume power over others, the latter, being unaware of the situation (Ni, 2015, see about it also in Gasparyan & Harutyunyan, 2021).…”

“…Guilt-Baiting is a strategy often used to hold someone else accountable for his/her pleasure, success, or failings. The manipulator coerces the target into granting unreasonable requests and demands by using the emotional vulnerabilities and susceptibility of the latter through guilt baiting which the manipulator believes to be more rational and effective than straightforward blaming (Ni, 2015, see about it also in Gasparyan & Harutyunyan, 2021).…”

Qualitataive-Quantitative Study of Media Political Discourse From the Perspective of Manipulation

“…Thus, the results of the survey make our statement mentioned above logical and rational. The term manipulation has been defined differently by researchers in their approaches to the study of the concept (see also about it in Gasparyan, Harutyunyan, 2021). It was also interesting to observe how manipulation is viewed in the eye of the reader.…”