Фразеологические единицы как средство информационного сжатия в американском предвыборном дискурсе

Abstract

Phraseological units are perhaps one of the most visible manifestations of language manipulation. Although phraseology has always been regarded as a powerful source of influencing people’s minds, relatively little is known about the way one perceives and interprets a phraseological unit which has accumulated a great deal of knowledge and experience of many generations since it was first implemented. This paper attempts to classify the types of this information compression bringing the American election discourse to the center of attention. Firstly, we identify phraseological units among various manipulative means, including those that were subject to any kind of transformation and, therefore, are difficult to detect. Secondly, we seek to categorize these phraseological units according to the “impression” they make on the addressee. Thus, the final stage of the analysis is to estimate which type of information compression via phraseological units is the most popular while manipulating. The findings reveal the enormous potential of phraseological units as a means of information compression to modify the behavior, views, and attitude to things as well as give an idea of something by making the addressee visualize it. The results show the latter’s significance in the information perception by the addressee.