Comparative analysis of American and Russian political discourse: A discourse analysis study

The paper describes dynamic aspects of the status vocative system in Russian, American and British po-litical communication. It investigates Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly in Russia, Speech from the Throne in Great Britain and State of the Union Address in the USA as a special genre of political discourse.

The aim of the research is to identify the ways to legitimize Russian political discourse in the context of proximity theory and to interpret the Russian side’s political position through discourse analysis. Legitimization of political discourse is an important prerequisite for reaching an agreement between the speaker and the addressee, as well as for gaining political recognition and support. The scientific novelty of the study lies in analyzing the proximization strategy using UAM Corpus Tool to obtain an analytical scheme taking into account the lexical and grammatical features of the Russian language and to apply this scheme in the analysis of Russian political discourse and the interpretation of President Putin’s discursive logic. As a result, the research has identified and analyzed the strategies of legitimization in Russian political discourse, systematized the logic of the discourse to achieve legitimization using a three-dimensional coordinate diagram of the discursive space and clarified Russia’s political positions and motives for action based on discursive analysis.

This article is devoted to the issue of the need to include in the course of Russian as a foreign language the work on the analysis of Russian-speaking political discourse, the issues of identifying and interpreting euphemisms and dysphemisms in the political discourse, in particular. Euphemisms and dysphemisms are widely used by Russian speakers in a variety of communication situations and speech genres, including political discourse, which makes the research devoted to the systematic description of their functioning in modern Russian-language communication and their place in the Russian language picture of the world urgent. The relevance of the present study is due to the need to integrate the results of cognitive and pragmatic research into the purposeful activities of the teacher of Russian as a foreign language to form the linguistic personality of a foreign student, capable of educational and professional activities in the conditions of multicultural dialogue. The paper deals with the formation of foreign students’ skills and abilities of discursive analysis of the Russian text, identification and interpretation of speech tactics and strategies, the strategy of dominance and resistance, implemented in speech through the use of euphemisms and dysphemisms, in particular. At high levels of proficiency in Russian as a foreign language B2-C1 these skills are a necessary element of the professional competence of humanities professionals. The choice of political texts as the material for the analysis is connected with the fact that for professionals in the humanities, in the field of international relations, in particular, political discourse is a significant sphere of official communication and professional interaction. The aim of the present study is to analyze the theoretical foundations for describing euphemisms and dysphemisms for linguistic and pedagogical purposes, and to develop an approach to creating learning materials aimed at building the skills and abilities of foreign students to recognize hidden meanings and tools of indirect communication in Russian political discourse. The use of the proposed approach helps to develop in foreign students the ability to analyze political discourse and to identify the author’s key and secondary intentions, as well as to improve the skill of operating political terminology and the selection of lexical and verbal means in accordance with the communicative situation and the communicative goals and intentions pursued. The authors relied on the works of domestic and foreign linguists and methodologists in their research. The sociocultural, competence and systemic approaches were used in the research, and the method of complex text analysis and descriptive method were applied.

The present chapter proposes to build bridges between political discourse analysis and corpus linguistics. We intend to bring to light methodological benefits arising from the synergy of (political) discourse analysis and corpus linguistics, pointing to fruitful contribution from French text statistics. Taking the discourses of Nicolas Sarkozy as an example, we show how political discourse analysis can benefit from a reflection on corpora (their constitution, their role in the research process); on linguistic analysis and processing methods (particularly the computer-assisted methods of text statistics); and finally on the interpretative paths at a time of establishment of a numerical hermeneutics.

Metaphor is a key element of our article, which is known to modern cognitive science as a general mental activity, as an order of cognition, structuring and explanation of the world. The individual does not convey his thoughts exclusively through metaphors, but he also thinks in metaphors, organizing the world in which he lives through metaphors.
 The structure of the article includes a description of the metaphor, its general features and models and its role in political discourse, practical examples and a conclusion expressing our vision in working on the problem. This is part of our master's thesis on the analysis of political discourse.

This article is devoted to studying of the phenomenon of censorship and self-censorship in the modern American and Russian political media discourse. The authors analyse the pre-election speeches and the publications in the social networks of K. A. Sobchak and V. V. Zhirinovsky, as well as of D. Trump and H. Clinton. The purpose of the article, which consists in conducting a comparative linguocultural study of the mechanisms of censoring and self-censoring information in the modern American and Russian political media discourse, is achieved by using a comparative method, linguocultural analysis, a complex method of lexical and semantic, stylistic, interpretive, and emotive analysis. The analysis of the material shows that traditional forms of censorship in Russian political media discourse are not identified, but they can be found in the media space of the USA, causing a relatively weak public reaction among the communicators. In media space of the USA and Russia, the absence of formal external censorship restrictions leads to the updating of self-censorship to maintain the integrity of the manifestations of the language personality of a politician. Censorship in modern American and Russian media environment lies in such a structuring of information, that deliberately prevents the addressee from interpreting the information in an undesirable way. Self-censorship in modern media environment of the USA and Russia is characterized by an increase of the volume of information and the relative preservation of its valuable aspect. In addition, media discourse can be implicitly censored by filtering the comments under social media publications or by artificially increasing the number of approving reactions to them (by getting «cheat likes»). Self-censorship may use some features of the response to visual elements, when the picture and text supplement each other, causing the desired for the addressee emotional response. Hypertext can also direct the emotional response in the desirable direction, referring to the beneficial for the addressee elements of media discourse.

The article is aimed at revealing the current trends in the usage of ironic metaphors in Russian, British and American political discourse. Given the diversity of political genres, which makes it difficult to classify them, the article draws on the division into primary, secondary and folklore genres (Bazylev 2005, Sheigal 2000). The study focuses on secondary and folklore genres, as, being informal, they presuppose the use of irony. The data was taken from the speeches of Russian, American and British political leaders (V. Putin, S. Lavrov, D. Trump, B. Obama, N. Farage, B. Johnson and others). Drawing on the works on po-litical discourse (Beard 2001, Budaev 2010, Charteris-Black 2005, Chudinov 2001, Lakoff 2003, Ponton 2016, Van Dijk 2009) and developing a discursive approach to the study of irony which is often conveyed through metaphor (Shilikhina 2008, Alba-Juez 2014, Attardo 2007, Giora 2003, Hutcheon 2005), we have identified the conceptual spheres that are the most active sources of modern metaphors. We have traced the link between the new political trends and new metaphors, as well as existing metaphors which acquire a new ironic meaning. The results of the conducted analysis show the frequency of ironic metaphors, includ-ing aggressive ones, and the diversity of their functions in modern political discourse. The comparative analysis made it possible to reveal some peculiarities of the usage of ironic metaphors in Russian, English and American political discourse, which are presupposed by the speakers’ individual characteristics as well as culture specific discursive features.

The relevance of this study is conditioned by the comparison of the original texts (in Kazakh) and translated texts (in English) within the framework of the analysis of political discourse and translation analysis. The purpose of the study is to identify the features, patterns, and difficulties for translators to comprehensively assess the adequacy (quality) of the translation and recommendations for compilation to facilitate the translation process. The paper provides a comparative analysis of the modern Kazakh political discourse and its translation into English to identify the features of the translation of language tools, taking into account their pragmatic potential. The theoretical relevance and originality of this research are due to the considerably increased interest in the study of political discourse in the aspect of translation. A comparative approach in political discourse consisting of two languages can be a useful material for studying and comparing political discourse in each of the languages, as well as arouse interest in further research of translation in this language pair. The practical relevance lies in the fact that the presented results can be used in teaching courses of the following disciplines: onomastics, pragmalinguistics, terminology, political science, LSP (language for special purposes), and SPVE (special professional vocabulary of the English language). The materials of this paper can be useful in the field of international relations for international specialists, journalists, translators.

The article examines cross-cultural aspects of metaphorical framing in political discourse. The author notes the importance of conceptual metaphor in framing the conceptual domain of politics, political discourse as a whole, its perception as well as political reality itself. The author shares an opinion that the metaphorical structure of basic concepts of a nation always correlates with its fundamental cultural values. However, the examination of political discourse from the cross-cultural perspective reveals the cases of metaphor uses that don't meet the requirements of cultural coherence and may lead to negative cognitive and communicative consequences. Along with admitting a wide discrepancy between metaphorical models in western and oriental political discourse, the author gives some examples of metaphorical coherence as well as its violation in a number of basic metaphors in American, British and Russian political discourse. To illustrate how cross-cultural factors determine the specific character of metaphorical framing, the article analyses the dynamic character of metaphorical models that can realize diverse scenarios in different national varieties of political discourse. An observation is made about the dependence of metaphoric scenarios in different national varieties of political discourse on the cultural, historical, social and political components of the national cultural cognitive map. The latter is heterogeneous as it is structured by the objectified individual, group, and national verbal and nonverbal experience. This explains, for instance, why there are examples of similarity as well as discrepancy between metaphorical framing in ideologically different party varieties of political discourse within the national political discourse as well as in the rhetoric of politicians belonging to different generations. The observations are illustrated by cross-linguistic data proving the dynamic character of metaphorical models, their variability and potential for conveying new meaning nuances that reflect culture-specific characteristics of the political situation in discourse.

This case study is an example of interdisciplinary research, which couples the linguistic aspects with the study of public political discourse in social media. The purpose of the study is to identify how “realism” terms and national/global agenda are represented in Twitter discourse of leaders of countries which claim to be global powers today. Obviously, it is impossible to claim a high status in the modern world without participation in global discussions (including the level of influence on public opinion in Twitter). We collect data from official accounts of the U.S. President Donald Trump, France’s President Emmanuel Macron, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, and Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Then we propose a research method developed by us which contains 5 stages. The main method of research is traditional content analysis, not only selective (under this or that theory), but also “front-line” one. We are interested in the subject matter (key, most frequent vocabulary) that dominates the considered texts. We separate the same amounts of text (approximately 33 000 words) in the content of the Twitter pages of Trump, Macron, Putin and Medvedev. Then we quantify the words and identify the key concepts which are specific for political realism and political idealism. We perform a “frontal” general analysis of all the most frequently used concepts. We make a quantitative assessment of the nature of the use of political leaders’ key concepts (this stage of analysis is divided on several sub-stages). Finally we compare the frequency of concepts’ use by leaders of the West and Russia.

Isabela and Norman Fairclough have written a very important book whose full significance is perhaps in danger of being missed if we view it simply, in their own self-depiction, as a text for advanced students. Indeed, in what follows I want to argue that their book is much better seen as the occasion for a debate that we desperately need to be having about how to conduct political discourse analysis rather than as the elucidation of an agreed, almost official, methodology for the conduct of such a form of discourse analysis. At times their book reads like the definitive statement of the only credible approach to the analysis of political discourse as both political and as discourse, derived logically and forensically from a consideration of the specificity of the political itself. While I have considerable sympathy for the attempt to reflect and preserve the specificity of the political in an avowedly political discourse analysis, I have rather more problem, as will become clear in what follows, in the methodological absolutism that leads the Faircloughs to present their approach as, in effect, the only way to do political discourse analysis properly. At this stage in its development political discourse analysis needs a proliferation, not a narrowing, of methods and acknowledgement that there is more than one way to analyse political discourse politically. I will argue for a certain methodological pluralism in political discourse analysis, pointing to problems both with the approach to political discourse analysis that the Faircloughs espouse and with their attempt to foreground such an approach in an essentially Aristotelian account of the specificity of the political.

The article provides an overview of typological mechanisms in the arrangement of communicative practices in modern political discourse and methods of verbal explication of its axiological and symbolic constituents, determining mental universals in individual/collective consciousness. The study provides a systematic characterization of linguistic and social-and-cultural dominants in political interaction. Verbal indicators of social asymmetry are identified. The description of the language of political discourse aspectual data are summarized. A multilevel analysis of the component structure of political interactions is carried out. The genre specifics of legitimate and illegitimate communicative acts is taken into consideration. The combination of the methods applied in discourse analysis, such as linguistic cognitive projection, linguistic-and-cultural interpretation and functional-and-pragmatic examination of text units, enabled the researchers to identify and qualify linguo-semiotic elements of political practices. Hence, an ecolinguistic typology of basic linguistic components of political communication acts characterized by various legitimacy degrees has been carried out. The study revealed a possibility to single out a specific communicative range in Russian political discourse, in the framework of which linguistic and cultural resources of ideologically charged discursive practices would be actualized and the area of possible communication risks would be significantly expanded.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the forms that the discourse of politics and policies of education assumes in Spain and the European Union, in correlation to the tendencies in the United States (Pini, 2003) and the recommendations of international agencies. This is a qualitative study that includes a description and documental analysis. The perspective is critical discourse analysis (ACD), complemented with political discourse analysis, critical theory, sociological theory and some postmodern authors. The corpus includes the current main law and official relevant documents related to national education policies which involve education.

Metaphor scholars have widely explored metaphor use in political discourse. Nevertheless, the current research does not account for the ‘gradable metaphoricity’ in political discourse analysis. This dissertation fills this gap by addressing this specific issue in two frameworks: (1) viewing political metaphor from a static and gradient perspective (Source-Target mapping; Conventional vs. Novel vs. Dead), and (2) viewing political metaphor from a gradable and dynamic perspective (a matter of salience and awareness of metaphoricity). A systematic literature review in chapter 2 points out that the static and dynamic perspectives differ significantly in underlying assumptions and organizing principles, although both are indistinctly referred to by metaphor scholars as constituting a ‘gradable’ view. The former takes metaphor as a static conceptual unit or lexical unit, but the latter tends to accord a central role of activation of metaphoricity to metaphorical expressions. To launch a theoretical advancement about the dynamic view in political discourse, chapter 3 offers a usage-based model of gradable and dynamic metaphors—the YinYang Dynamics of Metaphoricity (YYDM). In addition, this thesis investigates political metaphors from an interdisciplinary angle, incorporating theory from the field of International Relations. An empirical evaluation of political (discourse) studies in chapter 4 shows the large absence of transdisciplinary perspectives. Addressing the abovementioned gaps, this dissertation reports on two empirical analyses of trade metaphors in a big corpus that represents the official trade positions of the United States and China during the presidencies of Bill Clinton and Jiang Zemin (1993-1997) as well as Donald Trump and Xi Jinping (2017-2021). Based on a codebook of a cross-linguistic metaphor identification procedure in chapter 5, the first empirical part contributes to the static and gradient perspective and includes two corpus-based studies of metaphorical framing about trade (chapters 6-7). The diachronic and cross-linguistic use of source domains from a socio-cognitive approach in chapter 6 reveals that source domains are semantic fields that vary with trade discourse contexts (interests, power, and power relations). Chapter 7 shows that the use of trade metaphors (source domains of Conventional and Novel metaphors) to construct and legitimize political ideologies correlates with differences between political genres. The second part contributes to the gradable and dynamic view by applying the transdisciplinary model of YinYang Dynamics of Metaphoricity in chapters 8-10. In chapter 8, an evaluation of the new model in the Clinton-Jiang trade discourse shows that the dynamic cognitive process (transformation of metaphoricity) and rhetorical process (argumentation and persuasion) mutually develop with the evolution of the socio-political process (trade perspectives and trade events). Chapter 9 investigates the transformation of metaphoricity in the Trump-Xi trade discourse and finds that cognitive processes (patterns of metaphoricity activation) and affective processes (emotions or sentiments) mutually develop with the evolution of socio-political processes (trade perspectives and trade events). Based on the findings in chapters 8-9, chapter 10 further shows several phenomena in the Clinton-Jiang and Trump-Xi trade discourses: the movement of metaphors on the metaphoricity spectrum, the bodily motivation of gradable and dynamic metaphoricity, and the interconnected political discourse systems. Drawing on all the theoretical and empirical insights revealed in the dissertation, the final section of the thesis outlines a future direction, i.e., moving towards a transdisciplinary and dynamic approach to metaphor in political discourse analysis.

The article is devoted the study of methods and techniques of invective language transformation in political discourse. The paper describes psychological and linguistic approaches to the analysis of profanity. The article deals with the verbal features of invective vocabulary in modern political discourse. This study, based on the material of the American, British and Russian political discourse of recent years and allows us to draw conclusions about some of the features in the modern political discourse. The following research methods are used: functional and semantic analysis, contextual analysis, elements of discourse and component analysis, general scientific conceptual modeling, descriptive (observation, interpretation and generalization) and comparative method. It is established that invective vocabulary is used as a means of speech aggression and of establishment of successful interpersonal interaction in situations of contactless communication, where it can express negative and positive emotions and assessments. Invective vocabulary has a number of functional and pragmatic features that should be considered in intercultural communication and translation theory. The sphere of realizing of obscene language in English linguoculture is wider than in Russian, which is revealed in the high tolerance and degree of tolerance to its use, including in political discourse.