The Specificity of the Political Debates Within Political Communication During the Election Period

The aim of the study is to identify dominant discrediting tactics in the discourse of American political debates. The paper examines the characteristics of debates, mainly the actualisation of discrediting tactics in the genre under consideration. The analysis of linguostylistic means involved in the implementation of discrediting tactics is carried out using the discussion of issues relevant to American society during debates as an example. The scientific novelty of the study lies in conducting a comprehensive analysis of the discourse of debates, which makes it possible to determine the essential features of this genre of media political discourse and the leading discrediting tactics peculiar to the discursive personality of politicians and objectified by linguostylistic means. As a result, it has been proved that the dominant discrediting tactics in the genre of American political debates include the tactics of accusation, the tactics of denunciation, the tactics of comparison, the tactics of insult. The linguistic means contributing to the implementation of the discrediting strategy include evaluative and emotionally-charged vocabulary, as well as numerous lexical figurative and expressive means and figures of speech. Content-wise, the analysed material raises such socially significant issues as racism, women’s rights, the judicial system, environmental problems, health care and migration policy.

Linguostylistic Means of Discrediting Tactics Actualisation in the Genre of American Political Debates

Stepanova

2023

Discursive personality of a politician in the genre of American political debates: Intertextual references as a means of actualising discrediting tactics

Степанова

2023

The aim of the study is to identify the role of intertextual references as a means of implementing discrediting tactics in the discourse of an American politician – presidential candidate. The study is novel in that it is the first to consider intertextual references in media political discourse as an effective tool for the implementation of discrediting tactics based on a three-stage analysis of the discourse of debates within the framework of N. Fairclough’s model. In addition, the scientific novelty of the study consists in identifying the features of the speech behaviour of each of the political figures, including some gender-specific characteristics. In particular, it was found that gender differences between candidates can serve as a basis for the implementation of discrediting tactics. The results showed that the dominant types of intertextual references as a means of implementing discrediting tactics were reference, allusion and quotation. Speech aggression can be considered the leading communicative tone of the discursive personality of a politician participating in the debates. It was proved that the discursive personality of a politician influences the choice and nature of the implementation of communicative tactics.

A set of tactics of the British pre-election discourse from the perspective of a self-presentation strategy

Akhmadeev

2023

The aim of the paper is to identify the features of the self-presentation strategy phenomenon and its tactics actualised with the help of English language means and used by modern British politicians, such as Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, during the election campaign. The scientific novelty of the study is accounted for by the need to analyse the language means used by modern British politicians in order to present themselves effectively during the pre-election debates in Cheltenham (August 2022). In the theoretical part of the study, such concepts as “pre-election discourse” and “self-presentation strategy” are considered. In the empirical one, the analysis of fragments of the pre-election speeches is carried out. As a result, it has been proved that politicians can use the following tactics in public speeches to the electorate: compromising the opponent, avoiding an answer, self-praise, consolidation with the audience. It has been established that Liz Truss uses the tactics of consolidation with the electorate and compromising the opponent. Rishi Sunak employs the tactics of consolidation with the electorate, avoiding an answer and self-praise. These tactics are represented with the help of such linguistic means as stylistically charged vocabulary, the first-person singular pronoun, anaphora and metaphor.