APHORISMS OF POLITICAL SPHERE МОВНІ ЗАСОБИ РЕАЛІЗАЦІЇ ПРАГМАТИЧНОЇ СПРЯМОВАНОСТІ АНГЛІЙСЬКИХ АФОРИЗМІВ ПОЛІТИЧНОЇ ТЕМАТИКИ

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The paper is focused on the study of functional-and-pragmatic features of English aphorisms actualized in the political discourse. Since aphorisms contain the long-standing wisdom of the whole humanity in general and of each nation in particular, they have become a persuasive and argumentative tool in the political sphere. Even though the notion of an “aphorism” is interpreted in different ways in various linguistic studies, in our paper it is viewed both as a small form text and as a specific means of communication. The aphorism is characterized by a high level of its idea abstraction, concentration of the emotional-and-pragmatic potential as well as conciseness of information. All these genre features of an aphorism are transmitted to the audience by the interaction of typical language means of different levels. The paper demonstrates the increasing role performed by the language in the political life of modern society in general and by the aphorism as a powerful instrument of political leaders to influence the audience, in particular. The analysis of 100 aphorisms representing various political topics of different times and by different authors reveals that according to the criterion of the text pragmatic orientation it is expedient to classify all the aphorisms under study into those that induce the listener/reader to action and the ones that evaluate a certain phenomenon or event. As a result of the study it was shown that regardless their pragmatic orientation, the invariant linguistic means actualizing political aphorisms are the metaphor, antithesis, repetition and simile. In terms of their syntactic structure, the majority of aphorisms consist of one sentence only being of a complex nature that severs for precise and laconic conveying of serious social and political issues. These mean’s interplay provides activating the recipients’ cognitive-and-creating mechanism, inducing them to ponder over the expressed ideas and views. By using aphorisms in their speeches, politicians express their opinions not only more succinctly and informatively, but also more emotionally coloured and thus convincingly.