Political discourse and its sociolinguistic variables

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Political discourse and its sociolinguistic variables

ПОЛІТИЧНИЙ ДИСКУРС ТА ЙОГО СОЦІОЛІНГВІСТИЧНІ ВАРІАЦІЇ

Telychko Natalia

Lyubka Angelica

Теличко Н. В.

Любка Анжеліка

The political discourse influences the audience not only with the help of linguistic and stylistic means, but also with psychological ones. Various researchers point out these methods within the context of different theories. H. Khazagerov states that psychological influence methods should be pointed out within the structural division of a speech into the logos (deduction, induction, definition), the pathos (threat, promise) and the ethos (approval, denial). O. Bahrii defines methods of psychological influence on the recipient's consciousness within the suggestive context: identification and personality, simulated dialogue, using archetypes and providing positive and negative examples. M. Sirivlja thinks that psychological means of the political discourse should be analyzed on the basis of A. Maslow 's hierarchy of needs. In accordance with it, speakers try to influence people's physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness and love needs, esteem needs as well as self-actualization needs. In addition, the role of jokes as a means of influence in political discourse should not be underestimated. Humor is a means of creating favourable psychological atmosphere, easing tension, humiliating an opponent, demonstration of superiority over other people and phenomena, drawing and keeping the attention of the addressees. Still, it should be taken into consideration that the analysis of the political discourse from the perspective of only one theory cannot be complete. Thus, taking into consideration all the theories, means of psychological influence should be defined. This will be the subject of our further research.

Keywords: political discourse, oratory, psychological influence, linguistic concept, sociolinguistic variant.

plitical discourse sociolinguistic

Стаття присвячена дослідженню політичного дискурсу і його соціолінгвістичним варіантам. Враховуючи той факт, що політичний дискурс є лінгвістичним поняттям, як і будь-який тип тексту, він має свої особливості на структурному рівні. Об'єктом нашого практичного дослідження є інституційний усний політичний дискурс. Отже, ми зосередимося на аналізі його структури.

Оскільки цей тип політичного дискурсу є особливою формою ораторського мистецтва, слід враховувати основні вимоги до структури мови.

Стародавня Греція була місцем, де оратори та їхні виступи спочатку стали предметом наукових досліджень. Тому аналіз структури політичного дискурсу повинен починатися з цього періоду.

Політичний дискурс впливає на аудиторію не лише за допомогою лінгвістичних та стилістичних засобів, але також і з психологічними. Різні дослідники вказують на ці методи в контексті різних теорій. Згідно з цим, доповідачі намагаються впливати на фізіологічні потреби людей, а саме: потребу в безпеці, приналежність і потреба в любові, потреби в повазі, а також потреби в самореалізації. Крім того, роль жартів як засобу впливу в політичному дискурсі не слід недооцінювати. Гумор - це засіб створення сприятливої психологічної атмосфери, полегшення напруги, приниження противника, демонстрація переваги над іншими людьми та явищ, нанесення та збереження уваги адресатів. Тим не менш, слід враховувати, що аналіз політичного дискурсу з точки зору лише однієї теорії не може бути повним. Отже, враховуючи всі теорії, слід визначити засоби психологічного впливу. Це буде предметом нашого подальшого дослідження.

Ключові слова: політичний дискурс, ораторське мистецтво, психологічний вплив, лінгвістичне поняття, соціолінгвістичний варіант.

This paper presents tools to design a quantitative research relating political speech with sociolinguistic variables. Taking into consideration the fact that political discourse is a linguistic notion, as any type of text, it has its peculiarities on the structural level. The object of our practical research is institutional oral political discourse. Hence, we will concentrate on analyzing its structure. As this type of political discourse is a special form of oratory, the main requirements of the structure of speech should be considered.

Discourse is a broad term with various definitions which “integrates a whole palette of meanings”, covering a large area from linguistics, through sociology, philosophy and other disciplines. According to Fairclough the term refers to “the whole process of interaction of which a text is just a part”. As pervasive ways of experiencing the world, discourses refer to expressing oneself using words. Discourses can be used for asserting power and knowledge, and for resistance and critique. The speaker expresses his/her ideological content in texts as does the linguistic form of the text. That is, selection or choice of a linguistic form may not be a live process for the individual speaker, but the discourse will be a reproduction of that previously learned discourse. According to Schaffner, political discourse, as a sub-category of discourse in general, can be based on two criteria: functional and thematic. Political discourse is a result of politics and it is historically and culturally determined. It fulfills different functions due to different political activities. It is thematic because its topics are primarily related to politics such as political activities, political ideas and political relations [4, p. 41].

The main purpose of politicians is to persuade their audience of the validity of their political claims. Political influence flows from the employment of resources that shape the beliefs and behaviours of others. Common resources include expert skills, the restriction of information, the ability to confer favours on others or to injure them without physical force. A linguistic analysis of political discourse in general, and of political speeches in particular, can be most successful when it relates the details of linguistic behaviour to political behaviour.

The introductory part is the first element of a public speech. Its task is to get the listeners psychologically acquainted with the mood of the speech, to introduce the content and to make perception easier.

The introductory part differs from one speech to another as it encourages the speaker's creative approach. Still, there are some typical elements that are peculiar to the introductory part of a speech. They are as follows: speaking to the audience; introductory communicative part is predetermined by the structure of speeches; introductory communicative part is predetermined by the situation [1, p. 72].

The main layout is the longest part of the speech. Its aim is to provide the arguments as a chain of thoughts and ideas and convince the listeners of their being worthwhile.

The main layout has several micro-topics - elements which are contextually and structurally complete and have similar points. Although each of the micro-topics has its own subtopic for discussion, all of them are connected and contribute to the main topic provided in the introductory part. The conclusion is the summary of the speech. Its aim is to generalize the ideas mentioned, analyze the issues presented in the main layout, to introduce the conclusions, provide recommendations or predictions upon the future.

Still, not all the speeches have conclusions. It is due to the fact that sometimes political debates may concern the events the outcome of which is unknown. For example, the author may speak about the course of military operations not having the latest news about their end [4, p. 69].

Structuring political discourse is possible not only from the perspective of organizing the material in a speech, but also from the perspective of content and means of influencing the audience. In order to point out the main elements of the content of political discourse, it is necessary to analyze famous works of ancient philosophers. In his “Rhetoric” Aristotle mentioned three core elements which should be present in any political speech so that it might have influence on the audience. They are ethos, pathos and logos.

Ethos can be defined as the charisma and the authority of the speaker. This is a part of a speech where the speaker tries to get the trust of the audience. Usually ethos coincides with the introductory part of a speech. It is in the introduction that the speaker demonstrates his qualification and his awareness of the subject under discussion. Pathos is the mood and the tone of the speech which appeals to the feelings of the audience. This is the part of the speech where the speaker tries to establish emotional contact with the listeners.

Logos is the arguments of the speaker. This element helps to appeal to the minds of the listeners. Logos, as a matter of fact, is used to inform facts and explain statistics. Still, not all the arguments presented in the logos are reliable. In some cases, political discourse is based on unreliable data in order to achieve certain political aims.

Research results. It should be mentioned that political discourse is clearly structured. From the perspective of organizing material in a speech, its main elements are introduction, main layout and conclusions. Ethos, pathos and logos, as mentioned in Aristotle's “Rhetoric”, contribute to the content of speech. They help to influence the minds of audience as well as their emotional sphere. Each structural element has its typical linguo-stylistic peculiarities which are analyzed in the following chapter.

The main aim of the political discourse is to impose political interests on people. In order to achieve this aim, speakers make use of the methods of psychological influence on the listeners.

Spiridovskii O.V. points out methods of psychological influence with the help of the structural elements of the political discourse: logos, pathos and ethos. The linguist states that deduction, induction and defining are the main psychological mechanisms of the logos. Deduction helps listeners to learn facts on the basis of the analysis of general information. Induction is the way of analyzing from facts to general conclusions.Political approach is a general social and psychological influence on human's mental and emotional sphere that changes neuro-psychological dynamics of the addressee. In other words, political influence is the process of providing a system of arguments in such an emotionally evaluative way that a certain succession of mental and physical actions is imposed on the addressee. One of the most widely used methods of influence in the political discourse is identification and individuality [3, p. 61].

Another means of political influence is simulated dialogue. M. Sirivlja analyzes means of psychological influence which are characteristic of political discourse taking into consideration A. Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The first levels in this hierarchy are physiological needs (food, water) and safety needs (health, security and safety).

Conclusions and perspectives of further research. Studies in sociolinguistics have made it clear that people living in different areas display differences in the use of language, which can reflect and cement the ideas of groups they are used in. As a result, attitudes towards language can be positive or negative, stemming from issues such as social or cultural background, power and status.

Often, politicians try to demonstrate their affection for the audience and for their motherland in their speech to get their support. In addition, political speeches may provide examples of couples being happily married and having children, which creates among the audience the atmosphere of calmness, trust and positive attitude towards the speaker.

References

Demirdogen, U., 2010. Korinnia doslidzhen v (politychnykh) perekonanniakh: Etos, Patos, Lohos i Yelskoho doslidzhennia sponukalnykh komunikatsii [The Roots of Research in (political) Persuasion: Ethos, Pathos, Logos and the Yale Studies of Persuasive Communications]. International Journal of Social Inquiry, 3(1), pp. 189-201.

Kozachenko, S., 2011. Cinnisno-smyslova sfera osobystosti majbutn'ogo vchytelya: analiz klyuchovyx ponyat' [Value and semantic sphere of the future teacher personality: the analysis of key concepts ]. Pedagogika ta psyxologiya - Pedagogy and Psychology, 589, pp. 74-81.

Schaffner, C., 2007. Struktura tekstiv politychnykh promov U. Cherchilia: linhvorytorychnyi pidkhid [Structure of the text of U. Cherchil's political speaches: linguistic and rhetoric approach]. Culture of the Black Sea people, 110(2), pp. 54-56.

Sirivlja, M. A., 2013. Metody vplyvu na oderzhuvacha v politychnykh tekstakh [Methods of influence on recipient in political texts]. International Journal of Experimental Education, 12, pp. 49-51.

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