Precedent Historic Names In Russian Political Advertising Videotexts

Abstract

Precedent proper names, well-known within a certain social group and endowed with sociocultural worthiness, represent a unique tool of meaning making and linguistic manipulation. In the texts of political discourse, a particular significance is attributed to precedent names associatively connected with historic realia. The paper is devoted to the analysis of the role and linguosemiotic particularities of precedent proper names from the “History” sphere of concepts in Russian political advertising videotexts. The authors envisage political advertising video clips issued during the presidential campaigns in Russia in the last 30 years. The research results demonstrate that precedent names related to historical microtopics and personalities fall into three basic semantic groups: 1) names of historic figures, 2) names of historical periods and events, 3) names of historic realia. In the framework of the first two categories, we can distinguish some subgroups depending on historical periods: 1) pre-Soviet time, 2) Soviet epoch, 3) post-Soviet period. It was discovered that the most numerous group of precedent names is constituted by the names of historic figures, and the most frequently used names among them are those of Soviet personalities. Precedent proper names actively interact with nonverbal precedent signs, and the techniques of verbalization of general precedent semantics can vary. The comprehensive use of precedent proper names and nonverbal precedent signs, connected to them, simplifies the information perception considerably while affecting the voters’ feelings and emotions and, thus, producing a greater impact on them.