Prospects for Investigations of Political Discourse (Review of a Monograph by Prof A.A. Romanov and O.V. Novosiolova “Constructions of Threat in Pre-electoral Discourse. Linguocognitive Analysis of papers and programs of presidential campaign in 2018”. Moscow: URSS, 2021. — 440 p.)

Abstract

This article presents a review of the monograph titled “Constructions of Threat in Pre-electoral Discourse. Linguocognitive Analysis of papers and programs of the 2018 presidential campaign” by A.A. Romanov and O.V. Novosyolova. The authors examined different factors related to pre-election communication, such as cognitive-discursive, psycholinguistic, and pragmalinguistic factors. They analyzed representative material and used topical linguistic analysis methods, including Diatone, an automated program for analyzing textual data in pre-election communication. They also examined the emotional-suggestive impact of pre-election programmes. Prof. A.A. Romanov and O.V. Novosyolova’s monograph is topical since it is grounded upon present-day trends of conducting linguistic analysis on the basis of one of the genres of political discourse in a comprehensive manner. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that it is the first time such a massive investigation has been completed. The results of the book under study significantly contribute to further development of various linguistic theories, such as pragmalinguistics, speech act theory, functional semantics, communication theory as well as political discourse, cognitive semantics, and communicative-pragmatic constructivism. The practical value of this research is evident in the sphere of political linguistics as well as in teaching courses such as “Topical Issues of Present-day Linguistics”, “Methods of Linguistic Analysis”, “Modern Political Discourse”. It also contributes to integration of new courses into programmes that explore interaction between language and thinking, language and speech, and language and society from a political science perspective.