Abstract
The article presents an attempt to reconstruct the system of thinking of Russian conservative nationalists of the late Empire period based on a comparison of the formal and substantive features of their texts, which were dedicated to the "Finnish question". Taken together, these texts constituted a single "anti-Finnish discourse" created in order to influence the government and public opinion on the status of the Grand Duchy of Finland. However, they were united not only by origin and content, but also by common formal characteristics such as rhetorical features and tricks, vocabulary, and syntactic constructions. Metaphors were the most important formal element of this discourse. They can be combined into four conventional metaphorical models: historical, military, criminal, and physiological. The analysis of metaphorical series allows us to make conclusions not only about how well publicists commanded methods of propaganda influence on the audience, but also about the logic of their thinking. With the help of metaphors and auxiliary linguistic tools linked to them, “one’s own” and “alien” social strata were marked, an ideal society was described, and discourse authors’ attitude to the current situation in the country was demonstrated.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
